Being a teacher is tiring work, and it doesn’t help that students seem to have so much energy all the time. They can get restless and fail to pay attention in class. Sometimes they can be a real nuisance, and you wish there was a way to tire them out so they would finally sit still. Well, luckily, there are many ways to accomplish this. You can play a game such as Hullaballoo or maybe even bring your kids out for a walk. However, if you want to stay inside and you don’t have much more than some markers and a whiteboard – there are still plenty of activities you can do with you students. So read on to see some of my favorite activities to get these kids moving.
Zumba Drill
The Zumba drill is exactly how it sounds. The teacher will say a target phrase for the students to repeat, all the while doing some very basic moves. For example if the phrase is “I like _____.”, the teacher may put their arms up on “I”, spin around on “like”, and do a plié at the end.
Sometimes I’ll mimic ballet poses, other times I’ll take moves from actual Zumba classes. It doesn’t have to be complicated or look particularly good, I just want the kids moving.
Of course the whole point of this drill was to make your students release excess energy. If you are moving with them, you’ll be tired as well – which isn’t good. That’s why after the first few times doing this drill find yourself some volunteers who will take turns leading the class. Then take a seat and compliment them as they repeat phrases and dance. Maybe take a sip of water as well. You earned it.
Spelling Race
For this game, split the class into teams of two or three. I wouldn’t recommend more than that because you need to give them space on the board to write. Have the teams line up at the far end of the classroom away from the board. Give the people in the front of the lines a marker. Then, say a vocabulary word. If they are a weaker class, give them time to think about the word and how it’s spelled. When you yell “GO!” they must run to the board and write the first letter of the word. Then they will run back and hand the marker to the next person who will write the second letter. This continues until a team finishes the whole word. That team that finishes first, provided that it’s legible and correct, wins a point.
Extra Tip: If you want to wear your students out even more, give them obstacles to run around instead of letting them run in a straight line.
Poses
I like to practice phonics with this activity, but you can technically use it to practice vocabulary words as well. On the board write out 2-5 sounds/words. Then, under each one, draw a stick figure to represent the pose the students much make when they hear those sounds.
For example, maybe they’re learning their CVC words. You want to make sure they can really hear the differences between words like tan/ten or pan/pen. So you write the vowels “a” and “e” on the board. Under “a” you draw a stick figure doing downward facing dog, and under “e” the figure is balancing on one foot. The students will walk around the classroom until you shout out a word (for example, “PAT!”). They immediately go into a pose.
From there you have several ways to go about the activity. If you are more concerned for their comprehension, make it so that they only have a second to get into the right pose. Anyone in the wrong pose is either out or simply doesn’t get a point. If you really just want these kids to get tired quickly, tell them they must hold the pose as you countdown from 10. For older students the poses they are made to do are often things like side planks, sumo squats with their heels raised, and other exercise/yoga type poses. You can be as mean or as nice as you want when counting down.
Another variation to this activity is making the students answer questions or repeat phrases as they meander around the classroom. This way they must really pay attention for when you suddenly use the words they were waiting for.
Flashcard Jump/Squat
For this activity all you need are some flashcards and enough space for everyone to move. Stand in the front of the class with the flashcards and have the class all stand facing you. Hold the flashcards in front of you and have them repeat the word. Then, move the cards in any of the cardinal directions. They must jump in the direction you move the card, or squat if you move the card down. You can also move the card forward and back to make them jump towards or away from you.
I like to change the direction for each syllable. For example, if the word is potato then I’ll move the card left/right/down. The students will then jump left on “po”, right on “ta”, and squat low on “to”. Sometimes I make them spell the word, jumping for each letter.
This activity is great because you can stand perfect still while your students jump around like crazy. If you don’t mind more chaos, have them repeat a whole phrase rather than a word. They’ll jump around a lot more if they are jumping per syllable saying “I would like a bag of potatoes, please” rather than just “potatoes”.
Eraser War
Similar to Spelling Race, Eraser War is a game best done with two to three teams. Instead of having them write something, they must erase whatever you put on the board. Line the teams up and give the students in the front of each line an eraser. Draw as many small circles on the board as there are teams. Then, ask the students a few questions from what they’ve been learning. When you yell, “GO!” the students with eraser must race to the board, erase the circle, and race back to hand the eraser to the next student. Whichever team is the fastest gets a point… and a bigger circle for the next round. This ensures that no team will win by an embarrassingly big amount.
Wall Quiz
This one may just be pure torture. I’ll admit it is the sadist in me that decided that this would be a fun idea. Have your students line up against the wall then ask them questions. If they are correct they can remain standing, if they are wrong they must so a wall sit (go into a seated position with no chair and their back against the wall). There they must remain until they get asked another question and get it right. Prepare you questions ahead of time so that you can go quickly when they are struggling to keep up. Or don’t – and watch as they complain for you to ask questions faster. Tell them that at any point they may give up and sit down. However, only the students still participating at the end get any kind of reward (points, candy, etc…).
I have never done this activity with young learners. Instead, it’s something fun for pre-teens and teenagers to do. They can get so competitive. It’s fun to see them attempt to keep a stoic face in order to impress the others. Some will even try and goad you to make the game harder in some way (like adding textbooks to their laps) because they want to show how tough they are. I’m not that much of a sadist though, so I normally decline.
Making Activities More Accessible
Getting your kids up out of their seats and moving is great – but not every child will be able to keep up.
Some students are asthmatic and will tire out faster. Some students need help with their movements, i.e., they have wheelchairs, braces, etc. So how can you deal with the classes energy without singling out that one student?
First off, you can easy adjust the movements in Zumba Drill and Poses so that everyone will be able to do them regardless of ability. You can even it a seated game. The kids will not get as tired doing it this way, but there are still a lot of creative movements they can do for Zumba Drill and Poses even without their legs. If you want to make it a bit more difficult, have them use their textbooks as weights. Holding a several books perfectly perpendicular to the desk without bending your wrist is harder than it looks.
For the students that tire out quickly, make sure to take a quick breather between each round or games such as Spelling Race and Eraser War. Hide it by having your students sit on the floor while you lecture them about what they just learned. For example, at the end of every Spelling Race round, have them watch as you critique their messy handwriting. Then write the word on the board and have them say the word with you a couple times. Hopefully that quick 40 seconds is enough for a few of them to catch their breath and be ready for the next round.
Another way to deal with having a student that can’t participate for one reason or another is to let them be the “little teacher” during the game. They’ll be the ones calling out poses or yelling “GO!” to make the others run. This will let them feel more apart of the class even if they can’t run around.
I admit that these aren’t really perfect solutions. It’s not easy adjusting to accommodate various needs. However, it is important for teachers to consider these things. If you can think of any other ways to change these games for accessibility, please let me know.