This is a great activity for students to learn cooperative learning/ team work while following directions and completing tasks in sequence.
This activity can be done independently with a partner or with the whole class. But in this post we'll focus on the team work/ group learning benefits.
Here are six games that you could use for partner or whole class instruction:
Fast Food- Have your students challenge each other to see who can make an ice cream cone the fastest! Give each student a stack of (3-5 cards) and see who can complete the order the fastest! My students love to turn this into a whole class challenge with the winners facing off.
Great way to incorporate work training into the classroom!
The Regular- Give your students one card at a time to memorize. They have to turn it over and build it without looking at the card.
Picky Eater- Partner up. One student is given the card, and the other student stands a few feet away throwing the ingredients at their partner. The person making the ice-cream cone is to only catch the necessary ingredients to make the burger and assemble it. Once each ice-cream cone has been completed students trade off who's throwing and who’s assembling.
I generally make this into a competition and give each team 3-5 ice-cream cones to complete.
Where is it?- Teams or individual players race to make their ice-cream cones, but they have the extra challenge of having to find the ingredients that have been hidden around the room.
I love having my other students hide the ingredients and tell their classmates if they’re getting hot or cold.
It’s All in the Team- Break your class into teams of 2-3 kids and have them complete to see who can properly assessable their ice-cream cones first. (5-7 cards per team)
These six games are just a few examples of games that can be used for partner or whole class instruction in special education classrooms.
These games are not only fun, but they can also be educational and helpful in reinforcing key concepts and ideas learned in class.
Do you have a favorite game that you use in your special education classroom?
Let us know in the comments below!