7 Fun Worksheet Activities to Make Learning Exciting

There was this one time I used to work at a school where I would get in trouble if I was caught using worksheets. I didn’t work there long. I get it worksheets are boring and consequently don’t offer an engaging way for students to learn. BUT, what if I told you there is a way to use worksheets that makes them more engaging for kids as well as principal-approved. In this post, I will share with you fun worksheet activities to make worksheets engaging for kids.

Use a projector as a Fun Worksheet Activity: for Whole Group Practice

One of the ways I use worksheets the most is through whole group. I find this to be the best way to introduce a new topic to students, model writing skills, and how to answer questions in a complete sentence. It is also a great way to save paper!

If you want to get your class up and moving, have students volunteer to come up and answer the questions. My students especially loved getting to write with my fancy flair pens and smelly markers.

Play quiz, quiz, trade

Quiz, quiz, trade is a particularly great way to get students to work in cooperative groups. This is a game created by Kagan publishing. This game is great to use with short answers or vocabulary words.

Here is how to play:

Give each student a question. On the back include an answer that is small and hard for the other person to read.
Assign students a partner.
The first partner asks partner 2 the question on their card.
Partner 2 answers the question. Partner 1 tells them if they are correct. If they aren’t they give them the correct answer.
Then, partner 2 asks their question to partner 1.
Once both questions have been asked and answered, the partners switch cards, walk around the room and find a new partner.

Use Sheet Protectors and Dry Erase Markers

One of my favorite fun worksheet activities, and also a great way to save paper, is to use sheet protectors and dry erase markers. I am not sure why, but students get excited to answer worksheets using something other than a pencil, even if it’s the same worksheet.

Make it Digital: Upload to Google Slides

I really enjoy using Google slides to add technology to a lesson. Simply upload your worksheet to Google Slides then add text boxes. This activity pairs great with a reading assignment or is also a good option for an independent learning activity.

Scavenger Hunt as a Fun Worksheet Activity

Another way to add engagement to an activity is by getting students up and moving. A fun way to do this is to take a worksheet and cut it up into individual questions. Place each question around the room and have students find each question and then answer it on a blank piece of paper. This activity works great for students who get overwhelmed with worksheets that have a lot of questions.

Add Them to an Early Finisher Folder

I am a big fan of early finisher folders. I always had a class with 3-4 students who always needed extra work or assignments because they completed everything so quickly.

An easy way to find worksheets to go in an early finisher folder is to keep a bucket by your desk to put in any papers that you didn’t get enough time to do during the week. For some reason, I always printed off extra and never had enough time to get to everything. At the end of the week I take everyones folder and put in the extra worksheets. Be sure to not add any worksheets that have topics or lessons you haven’t covered. The purpose of this folder is for them to be able to do this independently.

Give the Answers: Make the Questions

Another idea for a fun worksheet activity is to give the answers to a worksheet first. This is a creative way for students to work backwards by creating their own questions. Having students think this way is a great exercise for students. You can have students work together to create questions or you could verbally ask the class during whole group conversations.

Fun Worksheet Activities for Science and Social Studies

These ideas for fun worksheet activities can be used with most types of worksheets. I love adding these ideas to my science and social studies class because it creates more engagement when learning about different topics. If you are looking for low-prep science and social studies worksheets, I have a complete year’s worth for you! The best part, they are aligned to the TEKS and also many other state standards.