[For Elementary School Students] A Collection of Games and Activities You Can Enjoy on Zoom
These days, even elementary schools have online classes, and there are many more chances to play online games remotely.
Since kids can play with friends and people far away while staying at home, it’s easy for them to have fun.
In this article, we’ve put together a list of Zoom-friendly games for elementary school students.
We’ll introduce activities adapted from in-person games to remote formats, as well as games unique to Zoom.
Use these ideas to help kids bond with friends or communicate with people who live far away.
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[For Elementary School Students] A Collection of Fun Games and Activities You Can Enjoy on Zoom (1–10)
Finger Smash
“Yubi-suma” is a game played only with your fingers—no tools at all—that got its name from how it was called on the TV show SMAP×SMAP.
The rules are simple enough for anyone to understand, so even elementary school kids can enjoy it.
If you’re playing over Zoom, raise your hands up near your face so your fingers are clearly visible on camera.
Once the order is set, someone calls out “Issē no se” and then says a number of their choice.
For example, if someone says “Issē no 3” and there are three thumbs raised in total, that’s a hit, and the caller can pull back one of their hands.
If the number doesn’t match the total raised thumbs, they can’t pull a hand back.
The first person to pull back all of their hands wins.
It’s simple and straightforward, which actually makes it really exciting.
Give it a try!
NG word game
This game is perfect for anyone looking for a fun online activity to enjoy with friends.
The rules are simple—you carry on a conversation while avoiding certain words—but it creates constant tension and laughter.
Even over Zoom, it deepens friendships and helps people feel connected across distances.
The back-and-forth of the conversation can veer in unexpected directions, delivering delightful surprises.
While keeping track of the words to avoid, how participants build rapport is left to their quick thinking, which becomes a memorable element that livens up the moment.
It’s full of laughter and highly recommended for kids as well.
Extreme Close-Up Quiz
A super close-up quiz where the host brings an object right up to the camera and everyone tries to guess what it is.
It’s perfect for Zoom and other online settings where you can share your screen with a large group and build communication.
By holding the object very close to the camera, it becomes hard to tell what’s being shown.
If no one can guess, gradually move the object farther from the camera to provide hints.
It’s a buzzer-style quiz, so everyone can enjoy participating.
It’s a game that’s especially fun online and is recommended for elementary school students too.
[For Elementary School Students] A Roundup of Games and Activities You Can Enjoy on Zoom (11–20)
Intro Quiz
“Intro Don” is a fast-response quiz.
First, choose one person to be the host.
When the question is asked, participants should raise their hand as quickly as possible.
Alternatively, you can use Zoom’s chat feature and have the person who types the answer first win—feel free to try different rules.
Enjoy it in your own style! You can find song intros to use as questions by searching on YouTube, so give that a try.
“Intro Don” is an easy game that works especially well on Zoom, and it’s a fun way to blow off steam during time at home.
Self-introduction Shiritori
If you want to make your usual self-introduction more fun and engaging, we recommend “Self-Intro Shiritori.” It’s a game that combines self-introductions with shiritori, so you can enjoy yourselves while getting to know each other better! Here’s how to play: within a set time limit, compete to see how many facts about yourself you can say, following the shiritori word chain format.
The key rule is that you can only say things that are true.
With the time pressure, you might be tempted to make something up to force a connection, but if you lie, you’re out! The more you’re under the gun, the more niche facts tend to come out, so it’s a great game to try even with people you’re already close to!
riddle
The classic game Riddles is a simple activity you can enjoy over Zoom.
You can find plenty of riddles by searching online.
Original riddles you create yourself will likely make things even more exciting and fun—so put your thinking cap on and give it a try.
It’s also a good idea to prepare an easy penalty game for the losers.
Adding a bit of thrill and seriousness makes the game more engaging and enjoyable, so it’s highly recommended.
Even elementary school students can easily have fun with this on Zoom, so be sure to give it a try.
Gesture Game
How about a “gesture game” to get moving and relieve the stress of staying at home? In this game, you split into teams and compete to see how many gestures you can guess.
One person acts as the referee, divides the teams, and hands out the gesture prompts to both sides.
Each team checks its prompts and acts them out within a time limit.
The team that guesses more gestures wins.
It’s also fun to intentionally include prompts that invite silly, quirky poses.
It’s highly recommended for energetic elementary schoolers with extra energy to burn during at-home time.