How do I make my first activity?

Press Create activity, pick a template, type your content and press Done. You can play it on the board straight away.

Updated 12 October 2026

You don't need an account to start, and every one of the 33 templates is free. A first activity takes a few minutes: most of that is typing your questions or words.

Step by step

1. Press Create activity at the top of any page. On a phone, it's the + button.
2. Choose a template. Search by name, or narrow the list by family. If you aren't sure, a quiz, a matching game or a word search is a good first try.
3. Give the activity a title. You can add a line of instructions for players too.
4. Type your content. What you type depends on the template: questions with answers, word pairs, a word list, groups, a text with gaps, or labels on a picture. Press Enter to move to the next row.
5. Watch the Live preview beside the editor. Under Settings, choose the subject, level and language, and who can find it: Public shares it in the community library, Link only keeps it to people you give the link to.
6. Press Done. Chalkplay saves the activity and opens its page.

What you see next

The activity's page shows the game on a board with a Start button. Under it are the ways to play: Present puts it full screen for the class, Play live lets students join on their own devices, and Print makes a worksheet in the templates that print.

Beside the board, Game options set the timer, lives, shuffling, sound and theme, depending on the template. The switcher lists the other templates your content suits, so the same words can become a different game in one click. To change the content, press Edit content.

Where your activities are kept

Your activities are in My activities. The free plan keeps up to 3 at a time; delete one you no longer need to make room for a new one.

Before you sign in, activities are saved in this browser only. They don't appear on your other devices, and their links don't open for students. Sign in with Google and they move into your account, where a shared link works anywhere.

Tips

• Paste instead of typing: in the editor, Paste a list takes one item per line, from Word or a spreadsheet. See pasting a list.
• Write once, play many ways. Switching template keeps your content, so a word list can be a word search today and an anagram game next week.
• Start from someone else's work: open an activity in the library and press Copy & edit.
• Ready to play? Read how to run a live game or how to print a worksheet.

Common problems

Create an activity