October

Energize in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Get hearts pumping with a quick sequence of exercises. Call out 5 actions for your students to do as quickly as they can. For instance, 5 jumping jacks, 4 push-ups, 3 sit-ups, 2 squat jumps, and 1 tree pose.

More ideas: YouTube videos

November

Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs and Spades

  • Material: Deck of Cards
  • Using each of the suits in the deck of cards, place one in each corner of the classroom. From the remaining deck of cards, shuffle, pull out a card and show it to the students, they must yell out ‘hearts, diamonds, clubs or spades’ and run to the correct corner. Students who go to to the incorrect corner or the last few students to the correct corner are out for a round.
  • Game from: 26 Brain Break Ideas for the Classroom | Teach Starter

Keep the Ball Going

  • Material: Beach Ball
  • Have the students stay near their seat and throw the beach ball into the air. See how long your class can keep the beach ball from hitting the ground. Students must have one foot "glued" to their seat the whole time.

More ideas: YouTube video

December

Simon Says - Kindness Version

Simon Says helps students decide what is kind and what is not. When Simon Says (a teacher or a student) says something kind, kids will do it, for example:

  1. Wave to a classmate
  2. Pick up a piece of trash on the floor
  3. Smile at a classmate
  4. Cheer for a classmate

But, if Simon Says something unkind, students will NOT do it:

  1. Roll your eyes
  2. Tell a secret
  3. Stick your tongue out

Kind Charades

Give a student an act of kindness and have them act it out for students to guess. You can play in teams, or you can play as a whole class where everyone tries to guess.

  1. Opening the door for someone
  2. Returning a lost item to someone
  3. Helping someone who got hurt
  4. Cheering for a friend
  5. Inviting someone to play

Brain breaks from: Kindness Games to Teach SEL Curriculum in a Fun Way

More ideas: YouTube video

January

Act it Out

Give your students different scenarios to act out. See how many they can do in 2 minutes. Examples:

  1. Act out driving a car
  2. Act out being a bird
  3. Act out skiing in powder
  4. Act out jumping on a trampoline
  5. Act out meeting your favorite celebrity.

Switcheroo

Get the class moving by switching it around. Here's a list to get your students out of their seats:

  • Switch seats with someone in front of you.
  • Switch seats with person on your left.
  • Switch seats with person on your right.
  • Switch seats with someone behind you.
  • Switch seats if you are wearing (choose a color)
  • Walk backwards to a new seat.
  • Walk on tip toes to a new seat.
  • Switch seats if your birthday is (choose a month).
  • Switch seats if your name has the letter ‘A’ in it.
  • Switch seats if you have a younger/older sibling.

February

Make it Rain

Conjure up a rainstorm! Sitting or standing at a desk or table, have kids tap 1 finger on the desk, then 2, then 3, then 4, then their whole hand until you all feel like you’re in the middle of a deluge. Work your way backward from 5 down to 1 as the storm fades away.

True or False

Come up with a list of true or false questions. Have all students stand and ask the question. If they think True they do 4 jumping jacks. If False they do 4 high knees. Question examples:

  1. Your heart will beat about 115,000 time a day T/F
  2. Laughing is good for your heart T/F
  3. Beets are root vegetables T/F
  4. A tomato is a fruit T/F

March

Leprechaun, Leprechaun, Where’s Your Shamrock?

  1. One child, who is the leprechaun, sits in the middle of the circle with their eyes closed.
  2. One of the children in the circle hides a paper shamrock shape behind their back – the group together says: “Leprechaun, Leprechaun where’s your shamrock? Somebody has it in their Pocket! Guess who? Maybe you… Maybe a monkey from the zoo. Come on Leprechaun where’s your shamrock?”
  3. The Leprechaun opens his/her eyes and has three guesses to who is holding the shamrock behind their back.
  4. Whether a right or wrong guess…the child with the shamrock is the next leprechaun.

Game from: https://kidactivities.net/st-patricks-day-games-fun-ideas/

More ideas: YouTube video

April

Earth Day Guessing Game

  1. Give each student a small piece of paper to write on.
  2. Ask each student to write something that is in nature, i.e. sunflower, on the card. They cannot show the other students what they write.
  3. Collect all the cards and shuffle them around.
  4. Hand each student a card, have them place it on their forehead without looking at it.
  5. Each student must guess their card by asking classmates questions, ex: "Am I yellow?" They can only ask 1 question per student.
  6. Students bring cards back to teacher once they know what they are. Students continue to circle around the group so other students can ask them questions.
  7. Advanced: Put the students in groups and have them put the cards in two categories, abiotic or biotic.

More ideas: YouTube video

May

Mindful Body Scan

Starting with your face, squeeze as tight as you can, and then release. Move down ad squeeze and release your neck, shoulders, chest, abdomen, hands, arms, buttocks, legs, and toes. Finish by squeezing everything at the same time.

Camouflage

  1. Bring your class outdoors to an area with a lot of hiding spots.
  2. One student will be the "IT" participant. This student stands in the middle of the designated area (Teachers, tell the students how far they can go). The "IT" student closes their eyes, yells “camouflage”, and starts counting down from 30.
  3. When the 'IT' student counts down from 30 all other student run and and hide as well as possible from the 'IT' student.
  4. At the end of the 30 seconds the person who is 'IT' has to find everyone, but can only rotate where they are standing, no taking steps. If they see someone they must call out the location and the persons name. When the person is found they must come out and sit near the teacher.
  5. If the IT can’t find anyone, they yell “camouflage” again counting this time to 10, and everyone has to find a new hiding place, but they have to ALWAYS be moving closer to the IT.
  6. After the third round of yelling camouflage the 'IT' person yells 'Come tag me'. The first student to tag the 'It' student wins and gets to become the next 'It' person. If the IT person finds everyone before the third round they get to choose the next 'IT' person.

More ideas: YouTube video

If you have any questions, please email communityhealth@tfhd.com or call 530-550-6719.