Fun Activities for High School Kids

Hello to all the teachers out there! First, kudos to you for the responsibility you have taken and your role in shaping the future of the younger generation is commendable. But is it all smooth? Don’t you come across any hurdles in the process? I am sure you do, especially when dealing with teenage high-school students.

Most educators around the world complain that the most problematic thing about handling teenage students is maintaining their concentration and interest throughout the class.

Though English is already an interesting subject, many students find it boring after a certain point in time. In such cases, as educators, you must make amendments to your teaching process to draw students’ deeper interest in the class. One easy way to do it is by introducing more activity-based learning. This might make you think about what kind of activities you must introduce for completely theoretical subjects like English.

Let’s put an end to that confusion for here I bring you 20 fun-based English activities that you can use in your high-school class.

Fun English Activities for High school kids

1. Paint Chip Poetry –

With this activity, you can give a push to the creative skills of your students. This particular game box has all instructions given in the package. But for your elementary information, know that here you will get chips with unique colour names and the students are supposed to compose poems with these names. But if you feel poems will be too much pressure for the kids. Instead, ask them to phrase some sentences our fit those words appropriately in paragraphs and literary descriptions.

2. Figurative Language Challenge –

These challenges are meant to teach the students more about literary devices like metaphor, simile, personification etc. You can conduct group games and challenge each group to use the assigned literary devices in the most innovative way possible. You can also declare rewards; it is a proven technique to initiate more enthusiastic participation from students.

3. 6 Word Memoirs –

Writing 6-word memoirs is a simple yet enjoyable exercise. Students are forced to think deeply, and it serves as a fantastic introduction to memoirs. First, you can put them on display and ask people to include memorable pictures. Then, when students get the drill, you can ask them to create these memoirs.

4. Letter writing –

Before judging my sense of fun activities, know these are not those usual formal and informal letter-writing exercises. So get out of the box and introduce to them fun letter-writing ideas like, for example, break-up letters. They are perfect for teens amidst all their high-school heartbreaks. I think it is a very smart way to use teenage problems for a productive cause. In addition, this activity will improve their creative writing skills.

5. Pop Sonnets –

An excellent resource for high school students studying Shakespeare’s sonnets! Sonnets are an excellent literary form to introduce in the classroom. It has 100 songs in Shakespearean sonnet form that are taken from popular culture. Create a playlist of your favourites for the classroom!

6. Find the word –

Yes, the usual find the word game but with a twist. Here you won’t hang an image for the students to find the word. Rather you will play audio and ask the students to find the most appropriate word for a given description. This will enhance the listening skills as well as introduce the students to new words.

7. Vocabulary Bingo –

This game is great for reviewing lessons and assisting students with exam preparation, especially for teaching vocabulary phrases. You create a grid with various questions for each learner.

Students mark the appropriate square on the grid as they listen for their alternatives after reading things from a related list. The student who marks their whole grid with the most accurate responses wins the round.

8. Poetry Slam for High school kid –

Let’s get your students in a bit of hyperactive and competitive mode. Why not arrange a poetry slam for them. I am sure all your teenage kids know how slam works. Believe me, they will be more than excited to participate. But, of course, make sure that things do not go out of control. Give them clear instructions on the dos and don’ts during the slam.

9. Grammar Truth and Dare –

Look no further if you need an easy lesson plan to review grammar. This fun game is for teenage learners and will help students get invested in grammatical skills! Students have to pick a truth or dare-card and answer an English-related statement. This is very easy to conduct and is also a lot more hassle-free than others.

10. A Classroom Podcast –

This is the best way to improve the students’ spoken English skills. Arrange for a weekly classroom podcast and assign a group of students to the entire responsibility of a particular week’s program. You can also give them particular themes to work on. Then, let the students plan the programs and execute them as well.

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11. Balderdash –

This is an addictive game for more advanced teenage students. It uses uncommon words to help students determine if it is a real word. Then, they will give others either a false or true statement with a silly (but possibly real) sounding word. It teaches new vocabulary!

12. Charades –

It’s time we play a game of charades! But wait, this time, not with the movie names. Instead, we can use drama names and names of poets and authors to do so. This will surely make the students dig deeper into their literature syllabus and beyond. Moreover, there is a high chance that they will start reading more literary pieces amidst this game. And need not mention that reading in a way itself is a great method of acing English skills.

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13. Chapter Chats –

Well, this is more like group discussions. First, you have to suggest a book in the classroom and ask the students to finish reading within a stipulated time. Then, after the exhaustion of the time period, arrange for a discussion session where the students discuss their favourite chapters or portions from the book. You can do these for the least favourite chapters as well.

Apart from the 13 activities mentioned above, there are a few others as well. I have listed them down in case you want to try something else –

14. Character speeches
15. Board Race
16. Word Jumble Race
17. 20 Questions
18. Taboo Words
19. Chalkboard Acronym
20. Dictogloss

Final Thoughts for high school kids activity

Fun activities in the classroom can be an interesting way of learning and also a great way of breaking the monotony. So try something from the above list and just wait for the results. These are tested activities and won’t disappoint you.

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