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How to Create Jeopardy Games |
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 If I have been asked once, I have been asked a hundred times "How do you make these Jeopardy Games?. They are just too tricky for me to make."
I decided to post step by step directions, so everyone will have the confidence to try to make their own version of the Jeopardy Games that I have posted online.
The Jeopardy Games I make are always something that I can use multiple times with a variety of grade levels and classes. I create questions that are multi-leveled with the easiest questions being worth 10 or 100 points and the trickest being worth 50 or 500 points. I have changed the value on some templates in order for the students to keep track of the points. Each time we play, I remind students that the questions with the most points are the trickest to answer. Doing so allows the lowest achieving students in the class to participate and be successful, and provides an additional challenge for the higher achieving students to master the tricker questions with more complex vocabulary.
Now on to the game creation...
To Download The Template: Go to www.HelpMeRead.com and create
an account so you can download anything you want. You need a valid email address
for it to work. Any information you provide is not shared with anyone. Choose
a Name, Username, E-mail, Password, and Verify Password. Write these things down
if you can’t remember! :o)
You will see the following message:
"REGISTRATION COMPLETE!
Your account has been created and activation link has been sent to the e-mail
address you entered. Note that you must activate the account by clicking on the
activation link when you get the e-mail before you can login."
Your account has been created and activation link has been sent to the e-mail
address you entered. Note, you must activate the account by clicking
on the activation link when you get the e-mail before you can login.
Go to your Email address and click the link you received to activate your account. Log in and go to the Downloads page. Click on page 2 to find the blank template for Jeopardy. Right click on the link and Save Target As. Make sure you know where you are downloading the file to. I suggest creating a Downloads folder in your Documents folder or on your Desktop.
Open The Template: Open the template file by double clicking
on the file icon (picture). You must click quickly 2 times for it to recognize
your efforts.
Slide 1: To change the name of the game, double-click on the
title on the front page. I change “Skill” to what ever the skill is. You may need
to change all of the titles if you are not doing a reading game. Click OK to accept
your changes.
Slide 2: To change any of the rules, click in the box and add
or delete anything you want to change.
Slide 3: To change the Categories to more useful labels, click
in the box and highlight all the text by holding down the left mouse button while
moving the mouse sideways. Then start typing your category name. The other text
will disappear. To make 2 lines of text, press the Enter key at the end of the
1st word. This will help your title fit in the box if its too long. You can also
resize the text by highlighting all of the text and choosing a smaller size from
the drop down box.
Slide 4: This is where your clues start. Slide 4 is for the 1st
clue under the 1st Category. You will need to make some global changes before
you start. Rename your Category Labels to match the categories you created on
Slide 3. You can do multiple slides at a time if you use the Replace feature.
Click Edit on the top or menu bar and click Replace. A box will open. Type the
exact title of the category you are replacing – put Category 1 in the top box
where it says “Find What”. Below that find the second box that says “Replace With”
and type in exactly what the new Category is called. You do not need to click
any of the boxes below. Just click “Replace All”. Slides 4 through 13 will be
updated. Do the same thing for each of the other categories. Just change the Category
number and type in what you want it replaced with.
Back to Slide 4: Now you are ready to write your first clue.
You need to write them as if they are the answer to a question, but in a format
that makes sense for the answer to be the actual question. You can not start with
a question word. You will start with words like; Something that… A … It is… Create
your questions so that the 100’s are Easier and the 500’s are trickier. That way
it is more multi-leveled for all learners.
Slide 5: Here is where you put your “Question” which is the answer
to your Clue. If you want to change the color of the answer word, highlight it
with your mouse and then go to the top bar and find the capital “A” that usually
has a white color rectangle under it. Click the down arrow next to it and color
choices will pop up. Choose from those shown or click More Colors to see all your
color choices.
Adding ClipArt: To add clipart, double-click on the ClipArt Icon
and wait for the Select Picture box to pop up. Microsoft provides a selection
of clipart that is installed with Word and other Office products. To find what
you are looking for, type in your search word and click Search. Several choices
should pop up. Select the one you want and click OK. The clipart will show up
on your page in the placeholder box.
If you want to add pictures you have found somewhere else, click on Insert on the top or Menu Bar. Click on Picture, then From File. Select the folder where you have the picture saved and click on the picture you want. Then click OK. Your picture will show up on top of the placeholder. Usually, the picture is inserted in the center of the page. You can move it by clicking on it and dragging it with your mouse or by using the arrow keys to move it. If using pictures from File, you will want to click the placeholder and press Delete to remove it.
I have an annual membership at Animation Factory, an online service, where I get the great animations that you can find in some of the Jeopardy games that I have made. You can also get book illustrations off of Amazon.com or off of Google doing an image search. Another option is to scan pictures into your computer with a scanner and save them to a folder.
Resizing Pictures: You can change the size of your picture by
double-clicking on your picture after you have placed it and clicking the Size
tab at the top. When you change the number on the left, the number on the right
will automatically adjust. You will need to make giant images small enough to
fit on the slide. I do not recommend resizing images to make them larger. It will
ruin the resolution and create fuzzy pictures that are pixilated. You can select
preview to see the size before you click OK.
Finding New ClipArt at Microsoft: Microsoft has a ton of free
images online that you can download into your Microsoft ClipArt Collection. If
you open Word and click Insert on the top Menu bar, Picture, and Clip Art, you
will find a link on the bottom right hand corner that says Clips Online. If you
click it, it will take you to Microsoft Office Online resources. There are more
than 150,000 free images and sounds. At the bottom of the page is a search box
that will let you type in whatever image you are looking for. When I typed in
cat, 61 pages popped up with 12 pictures a page. If you want the image, click
the box beside it and it will save it to your basket. When you are finished collecting
files, download your images by clicking on the Download link on the left side
inside the Selection Basket. Follow the directions and the files will automatically
be downloaded into the Microsoft Clip Organizer that’s on your computer.
Things to Remember: Finish all your slides with a Clue and an
Answer. Add clipart or animations, if you want them. Delete the clipart placeholders
if you don’t. Make sure you save your game with a new name that describes it.
Don’t save your game under the template name or you will have to download the
real template again to make another game!
Good Luck and Have Fun!
Shana Whitlock :o)
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