Tag: Brain Break

If there’s one thing kids love, it’s games! If you’re looking for brain breaks, icebreakers, team-building activities, field day games, or just ways to fill the last few minutes of class, Minute To Win It games are the answer. Many of these 60-second Minute To Win It games involve common items found around the classroom, while others require no equipment at all. There are games for kids as little as preschool and others that will keep even adults entertained. Whoever finishes the Minute To Win It games first is the winner. Our list of 50+ Minute To Win It games for kids features some hilarious and challenging games that will definitely be a hit with your class.

1. Chopstick Pickup

Split up your class into teams and give them each two paper plates, a set of chopsticks, and 20 pieces of candy or another small item like math manipulatives. Whoever moves the objects from plate to plate using the chopsticks fastest is the winner.

2. Scoop the Snowballs

Put out bowls of cotton balls and ice cream scoops. One player from each team has to scoop cotton balls into a bowl while blindfolded. Whoever scoops the most cotton balls within 60 seconds wins the game. Watch as the chaos unfolds!

Buy it: Blindfolds from Amazon

3. Cereal Box Puzzle

Cut up the front of cereal boxes to create puzzles. Then, students have a minute to put the puzzles together. Make sure each cereal puzzle is the same level of difficulty with the same number of pieces. 

4. Cup Stack

Stacking and unstacking cups is a sport (honestly!). Students are given a stack of plastic cups, then they have to stack and unstack the cups into a pyramid in a minute or less. If your students like the basic stacking game, they can get a cup-stacking game that includes 18 different variations.

Learn more: Sport Stacking 

Buy it: Cup-Stacking game at Amazon

5. Human Ring Toss

This is one of those Minute To Win It games that’s perfect for gym class, field day, or as an extra-special outdoor activity. It’s just like regular ring toss but with a fun twist: Hula-Hoops or pool rings are the rings and students are the “sticks.” Students choose someone to throw and someone to stand, and see how many “rings” they can toss over their partner within one minute.

6. Donut on a String

Tie donuts (or snack of choice) to a string and try to eat it with no hands! For an added challenge, try this blindfolded.

7. Dice Stack

Kids place a Popsicle stick in their mouth. When the timer starts, they try to balance five or six dice on the end of their stick for three seconds. It’s more challenging than it looks!

8. Pom-Pom and Straw Challenge

Line up pom-poms along a line or piece of tape. Students blow through straws to “race” the pom-poms across a finish line. The first pom-pom across the line wins.

Buy it: Pom-Poms at Amazon

9. Stack It Up

Students move 25 pennies into a stack using only one hand in this Minute To Win It challenge.

10. Baby Rattle

The goal here is to move all the marbles or gumballs from one 2-liter bottle to the other. Before the game, fill one empty 2-liter soda bottle with gumballs or marbles. Tape the empty bottle to another 2-liter bottle by the neck. Then students shake the bottle with the marbles until all the marbles are transferred to the other bottle. 

11. Ping-Pong Tic-Tac-Toe

Use trays that will fit a Ping-Pong ball to play a fun spin on tic-tac-toe! Students toss Ping-Pong balls, and the first player or team to get three in a row wins. 

Buy it: Box of Table Tennis Balls at Amazon

12. One-Handed Bracelets

Provide students with a paper plate filled with Cheerios (or Froot Loops, etc.) and a pipe cleaner. Students use one hand to put as many cereal pieces onto the pipe cleaner as possible in one minute. 

Buy it: Pipe Cleaners at Amazon

13. Yank the Cards

Set up plastic cups with pieces of card stock in between. Players yank the cards out from between the cups, causing the cups to fall into a tower. Each time a player makes a mistake, they must reset until all the cups fall into each other. This game is a blast!

14. Worm Diving

Moisten a gummy worm and tie it to the “fishing line.” Dive that worm into a bowl of pretzels, and then eat the pretzel without using your hands. A delicious yet challenging game. 

15. Blow It to the Other Side

Blow the Ping-Pong balls from one soda can to the other. So frustrating yet so much fun!

16. Suck It Up

Using a straw and some chocolate candies, move as many candies as possible to an empty plate. Bonus: Kids get to eat the candy at the end! 

Buy it: Biodegradable Paper Straws at Amazon

17. Wrapping Presents

Just like wrapping presents, only with a twist. Each team of two has one person using only their right hand and the other using only their left hand to wrap the present. First team to wrap the present, put a bow on it, and address it to someone wins! 

18. Keep the Balloon Up

The goal seems simple: Keep three balloons from touching the floor or leaving the designated area. Inflate three balloons and set a timer. Throw three balloons into the air. Students stay in a designated area and use any part of their body to keep the balloons in the air. To make it easier or harder, change the area that students are working in to be smaller or larger. All three balloons must stay in the air for the whole minute for students to win the game. 

Buy it: Balloons at Amazon

19. Traffic Yam 

Using a sweet potato and a spoon, players must move the potato down the line of painter’s tape and back. The hard part is keeping the sweet potato in line. This one will definitely bring on some laughs!

20. LEGO Tower

Kids build a tower of LEGO as tall as they can, only with a catch: They can only use their hands to touch one brick at a time, so holding the tower still is not allowed. Prepare for lots of crashing LEGO towers!

Buy it: Box of Building Bricks at Amazon

21. Sticky Note Challenge

Divide students into pairs. One partner has a packet of sticky notes, the other has to stand still. The partner with the sticky notes puts as many sticky notes on their partner as possible in one minute. Up the challenge and require that the sticky notes do not overlap.

Buy it: Sticky Notes at Amazon

22. Speedy Bowling

Set up pins (you can use a bowling set or empty soda bottles or cans), and give each student five balls to knock them over in one minute. The fun of this version of bowling is in the strategy—do students try to aim just right or just roll the ball as many times as possible?

Buy it: Bowling Set at Amazon

23. Cup and Coin Stacking

Line up eight cups so that the edges touch. Then, students stack coins on the edge of the cups. If the coins fall in, the game is over!

24. Bottle Flipping

Fill plastic bottles one-third full of water. Then, students flip the bottles into the air and try to make them land upright. Students may want to perfect their technique so they can compete as expert bottle flippers. 

25. Paper Toss

Ball up pieces of paper and attempt to shoot them into a recycling bin. The twist is, you have to throw the paper blindfolded! This is a perfect way to clean up paper and scraps in the classroom in that final minute of class. At least all the paper will be in or closer to the garbage can.

Buy it: Blindfolds at Amazon

26. Ready Spaghetti

Set up a row of empty soda cans. Give pairs of students dry spaghetti noodles. Students use their noodles (no hands) to move soda cans from one spot to another. Add an additional challenge by requiring students to create a pyramid with their cans.

27. Tea Party

Players wear a baseball hat with tea bags attached to either side of it as they swing the bags around until someone lands them both on the bill of the hat. We love that this Minute To Win It game requires little more than what you already have at home.

28. Bottoms Up

We love games that use toys in an unconventional and inventive way. In this fast-paced game, players hang a yo-yo from their pants and then attempt to swing it around and knock four soda cans over.

29. Antlers

Give each pair of students a pair of nylon stockings and several balloons (enough to fill the legs of the stockings). Students stuff the balloons into the nylons and then place the nylons onto one of the player’s heads, making antlers.

30. Mad Dog

Glue two boxes of mints to the end of a wooden ruler. Then, students shake the ruler in their teeth to empty the boxes of mints in less than one minute

31. Egg Race

What could be more fun than a good old-fashioned egg race? We highly recommend using plastic or hard-boiled eggs so there’s less mess afterward.

Buy it: Egg & Spoon Race Set at Amazon

32. Plastic Egg Match

Although you could play this anytime, a plastic egg match is one of the perfect Minute To Win It games to play in the spring. Scatter halves of plastic eggs around a room and then have players race to match as many as they can and return them to a basket in the corner of the room.

Learn more: Cool Ways To Use Plastic Eggs in the Classroom

33. Stare Down

Do you need a Minute To Win It game but don’t have any supplies on hand? All you need for a good old-fashioned staring contest is the ability not to laugh first!

34. Obstacle Course

Set up a DIY obstacle course using everyday objects, then have kids maneuver their way through the course in less than a minute. Create a graph of the time it took in seconds for each student to complete the obstacle course for an extra math component.

35. Book Balance

Set up a course for students to walk through and have them complete the course with a book balanced on their head.

36. Backward ABCs

This one is so simple, but don’t let that fool you. First, see who can say the alphabet backward in a minute. Of the people who can do it in a minute or less, see who can do it the fastest.

37. Spin Doctor

All you need for this game is a level surface and some coins. Students compete in pairs. One partner sets a coin spinning and the other has to stop it, then send it spinning back. Keep track of the number of times each pair sends the coin from one end of the table to the other.

38. Cookie Face

See who can get a cookie off their face and into their mouth in under a minute.

39. Toilet Paper Pull

Before playing this Minute To Win It game, unwind several rolls of toilet paper across a table with a heavy-ish object on one end. Make sure each object is the same weight. Then, place some painter’s tape down on the end where the players will sit. Finally, have players race to roll up their toilet paper without breaking it or knocking the object off the paper.

40. Whipped Cream Christmas Tree

Grab some friends and cans of whipped cream and then see who can build the tallest Christmas tree in a minute’s time.

41. Plate Head

The premise of this game is so simple, but it will be sure to have kids laughing. One player balances a paper plate on their head while a teammate races to see how many objects they can place on it without it falling.

42. Bite It!

Cut up paper bags to various heights and place them around the room. Players race to pick up as many as they can in a minute using just their mouth.

43. Dizzy Mummy

Students work in pairs. Each pair has a roll of toilet paper. One person spins while the other unrolls the toilet paper, wrapping the first person up in toilet paper. It’s a great way to get some energy out and have everyone in giggles.

44. Shoe Flick

Set up a series of tables 10 feet or more from where participants are standing. Everyone attempts to throw a shoe onto the first table. If successful, they can attempt to throw it onto the next table, and so on until the minute is over. The player to get the shoe the farthest wins.

45. Oven Mitt Race

Give each participant a pair of oven mitts and then see how many Hershey’s Kisses they can unwrap in a minute. For extra motivation, let them eat whatever they can unwrap!

Buy it: Set of Oven Mitts at Amazon

46. Color Sort

This is one of the perfect Minute To Win It games for the littlest competitors since it reinforces color recognition and gross motor skills. See who can sort the most M&Ms or similar candies by color in a minute. Students can do this at their tables or using a relay format running to and from a pile of M&Ms and bowls.

47. Rhyming Race

Assign a word and then see who can come up with the most rhymes for it in a minute.

48. Whipped Cream Worm Search

Put down a tablecloth. Then, hide gummy worms in a pile of whipped cream. Students race to see who can find the most gummy worms. The trick: They can only use their mouth.

49. Junk in the Trunk

Fill a tissue box with Ping-Pong balls. Then, stick the tissue box onto someone’s backside (with a belt or tape). Students have to shake all the balls out of the tissue box in one minute in order to win. The only rule: Students may not touch the box with their hands. 

50. Ponginator

Place a large egg create (18 or 24 eggs) in the center. Pass out Ping-Pong balls to students who stand at an equal distance away from the egg crate. Then, students toss the Ping-Pong balls into the egg create. The team that throws the most Ping-Pong balls into the egg crate wins. 

51. Cookie Unicorn

Students with good balance (we guess) will do well with this Minute To Win It game. Students have one minute to stack cookies (think sandwich cookies, like Oreos) on their forehead. If the cookies drop, they have to start over. You can play to a set number, like five cookies, or focus on stacking the most cookies they can. And the full stack must remain on their head for three seconds. 

52. Marshmallow Toss

Put cups on a flat surface and have students stand 2 to 4 feet away. Each student has a set of marshmallows (or another small candy) and tosses the marshmallows into the cup. The student that gets the most marshmallows into the cup in one minute wins. 

53. Apron Race

Students put on an apron, either a baking apron or a half apron. They fill the pocket of the apron with pennies, beans, Ping-Pong balls, or other items. Then they run from one spot to another. If they drop anything, they lose. 

54. Ball Drop

In this Minute To Win It game, students try to get a ball into a cup, but from a vertical drop (instead of a horizontal throw). Students stand over a cup and drop a ball into the cup. It’s harder than it sounds! 

55. Balloon Stomp

Blow up balloons to the same size. Tie a balloon around everyone’s ankle. Then, students try to stomp on each others’ balloons. The last person with an inflated balloon around their ankle wins. You can also arrange this challenge in rounds. 

56. Choosing Cups

You’ll need 25 cups. Put a sticker on the bottom of some of the cups. Fill each cup partway with water. Players choose one cup at a time and try to find the cup with the sticker. 

57. Applestack

Give each team five apples. They have one minute to stack them. This is harder than it sounds, so working in teams is a good idea. 

58. Nose Dive

Prepare three bowls, one with a little petroleum jelly, one with cotton balls, and one empty bowl. Students dip their nose into the jelly, then into the cotton balls. Then, they run with the cotton ball on their nose to the other bowl and drop the cotton ball into the empty bowl. They repeat for one minute, and the student who transfers the most cotton balls in this Minute To Win It game is the winner. 

If you like these Minute To Win It games, check out these active math games and activities for your young learners.

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