Movement activities for kindergarten are an important part of a school day. Each year the demands upon students and teachers seem to grow. In addition, PE and recess show a steady decrease. Students are still expected to sit still and be quiet in many classes. Except many young children are not capable of sitting still for extended periods of time. We’ve all been teaching while the student in the back row is rolling over with their feet in the air. Adding physical activity within or between lessons can benefit everyone in the classroom.
Benefits of Movement Activities for Kindergarten
Integrating movement during learning has many benefits. Balance, motor function, brain function, and cognition all benefit from movement. Movement activities also increase blood flow. Increased blood flow helps students be less fidgety. It also helps students focus and retain what they learn.
What’s Stopping Teachers?
If movement has so many benefits, why is it not used more? Time and mindset are the big culprits. Teachers are under pressure to teach the standards and to meet expectations/test scores. Many feel like they already have little time to plan. During this time, they must plan and prep content, pushing movement activities aside. Others believe they are not PE teachers and therefore integrating movement activities isn’t their specialty. Similarly, some may not enjoy exercise or think they are not athletes, so why bother? Finally, is the concern that movement activities for kindergarten will make the kids crazy and wild. All of these reasons are justifiable, but in the end, everyone may suffer.
Fun Movement Activities for Kindergarten
Movement activities for kindergarten are great because they can occur between lessons, during transitions, and even be part of a lesson! They can be simply for fun or used to enhance learning.
Fast Finds
These digital slides are a great movement activity for kindergarten. Fast Finds are played like a scavenger hunt. Give any clue or category, and then send them off to find something that fits the rule. Even better, they allow you to integrate movement and learning. Search for an adjective, amount, color, and more while moving around the classroom or home.
Brain Breaks
Brain Breaks are structured mental breaks. They allow students to pause from learning. Brain breaks can be mindfulness activities (breathing), sensory activities, or movement activities. The following are some movement activities for kindergarten I love to use.
- GoNoodle
- Stand Up/Sit Down
- 4 Corners
- Cosmic Kids Yoga
Movement Hide & Seek
Play Movement Hide & Seek in the classroom or during distance learning. Move and have fun while practicing math skills. First, a student says the number/amount or solves the problem on the cards. Next, everyone completes that amount of the pictured exercise. Finally, click the card to see if they have found the hidden image.
Movement Games
Movement Games for Kindergarten are one of my student’s favorite activities! Each game focus on specific math and literacy skills such as letters, sound, and number ID. You only need a gameboard and spinner to play, and they can be played individually or in a group. Spin the spinner and move to that space or if you spin an exercise, get up and move while practicing counting!
Move & Spell/Read
In Move & Spell, students will complete an exercise as they spell sight words. While in Move & Read, students will body tap as they sound out and blend to read CVC words. These are both great ways to integrate movement within phonics lessons. Move & Spell and Move & Read are both Google Slides activities, which means they work anywhere with access to a computer/tablet and the internet.
How do you integrate movement in your classroom?
