Kahoot-4 & Tic-Tac-Toe Activity (Like Connect-4)

Turn a routine Kahoot! activity upside down with this Connect-4 & Tic-Tac-Toe Activity Board.

Set up: Print off (and preferably laminate) the Connect-4 and Tic-Tac-Toe boards beforehand. It works best if one side has the Connect-4 board and the back side has the Tic-Tac-Toe grid. Choose (or create) a Kahoot with numerous questions (min 25 questions, but more is always better). If boards are laminated, students can use dry-erase markers on the board. If boards are not laminated, students will need 20-30 unique place markers for their boards (ex: cut-out squares, pinto beans, colored candy). However, since students will be working in pairs (as opponents), each pair will need their game pieces different from their opponents. Additionally, having small prizes helps make the activity more fun (such as small pieces of candy, extra credit points, etc.)

The activity: Students will pair off and sit next to (or across from) their partner. Each pair gets one game board (along with dry-erase markers or game pieces). Open Kahoot and have students join using their devices/laptops/tablets. If desired, set questions and answer choices to random.

Rules and Winning (Connect-4): Present the students with questions from Kahoot one at a time. If both students get the question correct, the student who answered faster (got more Kahoot points for that question) places their game piece first, followed by the other student. If the pair tied (which is rare, but possible, have a quick tie-breaker ready like a coin flip or a quick round of "Rock-Paper-Scissors). Both players get to place a piece on the board if they answer correctly (the fastest student, however, gets the advantage of placing their piece first). Students must place their first pieces on the bottom and build up the columns (similar to how the original Connect-4 game works). The first student to get four in a row is the winner. If a student answers a question incorrectly, they must place a piece in the "Wrong Answer" boxes. There are a total of four "Wrong Answer" boxes. If a student fills up all four "Wrong Answer" boxes they automatically lose and their opponent wins. If both players fill up their "Wrong Answer" boxes on the same turn, the game is a tie and no winner is declared.

Activity flow: As one pair finishes, you may ask them to flip their board over. Instead of playing another round of Connect-4, the pair will now be playing Tic-Tac-Toe using the same rules as the previous side of the board (Of course, the board will be smaller and students only need to connect three in a row to win). Other student pairs will continue playing Connect-4. When pairs finish a Tic-Tac-Toe match, the teacher can ask them to clear their board and continue playing by starting a new match (preferably sticking with the Tic-Tac-Toe side of the board until the entire class activity is complete). Some pairs may have multiple games of Tic-Tac-Toe completed while others are still battling it out on their original Connect-4 game. Once all the pairs have flipped over to Tic-Tac-Toe, the teacher may declare a time limit to wrap up the activity or declare a set number of questions left for the activity. Teachers may choose to give each game-winner a prize (such as small candy, or extra credit points for an upcoming test). This can enhance the experience, but it should be something that can be distributed to each winner very quickly so that it does not interrupt the overall flow of the activity.