Trivia games can be fun to play and challenge your seventh graders to learn. The young players history edition of Trivial Pursuit or questions you make up for the class will work in this context. Make a game of it by offering small prizes to the winners. While students may not be able to answer many of the questions in the beginning, playing the game on a regular basis can begin filling their heads with basic facts that you can build into more complex lesson plans.
The History Channel offers a wide range of online games and activities that are ideal for classrooms with computer access. Games range from simple puzzle and trivia-related games to action games depicting historic events and interactive games that incorporate video with game play to teach students history through entertainment. Games include "WWII Experience," "Dinopedia" and "Timeline Puzzle." Other game sites that feature history games include Gamequarium and the BBC's online history games (see Resources).
There are many history-related board games, including The Lewis and Clark Adventure Game, that can be used to introduce kids to important aspects of American history as well as geography and culture. Other board games include A House Divided, which teaches Civil War history, and Founding Fathers, which teaches the history of government.
Building sets that focus on specific architecture and events throughout history are ideal for group projects. These range from model sets featuring pyramids, ancient ruins, Native American villages and prehistoric settings. Place students in small groups and allow them to work on their projects, with a short paper describing the model and its place in history.
Puzzles that depict a specific historic event can be fun and challenging for seventh grade students. "Education Today" suggests that engaging students in brain-teasing puzzles helps excite brain neurons by getting students to think. Asking students to prepare a short speech or paper describing the finished puzzle can help reinforce the lesson and allows the student to participate in teaching other students.