It's indoor recess time of year!  Which is exciting to both teachers and students, I'm sure, but leaves us all with the conundrum: how to turn into more than just drawing on chalkboards and silent reading.  (Although, if drawing on chalkboards is a kid's thing, it's not likely that they get to do it very often, so they may find it very satisfying.)  Kid's need the beneficial movement, relief, and stimulation from recess, and teachers need to not go insane from constantly managing kids, and classrooms need to not look like the center of a riot.  So, what to do?  Here are some collected ideas:

A dance class: kid friendly music, teacher calls out dance steps that won't get anyone hurt, and if there's not enough room in the classroom, students have a rotation, say five minutes.

A 'tickley feather' game  using a feather on a stick, a child walks around while the others a scrunched down in ball, not peeking.  The child with a feather picks someone to tickle, who stands up, takes the feather, and the first child goes to sit down.

Fruits basket: kids are put into groups of 'fruit': you three are strawberries, you three are grapes, etc.  They sit in a closed circle, with one person standing in the middle, who calls out the name or names of a group of fruit, who then all have to switch sides, while person in the middle tries to steal a seat.  There should be one person left in the middle whose turn it is to call out fruits.  This is a personal favorite of mine, though it didn't work very well a sixth grade class.  I think they were trying to be 'cool' and traveled to their seats with great dignity, instead of getting into with glee.

Table games: push a empty cup across a desk by blowing at it through a straw, tabletop tennis played with a balloon for a ball and a paper plate glued to a fork for a rack, etc.

But don't believe me, here are some examples:





















http://www.icanteachmychild.com/show-and-share-saturday-link-up-25/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+ICanTeachMyChild+%2528I+can+teach+my+child%2521%2529



http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/cures-for-cabin-fever-indoor-games-for-kids-199604

 http://craftgawker.com/post/2011/09/14/24714/


  http://mrsbretzmusicroom.blogspot.com/2010/06/music-olympics-cross-country-skiing.html












And honestly, there's too many more out there to name!