I am ALWAYS on the lookout for new games and activities to use as brain-breaks or team building activities in my morning meeting --especially now that the kids have spring fever! To organize my expanding collection, I write the name of the activity on a large Popsicle stick and store them in a cute mini-pail from Target. These hang in our meeting area. Here are some of our favorite activities: 2-4-6-8: This is like the classic team cheer. The class stands in a big circle and everyone puts one hand in toward the center. All together, cheer this chant: "2-4-6-8, who do we appreciate? __(name)___, yeah! yeah!, ____(name)___, hey!" During the chant, one child goes around inside the circle and gives a "low five" to each person. They should return to their spot by the time everyone chants, "hey" then the next person goes in the center. Repeat until everyone has a turn. At the end we like to have everyone put their hand in the center and we do a big cheer to our school or class. North, South, East, West: This game is SO simple but the kids LOVE it! In your classroom, post labels on the walls of the 4 directions (North, South, East, and West). One child hides their eyes and counts down from 10. During the countdown, everyone scrambles around the room and chooses one of the 4 directions. When the leader gets to zero (eyes still closed), he/she calls out a direction. Everyone who is standing in that direction is out! The game repeats until one person remains as the winner (or everyone is just out!). 1-2-3-4: Get ready to dance the wiggles out! Everyone stands in a circle and chants, "1-2-3-4 come on __(name)___, hit the floor! We're so glad you're hear today! Makes us shout hip-hip-hooray!" (We also do a pat-clap beat to keep the rhythm going). During that time, a student goes in the middle and gets dancing! Repeat until everyone has had a turn. At the end we like to do, "1-2-3-4 come on EVERYONE hit the floor!" I 8 the : A silly counting game. To start someone says "I 1 the ___(insert something silly)__." The next person says, "I 2 the ___." Keep going until you get to "I 8 the ___." It sounds something like this, "I 1 the toad. I 2 the toad. I 3 the toad. I 4 the toad. I 5 the toad. I 6 the toad. I 7 the toad. I 8 the toad." I ate the toad!!! (HAHAHA!) You can see how kids would get into this! Hot Dog: Another counting game. To play, you need a ball, beanbag, or something to pass around the circle. The first person starts with 1, next person 2, next person 3, next person 4, then instead of 5 the child says hot dog and sits down. Start again from 1 and continue counting until "hot dog!" The game ends when the last child sits down. The goal is to go as fast as you can so kids love timing the game and keeping a "hot dog record." As they get good at it, you can make it more challenging by counting by 2s, 5s, 10s, etc. Silent Ball: SO easy but the kids beg for it and it's one of the quietest times in our day (bonus for the teacher!). It's also great for practicing eye contact and communication without speaking. Stand in a circle. Start a timer. At that point, NO ONE can speak or make any noise. Continue to toss the ball across the circle to each other for as long as possible. The game ends if someone makes noise or the ball drops. It's fun to keep a record posted for this game, too, trying for a longer and longer time. Hope this has given you some ideas for getting your class moving and working together! Comment below if you have more.