Teachers Help! Indoor Recess/Movement Ideas?

faith946 · January 2012

Hello!

This is my first year as a public school kindergarten assistant. I'm currently in school for my P-3 teaching certification. I'm looking for some great ideas for both movement activities and indoor recess games/activities I can do with the kids now that the weather is getting colder.

As of right now, for movement, we do a lot of Greg and Steve (they love Freeze Dance, Listen and Move, etc..), The Wiggles Shake Your Sillies Out, Hokey Pokey, Chicken Dance, Macarena, YMCA, etc... for movement, and I do the standard 7 Up, Piggy Piggy Where's the Bacon (or Doggy Doggy Where's Your Bone?) and then play centers...for indoor recess. I'm just looking for some fresh ideas, because I don't want them - or me! - to get tired of doing the same thing.

Any ideas or suggestions? They are VERY much appreciated. Thank you!!!

WickedCoolSM · January 2012

I have no movement suggestions, but check out proteacher dot com site, especially their chat rooms... very helpful!

HTH!

Joenali · January 2012

Indoor recess is my break time. My kids know where the rainy day games are. I have puzzles and board games available. I also let them draw on scratch paper and read. Trust me, they don't get tired of it at all! We don't dont do any kind of teaching during recess. It's break!!

bearkatjen · January 2012

Does the school have a parachute? I use to include parachute games in my storytimes when I worked at the library. I think it works well for early childhood up through lower elementary.

This is a book I used all the time for ideas: http://www.amazon.com/Parachute-Play-Revised-Expanded-Wilmes/dp/0943452309

rubyiu · January 2012

Have a student choose a number from 1-20 and then a movement and everyone has to do it and count. Like 17 jumping jacks. I have them do those, push ups, run in place, sit ups, skiers, cross curls, etc. When they are getting tired I have them sit on the floor and do (X) seconds of rubbing their head or something to give them a break. They really like getting to choose and think it's fun. I do this with 1st graders

faith946 · January 2012

Awesome ideas! Thank you!

celestialnyte · January 2012

When I taught prek and k, I wouldn't use gross motor activities when we had indoor recess. I found that with gross motor activities in the classroom during recess time, it was much harder to get them back on task for class time. Transition for that age is difficult, as I'm sure you know, and the environment change helps get them ready. If you're inside, I'd do quiet activities. Maybe even with dim lights, if you can. You can do gross motor activities during the day during regular lesson time so it is incorporated.

bearkatjen · January 2012

celestialnyte:
When I taught prek and k, I wouldn't use gross motor activities when we had indoor recess. I found that with gross motor activities in the classroom during recess time, it was much harder to get them back on task for class time. Transition for that age is difficult, as I'm sure you know, and the environment change helps get them ready. If you're inside, I'd do quiet activities. Maybe even with dim lights, if you can. You can do gross motor activities during the day during regular lesson time so it is incorporated.

I think there's a problem with this. You have kids that need to move and get their energy out before they can sit down and focus. This is one of the reasons keeping a kid from recess for disciplinary reasons is a really bad idea. You are most likely just compounding the problem. Children, especially at this age, especially boys, need running around breaks. This is why parents with children with ADHD are encouraged to let their child play after school, and to work on their homework after dinner.

If you need an environment change to help them transition back to classroom time, then I would see about going to another room for recess or changing something in your classroom to show the change.

pixieluv · January 2012

i teach kindergarten. there is a cd called the beanbag boogie. its beanbag activities set to oldies. blue suede shoes, happy days, the (peppermint)twist. i love it and so do the kids. it has saved the day on many occasions!

good luck, let me know how it goes.

check out my blog:

aliceinkinderland.tumblr.com/

pixieluv · January 2012

i have agree with bearkat, even though i know that my view isnt the most popular. there are a lot of teachers i know who don't even do music and movement time in k anymore. i do a song/dance between almost every transition. there are ways to transition back from the craziness (even though trust me, i know at times it can get rough) my favorite way to "get them back" lately is to end our movement sessions with a children's yoga track and then a track i have that has breathing exercises after that. they love it. i have a cd called brainwave fitness. it's great. good mix of crazy/calm songs.

aliceinkinderland.tumblr.com

bearkatjen:
celestialnyte:
When I taught prek and k, I wouldn't use gross motor activities when we had indoor recess. I found that with gross motor activities in the classroom during recess time, it was much harder to get them back on task for class time. Transition for that age is difficult, as I'm sure you know, and the environment change helps get them ready. If you're inside, I'd do quiet activities. Maybe even with dim lights, if you can. You can do gross motor activities during the day during regular lesson time so it is incorporated.
I think there's a problem with this. You have kids that need to move and get their energy out before they can sit down and focus. This is one of the reasons keeping a kid from recess for disciplinary reasons is a really bad idea. You are most likely just compounding the problem. Children, especially at this age, especially boys, need running around breaks. This is why parents with children with ADHD are encouraged to let their child play after school, and to work on their homework after dinner.
If you need an environment change to help them transition back to classroom time, then I would see about going to another room for recess or changing something in your classroom to show the change.

i_b_winkn_at_u · January 2012

I use

http://w3.exeter.k12.pa.us/~maricketts/ClassroomTeacher1.htm

and

I have this book

http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/energizers

Teachers Help! Indoor Recess/Movement Ideas?

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