Elementary Education Games About Careers

Exposing elementary school students to various career options can be very beneficial. Students can gain an early awareness of the importance of careers, as well as what is required in order to participate in specific types of careers. Using games as a tool to teach about careers allows students to be actively involved and to have fun while they learn.

This games allows students to act out different types of careers. Prepare for the game by writing the names of various careers on index cards (one career per card). Use careers that elementary school students will be familiar with or careers that you've discussed with your class. Possibilities include a teacher, fire fighter, doctor, construction worker, police officer, professional athlete, banker and chef. Select a student to come to the front of the class and choose a card from the deck. The student must then act out the career choice without using words or sounds. The class guesses what is on the card based on the charades that are displayed. The student who guesses correctly gets to go next. Another variation of this game would be to draw what is on the card rather than to act it out.

This game challenges students to match job titles with job descriptions. Write various career options all over your whiteboard or chalkboard. Read through the names on the board with your students. Divide the class into two teams and line each team up single-file. Give the first student in each line a fly swatter. Describe one of the careers written on the board and call out, "Go!" When the two students with fly swatters hear this command, they will race to the board in an attempt to be the first one to swat the correct job title with the fly swatter. The first one to swat the correct title earns a point for her team. The students then pass the swatter to the next person in line and move to the end of the line. The game continues until everyone has had a turn.

This game allows students to try to guess a mystery career through a series of questions and answers. Select a student to come to the front of the classroom. Whisper the title of a career into his ear or show him a title written on a sheet of paper. The other students then get to question the child at the front about the mystery career. Allow the person who is "it" to call on one student at a time to ask a question. The questions must be phrased so that the person who is "it" can answer with a "yes" or a "no." After each question, the student who asked the question also gets to take a guess at the career. The first student who guesses the career correctly gets to go next. If no one guesses correctly after 20 questions, the child who is "it" gets to choose the next person to come to the front.