Would you rather

Dance Party
Turn on a fun song and dance for a minute.

10 Push-Ups

Open Mic (Share a Joke)

Rain Storm
Start by everyone tapping one finger on the desk,

Seat Switch

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.

High Cincos
High 5s to 5 people.

Classic telephone game. Students play with the friends at their table to make it go quicker.

Telephone

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.

Categories

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!

Get in Order

Follow the Leader

Simon Says

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.

Students pick a partner and take a 3-minute walk together. While walking, they explain to each other what theyve just learned about the topic.

Walkabouts

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

20 Jumping Jacks

Run in Place

Neck Rolls

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.

Commercial Breaks

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.

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.

Circle Run-Ons

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.

Pass a Face

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.

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.

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.

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.

Knots of People

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 isnt cooked so when I toss it to you please be very careful. Dont 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.

Imaginary Toss

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.

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 thats been given.

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 Melvins 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

Run in Place

Neck Rolls

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.

State Changes

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.

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.

INHALE~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!

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, Dont 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.

Show Me, Dont Show Me

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.

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.

I-Spy

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)

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

EXERCISE

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.