20 Interactive Activity Ideas for Online Lessons

It has been always hard to maintain focused young learners in the classroom. And during online lessons it’s just getting harder. Sometimes we need breaks, maybe my interactive activity ideas can help you on your online lessons.

BTW I have shared some lesson plans and ideas about “Teaching 4 – 6 year old students online” and if this is your first time in my blog, you can reach all blog posts by simply clicking on the “online lessons” tag.

So, I’m just gonna jump right into the topic.

Here’s a list of 20 interactive activity ideas you can use in your online lessons with your kids:

• Flashcard Games:
  Especially “slow reveal” “flash the cards” “hidden picture” are my favorites. Here is a cute video from an online lesson in Ukraine that I’ve attended as a guest teacher. We are playing “slow reveal” with some “clothes and weather” flashcards.

• Show and Tell:
  Ask your students show something from their home, related to your topic.

• House Tour:
  I used this as a time filler. I asked my kids to show around their room.

• Guess the…. Game (YouTube):
  In my previous posts I gave links to those videos. Search for “Guess the animals Game” for example and play the video during your lesson. Stop and ask questions.

• TPR Activities:
  You can give instructions like “Hop like a bunny”, “Touch your nose” or play a song and do the actions as energizers.

• Play BINGO!

• Rock, Paper, Scissors! as a time filler:
  I did it last week, it was fun! Play it like The Class VS You.

• What’s Missing?
  We played What’s missing as a PowerPoint game, but you can play it with flashcards, too. Just stick the cards somewhere and take one out. Which one is missing?

• Pictionary / Draw and Guess:
  I shared my screen and started to draw silly doodles (on Paint) of some “feelings” and asked kids to guess. You can use a piece of paper, too. Kids can also draw something for the class to guess.

• Gonoodle:
  I always finish my lessons with some brain break videos and of course I’m using Gonoodle for that.

• Scavenger Hunts:
  Not complicated ones, just simple ones where you ask your kids to find something quickly and show it to you. Here you can find a printable indoor scavenger hunt freebie.

• Guess the Number:
  You can write a number on a piece of paper and ask your students to guess it. Show them the paper to prove that they got it right 😀 Kids can also write a number and make the class guess.

• Freeze!
  Yes, as an energizer or time filler you can play a song, dance and when the music stops: Freeze!

• Play a Board Game:
  Our Spanish teacher did that, let me tell you how: You find a board game – preferably on PowerPoint 🙂 share your screen , kids roll dice (you can use google dice roller or you simply do it for them), you move their pins.

• Charades:
  One of the kids or the teacher acts out the “word” (or anything related to your topic) and the others try to guess. Simple but works all the time 🙂

• Read Alouds:
  This is our favorite routine. You can watch one of my story time routines here and read more about it by clicking the “Story Time” tag.

• Jeopardy:
  You can find tons of ready to use jeopardy games pdf or ppts online. Totally fun!

• Hidden Picture Games: Long time ago I’ve shared my favorite ppt game templates my kids used to love! Click here to visit my Hidden Pictures Game Templates post and download a copy for yourself.

• Make Something Together:
  This can be a simple craft activity, origami, masks or even a fruit salad. Why not? 🙂

• Digital Escape Rooms:
  You can play an educational digital escape the classroom game with your students. I haven’t tried it with kindergarten students but with higher levels you should definitely play. I already have lots of digital escape room games you can use during distant learning. Check out the “Escape the Classroom” tag on my blog to reach and download lots of games.

• Click here to see what I’ve shared about online lessons so far – including Bitmoji Classrooms, Mindfulness Activities, Lesson Plans, Game Templates and Virtual Instant Challenges!

• Bonus! Here are 2 very useful blog posts I wanted to share with you: “20 Fun “Virtual Games” for Kids using Zoom” and “40+ Free Distance-Learning Online Games and Activities for Kindergarten (and How to Use Them)

I hope you find this article useful, if so, please share it with your friends ^_^

And I’d like to hear your interactive activity ideas.

Keep Calm and Play Games 😀