Divide the class into groups. Each group must recite a times table, one student at a time. Student A: One times four is four Student B: Two times four is eight ... and so on If a student gets it wrong, they have to try again. Time the entire process and end your stopwatch when they finish 12x4. The teams compete against other groups - listening quietly means they have a better chance later. If you record the teams and their scores, they can compete against themselves the next time to try to beat their own records.

You are going to spend some time on a desert island. You can choose from the following items to have with you:

• Tools
• clothes
• food
• drinks
• books
• CDs
• animals
• friends
• one luxury which can not be alive

Present and justify your choices.

Draw up two columns on the board, label them Team X and Team Y. Tell them that they are all in Team X and you are the only person in Team Y. Draw a frowny face over Team X "because you are going to lose the game" and a smily face over Team Y "because I am going to win.". Tell them that you are going ton read something and ask a student some questions. If they answer correctly they get a point, if they answer incorrectly you get a point, if they talk you get a point. Warn them that if they earn too many points, you might start asking irrelevant questions. What this means is that you stop half way through reading and ask a student something different ('Ben, do you like basketball?')

Blindfold one student and sit him in the middle of a circle of students. In front of him sit a set of keys. The students around the circle have to try to steal the keys, but if the keymaster hears anything, they have to point to the source of the sound. If they point at an approaching student, that student has to return to the edge of the circle. This should keep your students quiet unless they discover the loophole. But I'm not going to tell you that.

Heads down, thumbs up.

Think up a list of questions, then write the answers randomly about the board. With two students, one on either side of the whiteboard, ask a question and a point goes to the team of the student who 'slams' the answer

Get one student to act out an animal that begins with a particular sound. The other students have to guess by asking questions like "Is it 'ch' for 'chicken'?"

Set up two teams and a tic-tac-toe (naughts and crosses) game on the whiteboard. Teams can only add their symbol once they have answered a question correctly, or they forfeit their turn.