20 Fun Virtual Activities for Students in Online Classes

The signs are familiar: cameras off, one-word answers, the same three students doing all the talking. Keeping a virtual class engaged takes more effort than keeping a room engaged, whatever you teach. A well-chosen activity can turn a flat session around faster than another round of explaining.

Below are 20 virtual activities for students, each with an age guide, a time, a group size and simple steps, so you can drop one straight into your next session. Short games also work as retrieval practice, pulling what students have learned back to the surface, which can help it stick better than passive listening. Make cameras optional: most of these can run chat-only for students who need it. Some need breakout rooms, a shared whiteboard or a poll, and each activity lists what it needs.

Table of contents

1. Before you start: safe and inclusive set-up
2. When to use virtual activities
3. Virtual activities at a glance
4. Icebreakers and getting-to-know-you activities
5. Creative virtual classroom activities
6. Interactive and play-based activities
7. Classic and review games
8. Exploration and challenges
9. Make these activities work for every student
10. A sample 45-minute online lesson
11. FAQ

These activities work best on video conferencing tools built for education, with breakout rooms, polls and an integrated whiteboard.

Before you start: safe and inclusive set-up

A quick checklist before you run any of these with under-16s:

• Use your school's approved platform and accounts, not a personal tool.
• For younger students, keep an adult present in breakout rooms or able to enter each one, keep rooms short, and check who can record.
• Check the age and consent terms, and your school's data agreement, before asking students to sign in to an external tool like Kahoot, Scratch or Jackbox. Many set their own age limits (often 13) or carry content ratings, which sit alongside your wider duty of care for under-16s.
• Make cameras optional and let students pass. No one should have to show their home or perform on screen.
• Your school's safeguarding and acceptable-use policy comes first. If it conflicts with anything here, follow the policy.

When to use virtual activities

You don't need a special occasion. The best moments to run a quick activity are:

• At the start of class, to build routine and settle a group in.
• After a technical hiccup, to reset once everyone is back.
• When energy drops, usually mid-session, when faces go quiet.
• Before a new topic, to warm up thinking and spark curiosity.
• Before an assessment, since a light review game beats a cold start.
• At the end of term, to celebrate and keep the final sessions lively.

Younger learners especially enjoy game-based practice, and ready-made educational games for children can give you a quick win on a flat day. Fourteen of the 20 activities below take 15 minutes or less. Six run longer or across several sessions, and the table flags which.

Virtual activities at a glance

Quick pick: five minutes to fill, go to 10, 17 or 19. A brand-new group, try 2 or 3. Revising for a test, use 1, 16 or 17. Need movement, pick 10 or 19.

Icebreakers and getting-to-know-you activities

Icebreakers settle students into the online environment and set a collaborative tone. These work well at the start of a term, a course or any first session with a new group. For a deeper set, see our guide to fun virtual icebreakers.

1. Mystery classroom

Best for: revision or a first session, any age · Time: 10–15 minutes · Group size: breakout groups of 3–4
You'll need: breakout rooms, private message or slides

How to play:

1. Send each student a single clue by private message, or put one clue per slide.
2. Put students in breakout groups of three or four and visit each room; the group combines its clues to answer a question.
3. The answer points them to the next clue or reveals the topic of the day.

Subject tip: make each clue a fact from the last lesson, so cracking the mystery doubles as revision. For a first session, use clues about the course or about each other instead.

2. Who am I?

Best for: any age · Time: 5–10 minutes · Group size: whole class or groups
You'll need: video or chat

How to play:

1. One student thinks of a person (a celebrity, a fictional character or a classmate).
2. The rest ask yes-or-no questions; the student can only answer 'yes' or 'no'.
3. Keep going until someone guesses, then swap.

Subject tip: for an older group, cap it at 20 questions to add pressure and sharpen their reasoning. Swap people for topic terms to turn it into review.

3. Show and tell

Best for: primary and adults · Time: 10 minutes · Group size: groups of 4–8
You'll need: video (optional)

How to play:

1. Ask each student to bring one meaningful object from home.
2. Give a prompt so no one freezes, such as something you collect or an object that tells a story about where you are from.
3. Each student shares for a minute while the rest listen.

Safer variation: let students describe an object, hold up a drawing or pick from a neutral list instead of showing their home.

4. Two truths and a lie

Best for: secondary and adults · Time: 5–10 minutes · Group size: groups of 4–8
You'll need: video or chat

How to play:

1. Each student shares three statements about themselves, two true and one made up.
2. The rest guess which is the lie, in the chat or out loud.
3. Reveal the answer, then move on.

Subject tip: swap personal facts for topic facts (two true statements about a historical figure, one false) to make it a review game and avoid oversharing.

Creative virtual classroom activities

Creative tasks give students room to express themselves while they build real skills. Each one produces something students can be proud to share.

5. Virtual talent show

Best for: any age · Time: 15 minutes or more · Group size: whole class
You'll need: video, screen share

How to play:

1. Set a theme and agree the running order in advance.
2. Each performer takes a short slot: a song, a dance, a poem, a joke or a magic trick.
3. The class cheers each act; keep slots short so energy stays high.

Tip: set a fun virtual background as the stage, and let shy students enter a recorded clip instead of going live.

6. Class magazine project

Best for: secondary · Time: runs across several sessions · Group size: teams
You'll need: a shared document

How to play:

1. Assign roles: writers, editors, illustrators.
2. Students contribute articles, interviews or artwork to a shared document over a few lessons.
3. Export the finished issue as a PDF to share with parents and other classes.

Subject tip: tie the theme to your curriculum, such as a science issue or a local-history issue, so the writing reinforces what you are teaching.

7. Build a class pet in Scratch

Best for: secondary · Time: runs across several sessions · Group size: pairs
You'll need: Scratch accounts (check the age and consent terms first)

How to play:

1. Set up a class studio in Scratch where every pair's project sits side by side.
2. Each pair builds its own class pet: they name it, draw it and code how it moves and reacts.
3. Pairs add a new behaviour each session, then remix and comment on each other's pets.

Good to know: Scratch is a free, block-based platform run by the Scratch Foundation, built to teach coding to children. Students who get hooked on the coding side can see how the same ideas grow in professional mobile game development services.

8. Story chain

Best for: any age · Time: 10 minutes · Group size: whole class or groups
You'll need: a shared whiteboard, chat

How to play:

1. Write the students' names on a shared whiteboard to set the order.
2. Go round the group, each person adding three words to the story.
3. Build to a natural climax, then post the finished story in the chat.

Subject tip: set a genre or a first line to steer it, or give younger students a picture prompt to start from.

Interactive and play-based activities

These activities encourage teamwork, quick thinking and a bit of movement, which helps break up long stretches of screen time. For more short, high-energy ideas, see our 5-minute virtual meeting games.

9. Video charades

Best for: any age · Time: 10 minutes · Group size: two teams
You'll need: video, a timer

How to play:

1. Send the word to one student by private message.
2. That student acts it out on camera while their team guesses within a set time.
3. If the team misses, the other team gets a turn.

Subject tip: use vocabulary words, book characters or scientific processes as the prompts to tie the fun back to the lesson.

10. Online scavenger hunt

Best for: primary and secondary · Time: 5 minutes · Group size: whole class
You'll need: video (optional)

How to play:

1. Call out an item or a category, such as something blue or a favourite book.
2. Give students 30 seconds to find it at home.
3. They show it on camera or describe it in the chat.

Lower-tech option: a camera-off student can type what they found. Keep prompts neutral so no one is put on the spot about what they own.

11. Listen and draw

Best for: primary and language classes · Time: 10 minutes · Group size: whole class
You'll need: paper or a drawing tool

How to play:

1. Describe a simple picture step by step.
2. Students draw what they hear, with no peeking at each other's work.
3. Everyone holds up their drawing and you compare the results, which are usually very different.

Subject tip: it works well for language learning, practising how to follow instructions, and early geometry (describe shapes and positions).

12. Jackbox-style party games

Best for: secondary and adults · Time: 15 minutes or more · Group size: up to 8 per game
You'll need: a Jackbox pack (paid; only the host needs one)

How to play:

1. The host shares screen and audio; students join from a phone or browser tab with a room code.
2. Play a trivia or drawing round together.
3. Rotate players if the class is larger than the game allows.

Make it work for everyone: the games are rated for teens, so check the rating and turn on the family-friendly filter before you pick a title.

13. Four corners

Best for: any age · Time: 5–10 minutes · Group size: whole class
You'll need: a poll or on-screen reactions

How to play:

1. Ask a question with four possible answers, each tied to a poll option or a reaction emoji.
2. Students pick their answer at the same time.
3. Invite a few to explain their choice.

Subject tip: use it for opinion questions, 'which one doesn't belong?' prompts, or quick multiple-choice review. It gets everyone responding at once.

Classic and review games

Some of the most reliable virtual classroom ideas are old favourites adapted for a screen. They are familiar, quick to set up and flexible enough to fit any subject.

14. Pictionary and hangman

Best for: any age · Time: 10 minutes · Group size: two teams
You'll need: a shared whiteboard

How to play:

1. One student draws or sets the puzzle on the whiteboard.
2. The rest guess in the chat or out loud.
3. Split into teams and keep score across a few rounds to raise the stakes.

Subject tip: tie the words to the current unit so the game doubles as revision.

15. Taboo

Best for: secondary and adults · Time: 10 minutes · Group size: two teams
You'll need: word cards, a timer

How to play:

1. Send the target word and its banned words to the describer by private message.
2. They describe it to their team without using any of those words, for 60 seconds.
3. The team with the most correct guesses wins.

Subject tip: build the cards from key terms in the current unit; it forces students to explain concepts in their own words.

16. Live quiz games

Best for: any age · Time: 10–15 minutes · Group size: whole class
You'll need: a quiz tool with a free plan, such as Kahoot, Baamboozle or Wordwall

How to play:

1. Build a team quiz or flashcard challenge in your tool of choice.
2. Students answer from their own device; keep the leaderboard anonymous or team-based so no one is singled out.
3. Review the questions most students missed.

Subject tip: for maths revision, use the wrong answers to spot topics that need another pass. For a student who needs extra help between classes, a resource like a 4th grade math tutor can keep them on track.

17. Zoom-out reveal

Best for: any age · Time: 5 minutes · Group size: whole class
You'll need: a slide sequence

How to play:

1. Put a high-resolution image on a slide, cropped right in.
2. On each new slide, show a little more of the picture, every 5–10 seconds.
3. Students guess what it is as more appears.

Subject tip: use a close-up of a painting, a cell, a map or a historical photo linked to the day's lesson to introduce a new topic with a bit of suspense.

Exploration and challenges

Sometimes the best activity takes the class somewhere new, or gives them a reason to come back next week.

18. Virtual field trip

Best for: any age · Time: 15 minutes or more · Group size: whole class
You'll need: screen share

How to play:

1. Pick a tour and set a short task, such as three things to spot.
2. Share your screen and walk the class through it.
3. Debrief with the question you set.

Where to go: the British Museum online collection, Google Arts & Culture, a NASA mission page, or drop the class anywhere with Google Earth. Check each link works before the lesson.

19. Minute-to-win-it

Best for: primary and secondary · Time: 5 minutes · Group size: whole class
You'll need: video, common household items

How to play:

1. Set a 60-second task everyone can try with things at home, such as stacking ten cups into a pyramid or moving a sweet from forehead to mouth using only their face.
2. Everyone attempts it at once on camera.
3. Whoever finishes before the buzzer wins the round.

Inclusive option: offer a seated version and a no-camera route where students report their own result in the chat.

20. Weekly themed challenge

Best for: any age · Time: ongoing · Group size: individual
You'll need: a shared space for entries

How to play:

1. Set a brief that runs across the week: a photo theme, a short story, a design or a mini experiment.
2. Students post their entry to a shared space in their own time.
3. Share the results in your next live session.

Subject tip: rotate who picks the theme so ownership stays with the group. A running challenge builds anticipation between classes and gives quieter students time to take part.

Make these activities work for every student

The activities are the easy part. Running them so no one is left out takes a little more thought.

• Cameras and privacy: never require a camera. Most activities offer a chat-only or audio-only route; for the few that lean on it (video charades, the talent show, minute-to-win-it), let students opt out or take a non-performing role. Avoid tasks that put a child's home on show without a neutral alternative.
• Device and bandwidth: keep a low-tech version ready. Who am I?, story chain, four corners and live quizzes all run fine with text alone.
• Accessibility: turn on captions, extend timers for students who need it, and give a non-visual or non-audio route for activities that lean on one sense.
• Moderation: restrict whiteboard editing to the active player, use anonymous or team scoring on leaderboards, and agree what happens if someone drops out mid-game.

Agree on virtual classroom ground rules early so students know when to mute and how to take turns, and check your virtual classroom setup before a session that depends on it.

The trade-offs are worth weighing before you build these into a lesson:

A sample 45-minute online lesson

You rarely run these back to back. The best sessions blend a warm-up, one main task and a short closer. A simple plan:

• Minutes 0–5: a quick warm-up to settle the group (a scavenger hunt, or a short round of Who am I?).
• Minutes 5–35: your main teaching, broken up with one active task (four corners or a story chain to check understanding).
• Minutes 35–45: a review game to close (a zoom-out reveal, or a live quiz if you have the full slot).

Swap in activities that fit your subject and age group. Many of these also work for corporate virtual training, where the warm-up and review slots matter just as much.

Conclusion

With a bit of planning, virtual lessons can be engaging rather than exhausting. The 20 activities above cover icebreakers, creative projects, games and challenges, so you can mix and match to suit your subject, your age group and the time you have.

The platform you use matters too. Digital Samba for education runs in the browser with no download required for students, and includes breakout rooms, polls, an interactive whiteboard and moderation controls, all hosted on European infrastructure and built to be GDPR-compliant. You can start on the free plan or embed our video conferencing API into your own e-learning platform.

FAQ

What are good getting-to-know-you activities for virtual classrooms?

Games like 'Who am I?', 'Show and tell' and 'Mystery classroom' work well for breaking the ice. They get a new group talking, listening to each other and sharing something about themselves within the first session.

How do you make virtual training fun?

Use interactive tools and short, varied activities rather than long presentations. Add a live quiz or a breakout-room task, then close with a quick game, and vary the pace so energy stays high. The same mix works for corporate training as well as schools.

What is a simple activity for online classes?

An online scavenger hunt is one of the simplest. Call out an item or category and give students 30 seconds to find it at home and show it on camera. It needs no setup and adds instant energy.

What can teachers do when students lose focus in an online class?

Switch to a quick, active task: a scavenger hunt, a round of video charades or a live quiz. Short movement or game breaks win attention back and make it easier to return to the lesson.

What are the best virtual activities for younger students?

For primary ages, pick movement-based and hands-on activities. The online scavenger hunt, minute-to-win-it and show and tell all work well, keep young learners involved and need little preparation.

Are there free tools for virtual classroom games?

Yes. Scratch, Kahoot, Baamboozle and Wordwall all have free plans for coding projects, quizzes and review games. Digital Samba also has a free plan for running interactive online classes.