End of the Year Review Games for Kindergarten

As the school year winds down, reviewing key skills from the year is at the top of your teacher to-do list. Keeping students actively engaged and on task throughout the spring months is also at the top of the list! Make reviewing skills at the end of the year fun with these fun, easy prep review games for kindergarten!

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What Are The Benefits of Using Review Games?

What’s not to love about playing games, right? Using review games for kindergarten, especially at the end of the year, is a fun way to practice and review important skills learned throughout the year.

Not only that, but review games keep students engaged and actively learning. At the end of the year, students tend to be a bit more wiggly. Playing games is a great way to channel their energy into something productive.

Another benefit of using review games for kindergarten is that you can work on multiple skills. With versatile activity game mats, you can tailor the review game to match any skill you’d like to review!

The best part about using versatile review games is you can use them all year long, not just at the end of the year!

As students play, teachers can easily assess their students informally to see what skills they still need to work on. This is a less stressful way for students to show what they know.

Using review games in kindergarten helps students foster independence as they play, learn, and problem-solve.

They also build collaborative learning skills as they work together and bond with their classmates. This is especially important before summer break, as students tend to miss their classmates and socializing at school over the summer.

End of the year review games do not have to be complicated or hard to prep. They can be simple and easy to add to your lesson plans at anytime of day.

When you’re short on time, have a few extra minutes, or sense that your students need to get moving, work some of these quick time filler games into your day.

Using Materials Already In Your Classroom

When you hear the word games, you probably think about all of the materials you may need. However, there are so many review games for kindergarten that you can play using basic materials you already have in your classroom.

Here are some of the best, most versatile manipulatives to use for your review games:

• Plastic spinners (or DIY pencil/paperclip spinners)
• Dot cubes
• Dominoes
• Mini erasers
• Plastic math cubes
• Bingo dabbers
• Play Dough
• Pom pom balls
• Bean bags
• Whiteboards and dry erase markers
• Plastic trays or containers

Spin and Cover CVC Word Families Game

A fun CVC word family review game for kindergarten uses only 2 basic manipulatives, spinners and mini erasers (or another type of game marker).

Spin and Cover is perfect for practicing recognizing and reading CVC words and word families. This game is great for small group review, partner games, independent learning, and can even be used as an early finisher review game.

Each player gets their own CVC word mat. They spin, identify the picture, and cover the word that matches. The first player to cover all of their words is the winner.

When playing in partners or small groups, students will learn how to play together, take turns, and be good sports. Anytime you can work those important social skills into your day, the better!

DIY Review Games for Kindergarten

You can get creative with your review games by making up your own DIY games. These two games would make a great whole group or small group review game at the end of the school year (or anytime of year)!

Jeopardy

Jeopardy is a classic review game that can be differentiated to meet the needs and developmental level of your students. It’s super versatile and easy to prep and play.

You can make your own categories and points system on the whiteboard. Prep a list of questions for each category and point level ahead of time.

You can write the questions on notecards and keep them in a stack in your desk whenever you need a quick review game!

Divide students into teams to play. Have the teams take turns choosing a category and point level. You can have students on the team take turns being the “chooser.”

Read the question and have the team discuss together to come up with an answer. When the entire team has their hand raised, call on them to share their answer.

If they are correct, they get the points and mark off the point level on the whiteboard. If they are not, the next team gets a chance to answer.

This is a great way to encourage teamwork while practicing multiple skills and subjects in one simple review game.

Beachball Review

This review game will most definitely get students in the mood for summer! Write different skills and questions on a beachball. You can write sight words, CVC words, color words, number words, math facts, teen numbers, etc.

Students will stand in a circle and toss the beachball gently. You can play music while students toss.

When the music stops (or when the teacher says “stop,”) the student who last caught the ball will answer the question/read the word that their right thumb lands on. Hurray for a little extra left and right practice!

To give students an extra challenge, you can have them solve the question that BOTH of their thumbs land on.

You can review various subjects and skills with this beachball review game. If you wanted, you could have multiple beachballs and have one be filled with all math review questions and the other be filled with all literacy review questions.

Summer Boom Cards Digital Review Games

Playing hands-on review games at the end of the year is fun, but let’s face it, sometimes you just need a quick digital game that you can break out at anytime.

These Summer Boom Cards are the perfect digital review games for kindergarten at the end of the year. They are no prep, require no grading, and have audio directions on each slide.

Students can review skills independently with ease while you tend to all of the other important end of the year teacher tasks, such as assessing students, wrapping up projects, and working 1-on-1 with students.

Skills included in this summer set are: CVC or CVCe words, CCVC sentences, CVCe word match, beginning blends, comparing numbers using <, >, =, graphing and data, counting by 5s and 10s, and addition and subtraction fluency within 5.

FREE Editable Summer Stand and Sit Review Game

If you’re looking for a fun, versatile summer review game for kindergarten that gets students up and moving, you’re going to love this!

This Editable Summer Stand and Sit Review Game FREEBIE is the perfect way to review any skill while keeping students active.

Simply type in the words, letters, numbers, or questions you’d like students to review, print the suns and recording sheet, and you’re set!

You can grab your free download by filling out the form below and it will be delivered straight to your inbox!

I hope you enjoyed these end of the year review games for kindergarten. For more activities and strategies for end of the year spiral review, click here!