The School of Play Curriculum
Primary School Foundation - Grade Two
This bonus activity section is packed with 24 game-based learning ideas designed to help educators transform everyday lessons into experiences that students genuinely look forward to. Drawing inspiration from board games, sports, and video games, each activity introduces simple yet powerful mechanics that turn learning into an active, engaging, and energetic experience. These are not just one-off ideas; they’re tried-and-tested approaches that bring subjects to life, encourage participation, and create an environment where students feel excited to be involved.
What makes this collection especially powerful is its flexibility. Alongside each structured activity are blank versions, allowing educators to adapt the core idea to any topic, age group, or learning goal. This opens the door for creativity, allowing teachers to experiment, take risks, and design lessons that truly connect with their students. At its heart, this section is about empowering educators to amplify both learning and well-being, creating classrooms where joy, curiosity, and meaningful engagement are at the centre of every experience.
Weekly Lessons
Auction Hunters
Inspired by the high-stakes energy of Auction Hunters, this game throws students into a fast-paced world of bidding, budgeting, and decision-making. Teams are given a limited number of tokens and must compete in live “storage auctions,” catching only a quick 5-second glimpse of each mystery container before placing their bids. With no time to overthink, students are challenged to take risks, read the room, and decide what’s worth spending their money on, knowing that one smart move could secure a goldmine of equipment… or a whole lot of nothing.
Once the auctions are completed, the real challenge begins. Using only the items they’ve won, each team must collaborate to design a unique game or lesson to teach the rest of the group. Whether they’ve scored big or ended up with minimal resources, every team is pushed to think creatively, problem-solve, and bring their ideas to life. It’s a powerful blend of strategy, teamwork, and imagination, where ownership of learning takes centre stage and where even the “worst” pick can turn into something magical.
Avatars
Avatars bring a simple but powerful twist to the way students are seen and represented in the classroom. Instead of names on display, students choose a character to represent them across games, groups, and leaderboards just like in the digital worlds they already know and love. It instantly adds a layer of fun and identity, while removing the pressure and labels that often come with traditional grouping. The focus shifts from “who’s where” to participation, progress, and play, creating a more inclusive and engaging learning environment for everyone.
To bring these avatars to life, the Avatar Race game turns any lesson into an unpredictable, high-energy challenge. Students move through stations by completing exercises or answering questions, with the roll of a dice deciding their progress forward, backward, or stuck in place. It’s a perfect blend of movement, learning, and luck, where anyone can win regardless of ability. Whether you’re teaching literacy, numeracy, geography, or just looking for an energiser, this flexible game template keeps students motivated, involved, and excited to keep going.
Carcassonne Fitness
Carcassonne Fitness 2 takes a classic strategy-style game and brings it to life through movement, energy, and a whole lot of decision-making. Players take turns drawing tiles, completing the fitness challenge attached, and then carefully placing their piece to build a growing map of houses. With simple rules matching materials like grass, straw, sticks, and bricks, students are constantly thinking ahead, planning their placements, and aiming to complete houses to score points. It’s active, engaging, and just competitive enough to keep everyone locked in from start to finish.
What makes this game even more powerful is how easily it can be adapted to suit any lesson. With the Shapes Expansion, each tile can trigger a question linked to your current topic, blending physical movement with academic thinking in a seamless way. Answer correctly and play your piece. Get it wrong and miss your turn. Whether it’s maths, literacy, or fitness concepts, students are challenged on multiple levels while still having fun. It’s the perfect mix of strategy, learning, and movement, where every decision counts and every tile can change the game.
Classroom Supercoach
Supercoach turns your classroom into a living, breathing sports league where every student becomes both player and coach. Inspired by the world of fantasy sports, students build their own team within a salary cap, selecting players based on skill values they earn through a series of challenges. As their abilities improve, so does their “player value,” meaning each decision on who to select, who to trade, and how to train becomes part of a bigger strategy. It’s a dynamic way to blend competition, ownership, and real-world thinking into a game students genuinely care about.
Across multiple weeks, students compete in matches, track performance on a ladder, and adjust their teams as results unfold. Each game contributes to their overall team score, encouraging not just participation, but consistent effort and improvement. Beyond the action, students engage in reflection through match write-ups, value tracking, and performance analysis, building numeracy, literacy, and life skills along the way. It’s more than just a game. It’s an ongoing experience where growth, strategy, and engagement drive everything forward.
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