Why use printable board games?

One of my absolutely favourite revision activities to do with my classes is a printable board game. Students find them engaging, fun and valuable for their learning. 

Board games not only allow students to review key concepts and vocabulary, but also to develop their skills in collaboration.

Printable board games are also excellent to use for differentiation. All of my board games come with 3-5 differentiation options. You can differentiate the actual game board, instructions for the game and the level of difficulty of the questions. I will break these down further below. 

So how do you create your own printable board game?Best time saving hacks for teachers.

1. How to create your own printable board game board

First off, you need to create your board. 

Your printable board game board can be as simple or as complex as you like. 

Here are two game boards for the same topic I use to differentiate. One has more squares and more chances to land on a ‘Q’ to pick up a quiz card.  

The game board should consist of decent sized squares with some simple instructions on select squares such as ‘miss a turn’ or ‘go back 3 spaces’. I use the letter ‘Q’ to represent ‘quiz cards’.  The size or shape of the squares can be flexible but you want them to be big enough to fit at least two ‘counters’ or game pieces.

I always design mine for A3 paper as this is a good size for multiple students to group around and most school printers can print on A3. 

Got limitations on colour printing? No worries! Create one in black and white. 

Grab my FREE printable board game board by entering your email address below! It is suitable for every grade and topic. 

2. How to create your own questions for your printable board game

This is the most time consuming part of the printable board game creation. I find it helpful to start with my topic glossary and form questions around key terms. 

The types of questions that work best for board games are multiple choice or short answers. These allow you to provide answers easily and for students to be able to determine whether they are correct or not. 

I usually focus my questions around key vocabulary related to the topic, and simple recall questions and examples. 

I choose to include the answer on each question card and set up the game so that a peer asks the question to the student who landed on the ‘Q’. This allows the peer to check if the answer is correct or not and more students are involved in each turn. 

I also create three different levels of questions. For students needing differentiation I only provide the easier questions, while those needing more of a challenge I might take out the easier questions. 

These also come into play for how I set up differentiated levels of instructions which you will see in the next section.

3. How to create printable board game instructions

Including different levels of instructions for students is another easy way to differentiate the printable board game. While the boards and the questions themselves are easily differentiated, how they play the game can be too. 

Here is an example of how I have set up some of my options for the instructions:

Level 1: for those needing adjustments I provide basic instructions for moving around the board and answering quiz card questions when they land on the ‘Q’. If they get the answer correct they can roll again.

Level 2: To make it a little more challenging I have students answer a question when they land on a ‘Q’ but if they get it correct, instead of rolling again, they move the number of squares as shown on the question card. The easier question cards are marked with one coloured square, the harder ones are marked with two or three squares. So if a student gets a ‘3 square’ question correct they move forward 3 squares.

Level 3: Students have to start each turn by answering a question before they roll. If they then land on another ‘Q’ square then they get a bonus question. 

Another alternative could be to provide the students with the game board and the quiz cards and have them make up their own instructions! They could decide how each turn plays out and what happens if you get an answer correct or incorrect etc. 

You definitely don’t need to include differentiated instructions if you already have differentiated questions and/or boards. One set of instructions would be enough for most classes.

4. What materials do you need to bring your printable board game to life?

All that is required now is one dice per group and one counter or game piece for each student. The counters do not have to be fancy. They could even just be some torn up paper!

If you don’t have enough dice to use in class you can also find some virtual dice on a device that students could use. 

To save you some time from having to cut out 8 sets of the quiz cards, I recommend you have your students cut them out the first time for you. It is also a good idea to decide how you are going to store your printed board games and quiz cards for next time to save you from having to print and cut it all again. I try to store my game boards flat and I keep the quiz cards in separate envelopes that contain one set each. 

5. Play your printable board game!

Have a practice play of your board game with some staff members or your family to work out any niggles there might be in your instructions or questions.

Then enjoy with your class!

Conclusion

I hope this post has inspired you to try and make of your own printable board game for consolidating key concepts and vocabulary.

A printable board game is a really engaging activity that promotes collaboration and collegiality amongst students. 

Let me know if you give it a go!

Best time saving hacks for teachers.