Looking to engage your students this new school year? Blooket to the rescue! I first learned about this tool while teaching online last year. I wanted to keep my students entertained and tuned in. As if the stars aligned and the educational technology goddesses smiled down upon me I discovered Blooket and all the ways I could customize it. What started as an “OK, I guess we can try this newfangled website and see if it works” turned into a relied-upon and highly anticipated way to begin class, practice concepts, and laugh. This year consider Blooket for teaching any and all subjects!
What is Blooket?
Blooket—like Kahoot! and Quizizz—is an online platform where teachers launch a game and students join with a code. Teachers can launch Blooket as a whole class for the ultimate competition or assign it “solo” to allow students to practice at their own pace without the stress of competition. Students can unlock Blooks (cute avatars) by earning points during gameplay. They can also use their points to “buy” different “boxes” which contain themed Blooks (Medieval Box, Wonderland Box, etc.). Frequently, there is fierce competition amongst my students for certain Blooks, such as the horse and the “fancy” toast. Without fail, when my middle schoolers see that a Blooket is on our schedule, a sense of excitement and competition permeates our classroom.
Play or Create—With Blooket You Can Do Both
Not only can you play Blookets created by others on virtually any subject you can think of, but you can also create your own to meet the needs of your class. From the homepage, you can join a Blooket (this is where your students will go to join the Blooket you’ve launched). First, create your account (I use the “log in with Google” feature). Next, Blooket transports you to the Dashboard. From here, you can search for pre-made Blookets in the Discover section or Create your own game. Type in your questions, use images for the answer choices, import question sets from Quizlet, and more. Once your students have completed a game, you can view the class accuracy from the History section on the Dashboard. *This tool is super handy, especially if you are preparing for an assessment.
*Although most features in Blooket are free, Blooket Plus appears to be a new paid version that allows you to view enhanced game reports.
Maximum Customization—Game Modes, Time, and Power-Ups
Once you’ve chosen from the Blooket library or launched your own creation, it’s time to decide upon the game mode. If the mode you choose has a time component, my go-to limit is 10 minutes for game play. Finally, choose to have your students join with Random Names (such as SeaFriend, GriffinBreath, or SunGrove) or with their own. We prefer Random Names due both to the hilarity of the silly combos and the anonymity. One of our favorite modes is timed Factory played with Glitches (Power-Ups). Namely, we like this one because it features such Glitches as “Vortex Glitch,” which flips the competitors’ screens around, causing general chaos and uproar. In addition to Factory, Gold Quest and Tower Defense are on our regular rotation. The vast range of customization enables us to play Blookets often, choosing different content and game modes to maintain intrigue.
Blooket Library (Content-Based and Beyond)
Distance Learning or hybrid teaching, math or science, right when school begins or mid-May when everyone is exhausted, Blooket is guaranteed to infuse laughter, friendly competition, and excitement into your classroom. I wish I had discovered Blooket earlier than January, but here are all the Blookets I’ve used in my 7th grade math/science class to date (these are all pre-made Blookets—remember, you can create your own).
For Math:
- Geometry: Volume of Prisms, Classify Angles, Classify Angles: Complementary/Supplementary/Triangles, 3D Solid Figures
- Expressions and Equations: Equations and Inequalities, Two-Step Inequalities, Two-Step Equations, One-Step Equations, Solve One-Step Addition and Subtraction Equations, Distributive Property and Factoring Algebraic Expressions
For Science:
- Earth Science: Earth’s Interior, Rock Cycle, Weathering, Plate Boundaries, Earth Science, 7th Grade Earth Science, Fossils, Landforms, Invasive Species, Species Interaction, Biodiversity, Ecosystem
For Holidays, Advisory, and Fun:
- Popular Movies, Name That Logo, St. Patrick’s Day, Earth Day, Anime, anime, anime, Sports, Sports, Sports, Black History, Name Disney Movies by Scene, Self-Esteem
Will you try Blooket this year? Share in the comments below!
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Looking for more ways to gamify your class? Check out “15 Totally Fun Kahoot Ideas and Tips You’ll Want to Try Right Away”
