Why You Should Be Playing 20 Questions

What is the game 20 Questions and why should you be playing 20 questions in your classroom? This is a fun game that your students will enjoy! This game is a favorite of mine because I love to play to learn and I love to have children work on asking and answering questions as often as possible.

Explain the Game 20 Questions

20 questions is a FUN game that your students will love. This game focuses on asking and answering questions, which every young child needs to work on! It also can be concentrated on one subject or another. For example, a game can be focused on a letter or a sound. I did not invent this game,
but I did try my best to perfect this version to make it functional and educational to integrate it into a kindergarten classroom.

What Do I Need to Play 20 Questions?

Here is the breakdown of the 20 Questions game… You need a band, cards, and a mat. One student wears a band on their head. You can use one from this Headbandz game or you can make your own with a sentence strip and a paper clip. We have this exact game at home, so it was easy for me to take two to school.

The student with the headband gets a card placed in their band and they do not know what card it is. The rest of the class can see the card, but they can NOT tell what it is. The student with the band will have to ask one question at a time, up to 20 questions, to figure out their mystery card. The students in the class have to listen to the question and answer it with a YES or NO only.

How Can You Play This Game?

You can play this game in whole group, small groups, and even in partners. Fun right? Well, that is a little too open-ended for kindergarteners. It just doesn’t set them up for learning success.

First Thing First to Play 20 Questions

First, you want to focus the game on what you are learning about in your classroom. We know little learners do not always concentrate on the topic at hand. And we also know playing to learn is the BEST way to learn and is exactly what should be occurring in our classrooms. Here is a glimpse of a game with lowercase letters (with orange) and a version with uppercase letters (with yellow).

20 Questions Mats Are the Key

Next, I created images for the bands that correspond to a matching MAT. Here is a peek at the initial sounds mats, for EACH of the letters of the alphabet. The student with the band, who is asking the 20 questions, can refer to the mat to help focus on the possible choices, as appropriate questions to lead him or her to an answer AND cross off the choices that are no longer possible. Additionally, there are numbers 1-20 on the bottom of the mat for the student to cross off as they ask their questions. We laminate these mats of put them in page protectors so they can be used again and again.

Ready to Play Games

And I should mention that I color-coded EACH mat to the cards. This means no issues with sorting, playing, and putting away the pieces! There are 29 Letter games in this ONE pack so you can easily make this a weekly center or station! There is also a 20 Questions Numbers version of this game as well as a 20 Questions Letters version.