15 ten-minute activities with nothing but a whiteboard
Ten minutes is long enough to teach something small and short enough that nobody gets restless, as long as you can start right away. Each of these runs on the classroom board and one marker, with no copies, screens or supplies. They cover words, numbers and thinking, and most work from first grade through middle school with a change in how hard you make them.
Words
1. Word web
Write a topic in a circle in the middle of the board, like weather or the ocean. Students call out related words and you draw a branch for each. With three minutes left, ask the class to sort the branches into two or three groups and name each group.
Grades 1–8You need The board and a marker
2. Sentence stretch
Write a short sentence, like The dog ran. Students add one word or phrase at a time to make it longer while it still makes sense: The muddy dog ran across the yard after lunch. Rewrite it each round and read it aloud together.
Grades 1–5You need The board and a marker
3. Unscramble it
Write a word from the class's reading with its letters mixed up, and a one-word hint beside it. Students work it out in their heads and show a thumb when they have it. Reveal it after a quiet count of ten and move to the next one.
Grades 2–8You need The board and a marker
4. Stronger word stairs
Draw a staircase. Put a plain word on the bottom step, like said or big. Students suggest stronger or more exact words and decide together which step each belongs on, from mild at the bottom to strongest at the top.
Grades 3–8You need The board and a marker
5. Compound word match
Write two columns of short words, such as rain, sun, foot and ball, flower, coat. Volunteers draw a line joining two words that make a real compound word. Ask whether any word can join more than one partner.
Grades 1–4You need The board and a marker
Numbers
6. Where is it on the line?
Draw a long line and label the ends 0 and 100. Make a mark somewhere along it and ask students to estimate the number. Take three guesses, then find it together by marking 50, then 25 or 75, until you close in.
Grades 1–5You need The board and a marker
7. Function machine
Draw a box with an arrow in and an arrow out. Say a number going in and write what comes out: 3 becomes 7, 5 becomes 11. Students guess the rule and test it with their own numbers before anyone says it aloud.
Grades 2–8You need The board and a marker
8. Missing sign
Write number sentences with a blank where the sign goes: 8 __ 2 = 16, 8 __ 2 = 6, 8 __ 2 = 4. Students hold up fingers to vote: one for add, two for subtract, three for multiply, four for divide.
Grades 2–6You need The board and a marker
9. Digit detective
Draw three blanks for a three-digit number you have chosen. Give clues one at a time: the hundreds digit is odd, the tens digit is twice the ones digit, the digits add up to 13. Students narrow it down after each clue.
Grades 3–8You need The board and a marker
10. Shape riddles
Draw a few shapes and ask how many sides and corners each has. Then give a riddle: I have four sides and only two of them are the same length. Students point to or draw the shape that fits.
Grades K–4You need The board and a marker
Thinking
11. Which one doesn't belong?
Write or draw four things, like 6, 9, 12 and 15, or a whale, a shark, a trout and a dolphin. Students choose the one that doesn't belong and give a reason. Accept every answer with a good reason; there is often more than one.
Grades K–8You need The board and a marker
12. Two-circle compare
Draw two overlapping circles and label them with two things to compare, like cats and dogs or rain and snow. The class gives facts, and you write each one in the side where it belongs or in the middle if it fits both.
Grades 2–8You need The board and a marker
13. Draw a line at a time
Choose an everyday object and draw it slowly, one line at a time. Students raise a hand when they think they know it, and you keep drawing until the guesses match. A student who guesses can whisper the next object to you.
Grades K–5You need The board and a marker
14. Dots and boxes, two teams
Draw a grid of dots, five by five. Split the room into two halves. Teams take turns sending one student to join two dots; closing a box earns that team's letter in it and another turn. Count boxes at the end.
Grades 2–8You need The board and a marker
15. Shift code
Write a short message where every letter is moved one forward in the alphabet, so CAT becomes DBU. Students decode it out loud as a class. Then show them how to move letters back one place to send the reply.
Grades 3–8You need The board and a marker
Making it work
- Write big and leave space: students in the back row need to read every letter.
- Put a ten-minute timer on the projector if you have one, so the end is no surprise.
- Plan to stop while the class still wants more. The next time you say board game, they will be ready.
- Choose the level from the class's reading and math, not the grade on the door, and make the next round easier or harder as you go.
- For more ten-minute choices, the ten-minute page lists activities by what the room has.
Questions teachers ask
- What can I do with a class for ten minutes and only a whiteboard?
- Word webs, number line estimates, function machine puzzles, odd-one-out questions and simple codes all run on the board alone. Each one starts in seconds and can grow harder or easier as the class plays.
- Do these work for middle school?
- Yes. Make the words longer, the numbers bigger and the rules trickier. Older students like the function machine, the digit detective and the shift code, especially when they get to set one for the class.
- How do I keep everyone involved instead of the same few hands?
- Use thumbs, fingers and whispers to a partner instead of calling out, so everyone answers at once. Then call on someone who hasn't spoken yet to share a reason.
Written for teachers by Peabody Teach. No ads, no affiliate links. Something wrong or missing? Tell us.