Charades isn’t just for parties or family game night—it’s also an amazing tool for the classroom. Whether you teach elementary school or high school, Classroom Charades brings laughter, movement, and memory together in a way no worksheet ever could. And the best part? It works for every subject.
Kids love the energy, teachers love the learning—it’s a win-win.
In this guide, you’ll find over 150 subject-aligned prompts across Math, Science, History, Language Arts, Art & Music, and P.E., plus classroom-specific gameplay tips. Let’s make learning unforgettable (and hilarious).
🎯 Why Classroom Charades Works
Charades isn’t just a time filler—it actually boosts comprehension. Here’s why:
- 🧠 It makes abstract ideas physical.
- 🗣 It builds vocabulary through action.
- 😂 It lowers stress around tricky subjects.
- 🤸 It adds movement into long school days.
- 🧍♀️ It works in small groups or with the whole class.
Even shy students often get into it once they see it’s about fun, not perfection.
🛠️ How to Set Up Charades for the Classroom
Supplies:
- Index cards, slips of paper, or a whiteboard list.
- A timer (or just count in your head).
- A small open space (even between desks works).
- Optional: subject bins or decks for each topic.
Gameplay Tips:
- Act one at a time, or in teams.
- No speaking, but allow gestures, body movement, and sound effects (if you want!).
- Set 30–60 seconds per turn.
- Keep score, or just play for fun.
🔬 Science Charades
Science is full of movement and wonder—making it perfect Charades material. You can split prompts into Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Earth Science.
🧬 Biology Prompts
- Cells dividing
- A heart pumping
- The nervous system firing
- A plant growing toward light
- Blood flowing through veins
- Someone sneezing (immune system)
- Mitosis vs. meiosis
- A bee pollinating a flower
- A frog metamorphosing
- Animal migration
⚗️ Chemistry Prompts
- Mixing two beakers
- Atoms bonding
- Water boiling
- Ice melting
- Creating a gas
- Shaking a test tube
- Chemical reaction explosion
- Using a Bunsen burner
- Balancing a chemical equation (act it out!)
- Wearing lab goggles
🌍 Earth & Space Prompts
- Volcano erupting
- Earthquake shaking
- Rain forming in clouds
- Rotation of the Earth
- Orbiting planets
- Digging for fossils
- Tectonic plates shifting
- Moon phases
- A meteor crashing
- A solar eclipse
⚙️ Physics Prompts
- Gravity pulling down
- Friction slowing motion
- A lever lifting a load
- Magnet attracting a nail
- Energy transfer
- Reflection in a mirror
- Roller coaster physics
- Sound waves
- Bouncing ball
- Pulling a pulley
🧪 Teacher Tip: Let students create their own prompts after each science unit!
📚 Language Arts Charades
Whether you’re teaching early readers or diving into Shakespeare, there’s a prompt for every level. Group them into literary terms, writing actions, and book-based ideas.
✍️ Writing & Reading Prompts
- Writing a paragraph
- Reading a book
- Taking notes
- Highlighting a text
- Brainstorming
- Looking up a word in a dictionary
- Typing on a laptop
- Opening a library book
- Punctuation confusion
- Falling asleep mid-book 😴
🧠 Literary Terms & Devices
- Simile (act: “as fast as a cheetah”)
- Metaphor (be “a rock”)
- Personification (make a chair look tired)
- Foreshadowing (hint and walk away!)
- Climax of a story
- Irony (over-exaggerated shrug)
- Flashback
- Narrator vs. character
- Dialogue
- Conflict and resolution
📖 Book-Based Prompts (generic)
- Fairy tale princess
- Mystery detective
- Magic spell
- Talking animal
- Plot twist
- Tragic ending
- A character hiding something
- Turning the last page
- Imaginary world
- The author at their desk
✏️ Classroom Hack: Assign one prompt per reading group. Each group acts out and explains.
🧮 Math Charades
Yes, even math can be acted out! Focus on core concepts, math tools, and problem-solving actions.
➕ Math Concepts
- Adding and subtracting
- Multiplying on fingers
- Dividing pizza slices
- Fractions (use hands!)
- Counting money
- Geometry shapes (be a triangle!)
- Graphing
- Telling time
- Solving an equation
- Prime numbers
📐 Math Tools
- Using a ruler
- Drawing with a compass
- Writing on graph paper
- Using a calculator
- Counting with an abacus
- Measuring volume with cups
- Reading a thermometer
- Charting a line graph
- Protractor confusion
- Building a bar graph
📏 Teacher Tip: This is perfect after a test review. Let students act out mistakes and correct answers!
📖 History & Social Studies Charades
Bring the past to life! Act out people, places, and historical moments from your curriculum.
🌍 World History
- Ancient pyramid building
- Gladiator fighting
- Riding a chariot
- Painting cave walls
- Signing a peace treaty
- Sailing to the New World
- Revolutions
- Map making
- Trading on the Silk Road
- Kings and queens
🇺🇸 U.S. History
- Paul Revere’s ride
- Declaration signing
- Liberty Bell ringing
- Underground Railroad
- Civil War drum march
- Women’s suffrage protest
- Martin Luther King’s speech
- Moon landing
- Voting booth
- 4th of July parade
🏛️ Civics & Geography
- Drawing the U.S. map
- Voting
- Reading a compass
- Acting like a lawmaker
- Campaigning
- Following the Constitution
- Showing borders and flags
- Mountains vs. rivers
- Building a city
- Tour guide!
📚 Engagement Tip: Pair with a quiz—get points for guesses AND history facts.
🎨 Art, Music & P.E. Charades
Let creativity shine with movement-based subjects! These are great for transitions or quick brain breaks.
🎨 Art Prompts
- Drawing a picture
- Mixing paint
- Clay sculpting
- Cleaning brushes
- Hanging art on a wall
- Posing like a statue
- Using watercolors
- Visiting a museum
- Collage cutting
- Self-portrait reveal
🎵 Music Prompts
- Playing piano
- Conducting an orchestra
- Singing in the shower
- Air guitar
- Violin solo
- Tuning a guitar
- Headphones on
- Dancing to a beat
- Recording music
- Whistling
🏃 P.E. / Movement Prompts
- Jumping jacks
- Stretching
- Running a race
- Climbing a rope
- Dribbling a basketball
- Playing soccer
- Tag!
- Hula hooping
- Gymnast flips (safely mimed)
- Freeze dance
🎭 Variation Idea: Try silent P.E. Charades for a quiet-down activity.
🃏 Make Your Own Classroom Deck
Create printable or reusable cards with these tips:
- Color-code by subject
- Use laminated index cards or slips of paper
- Let students submit their own prompts
- Store by unit or theme (math review, vocab week, etc.)
🧠 Charades Formats for the Classroom
Keep it fresh with these styles:
- Rapid Round: Act out 5 prompts in 60 seconds.
- Subject Face-Off: One prompt per subject, teams compete.
- Mystery Topic: Don’t tell which subject the prompt is from—students guess both!
- Guess the Term, Then Explain It: Act, then describe what the word means aloud.
Leave a Reply