This document provides instructions for teachers to conduct several interactive games and activities in the classroom to engage students in learning. It describes games that can be used to teach about psychology disorders through role playing, enhance memory skills, demonstrate personal space differences, detect lying, and help students get to know each other. The games aim to make learning fun while addressing important concepts.

1. Werewolf
• Give each student a piece of paper which tells them if they are a werewolf or a villager and to
keep their identity a secret even if they have to lie. Tell the students to close their eyes for
"nighttime" and tell the werewolves to open their eyes and silently choose a villager to kill. The
students then open their eyes, find out who has been killed by the werewolves and discuss who
to lynch. This game is repeated until the villagers lynch all the werewolves or the werewolves
kill all the villagers. The object of this game is to understand lying, group decision making and
the mob mentality.
Fake Intake Interview
• Tell the students about a new patient who has asked for mental health treatment and what
brought the new patient to them. Break the students up into groups to discuss what questions
they would like to ask the new patient. Then pretend to be the patient and act out his symptoms
while being interviewed by the students. The students should work as a group, asking questions
and filling out an intake and diagnostic report while referring to their textbook.
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•
The Memory Game
• Arrange twenty or so objects on a tray and cover them with a towel or sheet. Allow the students
to have a full minute to look at the tray without touching it, and then cover it back up. Then ask
them to write down as many of the objects that they can remember in five minutes. The person
who remembers the most is the winner of the game. Use this game to discuss which of the
objects were the easiest to remember and the most difficult to remember and if there was any
one object that everyone forgot.
The Personal Space Game
• Divide the students into three groups. Tell each group to use different versions of personal
space. For instance, one group stands close enough to almost touch, one group stands far away
from other people and the other group is somewhere in the middle. Then tell the students to
interact with each other and have conversations.
Lying to Peers
• In this game, each student stands in front of the class and tells the others three or more facts
about himself, one of which is a lie. The class should then vote on which statement is a lie and
which are truthful. The object of this game is to focus on body language, but it can also be used
to discuss social stereotypes and how people form impressions about each other.
Instructions

2. • Role Playing To Learn The Different Disorders in
Psychology
• 1
Assign a psychological disorder to each student in your class. Have them study these
disorders inside and out. Instruct them to learn the symptoms, such as how someone
might act and what someone might say who is suffering from this disorder. They need to
know the average age on onset, and environmental factors vs. innate factors. Give the
students one week to become knowledgeable in these disorders. Let them know that they
will need to know enough about what the symptoms look like to portray this diagnosis in
a subtle way in front of the class.
• 2
Next randomly pick four students to do a role-playing vignette in front of the class. Take
the students into the hallway, out of earshot of the rest of the class. Assign the roles of
family members, such as mother, father, son, daughter, grandmother, or an outside
friend. Ask them to role-play the dinner hour, with the family around the table discussing
the day. Set up an area in the front of the room with four chairs around a table or desk to
recreate the dinner table. Instruct the students to seriously portray the symptoms of the
disorder they have been assigned while at the dinner table.
•
• 3
Explain to the students that these symptoms need to be realistic and not exaggerated.
Someone assigned to generalized anxiety disorder might present with worries about
homework, friends not inviting him somewhere and so on. Another student might be
assigned to bipolar disorder. Her discussion, using pressured speech, would relate to that
condition's manic stage, for example, all the shopping she's done. Assign a person to
direct the role play in each group. This might be the student playing the father or mother.
He needs to ask pointed questions and help promp and direct the discussion in this
exercise.
• 4
Ask the class observing this to try and distinguish the diagnoses they are witnessing
from their classmates. Then that particular student can speak about the diagnosis for five
minutes, explaining it and why he chose the symptoms that hid did. Have him explain
what else this diagnosis would mean for the person he is role playing. By facilitating this
activity, you can point out the differences between the diagnoses and see that they are
presented correctly.
• 5
Do this as a college-level activity to help the students focus on what the diagnosis
actually looks like in real life. Reading about a specific diagnosis is one way to learn
about the different factors that are involved in a disorder. Actually seeing what this
might look like when a person is afflicted with this disorder helps bring a better
understanding of the different disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of

3. Mental Health Disorders (DSM). It will also foster empathy in the students for the
various disorders they are portraying and observing.
Name Game
• On the first day of school to create a warm atmosphere, ask your students to introduce
themselves to you and everyone else. Have the students stand in a circle and individually
introduce themselves, saying their name and an adjective that begins with the first letter of their
name.
To add some spice to the game, ask the student to say the names and adjectives of all of students
preceding him. This will ensure that the students are remembering each other's names.
Human Knot
• This is a great game for a group of students with whom you'd like to foster a community. Ask
your students to stand in a circle and with their left hand take the hand of someone near them,
then with their right hand take the hand of someone else; make sure no one is holding hands
with the person next to them. Ask the students to untangle themselves, without letting go of the
other person's hand, to form a circle.
To make this game a bit more challenging, ask students not to speak to one another. You can
also make it a competition by having two groups complete the same task and see who can finish
first.
•
Two Truths and a Lie
• This game is excellent for psychology classes or criminal law classes so that you may examine
the way someone behaves when he or she is lying. It can be used for other classes as a way to
gain more information about your students and peers.
Ask each student to think up two true things about themselves and one lie. Go around the class,
and ask each student to say their truths and a lie; it is up to the class to figure out which
statement was the lie. For a criminal studies or psychology class, discuss why the class
determined which was the lie by the way the person is standing, sitting or other body language
cues. Make sure you participate yourself to make the activity even more fun and expose
yourself to the students.
arty Card Games
• Large groups of people get to know each other better through games in some settings. There are
a few different games that are great for large groups, like the game "Apples to Apples," which is
a large group card game in which players suggest object words using red cards that match
descriptive words on green cards. Players take turns judging submissions from others. Another
group card game is "Mafia," where players draw cards, each associated with a role, and then try
to guess who has what card based on a series of instructions.

4. Web Games
• There are a lot of free games on the Internet, many of which are made by and for kids in
college. These games are listed on sites like "Kongregate," which gets new games daily and also
includes achievements for skilled players. You can also find some of these games on social
media sites like Facebook, and you may find some of your friends playing these games.
Video Games
• You may find yourself having more time between classes when you're in college. Ask your
friends what games they are playing on consoles. Some of these games have multiplayer modes,
and you may be able to join people in your dorm on one of these games. A game like "Team
Fortress 2," for example, can have many players at the same time using their own computers.
You can also have a few people over and start your own band in "Rock Band," where you can
all play in the same room.
Drinking Games
• In college, a lot of students turn the legal age to purchase and drink alcohol, and there are a
huge number of games you can play with it. For example, the game "Kings," played with a deck
of cards. The deck is scattered into a pile, and players take turns drawing cards, each of which is
associated with a rule, such as the number "Five" which means "Guys," all male players take a
drink. You should only purchase and use alcohol if you are of legal age or you risk arrest.