How to Create Jeopardy Game Show Questions
If you want an engaging way to teach children educational concepts or information about science, social studies and literature, create Jeopardy-style questions to help them memorize the facts. Since its syndication in 1984, the Jeopardy game show has received 28 Daytime Emmy Awards for its quick-paced format that provides "answers" to questions and requires contestants to give the questions that correspond with them. Create questions in this answer-and-question style to help the kids remember lists of dates, details or definitions.
Things You'll Need
- Scrap paper
- Pencil
- Textbooks, Internet websites or magazines
- 3-by-5-inch index cards
- Photos
Instructions
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1
Jot your Jeopardy categories down on a piece of scrap paper with a pencil. If you're following the television show format, a game has two rounds featuring six categories per round.
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2
Devise five Jeopardy questions for each category. Use textbooks, Internet sources or magazine articles to find facts on topics that the kids are currently studying.
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3
Format each question using the Jeopardy style. Each question should be an answer or clue, while the players' correct answers must be in the form of a question. For example, if the category is "geometry," one question might be, "An angle that measures 90 degrees." The player's correct answer would be, "What is a right angle?"
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4
Write the clue on one side of a 3-by-5-inch index card and the value of the question on the other side. Questions in round one go in $200 increments from $200 to $1,000 and go in $400 increments in round two from $400 to $2,000.
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Make the questions in each category increasingly difficult. The $1,000 question in the first round should be more challenging than the $200 question, for example. Either cover more obscure facts on the difficult questions or provide less information in the "answer" to make the kids work harder to decipher the clue.
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Provide one "Daily Double" question for the first round and two for the second round. Unlike regular questions that allow the first player to raise his hand to answer, only the player who chose the spot on the board can answer the Daily Double and he gets to wager an amount to win or lose on the question.
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Create special "answers" for some of the Jeopardy questions, particularly the Daily Double questions. If you're quizzing the kids about Presidents of the United States, for example, provide a clue like, "The first President, seen here" and show the kids a picture of George Washington.
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Tips & Warnings
Mix one or two "entertainment" categories in with the academic topics to make the overall activity more enjoyable. Design questions about the kids' favorite television shows, movies, music groups or hobbies, for example.
Offer prizes to the winner of each game such as a decorative notepad and pen, a new pencil box or a bookstore gift card, for example.
Ensure the facts you cover in the game show questions are age appropriate. The kids will grow frustrated with the game and lose the desire to play if the questions are too difficult.
