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Engaging kids with these community building activities for the first week of school. Help children learn and practice social skills and develop friendships.
Having community building activities for the first week of school is a great way to bring the students in your classroom together and involve everyone. Make your new class of students feel welcome and empowered by trying some of these ideas!

To be successful in school, it's important that students have the opportunity to get to know each other, work together and learn how to depend on each other. You will want to provide them ample opportunity to learn these skills through community-building activities.

Ice Breakers as Community Building Activities

Ice breaker games are sometimes ineffective in really helping students learn about each other in a genuine and non-threatening way. But these ideas are fun and easy for anyone, even the shyest student, to participate without anxiety. Let students get to know about each other with one or more of these ice-breaker activities.

Classroom Meetings: The classroom meeting routine is essential for breaking the ice - daily! It will bring your students together in a collaborative discussion where everyone feels equal and their thoughts are valued.

Sorting into Groups: Have students sort themselves into groups based on things they may have in common. For instance, ask students to find students whose names start with the same letter as theirs, whose birthdays are in the same month, whose eye color is the same as theirs, or what color shirt they're wearing. Ask questions that are non-threatening and not discriminating, and that are fast and easy for students to answer and find similar companions.

This or That: Similar to the activity above, students move from one side of the room to the other. Give them two choices, such as "Pizza, or Macaroni and Cheese?" and let them sort themselves into the designated side based on their preferences.

Lessons and Printables that Make Good Community Building Activities

One way to build community is to actually teach the necessary social-emotional development skills. Try some of these lessons and printables. You will easily be able to guide the students. They will adopt attitudes and behaviors that will foster a positive learning community in your classroom.

Friend Wanted: This idea for teaching students about friendship and to learn more about each other is brilliant. With "Friend Wanted Ads," students are encouraged to open up their minds to friendship possibilities with other students in the room. Important life skills are taught about how to be a good friend.

THINK: Teach children this handy acronym for remembering how to speak kindly to each other. "Think" before you speak. T= Is it true? H = Is it helpful? I = Is it inspiring? N = Is it necessary? K = Is it kind?

Warm Fuzzy Jar: Have a class meeting discussing character traits needed to have a positive community in the classroom. Then, try this technique. Pass out fuzzy balls to children who show kindness, cooperativeness, or acceptance. They can place the fuzzy balls into a jar. When the jar is full, the whole class can celebrate!

Expressing Emotions: Help children learn to identify and express their emotions appropriately through engaging hands-on activities. Try the Express Yourself board game as a fun alternative!

Games as Community Building Activities

Try out some of these fun games with your students! They will not even realize they are learning how to cooperate, communicate, and socialize.

Puzzles: Sometimes a simple puzzle is all it takes. Puzzles are an easy group task that you can use as a team effort. Sort students into small groups, and give each group a puzzle to complete. The first team to complete their puzzle gets a prize, or just bragging rights. Either way, it's a simple and easy activity that will get them working together.

Ball Toss Name Game: Students sit in a circle and take turns tossing a large, soft ball. As they toss the ball, they say the name of the person who is to catch it. Play proceeds until the names of the children are well-known.

More Ideas!: If this isn't enough, here are many more ideas and activities to build community.

Community Building Activities: STEM

Add in a little Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math with these fun activities. They'll encourage students to use their skills in those subjects to solve a problem together.

Building a Tower or Bridge: There are so many variations of this activity, and all of them are fun. Provide students with materials to build a tower or bridge, set the rules for how the design must be constructed, and watch them collaborate to meet a goal. Inexpensive materials, such as popsicle sticks, toothpicks, straws, gumdrops, marshmallows, rubber bands, spaghetti noodles, are popular items to provide.

Making Friends with Math: This rock, paper, scissors style game and printable activity is perfect for children to practice Math skills as well as get to know each other.

Community Building Activities: Books

Here are a few favorite books that help teachers build community in their classroom. By reading these books aloud to your class, you can point out themes of friendship, cooperation, inclusion, and positive attitudes.

Read How Full is Your Bucket? for Kids by Tom Rath, to help students discover how to recognize when their friends' "buckets" are empty.

is a timeless tale that celebrates community. It is written by Alice McLerran and illustrated by Barbara Cooney.

Students will enjoy the story of inclusion, respect, and individuality in by Trudy Ludwig.

Try any of these community building activities for the first days or weeks back to school, and watch the students in your classroom grow and learn in a positive and encouraging environment.
Classroom Essentials that Teachers MUST Have for Back to School Back to School Ideas for a Stellar First Week Community Building in the Classroom
Community Building Resources

Strengthen your classroom community and help build students that are socially aware, confident, and capable with the mind+heart comprehensive Social Emotional Learning curriculum for K-2.

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Community Building Activities You NEED for the First Week of School

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This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. View disclosure policy HERE . Engaging kids with these community building activities for the first week of school. Help children learn and practice social skills and develop friendships. Having community building activities for the first week of school is a great way to bring the students in your classroom together and involve everyone.

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43 Awesome Team-Building Games and Activities for Kids

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Students will have fun while learning how to cooperate and communicate.

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Educational professionals know that feeling safe and secure within the school environment can help students to focus their energies on learning. A study from 2018 backed this up with research. It found that if teachers can create a feeling of belonging in their classroom by simply greeting every student by name at the start of class, they can see great improvements in terms of engaged academic time and reduced disruptive behavior.

Of course, this is one example of an easy change that teachers can introduce into their everyday practice to foster a strong community vibe. With this in mind, here are some more fun community-building activities that are quick and simple to implement but can have a significant positive impact on student engagement and learning.

3 community building ideas for elementary school students

It's never too early to make your classroom feel like a connected, welcoming community. The following activities can prove very valuable in helping even the youngest children to develop a feeling of belonging.

1. Shoutouts

This is a quick and easy way to allow students to celebrate each other's achievements when they succeed in overcoming a challenge or completing a task to the best of their ability. You can incorporate shoutouts at any time during your lesson by simply sounding an alert or ringing a bell. By asking students to praise their fellow classmates, you promote interactions between students and celebrate their positivity.

To give your class an easy way to send and view positive messages to their peers try using Classcraft's Kudos tool. It's a great way of harnessing the power of gratitude to improve student behavior and motivation. Students can give each other shoutouts, which are then visible to the entire class (after you've reviewed and approved it.) By encouraging social recognition, Kudos can create a continuous loop of positivity that spreads good vibes throughout the classroom.

2. Friendly Fridays

Students can play a key role in helping to raise each other's self-esteem. The idea behind Friendly Fridays is that students write an anonymous, positive note to one of their classmates, practice talking positively about themselves, or use stories as a way of instilling positivity in a classmate.

3. Shared acts of kindness

Encouraging students to notice and share each other's kind acts is a great way to promote positivity and inspire compassion. If, for example, one student notices a peer helping a struggling classmate with a challenging task or taking the initiative to tidy up, they can then post a note of thanks on a shared Wall of Kindness for everyone to see.

3 community-building activities for middle school students

As children get older and progress into middle school, it's time to build on the positive classroom environment fostered during the elementary stage and to continue encouraging students to support each other. Here are some of the best activities for community building to suit this age group.

1. Paper tweets

Building on the connection that young people have with social media platforms, this activity helps to build a sense of community in your classroom by mimicking Twitter profiles. Each student should have a minimum of three "followers." One must be a close friend, another must be an acquaintance, and the third must be a classmate that they rarely interact with. Although the initial setup for this activity may be time-consuming, it's well worth implementing this idea since it allows students to respond to prompts about the new events in their life or their mood at the present time. This also gives followers a chance to react.

2. Class norms

Rather than relying on the teacher's list of classroom rules, have students develop their own set of class norms - adjectives that describe a positive learning community. When students set their own norms and expectations, they create a stronger feeling of belonging for everyone. It also gives students a chance to take responsibility for their own behavior within their learning environment.

This teacher-prompted interaction is a speedy, preparation-free way to get your students to appreciate each other. At the end of an activity, have your students congratulate each other for their efforts using an agreed-upon expression of gratitude, such as a handshake or high-five, or some other social interaction, such as verbally thanking the other members of their group.

4 community building ideas for high school students

The high school environment can be one of the most challenging when it comes to fostering a sense of community. It is at this stage in life that students can begin to feel most disconnected from their classmates. And as young people begin to develop their own distinct personalities, they run the risk of feeling increasingly isolated from their peers. This is why it is especially vital for high school educators to include community-building activities in their everyday practice. Here are some of the top suggestions for activities that are best suited to young people on the verge of adulthood.

1. Morning meetings

Although morning meetings are a regular feature in the elementary classroom, they tend to fall by the wayside as students grow older. By reintroducing this everyday activity once more in a high school setting, teachers can facilitate bonding between classmates. Holding a daily morning meeting helps students from every grade to transition into class through a teacher or student-led bonding exercise, which can include social, emotional, or physical activities, such as discussions of challenges that students may be facing or sensitive topics such as bullying.

2. Appreciation or apology

At the close of each day or lesson, the Appreciation or Apology activity encourages students to come together within a circle to share their appreciation of a classmate or an apology for something that they feel was inappropriate. Alternatively, they can share their own "aha!" moment from the lesson where they gained a greater understanding of the subject matter. When necessary, the teacher can model this activity by sharing their own appreciation, apology, or aha moment before asking a volunteer from within the group to discuss their own experience. This type of appreciation and recognition within the school community can really help to foster strong bonds within the class.

3. A rose and a thorn

At the beginning of every class, the students and teacher should take their turn at sharing a rose and a thorn. The rose represents something positive that they'd like to share, while the thorn may be something negative that they want to express. Although this may sound time-consuming, it can take as little as five minutes to carry out this activity since there's no need to go into depth about the emotions and feelings expressed. Students may express something as low-stakes as feeling tired or bored, or they may share something a lot more personal, such as concerns about a sick relative or a personal problem. When classmates understand more about each other's emotional and personal lives, they can begin to support each other through the challenging times that they face.

4. Snowball toss

Each student anonymously writes something that's causing them stress or worry on a piece of paper. They then crumple it up, stand in a circle, and throw the paper balls at each other as if they were in a snowball fight. Then students choose one of the snowballs and read what's written aloud. The concept behind this is that students can have fun, scream, laugh, move around, and make noise while also having the chance to express something that stresses them out in a low-stakes environment.

Building a community will have a positive impact on your school

These ten fun community-building activities give students the opportunity to foster better interactions with their classmates while also expressing themselves, their emotions, and their problems. By sharing positive messages, students can develop stronger working relationships within their learning community. And by sharing their own problems and worries, students can begin to develop a better understanding of their classmates on a more personal level. As a result, the school community as a whole can build on its strengths, minimize issues with misbehavior and a lack of learning engagement, and help to curb the problem of bullying.
Photo: Google Edu

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10 fun community-building activities - Classcraft Blog

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Educational professionals know that feeling safe and secure within the school environment can help students to focus their energies on learning. A study from 2018 backed this up with research.

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create a Kahoot trivia game ... have students/staff guess who the trivia question is about...

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Most of our meetings here at BGCA start with icebreaker or community building activities, because we are YOUTH! DEVELOPMENT! PROFESSIONALS! 🙂 Last week, my colleague Danielle Narcisse started a design meeting off with this really fun way to get our creativity flowing.

This activity is called The 30 Circles Challenge, and it is an icebreaker designed to encourage creative confidence. It is a great activity to start a brainstorming session, or a session to solve a complex problem. It challenges us to think outside of the box. I think this would be an awesome way to start a staff meeting, especially if you will be using that time to plan an event. Then use it with your members! It is fun to see how different age groups handle the challenge.
Thirty Circles Challenge
Ages: Any!

Equipment Needed: Something to draw with, 30 Circles Challenge (download here!) for each person, something to keep time with

Group Size: Any!

Give each participant one of the 30 Circles worksheets and something to write with. Ask them to turn as many of the circles as possible into a recognizable object in 3 minutes. You can give the example of a sun or a smiling face, but give no other instructions.

After 3 minutes, compare results! Ask how many people filled in 10, 15, 20 or more circles? Ask for some examples. Did participants use patterns (for example, multiple sports balls)? Did anyone "break the rules" and combine circles?

Always reflect! Ask:

Were the rules stated clearly? Did anyone assume the rules were more strict?

If you "broke the rules," how did you feel while you were doing it? Did you get worried the circles wouldn't count?

Did you get stuck? What helped you break through, or what kept you from moving forward?

How can this activity help us think about how to be creative with our ideas in general?

For more community builder and energizer ideas, download the YD Toolbox from BGCA!

What are your favorite icebreakers? What activities do your members LOVE? Email your best ideas to ClubXBlog@bgca.org and YOU may be featured in an upcoming post!

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30 Circles Challenge: Creative Icebreaker Activity with FREE Download!

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Most of our meetings here at BGCA start with icebreaker or community building activities, because we are YOUTH! DEVELOPMENT! PROFESSIONALS! :) Last week, my colleague Danielle Narcisse started a design meeting off with this really fun way to get our creativity flowing. This activity is called The 30 Circles Challenge, and it is an icebreaker...

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10 Amazing Art Projects Inspired by “The Dot”

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Amazing things can happen with just one dot.

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HERE ARE four NEW Breakout EDU games that are perfect for Back to School!

We hope you had a great summer relaxing and readying yourselves for another awesome school year ahead.

We have added all of these new games, as well as last years' back to school games, to the Featured Games

In addition to these four new games, the Breakout EDU team has been cooking up something very special that we will be sharing with you in the coming weeks.

We have added all of these new games, as well as last years' back to school games, to the Featured Games section of the website.
New to Breakout EDU? Click here to learn more.

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It's that time OF YEAR again! HERE ARE four NEW Breakout EDU games that are perfect for Back to School! We hope you had a great summer relaxing and readying yourselves for another awesome school year ahead.

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When students enter our classrooms on the first day of school, we know that more often than not, they didn't necessarily choose to be in our class. The first day of school is our opportunity to make them feel lucky to be in our class. Wouldn't it be awesome if our students went home after the first day/week of school and bragged to their parents or friends about how awesome your class was?! Sure the syllabus needs to be reviewed, the rules are important, and the seating chart matters. But if they're doing that in other classes, are they really going to remember ours?

We have the opportunity to start building relationships the first day... why not start there and save the rules for another day?

Create a Selfie Padlet Wall

I love this idea from Catlin Tucker - create a Padlet wall and have students submit a "selfie" and answer some questions about themselves. Even though students may not have laptops the first week of school, students can use their phone or desktop computers to add their post. It's a great way for you (the teacher) to put faces with names to study later; it's also a fantastic way for students to get to know each other.

I'm also a big fan of Laura Randazzo's " Non-Cheesy Icebreaker for First Day of School " activity. The activity has students answer a set of 8 questions on 8 different sticky notes, then they go around the room in stations and post their answers and discuss common themes with their group. At the end, a classroom discussion emerges about common struggles, hopes, fears, goals, etc. This activity has students collaborating, moving, thinking about their future, goal-setting, and more. Plus you get to see how students interact with each other, who the leaders are, who the shy ones are, etc.

Have students write a letter to you. This one is a personal favorite of mine. I still have every single letter my students have written me on the first day of school, and I still read them from time-to-time. You can give them a template with some sentence starters or a list of questions you want them to answer, or you can let them free-write. You get to see their writing style and get a quick snapshot of who they are. The letters are also really helpful to read occasionally throughout the year when you are struggling to connect with a student or need some insight into their personalities.

Have students write a letter to themselves. Similar to the letter to you (their teacher), students can write about their goals, their fears, promises to themselves, etc. You can file them away and revisit them with a student if he/she is needing a little encouragement throughout the year. Then you can return the letters to them at the end of the year and have them talk about what they accomplished, what they still need to work on, etc.

If you've ever been to an Escape Room and loved it, you'll love doing a Breakout with your students! BreakoutEDU just released four new awesome Back to School breakouts, and there are tons of free breakouts on their website. There's also a wonderful BreakoutEDU Facebook group where teachers share games they've designed and ask questions to each other.

I came across this idea on Twitter and fell in love with it! Have students brainstorm a list of things that are important to them, things that make them unique, then have them copy those words onto an outline of a fingerprint to hang on the wall or put on the inside of their notebook or binder. Read all about the activity on this blog.

What do you get when you mix a scavenger hunt with FlipGrid? A FlipHunt! Check out this blog post explaining the concept and see some examples that you can borrow. Or check out this blog post from FlipGrid with LOTS of examples! Sounds like a super fun way to get students up and moving while exploring new learning and amplifying student voice!

I love this quick and easy activity from Maryellen Weimer. On one section of the whiteboard write: "The best class I've ever had" and underneath it "What the teacher did" and below that "What the students did." On another section write "The worst class I've ever had" and then the same two items beneath. Then ask students to share their experiences, without naming the course, department, or teacher, and begin filling in the grid based on what they call out. If there's a lull or not many comments about what the students did in these classes, have some descriptors ready based on your experience with some of your best and worst classes. When both sides have a thoughtful collection of descriptors, move to the best class section of the board and tell students that "this is the class I want to teach, but I can't do it alone. Together we have the power to make this one of those 'best class' experiences." This can lead into a discussion of class norms or expectations if you wish.

This is an excellent activity from Rebekah Hinkle to get students moving around and discussing ideas. Check out this slide deck and make a copy if you wish. Essentially you lace the letters A, B, C, and D in the four corners of the room. For each slide, have students stand in the corner that best represents their answer. As the questions get deeper, have those standing near each other discuss why they chose that answer. (This set of slides was originally designed for a teacher PD, so you may have to change a few slides to work with students.)

This might be something better suited for after students receive laptops, but it's a fun lesson either way! Check out this template and make a copy if you'd like, then make the necessary changes to fit your class. If you need help, feel free to reach out to your nearest Digital Learning Specialist!

Looking for more ideas about the first days of school? Check out this article "What NOT to Do the First Day of School. "

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Not Another Syllabus! TEN Refreshing Back to School Activities to Try

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When students enter our classrooms on the first day of school, we know that more often than not, they didn't necessarily choose to be in our class. The first day of school is our opportunity to make...

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Summit Preparatory Charter High School in Redwood City, California, uses a variety of activities in the weekly, 90-minute Habits, Community, and Culture (HCC) class, where students learn Habits of Success and develop social and emotional learning (SEL) skills. The school has developed an HCC curriculum for grades nine through 12 and hired two full-time teachers for HCC, but Summit's academic teachers also use some of these activities to build SEL skills and deepen their relationships with their students. Cady Ching, a biology and AP environmental science teacher at Summit, incorporates opening activities into all of her classes: "In my freshman classes, we do them every class period."

Here are some of the opening, group sharing, and closing activities that teachers use at Summit:

Opening Activities

1. Mindfulness: The benefits of mindfulness range from improved working memory to stress reduction. Here are two ways Aukeem Ballard, an HCC teacher, facilitates mindfulness:

Visualization to release stress: Have your students imagine what stress looks and feels like inside their body, and then ask them to release it. "The mindfulness practice makes you think the stress is coming off your body," says Geoffrey, a 12th-grade student.

Noise isolation: There are a variety of sounds that your students hear when they're in your classroom, from students walking in the hallway to outdoor construction noise. Have your students focus on one noise and describe it to themselves and recall the last time they interacted with it.

To get more tips, check out Ballard's " When Mindfulness Feels Like a Necessity."

2. Name the emotion you're bringing to class: Have each student call out the emotion they're feeling. This helps each student know how they and other students are feeling, what different emotions look like, and how to better interact with their peers based on how they're feeling.

3. Write down, rip up, and throw away your stress: Have your students write down their expectations and insecurities, rip them up, and throw them away. This emotional check-in takes about three minutes. By acknowledging how your students are feeling at the start of each class, you'll acknowledge their barriers to learning and create a safe space for your students to overcome them.

4. Growth mindset vs. fixed mindset share-out: Have your students share moments when they have demonstrated a growth and fixed mindset.

5. Quote of the day: Introduce a quote relevant to what your students are learning or to a shared experience-for example, an act of violence in the community. You can facilitate a whole-class discussion, group students into pairs, or have each student share a one-word response to the quote. This gives students the space to reflect on their beliefs and experiences and whether they agree or disagree with the quote and other students' opinions, and it gives them insight into their peers' perspectives and feelings.

6. Where we came from: Collect baby pictures from your students. Project one baby picture at the start of class, have your students guess who it is, and then have the featured student share something about their childhood.

7. Starting positive: Have each student tape a sheet of paper to their back and then walk around and write positive qualities about their peers on their backs.

8. Motivational moment: Have two students start the class with a three- to five-minute presentation-and come up with two or three discussion questions-based on their interests. The presentation must be related to the course content in a real-world context. "Many students include a video for visuals and increased engagement, but it's optional," says Ching. Have the rest of the class partner up to discuss their questions for one minute and then give them the opportunity to share out to the whole class. This exercise gives your students insight into their peers' interests.

Data is from the 2014-2015 academic year.

Group Sharing

9. Circle sharing: To encourage active listening, create small groups. Have your students position their chairs in a circle so everyone can make eye contact. To strengthen empathy, you can facilitate deeper discussion around what a student shares by asking, "Why did that student share what they did?" or "What perspective is that student coming from?"

When discussing emotionally charged topics, it's important to have guidelines to foster a safe space. Summit uses the Courageous Conversation protocol created by Glenn E. Singleton when discussing race. The protocol is guided by four agreements-stay engaged, experience discomfort, speak your truth, and expect and accept nonclosure. Here is an example of elementary school discussion guidelines from School 21.

10. Write a poem from someone else's perspective. Have your students choose someone they don't know. This helps them to understand that they don't "need to be best friends with someone to empathize with them," explains Ballard.

11. Have a conversation with someone you don't know. Have your students pair up with a student they don't know and provide the pairs with five questions to ask each other. Each student introduces their partner to the class, speaking as if they were their partner, while the rest of the class looks at the student being introduced. "We don't see people sometimes," says Ballard, "and this exercise helps students to see each other more deeply."

12. Play interest and identity-related bingo. Instead of squares filled with numbers or vocabulary words, create cards with information relating to your students. Summit's Bingo cards have things like "'I like to read' or 'I was born in a different country,'" says Armando, a ninth-grade student.

Closing Activity

13. Appreciation, apology, aha: Have your students get in a circle and share an appreciation, apology, or realization with the group. Students in Ballard's class have shared things like:

I would like to appreciate Brenda for facilitating the conversation in our small group.

I would like to thank everyone for taking this class seriously.

I apologize to everyone for having my headphones in for half of the time.

Encourage authentic and timely apologies. Apologizing for something that happened a long time ago has less impact than apologizing for something that happened that day or week. Let your students know that they don't have to name who they're apologizing to when they apologize for what they did.

Help students share helpful, not harmful words. "I often say, 'Appreciations, apologies, and ahas should be something that you genuinely think will be useful for people to hear,'" says Ballard.

Have your students snap, clap, or shake both hands when they hear something that resonates with them. "We snap to let people know that we hear them without exerting our own voice in their narrative," explains Ballard. Students shake their hands when peers share things that are emotionally charged. Ballard often gets this started by saying, "Let's shake it up for that."

"When you pay attention to each other, not only does it build a sense of community, but we're more able to understand other people," says Janet, a 12th-grade student. "If you're able to understand people at a younger age, you could work better with them as adults. That changes how the future generations will be. People can be more accepting, more helpful towards each other."

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Summit Preparatory Charter High School in Redwood City, California, uses a variety of activities in the weekly, 90-minute Habits, Community, and Culture (HCC) class, where students learn Habits of Success and develop social and emotional learning (SEL) skills.

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Y'all.... I survived the first three days of school!!! It went something like this...

4:00 AM... I'm wide awake? WHY? Who knows... I would like to blame it on my huge pregnant belly... BUT, I always do this on the first day!!! So... around 6:00 I made a trip to Kroger. You know... The important things for the first day of school... Popsicles, Hawaiian Punch & Sprite for "jitter juice," pretzels, COFFEE. A very SMALL coffee because caffeine and pregnancy apparently don't go together. I'm not sure who made up that rule, but I DON'T LIKE IT!!!

However, it was nice to enjoy my TINY coffee in the dark! Especially because I have these awesome new lamps and a completely NEW classroom! I went a little crazy with decor and organization this year! You can take a tour of my room HERE.

Then... 7:15 came and I was welcoming 24 new first graders with a hug and a big smile. This sheet was sitting on their desks...

Our day began with First Day Jitters and "jitter juice" to take those jitters away!

After a quick snack, we learned about Mean Jean by reading The Recess Queen. I seriously love that book!!!

Then, we took a quick tour of the cafeteria to learn the procedures and find our tables. We also went outside to learn the playground rules. And, of course, we had to have a little extra recess!!!

The afternoon was spent getting to know one another.

And that was it... The end of day one! I always have so much more planned and we never get to it!! You would think I would know this after 10 years of teaching! But, the truth is... It's probably better to over plan than under plan. With a new group of kiddos, you never know how long it will take them to complete assignments. And... my BIG goal for the first few days of school is to get to know my kiddos... Engage them in conversations, learn about them, help them learn about each other, and MOST OF ALL... Show them that I LOVE them! The teaching can come later... They need to know they are cared for! That's probably why we don't get a ton of things done... We do a lot of talking, and dancing, and laughing......

Oh yes...This wasn't planned, BUT... I LOVED this activity! I gave my kiddos a piece of drawing paper and had them draw pictures of things that they LOVE. I learned so much about each one of them!!

Day 2 began by teaching my kiddos some more things about me...

These Venn Diagrams crack me right up.... I am "old" and I "drink coffee." Gotta love it...

Amy Lemons has an amazing back to school math unit. We completed this toys vs. math tools sort together and then I let them explore some different math tools. I always love doing this activity on the second day of school because it gets my kiddos moving, talking, and meeting new friends while exploring math.

We reviewed our classroom rules and made these cute glue crafts ...

Then we learned all about Mathematicians and completed this adorable activity that came from Amy Lemons.

Of course, we had to read another book!!!

And there you have it... My first three days of First Grade! Our district does an AMAZING job of getting us into the swing of things. We go three days the first week and four the second. I have to say... I have definitely been exhausted, but I am LOVING my new group of firsties!!!

All of the activities listed came from my back to school pack. You can find them HERE ....

Amy's math activities came from HERE ...

Have a great weekend!!!

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Y'all.... I survived the first three days of school!!! It went something like this... 4:00 AM... I'm wide awake? WHY? Who knows... I would like to blame it on my huge pregnant belly... BUT, I always do this on the first day!!! So... around 6:00 I made a trip to Kroger.

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9 Chairs in Tic-Tac-Toe

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We spent a wonderful weekend at the cabin with some special friends. It was so nice to spend time together with no time constraints. While we were there, I presented all the kids with a simple Pipe Cleaner Challenge. My kiddos are like me and always up for a challenge. Everyone quickly divided into 3 teams. I handed each of the teams 2 basic items... the same amount of tin foil and pipe cleaners. Their only instructions were to come up with something creative, and work together. I love challenges that evoke both thinking and working together. I told them to get creative with their minimal supplies and sent them off to separate rooms.

Crafts don't need to be extravagant or even use every supply in our cupboard. I can easily get caught up with Pinterest and all the beautiful crafts that I forget that kids have wonderful imaginations and we need to be fostering their creativity. By limiting what supplies are available and presenting this activity as a challenge, it got kids thinking in a new way. I love that!

Tinfoil is a fun creative tool for kids to play with. Encourage them to twist it, mold it and shape it into anything they want. You may be surprised at how sculptable it is. With the addition of Pipe Cleaners your kids are set to build anything they can dream up!

This beautiful castle was created from our youngest team. I love that the King and Queen are sitting on their thrones in front of the entrance. This group felt a little rushed, but I love the results!

Nothing like a pretty spring flower garden to cheer you up:) The flowers are adorable but I think my favorite is the bug. The perfect garden for the King and Queen to take a stroll through.

It can be hard to find crafts that suit a wide range of interests. However, by presenting this activity as a challenge and not a craft, encouraged even the non-crafty kiddos to have fun. Our 10 year old boys even got into it, and that is saying something:) All they needed was a little imagination. Now the the King and Queens castle will be protected with a quiver full of arrows and bows! Nice work boys!

Have you ever presented your kids with a crafting challenge? I would love to hear your experience. This will be something that we will be trying again really soon!
Disclaimer: Not too long ago we received a delightful package from CraftProjectIdeas.com. It was packed full of craft supplies. One of the things we received was a ginormous package of Fuzzy Sticks or pipe cleaners. They were perfect for this challenge.

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We spent a wonderful weekend at the cabin with some special friends. It was so nice to spend time together with no time constraints. While we were there, I presented all the kids with a simple Pipe Cleaner Challenge. My kiddos are like me and always up for a challenge.

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Tom - here is link to 3 person drawing activity and a balloon challenge
Here is link to basic ideas

Here are direction pages to kids

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43 Awesome Team-Building Games and Activities for Kids

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Students will have fun while learning how to cooperate and communicate.

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Sneak peek