[bbdragon4]

Does anyone have any good activities or games to use on rainy days when you cannot take the class outside for recess?

[KidsR#1!]

I would start a collection of fun and easy to play board games! You could pick these up at yard sales for extremely cheap, or you could even ask the students to donate any games/activities that they have at home that they no longer use or would give to the classroom.

My students absolutely love Challenge 24! They get fairly competitive and enjoy playing during down time. Its also a great math facts and problem solving reinforcement activity and the students don't even know it!

We have a collection of tangrams, which are tons of fun. We have sets made in sandwich bags and then several outlines of objects for the students to try and create. They can be a bit tedious, but the students really like the challenge.

Hope these ideas help!

[goodytwoshoes]

I would have a variety of art supplies, writing prompts, books to read, games, etc. I have found that my students love to explore the globe. You could have challenge activities for the students to do during indoor recess such as an "Around the World in 80 Days" worksheet. They will have to use their geography skills to locate certain countries based on the clues given. This is a fun way to keep them occupied while including some social studies skills. You can create games like this for stations around the classroom. Have a scavenger hunt set-up to explore the classroom. Hope this helps!

[SU011]

When I was in elementary school, we loved to play the game Seven Up. Seven people would be chosen and would stand at the front of the room, while everyone else stayed at their desks with their eyes closed, head on desk. They would make a thumbs up and the seven people would come around a each push one person's thumb down. Then, the students would try to guess which of the seven people pushed their thumb down. We even liked this game a little bit in middle school. This might be a good idea because since the kids aren't able to "run around outside" they are at least up and moving a little bit inside.

[Mugs]

As a LARGE GROUP activity:

1.) Doggie, Doggie, Where's Your Bone?
Someone Stole it from your home.

I place a little stool chair in the middle of the circle. I actually purchased a "toy dog bone." I place the toy dog bone under the chair and pick a student to sit on what we call "The Dog House." This person shuts his/her eyes.

I quietly point to a student who quietly and quickly takes the bone under the chair and hides it under his/her bottom. When hidden, the entire class says, "Doggie, Doggie, Where's Your Bone? Someone stole it from your home."

The person sitting on the "Dog House" - on the little stool chair - opens his/her eyes and he or she has three chances to guess who took his/her bone.

The person who took the bone gets to sit with his/her eyes shut on the stool next and it starts all over again.


2.) Version of the OLD HIDE THE THUMBLE type game:

I send a small group of students (2 to 3 students) to sit in the hallway while one student hides a pre-determined object in the classroom. When the object is hidden, we bring back in the small group of students to find the hidden object. Only clues of "Getting Warm," "Getting Cold," "Getting Really HOT!" are given by the person who hide the object - or you have a shouting match of screaming by all the students. The kids seem to enjoy this game. Person who finds the object get to hide the object next.

3.) 7-Up game - already mentioned in previous post

4.) I use the white board - and one at a time, a student comes up and draws a quick thing on the board and the class (3 students) get to attempt to guess what they drew. If they guess right, they get to draw something.

5.) Voice Identification: I place one student in a chair (not facing the class of students) - I point to one student to go up to the back of the chair and say something like, "Hi. I'm in your class." They go back to their chair and sit down. The student in the chair then can turn around and he/she has 3 guesses to GUESS who spoke the words.

[bbdragon4]

Thank you all so much! These are great ideas!

[Teachers-RGr8]

Hi, I am a junior college student and I have a field placement in a 4th/5th classroom. My teacher has her students play board games. The students usually play Trouble, Uno, Candy Land, Connect 4, Monopoly and Life. But the students seem to love playing Apples to Apples. When they play Apples to Apples they are always laughing and having fun!

[dobbie]

Move the tables back and go to a site that has childrens vidoes and dance. You can buy interactive childrens dance songs that will give the children a chance to burn off some energy. Remember what recess is for and how you can mimick some of the same in the classroom. Create a bean bag toss game, (played like horseshoes) tossing it into a choice of 3 container from a distance. Each container will have numbers, letters, or pictures for the children to place on a chart. This helps the upper part of the body and it can be fun. Leap frog is something that older children can do and it is a whole body experience. The site on Learn NC has a lot of activites that are suitable for indoor active play.