15 minute
ACTIVITIES

Yes Wall, No Wall

Directions: Designate a "Yes Wall" and a "No Wall" in your classroom. Have all students stand in the middle. Read of a question and have them respond by going to one of the walls. 

Click HERE for possible questions.

Storytime!

Directions:

1. Start a story by creating an introduction of your own.

2.  The next student goes further on the previous storyline and adds an extra narrative.

The Tallest Tower

Materials: Random supplies 

Directions:

1. Put students into small groups. 

2. Give each group the same amount of random supplies (cups, popsicle sticks, tape, plates, yarn, etc.) 

3. Give them 10 minutes to work together to make the tallest tower they can with the supplies they have. 

What Kids Love

Best for upper elementary

Directions:

1. Give each student 5 index cards or small pieces of paper. 

2. Have them write one thing on each card that kids their age love. Example:

   • Card 1 - video games 

   • Card 2 - dogs

   • Card 3 - music..... etc. 

3. Collect and shuffle all the cards. 

4. Draw 5 cards , show them to the class, and write them on the board.

5.  Select a student to go out to the hall and rank them from THEIR favorite to least favorite. 

6. While student is in the hall, the rest of the class and teacher will try to guess how they are going to rank them. 

Duck, Duck, Cereal

Directions: 

1. Have students sit in a circle. 

2. Like Duck, Duck, Goose, one student will walk around in a circle saying, Duck, Duck, Duck... However, instead of saying Goose, they will say a topic (example: cereal, tv shows, colors, animals, etc.)

   • Younger students might need the teacher to whisper the topic to them before the begin. 

3. The student they picked will then have to name 3-5 (teacher decides based on ability of class) items in that topic (Ex: If the number is 3, the student might say, "Twix, Cheerios, Froot Loops") before the other student makes it all the way around the circle. 

Flex It 

Directions: 

1. Choose a few students to do a little bragging about a unique skill they have. 

2. Allow other students to ask questions like: "How did you get so good at ____?" or "Do you have any tips for those who'd like to try ___?"

Seeing Spots

Materials needed: colored dot stickers

Before starting: Tell students this game has to be done without ANY talking. 

Directions: Place a colored sticker dot on each student's forehead without them knowing what color it is. Students must find their "team" (with the same color sticker) without talking. 

Invent a Solution

Directions: Give students an imaginary scenario and have them think of solutions. This could be done in a whole group or small groups. 

Click HERE for possible scenarios.
 

The Opinion Game
*Best for upper elementary 

Directions: 

1. Divide the class in half and designate one side as the "yes side" and the other as the "no side"

2. Give them a divisive (age appropriate) topic: 

   • Students should be allowed to use phones in school. 

   • Pizza should be served every day at lunch. 

   • All grades should have to take a nap every day. 

   • Recess should be an hour long. 

   • Social media age should be lowered to 10. 

   • Students should get to make the school rules. 

   • We should have 8 different choices for lunch instead of 2. 

   • Students should never have homework. 

Secret Person - Partners

Directions for 1st way: 

1. Give every student a piece or paper or notecard. 

2. Have them write a fact about themselves that they want to share (they don't write their name) 

   • ex: something not a lot of people know, something they are good at, a secret talent, a hobby, etc. 

3. Mix up the cards and hand them back out so everyone gets somebody else's card. 

4. Have them walk around the room looking for the person whose card they have. 

5. When they find their person, they need to get more information from them about the skill they wrote. 

   • Example - If their person wrote that they play piano, they could ask questions like, "How long have you played? Do you take lessons? What songs do you know?" 

Secret Person - Class 

Directions for 2nd way: 

1. Give every student a piece or paper or notecard. 

2. Have them write a fact about themselves that they want to share (since only the teacher sees, the could write their name) 

   • ex: something not a lot of people know, something they are good at, a secret talent, a hobby, etc. 

3. Mix up the cards and then draw one and read to the class. 

4. The class gets 3 chances to correctly guess the person who wrote the card. 

5. After the person is correctly guessed or after 3 incorrect guesses, the secret person stands up and can call on 2-3 people to ask questions about the fact they wrote about themselves.

BASTA!

Directions:

1. Put students in pairs or small groups. 

2. Give each group a sheet or paper and have them write 1,2,3,4. 

3. You can call out a letter or use something like this Letter Wheel.

4. They have to write a name, place, animal, and thing that starts with that letter. 

5. The first group to get all 4 written down has to yell, "BASTA!" 

Index Card Tower

Materials: index cards and something to write with 

Directions: 

1. Put students in groups of 3-4

2. Give each group a stack of index cards. 

3. The group has to find something they have in common and write it on the index card. 

4. As they write the index cards, they can start creating a tower. 

5. The more they find that they have in common, the more cards they have to build their tower with. 

6. The group with the tallest tower wins!

Meet Me In The Middle

Directions: 

1. Students stand in a circle. 

2. One student gets to be in the middle and says, "Meet me in the middle if...." and one thing about them. Examples:

   • You have a brother

   • Like Pokémon

   • Your favorite color is pink 

3. Then they get to choose someone who met them in the middle to be in the middle next. 

Compass Name Game

Directions: 

1. Students stand in a circle. 

2. One student is "it" and stands in the middle. 

3. Whoever is "it" will walk up to someone and will give one of the following directions: you, me, left, right. 

4. As soon as a direction is given,  the rest of the students will count out loud, "1,2,3!" 

5. The person who was chosen, has to quickly say the name of that person before the 3 seconds are up.

   • You - they say their own name 

   • Me - they say the "it" person's name

   • Left - they say the person's name to their left

   • Right - they say the person's name to their right

6. If they get the name correct in 3 seconds or less, they change places with the person who is "it." If they don't, the person who is "it" gets to go again. 

Talking Circles

Better for upper elementary

Directions: 

1. Divide the class into 2 equal groups. 

2. One of the groups will be the outside circle and one will be the inside circle. 

3. The inside circle will walk clockwise and the outside circle will walk counter-clockwise (like the picture above). 

4. Start some music and when you stop it. They have to stop and face the person from the opposite circle. 

5. Then ask a get to know you question that they have to discuss for 1 minute. (What's your favorite thing to do after school. What's the best gift you have ever received. What's your favorite tv show.) 

6. Repeat with different questions. 

Gift Game

Directions: 

1. Write every child's name on a piece of paper and put them in a bowl. 

2. Each person picks a name and has 2-3 minutes to ask their partner questions to get to know them better.

   • What do you like to do for fun?

   • What's your favorite color? 

   • Do you like video games? 

   • Do you have a bike? 

3. The only rule is you can't ask, "What gift would you want?" 

4. After a couple of minutes, everyone shares what gift they would get their partner that they think their partner would appreciate.  

Sharing is Caring

Directions: 

1. Pick one student to start the connection. This student will stand with one hand on their hip and say a statement about themselves (it can be anything positive...) 

   • I like soccer

   • I have a brother 

   • My favorite superhero is Spiderman

2. Any student who shares the same statement will link their arm with that student creating a chain. 

3. Next, the last student on the chain will make a statement and so on, until everyone is standing in a line connected by the arm. 

Draw My Picture

Materials: 

• Pencil 

• Paper

Directions: 

1. Students will need to be in pairs and sitting back to back. 

2. One student will be drawing and the other directing the drawing without looking. 

3. The students who are directing in each pair will go to the teacher to be down what the artist is supposed to draw. Examples:

   • Elephant 

   • Flower 

   • House

4. Rules: the director cannot tell the artist what they are drawing, they can only direct them. Example: 

   • Draw a square

   • At the bottom of the square, draw a smaller rectangle inside 

   • Draw a triangle on top of it

5. At the end of a set amount of time, the team whose drawing is closest to the acutal item wins. 

Directions: Have all students draw a picture of an object that holds emotional significance to them and share its story with the class. 

Helpful tip - set a timer for each student during their share time or allow students to share throughout the day/week. 

The Spaghetti Game

Directions: 

1. Students stand in a circle. 

2. Tell them that you will give them a feeling word and they have to go into the center of the circle and say the word "spaghetti" while acting out that feeling:

   • Sad spaghetti

   • Angry spaghetti 

   • Excited spaghetti 

3. Go around the circle until everyone gets a turn. 

4. It's okay to repeat feelings! 

5. VIDEO directions

Action Names

Directions: 

1. Students stand in a circle. 

2. Students will take turns going into the center of the circle, saying their name, and doing an action. 

3. The rest of the class will repeat. 

4. Continue until everyone has gone. 

5. VIDEO directions

Frog in the Pond

Directions:

• Students will be in a circle on their knees. 

• Teach the following motions: 

  • "Frog in the pond" (hands on ground)

  • "Frog in the bank" (hands on shoulders) 

  • "Frog in the tree" (hands on head)

  • "Frog in space!" (hands in the air)

• Like Simon Says, teacher calls out the different frog positions and the kids respond as quickly as they can. 

• VIDEO directions

Group Acting

Directions: 

1. Students will walk around the room. 

2. Teacher will call out a number and any object. Example: 2 bridge

3. That means, 2 people need to pair up and use their bodies to make a bridge.

4. Other examples:

   • 2 bridge

   • 3 Eiffel Tower

   • 2 book 

Alibi

Better for upper elementary 

Directions: 

1. Explain that an alibi is a story of where someone was at when a crime took place. 

2. Students sit in a circle.

3. One student is chosen to be the investigator and is sent to the hallway. 

4. Once the investigator is out of the classroom, one student is chosen to be "it."

5. The "it" person is the one who did the crime. 

6. Every student will think of a silly (quick) alibi to tell the investigator when they come back in. 

   • Examples, "I was eating ice cream with my mom." "I was bowling." "I was at the dentist." 

7. The investigator comes back and and gets the alibi from every student. 

8. After everyone has gone around the circle and given their alibi to the investigator, they will go around the circle one more time to say their alibi again. Everyone will use the exact same alibi EXCEPT for the person who is "it." 

9. The investigator has to pay attention to everyone's alibi so that they can spot the one who changed their alibi the second time.