I’m so excited to introduce you to today’s guest on the blog: Brittany, also known as The Minimal Hive Teacher! 🐝 In today’s post, Brittany will share some great tips on how to add play to your school day!
Hi, I’m Brittany also known as Minimal Hive Teacher! I’m a 2nd grade teacher in a small town in Kansas. I’m excited to share some easy ways to add play into your classroom. I’ve always had a passion for play in the classroom. According to The American Academy of Pediatrics, “Play is essential to development because it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth.
Play is an essential part of the early childhood classroom. As academic pressure goes up, play time drops off dramatically. There are so many benefits to including play in all early childhood classrooms. So even though I currently teach 2nd grade I still make sure to get play into our day.
Here are my tips for getting play into your classroom
Slow Starts
Educational Games
Movement Games
Slow Starts
A Slow start is used instead of something like morning work. When students come into the classroom they aren’t thrown right into working. They get to ease into their day with some play! I have different tubs and my students are assigned a tub for that day. They take it back to their desk and get to play for 10-15 minutes. This allows me time to finish tasks and have time to talk with my students. If you want more photos/ videos of slow starts, check out my Instagram “@MinimalHiveTeacher ”
Educational Games
Games are a fun way to make learning more engaging and fun. I love using games and playing to review learning content! Here are some of my (and my students) favorites.
Board Games
You can make simple twists on many common games (like Connect 4 or Jenga) to make them into educational games. You can take a board game and flashcards and boom! You have an educational game. I love that this is simple enough for an independent student center. I do this with math facts or parts of speech flashcards. If you want to try this I have some blank game boards here or some addition fact board games here.
Online Games for Any Topic
There are SO many online games. Do your research and find the ones that work for you. My students always beg me to play these.
Kahoots
An online quiz game to review. This is a whole class activity with lots of different modes to choose from.
Prodigy
In this Pokemon-style game, kids have to answer a question correctly to “cast the spell.” This is an individual game, but I believe students can battle their classmates.
Sumdog
This has an arcade with various educational games kids can choose from. This is also an individual game but students can friend each other and compete for high scores.
Math
Whenever I use a new tool in my math classroom I give students a few minutes to play or explore with it.
Kaboom
My students LOVE kaboom! All you do is write math facts on some popsicle sticks and kaboom on a few sticks and put them in a jar. Students one at a time take a stick out, if it’s a fact they say the answer. If they get it correct they keep the stick, if not they put it back. When a student pulls a kaboom stick they have to put all their sticks back. The goal is to get the most sticks by the end. It’s so simple but so fun.
Tic-Tac-Toe
Get a piece of paper and create a tic-tac-toe board. Inside the spaces write math facts. Before a student can put their marker on that space, they must answer the fact correctly. So easy and fun! Students can play over and over again. You can find a multiplication one here if you don’t want to make your own.
ELA
Act it out
I love getting my students to act out a scene we’re reading. It makes it so much more memorable for students. You can easily add student actions or sound effects to a story you’re reading.
Write the rooms
Often reading time can be a lot of sitting and listening, try using a scoot to get students up! There are lots of scoots or write the rooms available online. These would be great for a grammar activity.
Add Novelty to Spelling
Let students write words in fun ways! Try sand, shaving cream, or beads. Even adding a highlight can make reading a passage way more fun!
Movement Games
My students love to play games like Four Corners! I love that it gets kids up and moving. This can be used just as a fun brain break for students or as a great way to review an academic concept.
If you only have a few spare minutes you can play Simon Says. This is a great way to get a little bit of movement in and teach students about following directions. My students also love this game I made called “touch the color” I tell them a color and they have to touch something that color. My students love doing this activity and it gets them up and moving for a few minutes.
I hope you found an idea to help get your students playing more. If you’ve enjoyed this blog post you can find more here!