30 Fun Decision-Making Activities & Games for Kids

Decision-Making Activities for Kids: Explore fun activities to help improve your kids’ critical thinking and decision-making skills. You can also download free decision-making worksheets and include them in your students’ learning experience.

What is Decision-Making?

Decision-making is the process of choosing between different options or actions based on the information available, personal preferences, and possible outcomes. It involves thinking through various alternatives and selecting the one that best meets your goals or solves a problem. This process can range from simple, everyday choices to complex, long-term decisions.

Several decision-making theories help explain how individuals and groups choose between alternatives.

These theories reflect the diversity in how decision-making is understood across disciplines, including economics, psychology, and management. Each theory offers unique insights into the factors that influence decision-making processes in individuals and groups.

Our focus in this article is on activities for students, so we will not delve into theories, but here are a few examples of decision-making theories:

• Rational Decision-Making Theory: Suggests decision-makers aim to make logical, optimal choices based on all available information.
• Bounded Rationality (Herbert Simon): Highlights that decision-making is limited by time, information, and cognitive capacity, leading to “good enough” rather than perfect solutions.
• Prospect Theory (Kahneman & Tversky): This theory suggests that people value gains and losses differently. It shows that people are more likely to take risks to avoid losses than to achieve gains. 
• Behavioral Decision Theory: Examines the role of biases and emotions in why people sometimes make irrational choices.

Effective Decision-Making Steps

The decision-making process usually involves a few important steps to ensure we make well-informed, sound choices.

• Identify the decision: First, realize that there’s a decision to be made and clearly define what you need to decide on. This sounds like an obvious step, but how you frame your decision is shaped by your values and goals, and it can impact your final choice.
• Gather information: Gather all the information you can to help inform your decision. This could include looking up facts, asking for advice, and weighing all the data you find.
• Identify alternatives: Think about all the possible options or actions you could take. This is where you get creative and list out all the different choices you have.
• Evaluate the options: Consider the pros and cons of each alternative and see how they stack up against your values and goals.
• Choose among alternatives: Pick the option that seems to best address your situation and feels right based on your assessment.
• Take action: Put your decision into motion. Start the actions needed to follow through with the choice you made.
• Review your decision: Finally, look back at your decision and see how it turned out. Did it solve the problem you were addressing? Reflect on what went well and what you could improve next time.

You might have noticed how closely problem-solving and decision-making are connected. Problem-solving may involve making several decisions as part of finding a solution. The focus in decision-making is making a choice, whether or not there’s a problem to solve.

Some of the decision-making activities we’ll introduce below will explore various aspects of the decision-making process, helping students to improve their ability to clearly define decisions, gather relevant information, and consider the potential impact of their choices on real-life situations.

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30 Fun Decision-Making Activities for Kids

Explore our collection of fantastic games and activities that will help your students learn how to make good decisions. 

This section is organized into the following categories for easy navigation:

• Basic Decision Making
• Strategic Decision Making
• Fun & Creative Decision-Making
• Making Decisions as a Group
• Decision-Making & Problem Solving

Each category is filled with age-appropriate examples and interactive activities tailored to different aspects of decision-making.

Basic Decision Making

1. Everyday Choices: Noticing the Unnoticed?

Discover how many decisions you make daily, even without noticing!

Provide your students with a brief text describing a typical scenario a kid might encounter, such as walking into a library to choose their next reading. Ask them to read the text carefully and then list all the decisions the character made.

This activity encourages students to become more aware of their decision-making processes and understand that every choice, big or small, shapes their daily experiences.

You can download an example of this activity at the end of this post.

2. What Did I Decide Today?

Ask your students to jot down how many decisions they’ve made today so far. If you think they might get hung up on big decisions, remind them that we make lots of small choices on a daily basis, like picking what clothes to wear or where to sit for breakfast.

Start by having students read their lists aloud, and tell them they can add more items if they realize they forgot something while listening to their classmates’ lists.

3. Decision Sorting Challenge.

Help kids learn about decision impact and scale by sorting them into clear categories.

Provide your students with a list of decisions and defined categories. Have them sort the decisions into the appropriate categories.

Decision categories could be:

• Unnoticed Decisions: Choices made automatically without conscious thought.
• Everyday Decisions: Regular choices that affect daily activities but are not impactful in the long run.
• Significant Decisions / Big decisions: Decisions that have long-term effects or important consequences.
• Tough Decisions: High-stakes or ethical dilemmas that require careful thought and often involve balancing conflicting values.

Examples of decisions they could sort out:

Unnoticed Decisions

• Choosing which pen to grab from a pencil case without looking.
• Automatically putting on a seatbelt when getting into a car.

Everyday Decisions

• Deciding what to have for lunch at school.
• Choosing which homework assignment to complete first.

Significant Decisions

• Choosing which high school to attend.
• Deciding to join a sports team or club for the year.

Tough Decisions

• Deciding whether to tell the teacher if you see a classmate cheating on a test.
• Choosing between attending your best friend’s birthday party or an important sports game for your team.

4. Flip a Coin Game.

Introduces the concept of chance in decision making. Prompt discussions about when it’s appropriate to leave decisions to chance versus deciding for responsible decision making.

Examples of decisions you might leave to chance include:

• Choosing which of two favorite books to read first.
• Deciding which team picks their side of the field first.
• Selecting a student to help with a task to avoid biases.

Recap the activity by explaining to your students that using chance, like flipping a coin, works well for small choices where the outcome isn’t too critical, or all the options are equally good. It helps speed up decision-making, prevents everyone from getting stuck, and keeps things fair without taking sides.

However, important decisions should not be left to chance. These choices often have significant consequences and require careful consideration to ensure the best possible outcome.

5. What Would You Do? (Ethical Dilemmas).

Present ethical dilemmas and have kids discuss possible actions and outcomes. 

Some examples of ethical dilemmas for kids that you could discuss: 

• Deciding whether to keep found money or look for the owner.
• Figuring out whether to keep extra change given by mistake at a store or return it to the cashier.
• Considering whether to share your homework solutions with a classmate who forgot to do theirs.

6. If …Then Rules.

Sometimes, in social interactions, we feel pressure to make bad decisions.

A powerful tool for responsible decision-making is to establish “If…then” rules. These rules help us prepare responses for challenging situations.

For example, “If a friend asks me to skip class, then I will say no.” By setting these rules, I make my decision in advance, avoiding snap decisions that may have negative consequences.

Strategic Decision Making

Strategic decision-making involves using analytical skills to consider and select actions that align with long-term goals. In this section, we will explore activities focusing on key aspects of the decision-making process, such as weighing pros and cons, gathering information, and analyzing alternatives, to help students develop the skills necessary for good decision-making.

7. What is the decision?

Probably the most important step in decision-making is identifying what the decision to make is.

It all unfolds from that key step.

In this activity, propose different kid-friendly decisions. Then add specific goals, so that they learn that the way you frame the decision influences the choices they make.

Let’s look at an example.

• Decision: Join an extracurricular activity.
• Imagine the student has two options: chess club and basketball team.
  • If the kid is hoping to join an activity that helps them stay fit, then basketball will be the option.
  • But if the student is looking for an intellectual challenge, then chess may be more interesting.

We often need to make decisions, but we don’t always have all the information required to make the best choice. The following two activities focus on information gathering. The first one is perfect for younger students, while the second one helps older students understand how gathering and using information is a crucial step in decision-making.

8. The Mystery Box Challenge.
Prepare a sealed box and tell students they need to decide whether to open it. They can ask up to five questions to gather information about what might be inside before making their decision.

Example 1: If the box contains something fragile, like a glass ornament, opening it might risk breaking it. In this case, the gathered information helps them decide to leave it closed.

Example 2: If the box contains a small reward, like a candy bar or a prize, they learn from their questions that it’s safe to open and worth doing so.

This activity teaches students to carefully assess the information they gather and use it to make thoughtful, informed decisions.

9. Research for a School Trip.

Tell students they’ve been tasked with planning a school trip and must decide between two destinations (e.g., a science museum or an outdoor adventure park). To make their decision, they need to gather real information about each destination, such as:

• Costs (admission, transportation, meals).
• Educational value (what they can learn or experience).
• Fun factors (activities available, student interests).

Students work in small groups to research online or using provided materials (e.g., brochures, websites) and present their findings to the class. The class collectively decides which destination is the better choice based on the gathered information.

This activity emphasizes the importance of thorough research in decision-making and helps students practice analyzing data, presenting arguments, and working collaboratively.

10. Likely or Unlikely.

Our decisions are often influenced by how likely we think certain outcomes are. When we consider the probability of different scenarios, we’re assessing the risk and potential reward of our choices. If we believe there’s a high chance of success, we’re more likely to take a risk; if the risk seems too high, we might opt for a safer route.

Teach students to evaluate the probability of various outcomes based on their decisions. For instance, discuss the chance of winning a game:

• if they choose to attack early versus fortifying their position or 
• if they take a short path with many obstacles versus a longer one with fewer obstacles. 

This activity helps students grasp the role of probability in decision-making and illustrates how we often make choices under uncertainty.

Even with considerable information, we sometimes must decide in situations where outcomes are not guaranteed, teaching them to navigate uncertainty effectively.

11. Pros and Cons Chart. 

Evaluating pros and cons is an essential step in decision-making as it helps students clearly see the benefits and drawbacks of their choices, guiding them toward more informed decisions.

Let’s go back to our activity #7 example. Ask your students to analyze the previous decision (basketball vs chess), creating a list of pros and cons for each alternative.

Variation to this activity: Divide students into small groups so that some work on the pros of an alternative and others work on the cons.

12. Decision-Making Steps-Worksheet

Check out our decision-making worksheet, created to guide students through all the decision-making process steps. It’s a great tool to help them practice identifying choices, weighing options, and understanding outcomes in an engaging and practical way.

You can download this worksheet at the end of this post.

Fun & Creative Decision Making

13. Role-Playing Scenarios.

Ask kids to role-play different scenarios to explore possible solutions and potential outcomes and practice making good choices.

14. Create Your Own Adventure.

Guide students in making decisions that shape the plot of a story you or they create.

This activity illustrates how different choices lead to different outcomes, teaching them the consequences of their decisions in an engaging way. It encourages critical thinking and creativity as they explore various story paths.

15. The Power To Choose (Book Collection).

If you prefer using a pre-made storybook to facilitate the activity, I recommend the “Power to Choose” series. In these interactive books, your kids will help Danny make the best choices for his day. They can try out different scenarios over and over, and it will create some interesting conversations in your classroom or at home.

16. Would You Rather.

In the “Would You Rather” game, kids are given two choices that are fun, crazy, or interesting, and they have to make spot decisions on which option they’d prefer.

This classic game is great for sparking lively discussions and helping kids explore their values and reasoning quickly.

Related article: 114 Fun Would You Rather Questions for Kids

17. Decision Tree.

Decision Trees involve creating visual diagrams that map out a sequence of choices and their potential consequences. This activity helps children visualize the decision-making process by showing them how one choice can lead to several outcomes. It encourages them to think ahead about the possible results of their decisions, fostering foresight and strategic thinking.

This is an example of a simple decision tree. You can download this “Pick-a-Path Chart” at the end of the article.

18. What Woud You Take to a Deserted Island?

Ask students to choose three items they would take if stranded on a deserted island, encouraging them to think critically about survival priorities and resourcefulness. This decision-making exercise helps them justify their choices and understand the importance of strategic planning.

Board Games & Decision-Making Games.

Board games are fantastic for teaching decision-making skills. Players must make strategic choices, manage resources, and predict opponents’ moves. Each turn presents a decision point, whether it’s choosing which property to buy in Monopoly, selecting where to place a word in Scrabble, or planning your next move in chess.

Playing a decision-making game is a great way help kids practice making choices, evaluating outcomes, and thinking strategically.These are some examples that will work for different age groups:

19. Monopoly Junior (Ages 5+): This is an engaging decision-making game for younger kids, teaching them how to manage money and make strategic choices while having fun.

20. The Game of Life (Ages 8+): This classic board game challenges players to make decisions about their careers, finances, and families, mirroring real-life choices.

21. Pandemic (Ages 8+): In this cooperative board game, players must make strategic decisions on how to stop global outbreaks of diseases by coordinating their roles, managing resources, and planning their moves together.

22. Catan (Ages 10+) In this popular strategy game, players make decisions about resource management, trade, and settlement building to dominate the island of Catan.

Add let’s look at some simple games that are also great examples to illustrate basic decision-making skills:

23. Tic Tac Toe: This classic game requires players to decide where to place their X or O to either win the game or block their opponent, teaching basic strategy and foresight.

24. Connect Four: Players must choose where to drop their colored discs, aiming to connect four in a row while preventing their opponent from doing the same.

25. Checkers: A straightforward yet strategic game where players must decide each move based on both advancing their pieces and capturing the opponent’s pieces.

26. Rock, Paper, Scissors: A quick decision-making game where players must predict and counter their opponent’s choices.

Group Decision Making

Group decision-making activities help students learn how to collaborate, consider different perspectives, and reach a consensus when making choices as a team. These skills are valuable both in and out of the classroom.

27. The Voting Booth.

Set up a classroom voting system where students can cast their votes to decide on various activities, such as which book to read or what game to play during free time. This activity demonstrates the democratic process and highlights the importance of each student’s input in group decisions, teaching them about fairness and the value of each vote.

28. Decision Relay Race.

Organize a relay race where teams must quickly decide on answers or actions at different stations. This could involve answering trivia questions, solving puzzles, or performing tasks. It teaches students to work under pressure, rely on their teammates’ strengths, and make swift, effective decisions that impact the entire team’s performance.

Decision-Making in Problem-Solving Activities

Problem solving often involves making critical decisions at various stages. These activities blend decision-making and problem-solving skills:

29. Scenario Solution Paths.

Students are presented with a complex problem (like planning a school event with a limited budget) and must map out multiple solution paths, deciding which path to pursue based on the potential outcomes and resources. This activity helps students understand how decisions impact the success of solving a problem and teaches them to weigh options thoughtfully.

30. Innovation Challenge.

Give students a common problem (such as reducing waste in the school cafeteria) and ask them to come up with innovative solutions. They’ll need to decide which ideas to develop and present, fostering creativity and critical thinking in the decision-making process necessary to solve real-world issues.

Other Executive Functioning Skills / Cognitive Processes Activities

• Critical-Thinking Activities for Kids
• Problem-Solving Activities for Kids
• Time Management Activities for Kids
• Attention & Concentration Activities for Kids

Other Social-Emotional Learning Resources

• Social Skills Activities for Kids
• Conflict-Resolution Activities

Decision-Making Worksheets (PDF Download)

Your decision-making worksheets include the following activities:

• Everyday Choices: Noticing the Unnoticed
• Decision-Making Steps Worksheet
• Pick-a-Path: Example of simple decision tree for kids