Would you rather…
Open Mic (Share a Joke)
10 Push-Ups
Dance Party
Turn on a fun song and dance for a minute.
High Cincos
High 5’s to 5 people.
Seat Switch
Rain Storm Start by everyone tapping one finger on the desk,
then two, then three, then four, then lightly tap
whole hand, a little harder, a little harder, now
pound! Now do it all backward. It should sound like
a rainstorm hitting the building.
Telephone Classic telephone game. Students play
with the friends at their table to make
it go quicker.
Categories Pick a category such as words with
long a, verbs, junk food, etc. Go
around the room and each student
says one word that fits in the
category.
Simon Says
Get in Order Say an order for the students to get it, such
as height, birthdays, ABC first name, ABC
last name, etc. Give them 1 minute to get
there.
Challenge – do it without talking!
\ Follow the
Leader
Walkabouts Students pick a partner and
take a 3-minute walk together.
While walking, they explain to
each other what they’ve just
learned about the topic.
Rock Paper Scissors
Tic-Tac-Toe The students play tic-tac-toe on their paper
with the person who sits next to them. They
try to see who can win the most in one minute.
Cars in Motion
Have students get into pairs. One person is
the D (driver) and the other is P (passenger).
P sits directly behind D in a chair. When you
give the green light, D should drive like a
maniac and P mimics the actions of D. After
45 seconds, have D “pull over” and have P
become D.
Yoga Poses
Neck Rolls
20 Jumping Jacks
Run in Place
Circle Run-Ons Have a group of 4-8 students stand in a circle.
One student starts a run on sentence about
the subject just completed. Then the next
student continues the sentence with
information about the topic but leaves off the
ending for the next person. The goal is to
keep the sentence going on for two minutes.
Commercial Breaks Assign a topic to a team. Give
groups five minutes to prepare.
Then have teams present their
30-second commercials to the
class about the information they
just reviewed.
Peer Suspense
Put your students’ names on slips of paper into a
bowl. Pull a name from the bowl. That student
must stand up. You randomly decide to either
have the class give that student a standing ovation
or they must answer a question that you ask them.
Then pull another name and repeat.
Pass a Face Have groups of 6-8 students form circles.
They designate someone as the leader.
He/she makes a funny face to the person to
the right. That person matches the face and
“passes” it to the person on the right and so
on. When the leader says, “Switch,” the
person who has the “face” must make up a new
face to pass.
Air Writing
Have all students stand and take a deep
breath. Have them write the concept in the
air with their finger or pencil. For variations,
air write with elbows, heads, or feet.
The Big Picture Challenge Divide the class into two teams. Each team needs a
large area on which to draw, such as a flip chart or
large poster board. By each team, put a selection of
colored markers. Give them a challenge such as an
elephant drinking a cup of tea, a rhino having a bubble
bath, a rabbit getting married, or a gorilla mowing the
lawn. Each team must draw a picture. Children take
turns going to the board and draw for ten seconds.
Use a funny instrument or noise to make the signal to
swap places and keep the pace fast.
Pairs Jiggle
Have students pair up and complete the
following actions: right knee to knee, left
knee to knee, right hip to right hip, left hip to
left hip, clasp hands, and “jiggle” their whole
bodies.
Hopping Squared Instruct the class to spread out because they will
be occupying a four square area. The upper left
square is “square one,” followed by the upper right
square being “square two,” the bottom left being
“square three,” and the bottom right being
“square four.” Then as the teacher calls out
square numbers students should hop on their left
foot to the designated square.
Imaginary Conversation
Players are in pairs around the room. They are told to
have a conversation with their partners without words
or sounds. They can only use facial expressions and
body language. Possible topics: a debate about what to
watch on TV, a discussion of whether cats or dogs are
better pets, two people who are disagreeing while
sitting at the dinner table, or a customer and cashier
arguing over the change that’s been given.
Knots of People Divide students into teams of 6-12 members. Have each
person join right hands with another person in the group that
is not directly to his/her left or right. Then have each
person join left hands with someone else in the group who is
not directly on his/her left or right and is not the same
person he/she joined right hands with. Now have groups
untangle themselves without letting go of hands. They may
have to loosen their grips to allow for twisting or turning or
they may have to step over or under people. There are four
possible solutions: one large circle with people facing either
direction, two interlocking circles, a figure eight, or a circle
within a circle.
Imaginary Toss Players stand in a circle facing in. The leader stands in the center
and begins by holding up one hand, cautiously cradling an imaginary
egg. The leader says, “I have an egg in my hand. It isn’t cooked so
when I toss it to you please be very careful. Don’t drop it or you will
make a mess. Susan, are you ready to catch the egg?” After the
imaginary egg is caught, the receiver sends it to another player.
After sending that object to someone else, the player then moves to
the middle of the circle to send the same imaginary object to
someone who has not yet received the object.
Here are some other objects to send: a paper airplane,
bubbles, a hot potato, a snowball, a squirming snake, a live
squawking chicken, a gentle butterfly, or a heavy bowling
ball.
Melvin Made a Marvelous Move Players stand in a circle facing in. A player calls out,
“Melvin made a marvelous move!” The rest of the group
chants back, “Make Melvin’s marvelous move!” The
player calls back, “Melvin moved marvelously like this!”
and makes a movement (taps foot, touches head,
shakes shoulders, etc.) The whole group then keeps
making the same move while chanting, “Melvin moved
marvelously like this!”
Yoga Poses
20 Jumping Jacks
Neck Rolls
Run in Place
State Changes Wake up the brain by changing your "state of mind"! Sit
like a…
Boss - Children cross arms, lean back, and put feet up on
their desk.
Cowboy and cowgirl - Children turn chair around and
straddle it as if riding a horse.
Rock and Roll - Pretend to hold guitar and dance and sing.
Opera - Extend arms and sing words dramatically.
Underwater - Put pointer between lips and vibrate as you
read or talk.
With a cold - Hold nose and talk or read.
Partner Teach Have children get a partner and tell each other
something new they've learned that day.
Have them ask each other a question about a book or
topic you've been studying.
Ask them to pretend a visitor just came to the
classroom and to summarize what they've been doing.
INHALE~EXHALE first, have the children take several deep, slow breaths.
Have them place their hands on their diaphragm so they can
feel their lungs expanding and contracting.
Ask them to inhale through their noses and exhale through
their mouths on a slow count of eight.
*Have them close their eyes and imagine they are a balloon
filling up with air. Exhale and let all the air out.
*Pretend to be a bag of sand and let all the sand run out.
*Challenge children to close their eyes and imagine they are
floating on a cloud as they inhale and exhale.
Criss Cross Apple Sauce
Have children do this activity on each other's
backs:
Cross cross, (Make an "x" on back.)
Applesauce, (Wiggle fingers down back.)
Spiders crawling up your back. (Crawl
fingers up back.)
Warm breeze. (Gently blow on neck.)
Gentle squeeze. (Hug from behind.)
Now you've got the (Tickle fingers down
back.) shiveries!
Show Me, Don’t Show Me Players spread out, randomly walking about the room.
The teacher calls out, “Show me operating a
jackhammer.” For a few moments, students pantomime
operating a jackhammer using actions and feelings.
Then the teacher calls out, “Don’t show me operating a
jackhammer” and students just walk around the room.
Other possible actions: swimming through Jell-O,
walking on a sidewalk covered with sticky glue, having a
horrible pain, or being a frog and hopping and catching
flies.
Mirror, Mirror
Players form pairs facing each other,
assuming the body position and facial
expression of their partner. Players take
turns pretending to be the mirror image of
the other person.
I-Spy
Moving Monkeys Every time the students are out of their
seats, they must move as an animal
would move. They must walk the same way
that the animal does (both
posture and speed) Vary the animals used so
as to move different body parts
and in high, medium, and low space as well as
in slow, medium, and fast motion.
BASEBALL AND BASKETBALL
Have children stand and pretend to dribble a basketball.
Spell out words as you dribble, then shoot the ball in the
hoop as you say the word.
For example: T (bounce), H (bounce), E (bounce) ~ "the"
(throw the ball in the hoop)
Take a batter's position.
Pretend to take a swing as you say the letters; then hit a
home run as you say the word.
For example: R (swing), E (swing), A (swing), D (swing) ~
"read" (swing around)
EXERCISE Oxygenate the brain with one of these exercises:
Windmills - Stretch right hand to left foot, stand, and then
stretch left hand to right foot. Etc.
Bend and stretch - Bend over and touch toes. Stretch up high
with hands in the air.
Waist bends - Right arm over head and bend left and stretch.
Left arm over head and bend right and stretch.
Hop on right foot - Hop on left foot
Jump rope - Pretend to jump rope ~ cross arms in front ~ jump
backwards
Skip, gallop, crawl, tiptoe, walk backwards, etc. around room
PoP!
This is a skip counting exercise. I say Pop! 2s,
then we go in a circle, each child saying a number,
but on each “2” they say Pop! 1, pop,3, pop, 5, pop,
7, pop, etc.