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School gardens are an integral part of farm to school programs and offer a multitude of educational opportunities. This fact sheet offers steps and considerations for starting a school garden, including: collaboration, goals and design, funding, planting, maintaining, supplies, curriculum and benefi…

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Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service projects can take many shapes and sizes, and may range from 10 minutes to 10 years in duration.

What are community service projects examples?

An example of a community service project idea during Covid was people offering to collect groceries and medicine for neighbors who were unable to leave home.

Another popular community service project which is popping up across neighborhoods around the world are the Little Free Library and Little Free Pantry projects. These small cupboards or food pantries are placed outside someone's home, inviting neighbors to share and borrow from each other in a simple and free way.

Even Buy/Swap/Sell Facebook groups are examples of community service projects that help people save money, reduce waste and connect with each other.

What makes a good community project?

A good community project is one that puts the community at the center of your project. Any project that focuses on how it can benefit the community will be worthy and successful.

Obviously, the more people that get involved, the greater the reach and impact will be. But that doesn't mean small projects aren't important too. Making a difference in even one person's life is a great achievement.

To make community projects as successful as possible, consider:

What does the community really need? A community needs assessment could be useful here.

Involving artists and creatives to inject new ideas and curiosity

Building strong partnerships to get even greater reach

Writing a strong concept and plan so that everyone is on the same page

Developing clear project management and communication skills

Prioritizing health and safety at all times

Evaluating and reviewing the success of the project afterwards

How do I create a community service project?

If you have a great idea for a community project that doesn't yet exist in your area, why not start it yourself? This gives you greater flexibility and control over what you can achieve and learn. It is important to be honest and realistic about your skills and time availability so you don't over-commit yourself.

Ask yourself:

What are your major skills/areas of interest?

What do you want to learn?

How many hours can you devote to the project each week?

Do I want to start a one-off project or a recurring/ongoing project?

Who will be available to help you?

How much money do you need to invest to get the project up and running?

Then look through your list of ideas, and identify which ones fit your criteria. Make a launch plan, recruit great volunteers to help you, create a volunteer management plan using , and get started! You may even be able to get publicity in the local newspaper or radio station by sending them a press release. Don't forget to take lots of photos so you can continue to promote it on social media .

Keep reading for over one hundred community service project ideas for all ages to help you get started volunteering.

Community service ideas for kids and schools

1. Brighten up the neighborhood by writing or drawing inspiring quotes and pictures on the sidewalk with chalk

2. Run a non-perishable food drive to donate to a local charity

3. Sell chocolates to raise money for a local charity

4. Create a recipe book using students favorite recipes and sell it, with part of the profits going to a charity

5. Make someone's day by creating happiness cards and hand them out to delivery drivers, neighbors, cashiers or other people you meet

6. Plant trees

7. Invite a member of a local charity to come and give a talk

8. Organize a clean-up day at a local park

9. Start a pen pal program with another school overseas and practice cultural exchange

10. Put on a talent or music show at a nursing home

11. Start a recycling program

12. Start a breakfast club to ensure no one goes hungry

13. Paint a mural in a public space

14. Sponsor a child as a class

15. Participate in a charity day such as Red Nose Day or Daffodil Day

Community service ideas for college students

1. Volunteer at your local library

2. Sign petitions for causes you care about

3. Join the student society and welcome new students

4. Help with the clean up after a natural disaster

5. Become a certified lifeguard and volunteer at a swimming pool or beach on weekends

6. Volunteer with a local nonprofit

7. Volunteer at a large scale sporting event

8. Take part in a clean-up day

9. Volunteer at an animal shelter

10. Donate unwanted clothes to charity

11. Donate old textbooks to the library

12. Volunteer to do social media for a local organization

13. Volunteer as a camp counselor during summer break

14. Teach people how to register to vote

15. Offer to walk dogs

16. Work on a home build for a charity like Habitat for Humanity

17. Play music in a public area

18. Help clean up graffiti

19. Volunteer abroad during school holidays

20. Volunteer at a homeless shelter

21. Volunteer at a food pantry

Community service ideas for families

1. Host an exchange student and share your life with them as part of a cultural exchange

2. Donate unwanted toys or baby items to a women's shelter

3. Ask for donations instead of presents for birthdays

4. Volunteer as a family for clean up days, planting days or sports events

5. Host a car wash at your house and donate the proceeds to a charity of choice

6. Cycle or walk to school or work to reduce emissions

7. Grow a vegetable garden in the backyard, or start a community garden

8. Deliver groceries to elderly neighbors. Often the bags are heavy, and they need help putting items away

9. Go caroling as a family in your neighborhood or at a senior citizens center

10. "Adopt" a child or family from a Salvation Army Angel Tree or similar movement, and shop for gifts as a family during the holidays or for birthdays

11. Buy a 'pay it forward' coffee at your local cafe

12. Set up a bird bath at home to feed local birds

13. Create a school drop off and pick up roster with other local families

14. Care for a neighbors pet, collect mail and water their garden while they're away

15. Donate unwanted sports equipment to sportsgift

16. Kids can set up a lemonade stand or bake sale out the front and raise money for a charity

17. Next time you're at the playground, pick up five pieces of litter each

18. Organize a book drive amongst other families and donate them to a women's shelter

19. Read books that spark conversations about important topics

20. Create and send a thank you video to someone who was kind to you

21. Go meat free one or two days a week

22. Write letters to service men or women or inmates in prison

23. Take part in a clothes swap

24. Join a toy library to reduce the amount of toys purchased

25. Put together care packages for a children's hospital. Fill it with activity books, iSpy books, chapstick, bubbles, colorful pens, nail polish, squish balls and Play-Doh, and a handmade get well soon card

Community service ideas for seniors

1. Serve food at a soup kitchen

2. Volunteer with Meals on Wheels

3. Create a little free library outside your home

4. Start a little free pantry outside your home

5. Do a First Aid course so you can be CPR certified

6. Become a volunteer member at a museum, theater, or cultural institution and share your knowledge with visitors

7. Volunteer for a language exchange program to teach new migrants English (or another language you speak)

8. Share any extra produce you grow with neighbors

9. Knit clothing for NICU babies or animals

10. Train a service dog

11. Foster a dog or cat until it is adopted

12. Become a big brother or sister

13. Give blood

14. Coach a youth sports team

15. Start a book club for other seniors in your area

16. Rake leaves or shovel snow for neighbors

17. Become a voluntary board member of an organization

18. Drive elderly people to appointments

19. Volunteer at a thrift shop

20. Get involved with outdoor volunteering with Land care

21. Recruit other senior volunteers to get involved and reap the benefits of volunteering

22. Get involved at local community centers

Virtual community service project ideas

1. Share your knowledge by tutoring students online with

2. Sign and share online petitions

3. Talk to older adults via Zoom to help combat loneliness with

4. Be the eyes for a blind or low-sighted person via the app

5. Respond to student questions to help them find their dream jobs at Career Village

6. Translate texts into different languages with Translators Without Borders

7. Help support micro-entrepreneurs around the world to grow their businesses via

8. Help conservation efforts from home by identifying animals in survey images and videos with ZSL Instant Wild

9. Review historical documents for the Smithsonian Institute

10. Be a red cross caller and call people each morning to check they are OK

11. Take part in a volunteer fun run

12. Read books to a buddy on StoriiTime

13. Start a Buy/Swap/Sell group in your local neighborhood on Facebook

14. Give away unwanted household items on Facebook Marketplace

15. Write positive reviews about local businesses on Google to help them grow their business

16. Volunteer as a crisis counselor for a crisis hotline.

17. Share your expertise and help solve a problem in a one-hour phone call with a non-profit on Catchafire.com

18. Get behind climate change campaigners such as

19. Do your part for climate change by setting up a home compost garden

20. Plant trees and flowers that attract bees

Conclusion

Community service is a great way to build connected and happy communities. But it also benefits the giver in a number of ways.

"The results show that giving your time to others can make you feel more 'time affluent' and less time-constrained than wasting your time, spending it on yourself, or even getting a windfall of free time," Cassie Mogilner wrote in the Harvard Business Review on her research into community service.

Volunteering your time can build a sense of social responsibility, and it can help children realize how fortunate they are while building a sense of empathy. It can also help you improve communication skills, build confidence, develop skills and nourish a sense of pride and purpose.

And of course, it can help build social connectedness, promote diversity and inclusion and encourage understanding within communities and community organizations.

So whether you're a student, family, senior adult or teacher, consider creating or supporting a community project in your area and reap the benefits for yourself and your community.

Read more about volunteering on our blog:

About Rosterfy

Rosterfy exists to connect communities to events and causes they're passionate about through our end-to-end volunteer management solution.

If you'd like to learn more about how can help you recruit and manage volunteers with ease, why not of our product today?

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100+ Community Service Project Ideas For All Ages

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Community service projects can take many shapes and sizes. Rosterfy has pulled together 100+ Community Service Projects to better connect your community.

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As a teacher, one of the main goals on the first day of school after the holidays is to get to know your students. Getting to know your students can directly affect how engaged and interested they are during class throughout the school year. Once you know about your students' interests, hobbies, and things they like and don't like, you can include these things in your lessons.

Students are much more likely to be motivated and engaged if they are learning things that they enjoy and are interested in. By asking questions to get to know your students you will also show them that you are interested in them and care about them. In this post, we have put together a list of 30 fun icebreaker questions to get to know your students.

Fun Icebreaker Questions

Here's a list of fun questions to break the ice and to get to know your students:

1. What's your favorite book or movie?

2. Who would you most like to meet in real life?

3. What's the last thing that made you laugh out loud?

4. Where would you most like to go on vacation?

5. What's your earliest memory?

6. What is the best gift you have ever received?

7. If you were a superhero, what superpowers would you like to have?

8. If you were an animal, what animal would you be?

9. What three things can you not live without?

10. If you were King / Queen for a day, what would you do?

11. What do you think makes a good teacher?

12. If you had a time machine, would you travel to the past of the future?

13. What do you do when you have free time?

14. How would your friends describe you?

15. What's your dream job?

16. In how many languages can you say 'hello'?

17. If you could join a famous band/pop group, which one would you join?

18. Who would play you in a movie about your life?

19. What's the strangest thing you have ever eaten?

20. What's your favorite kind of food?

21. Do you have any pets?

22. What would you buy first if you had a million dollars?

23. What's the worst gift you have ever been given?

24. What are your favorite sports to play?

25. What subjects do you like the most at school?

26. Describe your ideal birthday party.

27. What interesting places have you visited?

28. What three things would you take with you to a desert island?

29. Are you an early bird or a night owl?

30. What would you like to achieve this year?

Getting to know your students on the first day of school is a fantastic way to engage students and make them feel like you care about them and are interested in them. I hope using these fun questions to get to know your students will help you break the ice in a fun way.
Thanks for reading. You may also be interested in: All About Me Worksheets
30 Fun Conversation Topics For Kids
Social Distancing Classroom Games
The 20 Questions Games

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30 Fun Icebreaker Questions To Get To Know Your Students | Games4esl

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As a teacher, one of the main goals on the first day of school after the holidays is to get to know your students. Getting to know your students can directly affect how engaged and interested they are during class throughout the school year.

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The last few years have highlighted the importance of relationship-building and checking in with students on a regular basis.

For learning to happen, students need to see their identities valued. They need to feel safe physically and emotionally-and they need to feel a sense of connection to peers and adults. You can do that by creating space for students to tell their stories, learning about their lives outside of school, and creating rituals that cultivate belonging and connectedness.

To help you get to know your students, we've curated this list of 101 asset-based, inclusive questions. Most are open-ended questions, but you can also adapt them into a multiple-choice format.
Free PDF Download: Panorama's Full Check-Ins Question Bank
How to Use These Questions

If you are a district or school administrator focused on improving relationships and belonging campus-wide, we invite you to share this article with your teachers and staff. This is a great resource to include on district or school resource sites, Tier 1 resource hubs, or in staff newsletters.

If you are a teacher, practitioner, or instructional coach, feel free to borrow these questions to get to know your students in the classroom-virtually or in person! These questions are great for small group brain breaks, icebreaker games, morning meetings or morning circles, and advisory periods. Or, use them as conversation starters in a 1:1 setting.

Click on the following links to jump to a section:

Interests and Hobbies

1. What are your favorite hobbies?

2. In your free time, what do you like to do?

3. Have you volunteered in your community?

4. What was the hardest part of the past week for you?

5. What is your favorite book?

6. What is your favorite TV show?

17. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

18. What is your favorite thing to do over the weekends?

19. If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?

20. What is your most frequently-used or favorite emoji?

21. What are three awesome things about yourself?

22. What is something people don't know about you that you wish they knew?

23. What is a unique talent you have?

24. What do you want to be when you grow up?

25. What is a big world problem that you would like to change?

26. What is your biggest dream or goal in life?

Relational and Social-Emotional Learning

27. What is your social-emotional learning superpower?

28. Which of the following traits do you think best describes you: funny, thoughtful, caring, or outgoing?

29. How do you most like to connect with your friends? Through social media, by talking over the phone or texting, or by meeting up in person?

30. What is one thing your teacher can do to get to know you better?

31. How can your teacher help you if you are feeling down?

32. What is one thing you want to know about your teacher?

33. What do you think is the most important quality for a teacher to have?

34. Who is an adult at school that you know you can count on?

35. Who is a friend at school that you know you can count on?

36. When you are stressed, what do you do to relax?

37. What makes you feel the most appreciated and understood?

38. How would your friends or a relative describe you?

39. What is something that you are thankful for?

Family and Cultural Background

40. Where do your family members work?

41. What does dinner time look like at your house?

42. What are some family items or artifacts that represent your culture and identity?

43. Which languages do you speak (even just a little bit)?

44. Who is someone in your family that you look up to?

45. What is a favorite memory you have with a family member?

46. What do you like most about your family?

47. What is a family tradition that you have?

48. Does your family have pets? If not, would you like to have a pet? What kind?

49. What is your favorite family recipe?

50. Do you have siblings? If not, would you want to have siblings or do you like being an only child?

Academic Strengths and Opportunities

51. What is your favorite subject and why?

52. What is your least favorite subject and why? What is the best way I can support you when we work on that subject?

53. What is one thing you think you do well as a student?

54. What is one thing you would like to do better as a student?

55. What do you like most about school?

56. What do you like least about school?

57. What is something you would really want to learn about at school?

58. Which of the following is your favorite way to learn: by talking with others, by listening, or by reading?

59. What would be your dream field trip?

60. Would you rather do schoolwork as a group or by yourself?

61. What is the best school project or lesson you can remember?

62. What is the best way I can support you outside of class?

63. How would you like to be recognized if you get a good grade on an assignment or project?

The Transition Back to School / First Day of School

64. What is one thing you are looking forward to this school year?

65. What is something you learned over the summer?

66. What is something you would really want to learn about this year?

67. What is one thing you would like your classmates or teacher to know about you this year?

68. What is one thing you want to know about your teacher(s) this year?

69. What was the best part of the past week for you?

70. What was the hardest part of the past week for you?

71. What can teachers or other adults at school do to better support you?

72. How much did you enjoy class today?

73. How included did you feel in class today?

74. What was your favorite part of class today?

Virtual Learning

75. What is the best part of virtual learning?

76. What is the most challenging part of virtual learning?

77. How is your internet connection at home?

78. Where do you do your school work?

79. What is something your teachers could do to improve virtual classroom time?

80. What is your favorite Zoom background?

81. How do you prefer to be communicated when learning online? By email, a messaging app, on a video call, or by phone?

82. When you take breaks from school at home, what do you like to do?

83. What is your favorite way to get in touch with your classmates and friends online?

84. What would help you feel more connected to your classmates and your school?

"Would You Rather" Icebreaker Questions

These questions can also be used between classmates to help students reconnect with one another, discover similarities, and learn new things about one another.

85. Would you rather read a book or watch a movie?

86. Would you rather eat pizza or ice cream?

87. Would you rather do a school project by yourself or with friends?

88. Would you rather play a video game or play outside?

89. Would you rather have a dog or a cat?

90. Would you rather have chocolate or vanilla?

91. Would you rather go to the beach or go camping?

92. Would you rather eat salty or sweet snacks for the rest of your life?

93. Would you rather win the lottery or be famous?

94. Would you rather dance or sing in front of a group of people?

95. Would you rather be the oldest sibling or the youngest sibling?

96. Would you rather give a presentation or write a long paper?

97. Would you rather do your homework or do chores?

98. Would you rather travel back in time or travel to the future?

99. Would you rather live in snow or rain for the rest of your life?

100. Would you rather be able to fly or be invisible as a superpower?

101. Would you rather live without Netflix or live without YouTube?
Download Panorama's Check-Ins Question Bank

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101 Inclusive Get-to-Know-You Questions for Students [+ PDF Download]

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Explore 101 inclusive "get-to-know-you" questions for students. Ask students about their family, interests, hobbies, academic & social-emotional strengths, learning preferences, and more.

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31 Icebreaker Games For Teens For ANY Situation

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Help teens overcome social awkwardness and nervousness with these innovative icebreaker games that spark conversations and teamwork.

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They are great:

2. Play Catch

Throw the ball around the room and each child says their name and a fact about them. If you want kids to pay attention to other's names, you can have them state their name and the name of the child who had the ball before them.

3. Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Jar?

Sing the classic song to learn everyone's names!

Have kids sing "Who Stole the Cookies From the Cookie Jar?" Then, they chant as you sing "_____ (name) stole the cookies from the cookie jar. The child says "who me?" "Yes you!"

Then everyone sings, _______ (name) stole the cookie from the cookie jar. Continue until you've done everyone in the room.

4. Create a Story
*No prep, no equipment
How to Play: Sit in a circle. One person begins a story with "once upon a time" and then you go around the circle with each person adding 4 words to the story. Players might say...

"there was a frog."

"my socks were smelly."

"Fred ate cream and mint."

5. Telephone Game

This ice breaker game is a silly way for toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarten students to let their hair down.

Have the kids sit in a line. Whisper a silly phrase to the first person in line and have him/her tell the next person until everyone has been told. The last person says the phrase they think it is.

(See funny telephone phrases)

6. I Spy Ice Breaker Kids Game

Turn the classic "I Spy" game into a way to get to know kids' names. Instead of choosing anything around the room, tell kids they have to choose something on someone around them. (A shirt, shoes, hair etc.)

As kids guess who has the color, they'll also learn the names of the kids around them.

7. Show and Tell

First, have each child bring something from home to tell the group about.

Then, sit in a circle and share. Let other children ask one or two questions about the special possession as well.

8. Charades for Kids

In this game, kids act out different things (animals, sports, etc) and have the others guess what it is. Use this great list of charades ideas to start an easy game that helps kids forget their jitters and have fun together.

9. Animal Sound Match Up

This simple game gets kids moving. Have students think of their favorite animal. Then, they make the sound of that animal and try to find other students around the room with the same animal sound. Soon you'll have a room filled with crazy animal noises, haha!

You can also do this with songs! Have students hum or sing the same song and have to find each other in the room.

10. Fun Physical Ice Breaker Kids Games

Young kids need to be moving, so games that help them release energy are excellent ice breakers. Try:

Simon Says

Red Light Green Light

Freeze Dance

Partner Tag (one person is the chaser and one is the runner).

What are Fun Questions to Ask Any Age?

These are ice breakers for all ages but work well in elementary students and older. The best part? Questions require no prep and no equipment!

11. Ice Breaker Questions

This big list of icebreaker questions is great for any age. Bounce the questions across the room by using a ball or popcorn-type method. Or spin a fidget spinner and the three people it points to answer the question.

12. 21 Questions

The 21 questions game rules are nice and simple! You play with two or more people. (Though it works best in small groups.) And you can allow members to pass on questions.

Play two ways:

1. One person answers the 21 questions all the way through, and then the turn goes to the next person (who answers all 21).

2. Each person answers the first question before moving on to the next question. Players take turns until everyone has answered all 21 questions.

Find great 21 questions ideas >>

13. Never Have I Ever Questions

Use the questions for never have I ever here to keep it clean, and then laugh until your bellies hurt. These questions will open up the room in an entirely new way.

14. Rapid Fire Questions

There's no overthinking these questions! Set a timer and tell kids they have to answer as fast as possible. The responses that follow will be entertaining.

See fun questions for rapid fire >>

15. Would You Rather Questions

Would you rather kids questions is one of the best ice breaker games because the options tend to be outrageous. It's a unique way to get to know someone without the pressure.

16. What Am I Riddles

Can you guess the animal or thing? Have kids pick an object they love (or one they hate). Then give the other person clues until they guess it.

You can also do this with animals, sports, etc. Try free what am I riddles and answers >>

17. This or That Questions

First, draw a line in the room. Then call out these this or that questions examples and have kids pick where they want to be. Examples include:

1. Batman or Superman?

2. Dinosaur or dragon?

3. Chapter book or picture book?

4. Spaceship or robot?

18. Tongue Twisters For Kids

Try this list of tongue twisters and get kids talking! This activity works well for shy kids that don't want to talk about themselves, and gets everyone acting silly. It's a great way to loosen up the room.

19. What If Questions

For middle schoolers and high school students, these questions can be incredibly insightful. Get them thinking and engaging in thoughtful debate over hypothetical situations. Examples include:

What if LEGO wanted you to create a new Lego set? What would you make?

What if you found out your mom or dad was actually a spy?

What if you woke up and realized you were the President of the United States?

20. Funny Questions for Kids

When in doubt, pull out these funny questions. They promote creativity and imagination, without the stress of serious stuff.

Good Icebreaker Games for Elementary Students

Next, these ice breaker kids games are excellent for the middle grades.

21. Family Feud Questions

You wouldn't believe what people say to these questions. And your kids won't either! Pull out this easy family feud game for kids and get playing. (You don't even have to keep score if you don't want to!)

22. Find the Person Bingo

For this game, you'll need paper and pencil. Make a chart with 9 squares on the paper and either you or the entire class fills in each square with descriptions.

Things like... owns a dog, like to play Minecraft, plays soccer, etc. Then, have kids walk around the room until they find someone with that characteristic to sign the square with their name.

23. Two Truths & a Lie

This kids icebreaker game is a winner in many elementary school and youth group settings. It's memorable and helps kids talk about how unique they are. Kids write down two true things and one lie about themselves and see if the group can pick out which one is the lie.

Find great two truths and a lie examples >>

24. The Line-Up Game

Want to get kids to learn each other's names fast? See how fast they can line themselves up in alphabetical order.

25. Name Pictionary

First, students write their names by drawing a picture of something that correlates to each letter of their name. Then, have the group spell out the name and guess the child's name.

For example:

A child named Alex might draw an apple, lightbulb, elephant, and xylophone.

26. Kids Jokes and Punch Lines

Write out kids jokes and punch lines on separate pieces of paper. Then, have students draw from a hat. They must find the joke that matches the person who has the punchline somewhere in the room.

27. Tricky Stickers

This works well with small group settings. (Great for a youth group!).

Give each child a sheet of stickers. Then, kids must secretly put them on other people around the room. If they get caught, they have to take a sticker from the other person.

Kids can only do one sticker at a time and the game can last as long as you want. The first child to get rid of all of their stickers wins.

28. Rock, Paper, Scissors Tournament

Put students in a line and then pair them with a partner. Have kids do the best out of three and then the child that lost is out. The losers cheer on the winners. When one person is left, he/she is proclaimed the winner.

Make it a "human" rock paper scissors game!

First, decide on a full-body sign that will stand for each element.

Then, split the entire group into two teams.

Before the round starts, each team decides on their pose and does it together when the play begins. Play continues with each team deciding together on the poses.

28. Gorilla, Man, Net
*A 4th grade favorite!
This game gets kids laughing together as they get to know one another.

Gorilla, Man, Net is a fun variation to Rock, Paper, Scissors. First, form a line or pair up randomly. Then, have kids stand back to back. When they hear the word "go" kids turns around and immediately give their gesture of gorilla, man, or net. Here are the gestures:

GORILLA: roars while beating his/her hands on their chest.

MAN: stands with his/her head facing up and hands and arms folded proudly.

NET: Pretends to throw a net on his/her partner.

Gorilla beats man because he is bigger and stronger.

Man beats net because he invented it.

And net beats gorilla because a net captures a gorilla.

Whoever wins goes and finds another partner who won, and losers are out. Play until you have one victorious winner.

30. A Great Wind Blows Ice Breaker Kids Game

Put the chairs in a circle. One player starts in the middle of the circle.
How to Play:
The person in the middle starts by saying " a great wind blow for everyone who..." and then follows with an action or description (anyone who's been to Alaska, anyone with a dog, anyone who is wearing tennis shoes). All the players that it applies to have to get up and find a new chair (that is more than 2 chairs away).

The person who's not able to find a seat is the new person in the middle.

31. UnGame Kids Version - Amazon

Ungame for Kids is a great non-competitive game that allows kids to share their opinions and beliefs. It's a great ice breaker used by teachers, church leaders, and counselors.

32. Conversation Cubes - Amazon

Want to make it easy on yourself? Use these conversation cubes when you're trying to get kids talking! They'll do the heavy lifting for you. (Also: See the best conversation game ideas)

33. Over, Under, Through

Start with groups of three kids.

Two kids link hands and the third child does what you call out: either stepping over the hands, under the hands, or through the hands of the other kids.

Now, yell out a variation of the words Over, Under, Through (ex: through, over, under, OR under, over, over, etc...) You don't have to use all three directions each round, but each round needs to be different.

Each remaining child takes turns doing this. The three kids have to work together to figure out how to get everyone over, under, and through in whatever order you said the words.

The first team to finish all three kids sits down and wins the round. Keep playing with more variations of the words.

Add the direction around to make it harder. So it becomes over, under, through, and around. Hula hoops can also be used for younger kids who might struggle to use their arms with the directions.

*Check out Outdoor & Indoor Team Building Activities For Kids.

Icebreaker Games for Teens and Middle School

These games are good ice breakers for middle schoolers and teenagers who don't love talking about themselves in front of a group.

34. Four Corners

Call out a question and have kids go to the corner of the room that reveals their answer. You can have pictures of the options in each corner or state them before reading the question.

When I taught Spanish, I would put adverbs in the four corners - rarely, never, sometimes, and often. Then, I'd say the vocabulary and kids went to the corner that described them.

35. Trivia Questions For Kids

A trivia quiz is fun because it keeps everyone engaged while they learn something new.

36. Take an Item Ice Breaker Game

Have a bowl of candy or roll of toilet paper and tell students to take as much as they would like. After, kids must tell as many facts about themselves as they have in their hands.

For example, if they took two squares of toilet paper they tell two facts.

37. Deserted Island Game

For this get to know you kids game, each person says one thing they would take with them on a deserted island. The next person in the circle must name the items that were said before them, and add their own. Keep going until someone can't remember all the items.

38. The Name Game

First, each person writes the name of someone famous on a piece of paper. Fold the slips of paper and put them in a bowl or hat. (You'll use these same names for ALL rounds)

Now, what makes this game tricky is that it's a combination of different types of games. And it gets harder as you go.

Round One

Players describe the person (without saying the name like Taboo or Catchphrase).

Round Two

Players do charades to have their team guess the person.

Round Three

Players can only say one word to get their team to guess. (By now, players know the names well)

Round Four

And for the last round, players can only give a facial expression to have their team guess.

39. Yes or No Questions Game

Yes or no questions are great for shy kids because you don't have to give lengthy responses. Turn it into a game by seeing how many questions you can ask in a short period of time. Or you can see how many questions the partners answer the same.

40. Giant Jenga With Questions

Buy a giant Jenga game and attach ice breaker questions to each Jenga piece (you can do this with small pieces of paper).

41. Beach Ball Get to Know You

First, buy a large inflatable beach ball and write get-to-know-you questions on it. Then, toss it around and have teens answer the question that their hand lands on.

42. Who Am I Ice Breaker Game

Just like with the "what am I game" (#16), you give clues until your partner or person in your group guesses who you are. But this time, you're picking famous people.

43. Can You Spot the Difference
*Fun for middle school!
Pair students up and give them 30 seconds to memorize everything about their partner's appearance. When the time is called, they turn away from each other and change something . They can change their hair, switch shoes, etc.

Now, see which partner pairing can find the difference the fastest.

44. Colorful Facts: Icebreaker Games For Kids

Buy a big bowl of candy (or something else colorful) and give each person an array of colors. For each color, kids have to tell a different type of fact about themselves.

Use the ideas in the image above, or create your own things to share per color. For Starbursts, you could try....

Pink - favorite animal

Red - what they ate for breakfast

Orange - favorite place to go, etc...

45. Color Categories Icebreakers Game

In Color Categories, have two kids stand up. Then, the group picks a category (like food) and a color (like brown). The kids then alternate saying brown foods until one person hesitates. The first person to stop loses the round.

46. We! Engage Cards Icebreaker Quotes Trust Building Games, Team Building Activities, Conversation Starters
*56 cards
We Engage Ice Breaker Cards are full of interactive activities, engaging questions, and visual photos to promote the power of storytelling. It's a complete set to build trust and confidence quickly within your group.

47. Totem the feel good game, Self-Esteem Game for Team Building, School, Family Game Night | Counseling and Therapy Card Game for Kids, Teens, Adults

"It's the perfect proactive activity to foster a kind and positive environment."

In this feel good game, kids create positive relationships, build trust in teams, and encourage self-esteem. Use the cards to discover your strengths through others' eyes.

Ice Breaker Activities For All Ages

These activities aren't necessarily games, but they're still great ways for kids to get to know each other quickly.

48. Use Directed Topics

Specific topics and conversation starters can be helpful when meeting people for the first time. Try these good topics to discuss that can help you facilitate connections.

49. Make a Vision Board

Get out posterboard and have kids create their own vision boards. Not only does it help kids dream big, but they can share some of their hopes of the future with others in the group.

After, discuss things that kids have in common and how they can relate.

50. Do a Growth Mindset Activity

Growth mindset activities are great because they promote an attitude of constant learning.

Encouraging kids to do this together will create fellowship and outstanding teamwork. Try one of these amazing activities for growth mindset to get your kids thinking this way.

51. Make a Bucket List & Share It

If a vision board is too personal for an ice breaker, consider a bucket list instead. Kids draw and write about the cool things they want to do this year and beyond. They'll have fun sharing and you'll learn a lot about their personalities too.

52. All About Me Worksheet

Use this free all about me worksheet printable to help kids introduce themselves to others. All they have to do is fill it out, and then they share with partners or with the larger group.

53. Letters of Your Name Poster

Have students make a poster by spelling out their name and giving adjectives or descriptions with each letter. For example, if the name is Jenn:

J: likes to eat jelly donuts or is a fan of jewelry.

54. High and Low Icebreaker Activity

I've seen this work extremely well in a high school classroom to build fellowship amongst small/ medium groups of students. Kids go around the group telling something good about their day (high) and something not so good (low).
Dr. Jamie Donnelly, an experienced school psychologist, suggests "high, low, cheer." "Cheer takes it a step further and it can be someone you are rooting for or someone who has helped you that day." And we do another version of this in our home called "good and grit." The kids say one good thing about the day and one thing that challenged them.
55. Show Your Scars
*Great way to encourage empathy in kids and teens!
This one helps kids get to know each other beyond the superficial.

Go around the room and have kids show a scar they have and explain how they got it. Your kids will have a new found respect for the challenges that others have gone through.

55. Snowball

Have students write something about themselves and wad the paper up. Then everyone gets in a circle and throws their paper. Let them pick up and throw several times like a snowball fight.

After, everyone grabs a paper, opens it, and reads it. Each child tries to guess the person based on what the paper says.

To Consider With Kids Icebreaker Games

Phew, that's a big list! Enjoy making new connections and building trust within your kids' circle of friends and family.

What are your most played ice breaker games for kids? Leave a comment and let me know!

Next, watch Fun Ice Breaker Questions for Kids & Students on our YouTube Channel! Go there now!

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Build a Foundation with Beginner Concepts

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Kodable Game Content Practice Levels Creative Tools Administrator Tools Secure Sync Teacher Lesson Plans Includes the five most foundational CS concepts, the building blocks of every programming language: Sequence, Conditions, Loops, Functions, and Debugging JavaScript is the programming language of the web.

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Teacher Resources - Middle School Journalism

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Teacher Resources - Middle School Journalism

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Here is a list of great teaching resources that could be used to teach students about journalism, in addition to the resources available in the WebQuest.

It's News to Me : Discusses specific methods for teaching students about the newspaper.

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Teacher Resources - Middle School Journalism

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Here is a list of great teaching resources that could be used to teach students about journalism, in addition to the resources available in the WebQuest. It's News to Me : Discusses specific methods for teaching students about the newspaper. HSJ : The HSJ site contains a wealth of information pertaining to journalism.

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Make a Mark Studios " a blog for art teachers and art makers

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After a decade of teaching high school art, I've recently moved to teaching middle school art. It's a blast and there is truly NEVER a dull moment. Through some trial and error, I've learned that some projects are more engaging than others. Below are some of my favorite middle school art projects that have yielded engagement and great visual end products! The ideas below use a variety of art media and include a range of 2d and 3d art projects. I hope you enjoy! Feel free to comment below if you'd like to share some of your personal idea for successful middle school art projects.
#1- 3D Shadowbox Collages
Student goal: Use found collage images to create layers of depth inside a 3D foam core shadowbox. Click here for the full lesson of this 3d shadowbox collage project.

Created by Delaney A.

#2- Colored Light Self Portraits
Student goal: Use colored pencils on toned paper to draw a self portrait of yourself photographed with a colored light source (we used 3 light sources- red, blue and green bulbs).
#3- Vortex Drawings
Student goal: Use a media of your choice to draw a vortex that shows depth, rhythm and movement. Click here for a full lesson on how to draw a variety of vortexes.
#4- Alien Point of View Perspective Drawings
Student goal: Use paint stix, oil pastels, or colored pencils to render an exaggerated "alien's point of view" space drawing. Click here for free lesson a guided worksheet of this fun, alien perspective drawing.
#5- 1/2 Cartoon Face Digital Portraits
Student goal: With a photographed portrait, creatively divide the face in half and use digital drawing methods to stylize one side as a cartoon. Click here for free guided steps on how to do the 1/2 cartoon face portrait.

*This project was inspired by a viral challenge called #cartoonme. Lots of cool inspiration photos online!

#6- Plaster Masks
Student goal: Using plaster strips upon a cardboard armature, create a wearable 3d mask. **In my class, we connected this to Hispanic heritage month and created Sugar Skull and Alebrije masks. We used this free template to create the armature for the mask.
#7- Elements of Art Project
Student goal: Divide one subject into seven sections. In each section, illustrate each of the elements of art using a variety of materials. For more information on this lesson including step by step directions, click here.
#8- Monochromatic Posterized Portrait Paintings
Student goal: Using a portrait of your choice, create a monochromatic, posterized portrait. **We used this method (with the free webpased program Pixlr) to digitally posterize our photo references prior to drawing and painting them on canvas.
#9 Limited Color Scheme Landscapes
Student goal: Using a random color scheme of only 5 colors, create a composition of a landscape that shows a sense of space with foreground, mid ground and background. ** Click here to check out how I randomly assign students their 5 colors and their landscape setting. There is also a free guided video to show students how to begin this project.

#10 Surreal Collage Perspective Rooms
Student goal: Draw a room with accurate 1 point perspective techniques and add color to all sides of the room. Then, creatively incorporate surreal collage images into the room. Click here to check out my FREE guided step by step instructions on how to draw a 1 point perspective room interior.
#11- Agamographs
More info to come!
#12-Monster Dolls (inspired by kid drawings)
Student goal: Using a drawing of a monster from a young child for inspiration, create a hand sewn stuffed animal. Use a variety of materials including felt, cloth, yarn, buttons, and more!

#13- Wire Stocking Sculptures
Student goal: Using a block of wood as your base and a nylon stocking stretched over a manipulated wire hanger, create an interesting 3d form. Use acrylic paint to create a gradient of at least 3 colors.

This is a really popular project, if you are looking for step by step directions a quick google search of 'wire stocking sculptures' should get ya there!
#14- Dictionary Page Drawings
Student goal: Given a random dictionary page, find at last one word on the page to illustrate visually. Use a variety of art media to contrast your drawn image with the busy background. ** For more info on this lesson, check out this link here.
#15- Geometric Creatures
Student goal: On a watercolor wash background, draw a silhouette of a creature. Break your creature into polygonal shapes and add color with marker.
#16- Collaborative School Logo "Quilt" Drawings

#17- Faux Lined Paper Illusion Drawings
Student goal: On a white piece of paper, create a "faux" lined piece of paper with bending blue lines over a shaded pencil drawing. **My students used this awesome website by Julianna Kunstler to aid in our drawings. It was very helpful.
#19 Linoleum block printing
Student goal: Create high contrast prints using a hand carved linoleum block.

#20-Oil Pastel Dragon Eyes
Student goal: Use oil pastels to create a colorful drawing of dragon eye. Imply the texture of the scales through use of blending gradients. **Note- I am definitely not the teacher who created this idea, it's pretty popular and oh-so-fun! I would love to credit whoever originally got this going, so let me know! My students used t his resource by Art by Ro to help us draw the dragon eyes.
#21- Line Drawing Landscapes-in-a-shape
Student goal: Create a landscape in a shape that shows a sense of depth. Explore a variety of line drawing techniques such as hatching and stippling to add texture and value. **Note, this lesson comes from this post from Cassie Stephens who was inspired by an artist named Jen Aranyi.
#22- ANYTHING op art!
Student goal: Choose from a choice board (I gave them lots of choices!), create an original op art drawing! **If you are interested in a fun op art drawing from Make a Mark Studios, check it out here! 🙂
#23 Art History Reproductions
Student goal: Analyzing the brushstrokes, colors, and composition, recreate a famous artwork. **We created ours on our ceiling tiles as our 8th grade legacy works. C lick here for tips we learned along the way for painting on ceiling tiles.
#24 Non Objective Abstract Art
Student goal: Use sharpie to draw a non objective abstract artwork with a variety of lines and shapes. Using oil pastels, color in the composition fully.

Created by Colt

#25 3D Creature Heads
Student goal: Use recyclables to build an armature of a 3d fictional creature head of your own imagination. Use paper mache or plaster strips to finalize your head. For full lesson on how to do this, check out my blog post here-

Created by Madilyn G.

#26 Glowing Light Bulb Drawing
Student goal: Use colored pencils on black paper to create the illusion of a glowing light bulb. For step by step guided tutorial and video, check out my full post here.

#27 Watercolor Mosaic
Student goal: Create a mosaic using cut tiles from a painted watercolor background. Explore either random polygonal tile shapes or a geometric repeated shape. For full lesson, check out my blog post here.

#28 2 point perspective graffiti wall
Student goal: Create a personalized graffiti tag on an illustrated 2 point perspective brick wall. For a FREE full guided drawing lesson of how to do this, check out my blog post here.

Thanks for checking out this blog post! Please follow Make a Mark Studios on Facebook to keep up with the latest posts! Thanks in advance!
-Stephanie Villiotis, creator of Make a Mark Studios

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My Favorite Middle School Art Projects " Make a Mark Studios

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After a decade of teaching high school art, I've recently moved to teaching middle school art. It's a blast and there is truly NEVER a dull moment. Through some trial and error, I've learned that some projects are more engaging than others.

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Welcome to the home page of Jr. High / Middle School level art lessons! The lessons are now categorized by grade level, subject, integration, art period, artist, and medium. (See below) Do you have a lesson to contribute? Just click on the " Submit a Lesson" link here or in the side column.

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Incredible Middle School / Jr. High Art Lessons

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Welcome to the home page of the Jr. High / Middle School level art lessons! Lessons are now categorized by grade level, subject, integration, art period, artist, and medium. Lessons are submitted by teachers and artists across the world.

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Middle school grades art lesson plans. Grade 6-8 (ages 11-14 years). Middle school. KinderArt.com

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Free Digital Downloads and printables for health and physical education teachers, Pre-K 12 for classroom use. Teacher helping teachers with standards-based member-created resources for health and physical education.

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Whether remote, hybrid or in the classroom - we've got you covered as you develop a classroom culture centered in student wellness this fall.

The choices we make and the habits we form while we are young become the foundation for the lives we lead as adults. EVERFI's health and wellness curriculums teach students to make healthy choices in a safe environment
EVERFI partners with sponsors nationwide to offer our interactive, online student health and wellness resources to K-12 schools free of charge.

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Health and Wellness Curriculum for K12 Students | EVERFI

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The choices we make and the habits we form while we are young become the foundation for the lives we lead as adults. EVERFI's health and wellness curriculums teach students to make healthy choices in a safe environment EVERFI partners with sponsors nationwide to offer our interactive, online student health and wellness resources to K-12 schools free of charge.

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Open-and-go lessons that inspire kids to love science.

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Mystery Science offers open-and-go lessons that inspire kids to love science. The hook, visuals, and activity have all been prepared for you. Less prep, more learning.

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Skim through our list of free printable worksheets to print out for your students or children. We offer very comprehensive free printable worksheets that will keep your students engaged.

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FREE Printable Worksheets - Worksheetfun / FREE Printable Worksheets for Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th Grade.

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Preschool Worksheets Most Popular Preschool & Kindergarten Worksheets Top Worksheets Most Popular Math Worksheets Dice Worksheets Most Popular Preschool and Kindergarten Worksheets Kindergarten Worksheets Math Worksheets on Graph Paper Addition Wor...

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Worksheets for Kids

Take the work and expense out of doing school at home with our VAST collection of free printable worksheets. We have over 1 million pages of free worksheets plus lots of hands-on, educational kids activites, printable games, and more to make learning FUN! You will find educational printables for all ages from toddler, preschool, pre-k, kindergarten, first grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, 6th grade, junior high, and more! 123homeschool4me has the BEST collection of free worksheets. Simply find the worksheets for kids you like and print it for FREE!

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FREE Printable Educational Worksheets for Kids

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LOTS of FREE Printable worksheets for kids to practice math, literacy, science, & history with kids of all ages from 123Homeschool4Me.

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Free worksheets for kindergarten to grade 5 kids. Over 10,000 math, reading, grammar and writing, vocabulary, spelling and cursive writing worksheets. Answer sheets included; no login required.

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Browse Printable Worksheets | Education.com

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Browse Printable Worksheets. Award winning educational materials designed to help kids succeed. Start for free now!

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Math, Arts (ELA), Theoretical Science & Activities & History and Social Studies

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Welcome to the land of 40,000+ printable worksheets in Math, English, Science, and Social Studies, aligned with the CCSS but universally applicable to students of grades K-12, complemented by a collection of self-correcting, digitally fillable worksheets. Keep classroom and homework activities generously assisted with vibrant charts, engaging activities, workbooks, practice drills, online quizzes with varying difficulty levels. Get started with our free sample worksheets and subscribe to get access to the entire treasure trove. The worksheets come along with answer keys, assisting in instant validation.

Online Worksheets

Fuel your learning journey with our online Math and ELA worksheets for K through grade 8 children with power-packed features like creating groups, adding children, assigning worksheets digitally, auto-grading, and tracking progress!
Online Worksheets

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Worksheets for Kids | Free Printables for K-12

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Math Worksheets 4 Kids offers free printable K-12 worksheets in English, Math, Science and Social Studies with PDFs drafted for children and teachers.

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While the temptation may be to spend practice time running plays over and over, you should spend the bulk of practice running drills to improve the individual skills of your team. Below are some youth flag football drills to use in your practices.

The first drill is not really a drill but just how we warm up. My goal for each practice is to have every kid catch and throw the ball 30-40 times each. We accomplish the bulk of this through our two-line passing warm.

Two Line Passing Warm Up

For this warm up, the kids just pair up and start out somewhat short distance apart. A good rule of thumb is to base the distance on your team's age. 5-6 year olds should start about 5 yards apart. 10 year olds and older should begin about 10 yards apart. After a few minutes have one side take a few steps back. Repeat this one more tie after a few more minutes.

Generally, we do this between 5 - 10 minutes to start practice. If you break this down, a kid should be able to throw the ball and then receive the ball back in about 10 seconds (6 passes/catches per minute | 5 minutes = 30 passes/catches). 10 minutes into practice and I've already met one of my goals.

Flag Football Drills - Offense

Drills for offense include handoffs, passing, catching, route running, agility moves (spin, cut back, juke, etc...)

Handoff Drills

Handoffs are critical with younger kids - not only the speed of the handoff, but also just performing a clean handoff without dropping the ball. If coaching a team of new flag football players, you can count on a few fumbles per game early in the season. The tough thing about fumbles is that if you coach like I do, every kid will get the opportunity to run the ball at least once per game. With a few fumbles, this reduces the number of chances to get everyone the ball.

Split Backfield Handoff Drill

This drill reinforces one of the plays I run with any team under 8 years old. The split backfield drill has the quarterback fake it to the first running back crossing behind and then giving the ball to the next running back running a cross as well. You can tweak this drill to fit the number of players you have at practice. Ideally, you would at least 6 at practice and you can run 2 groups at the same time. Read this post for more information on how to lay out this drill and one tip that could save you lots of time and headaches (spoiler alert: different colored cones). Inexperienced kids will try to take the ball with their hands. Stress the proper technique of allowing the quarterback to place the ball into the cradle the running back creates as he runs by.

Passing Drills

One thing you'll notice is that you may have a few kids that can throw the ball well, but once you get them in a game type drill, they don't look so good anymore. Same with receivers. Kids may be to catch everything during the warm up but once they're running around trying to get open, the reception percentage drops. This drill can give your quarterback and receiver a game situation feel.

Leading the Receiver

In this drill, you'll mark off a couple areas on the field with cones. The goal is for the receiver to catch the ball inside one of these areas. This will teach the quarterback to lead the receiver to an area instead of throwing to a receiver that has just ran a hook and is facing the quarterback. This will also teach the receiver to sprint away from the defender while catching the ball. This drill is also a good man to man defense drill.

Flag Football Drills - Defense

Flag football defense drills include various flag pulling drills, covering receivers man to man, and breaking on a ball once thrown. One key thing that kids will learn through most defense drills is taking a correct angle of pursuit. This is knowing where to run so that you're running to where the offensive player will be and not where they currently are. It sounds basic but many younger first time players will struggle with this early on.

Flag Pulling

At all ages, flag pulling is very important, but at the younger ages, it is the most important part of the defense. There are several flag pulling drills you can implement during practice.

Sweep Drill

This drill is one I run almost every practice with all age groups.

One on One Flag Pulling

This drill has the offense running straight ahead as fast as they can with the defense cutting across trying to first slow down the ball carrier by getting in front and then pulling the flag. This drill can be fast paced and you can get in many reps in a short amount of time.

The Gauntlet

A team favorite. For this drill, you create a small running zone for the offense. At the other end, you have one defender. The rest of the team is on offense and line up at the other end. On your Go!, the first offensive player tried to beat the defense. Once the flag is pulled or the defense is beat you send the next runner. The defender in this drill has to process things quickly to make pull as many flags as he can. This drill is also good for some conditioning.

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While the temptation may be to spend practice time running plays over and over, you should spend the bulk of practice running drills to improve the individual skills of your team. Below are some youth flag football drills to use in your practices. The first drill is not really a drill but just how we warm up.

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PE Blog - Read & Discuss Current PE Topics

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Implement Official Flag Football rules in your PE program with the videos below. This video series includes helpful tips for set-up, gameplay, scoring and common penalties in Flag Football.

Flag Football with 7 players on each team. Players compete for 60 minutes split into two 30-minute halves. Divide the field into four 25-yard boxes with a first down every 25-yards. If you're playing on a shortened field like we are, limit the amount of first downs available. Start your game with either a coin toss or a longest throw competition. The winner chooses possession or the side they'd like to start on. Kick-offs start by throwing off. Players race down to pull the returner's flag belt. Offense has four plays to reach a first down or score. If they advance the ball pass the first down marker, they receive a new set of downs. If the offense fails to reach the first down marker, possession changes. Punting is not allowed. Possession continues until a team either scores or fails to convert on fourth down.

There is no contact in flag football. Blocking, kicking and punting is not allowed and fumbling the ball results in a dead ball. Once the quarterback snaps the ball, he/she has four seconds to release it. While blocking isn't allowed, rushing the quarterback still is. The defensive rusher must wait a total of two seconds before going after the quarterback. Depending on the length of your game, the defense can blitz a certain amount of times per half. During a blitz, the defensive player can rush immediately. The quarterback is not allowed to run past the line of scrimmage unless a defensive player rushes first. Handoffs running north and south are not allowed. Laterals are legal, but only one per play. Encourage your students to include everyone on their team and get creative with their play calling.

Scoring is like traditional football. Touchdowns are worth 6 points. Instead of kicking a field goal, scoring teams must attempt an extra point. They can choose to start from the 5, 10 or 15-yard line. If successful the offensive team will score 1 point from the 5 yard line, 2 points from the 10-yard line and 3 points from the 15 yard line. Play continues until the game clock runs out. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins!

While many common football penalties are not allowed in flag football, there are a few specific penalties to watch out for during the game.

No blocking! Players are not allowed to block incoming rushers.

Early Pull! Players must wait until their opponent has possession of the ball before pulling a flag belt.

Flag Guarding! Players are not allowed prevent the defense from grabbing their flag belt.

Flag Tampering! Students must position the Flag belts on their hips. Flags must be visible at all times. Students might wrap the belt around their flag or untuck their shirt to make pulling their flag more difficult. This is not allowed in flag football.

Encourage your students to play within the rules of the game for more fun and competitive play all around.

Official Flag Football flag belts include two flags on each side of the hip. Gopher's ClickPro Official Flag Belt System features adjustable sliders that guarantee flags are in the correct spot every time!

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A Quickstart Guide to Flag Football Rules [Video] | Gopher PE Blog

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Implement Official Flag Football rules in your PE program with the videos below. This video series includes helpful tips for set-up, gameplay, scoring and common penalties in Flag Football. Flag Football with 7 players on each team. Players compete for 60 minutes split into two 30-minute halves.

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Grades k-4

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Garden Lesson Plans for Hands-on Learning - KidsGardening

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Garden lesson plans for students of all ages. Hands-on curriculum for environmental & nutritional learning, for pre-K, elementary, middle and high school.

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Grades K-6

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Sanford Harmony Academy provides educators with professional learning and curriculum resources that support healthy relationships.

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Dice games are not just an excellent way to while away the time. The benefits of playing dice games for kids are many! Playing these games will expose kids to the wonders of probability, put math calculation skills to use, improve visual perception and manual dexterity,

Not only that, while playing dice games, your children will be improving their social skills. They will need to learn patience, turn taking and good sportsmanship! Below you will find a collection of all our favorite dice games. Most of them are for 2 or more players, and use anywhere from one to six dice. All of them are easy dice games.

Players of all ages can enjoy these games. Preschoolers may need the extra help of a kind adult and can still work on their number and quantity recognition skills. Handling the dice will work those fine motor and coordination skills.

Elementary school aged children will continue to practice basic math facts and can play independently with their peers, which gives them a great space to work on social and communication skills.

Parents and grandparents (and other adults) will enjoy the bonding time that comes with playing a game with their children. It offers a relatively relaxed opportunity to connect with your child, talk about the day, guide them in learning new skills and to just have fun without worrying about "getting something done!"

Which one will be your favorite?

NOTE: further down you will find instructions to get printable instructions!

How to Play Passage
What you need:
Objective: to be the first player to reach 11 points.
Instructions:
To set up the game each player rolls a die. The highest scoring roll will be the player who begins the game. The player who rolled the lowest number will now roll a second time and the number on the die becomes the "point number."

Starting with the first player, players take turns rolling two dice. If he rolls the point number, he gets one point. If he rolls doubles of the point number he gets two points. Each player gets only one roll per turn.

The first player to get 11 points wins.

Need help? Watch the video:

How to Play Run for It
What you need:
Objective: to be the first to reach 100
Instructions:
Alternating turns, each player rolls 6 dice. Looking at the dice, the player attempts to organize them into runs. A run is a sequence of numbers, such as 1-2-3-4-5-6. For each number used in a run, the player scores 5 points. Dice may only be used once when creating a run. Runs must begin with the number 1.

For example, a roll of 1-2-4-5-6-6 scores 10 points for the run 1-2.

For example, a roll of 1-2-1-2-3-4 scores 10 points for the run 1-2, and 20 points for the run 1-2-3-4 for a total of 30 points.

If there is no run, no score is recorded. For example, a roll of 1-3-4-4-5-6 scores zero points.

Play continues until one player has reached 100 points.

Watch the video to see how it's done.

How to Play Fifty

What you need:

Objective: be the first player to reach 50
Instructions:
Taking turns, players roll two dice, one roll per turn. If they do not roll doubles, they do not score for that turn.

If they roll doubles, they earn a score as follows:

Double 1s, 2s, 4s, 5s = 5 points

Double 6s = 25 points

If they roll double 3s, their score up to that point is wiped out and they must restart accumulating points.

The first player to reach 50 points wins.

Surprise! I even have a video for you:

How to Play Knock Out
What you need:
Objective: to be the first player to reach 100; or have the highest score at the end of a predetermined number of rounds. ( We prefer to play for 10 rounds.)
Instructions:
To set up the game decide if you will play to 100 or for a number of rounds. Chose 6, 7, or 8 as the "knock-out number." The knock out number can be the same for all players, or each player can have a different knock out number. We find the best way to play is with 7 as everyone's knock-out number. A round is complete when all players have had one turn.

Taking turns, players roll both dice, if they do not roll the knock-out number the total score is recorded for that turn and the pass the dice to the player on their left.

For example, if the roll is 2-3, the player earns 5 points.

If player rolls the knock-out number they receive no score for that round. But not only that, the player's accumulated score is "knocked-out" and the player must start again on their next turn.

Only one roll per turn. Play until one player has achieved the game objective.

Is there a video? Why yes, yes indeed there is!

How to Play Three or More
What you need:

5 dice

2 or more players, the more the better

Objective: to have the highest score at the end of a predetermined number of rounds. We prefer to play ten rounds.
Instructions:
Players take turns rolling all 5 dice. The goal is to roll at least 3 of a kind.

On a player's turn one of the following will happen:

1. If the roll contains no matches, the score is zero and the player's turn is over.

2. If the roll contains 3 or more of a kind the score is recorded and dice are passed to the next player.

3. If the roll contains 2 of a kind, the player may re-roll the remaining three dice. If, after the second roll, there is not at least 3 of a kind, the score is zero. If the roll has 3, 4 or 5 of a kind, record the score.

Whoever has the highest score at the end of the predetermined number of rounds, wins.

Rolls score as follows:

3 of a kind = 3 points

4 of a kind = 6 points

5 of a kind = 12 points

Here's a video to show the game in action!

More Easy Dice Games for Kids and Families

I have plenty more dice games for kids on the blog, for full written instructions, click on the links below, or watch a video if available!

Play the Hawaiian dice game of Lu-Lu for some fun math practice.

Aces in the Pot is related to the well known LCR game.

Find out how to play Drop Dead here, ( it's not as scary as the name!) or watch the video!

You definitely want to learn how to play Pig dice game (<<click on that link for more). This fun and easy dice game will teach kids how to take turns and be patient!

Read my post on how to play Martinetti. I also have the video, below if you prefer to watch.

Learn the rules of Sequences dice game here, and watch the video below!

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Best Dice Games for Kids: Have Fun and Learn New Skills!

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Dice games are not just an excellent way to while away the time. The benefits of playing dice games for kids are many! Playing these games will expose kids to the wonders of probability, put math calculation skills to use, improve visual perception and manual dexterity, Not only that, while playing dice games, your children will be improving their social skills.

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100 STEAM Projects for Teachers: This is a collection of 100 STEAM Projects created for teachers and educators to do with youth. Each project encourages exploration, modification, and students to pursue their own ideas and curiosities. They are also meant to be accessible, both in …

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Grades K-8

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The PE games you will find on this site are used by professional physical education teachers as part of successful programs in school gyms - here you'll find amazing ideas for P.E. - tried, tested, and proven by physed teachers and coaches!

Browse the categories at the top to enjoy quick and easy video descriptions to learn a new game for your class! Or visit our YouTube to find the most popular games and get the latest game ideas sent directly to your video feed by subscribing.
Looking for some classic physical education ideas? Looking for something new and unique? ** Grade level specific categories are searchable: Kindergarten, Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5, Grade 6, Grade 7, and Grade 8 - browse through games that are appropriate for your grade level. HIGHSCHOOLS please note that most of the Grade 8 category games can be used and/or adapted for use at the highschool level - take a look and see what works! ** If you have a favorite PE activity or game idea that you use in your own program and you'd like to share, please send a detailed email to us at physedgames@gmail.com and we will do our best to create a video to add to the list. There are all types of games & activities ranging from sport-specific (soccer, baseball, basketball, volleyball, lead-ups, etc) to LOG's, tag, warm-up, fitness, team-building, dodgeball, literacy, numeracy, etc. Children need at least 90 minutes of exercise a day for healthy development - these games will motivate to get students moving and enjoying learning skills in the gym! So hopefully you will find lots here to help supplement your own program.

PhysedGames is frequently updated with new ideas to try out. We also offer a couple book options (hardcopy and electronic) to add to your physical education library. These book options convert many of the best game videos into more portable text-based and electronic forms. PLEASE NOTE that all games are firstly and always available for FREE in the video viewing format. For those interested, take a look at the popular PHYSEDGAMES TOP 99 (affiliate link) hardcopy book from Amazon or get top-rated Digital File Downloads (PDFs) on Teachers Pay Teachers. A big THANK-YOU goes out to those who support PHYSEDGAMES!

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The PE games you will find on this site are used by professional physical education teachers as part of successful programs in school gyms - here you'll find amazing ideas for P.E. - tried, tested, and proven by physed teachers and coaches!

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Grades K-8

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STEM Activities Archives - Frugal Fun For Boys and Girls

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I'm mom to four boys and one little girl. Frugal Fun for Boys and Girls is a place to find fun activities that kids will LOVE! We specialize in LEGO building ideas, STEM activities, and play ideas for active kids!

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K-5 SEL Lessons

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Social emotional skills are crucial for 21st century learners. Today's students need different skills, especially when it comes to listening to others who "don't look like they do" or have different points of view.
Morrell, E., Cooper, R., Del Gatto, D., & Morrell, J., 2013

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Soar with Wings: Social Emotional Skills for School & Life

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Activities for Your Classroom Social and emotional learning (SEL) has the power to help students develop skills necessary to succeed in school, be prepared for the workforce, and become positive and healthy contributors to society. Explore these ready-to-go, standards-aligned activities designed to build the social and emotional skills of elementary students.

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Grades k-8

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Grades k-3 and 3-5

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WeDo 2.0 Support | Everything You Need | LEGO® Education

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Bring WeDo 2.0 into your elementary school classroom with hands-on lesson plans, software downloads, teaching resources, building instructions and FAQs.

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https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1IvcqAVnIgqJipaeugenSQB-HMyRxHNLk?usp=sharing

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During National Poetry Month 2017, the Academy of American Poets received letters from over two thousand young people -fifth through twelfth graders from more than seventy public and private schools in major cities and rural areas across twenty-eight states.

These students were participating in Dear Poet, the free, multimedia education project we designed to help teachers engage their students in poetry. To participate, young people watch videos of the award-winning poets who serve on the Academy of American Poets Board of Chancellors reading one of their poems aloud. (Between January and June this year's eleven videos-featuring Mark Doty, Linda Gregerson, Juan Felipe Herrera, Brenda Hillman, Jane Hirshfield, Khaled Mattawa, Marilyn Nelson, Alicia Ostriker, Alberto Ríos, Arthur Sze, and Anne Waldman-were viewed over ten thousand times.) After watching the videos and reading the poems, students write letters to the featured poet of their choice. The poets write back to select letters, and the correspondence is published on Poets.org. In the letters we received this year, many of these young people shared that, while they were initially resistant to poetry, they found themselves surprised and excited to read contemporary poems that felt important to them. (Learn more about the current Dear Poet project and how to participate.)

Michael, an eighth grader in the Texas Rio Grande Valley, wrote to Alberto Ríos, "I am not the biggest fan of poetry, but as you read ' Refugio's Hair,' I felt like a child again, listening to a story of a captured memory. I was reluctant to complete this project at first, but hearing your poem changed my perspective of poetry."

Michael's classmate Simran, writing to Jane Hirshfield, suggested why Dear Poet might be so engaging: "Watching you read your poem was very beautiful and as you read your poem, it changed my entire perspective on this piece of literature. I believe that when an author reads their own poem, it can change the poem entirely....I just want to thank you so much for being part of the Dear Poet project and for being willing to correspond with teens across the U.S."

Through Dear Poet's videos and letters, young readers are able to engage with poetry in a particularly intimate and individual way. The project also introduces teachers and students to contemporary poets whose work they might not otherwise encounter and to poems addressing a wide range of topics relevant to young people today. In their letters, students often note their personal connections to a poet's work, pointing to what in a particular poem speaks to them and why.

Colten, a ninth grader in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, responded to Arthur Sze's " The Shapes of Leaves," a poem that touches on deforestation and habitat loss. Colten wrote, "I've never read something that made me experience the situation both emotionally and critically. I think this is why your poem resonated with me so much."

Saba, a student in Mays Landing, New Jersey, was drawn to Juan Felipe Herrera's poem " You Can't Put Muhammad Ali in a Poem," which stood out to her because it celebrates "someone who made me have confidence in myself and made me love myself for who I am." She wrote, "Being a Muslim, I always felt as if I was below others, it affected me most when I was younger.... Muhammad Ali was someone I saw who was proud of his religion."

Linda Gregerson received over two hundred letters in response to her poem " Prodigal," in which she addresses the subject of self-harm. Tyler, a tenth grader in Pembroke, New Hampshire, wrote, "Your poem allows anyone who reads it to know how serious this issue is. It allows people, like me, to want to help out in any possible way." In her letter back to Tyler, Gregerson wrote, "Certainly, turning outward to help others, as you describe, is the most positive thing to be made of personal hardship."

A twelfth grader in Berthoud, Colorado, Nina, pointed to another especially powerful role poetry can play in the lives of young people. She wrote to Jane Hirshfield, "My aunt is dying....After spending my spring break with her, I came back to school and was handed your poem, ' It Was Like This: You Were Happy ' in Senior English. I have never connected with something so much."

In fact, more students responded to Hirshfield's poem, a gentle reflection on the end of a life, than to any other. Their letters to her speak of grief, and comfort, and an evolving understanding of both happiness and loss. Hirshfield's letters in response-like the other poets' replies to letters they received-were kind, encouraging, and deeply unique. She wrote to Guadalupe, a twelfth grader in San Antonio, Texas, "One of poetry's amazing powers is that in words new ways of feeling can pass from one person to another, between you and me, alive at the same time, and also over a thousand years and across languages and cultures."

This, too, is the power of Dear Poet, which narrows the field of poetry-often daunting to students and educators-into a single connection between a poet and a young reader, who could be anywhere, and who has the rare opportunity to write back.

This article was originally featured in the Fall-Winter 2017 issue of American Poets.

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During National Poetry Month 2017, the Academy of American Poets received letters from over two thousand young people -fifth through twelfth graders from more than seventy public and private schools in major cities and rural areas across twenty-eight states. These students were participating in Dear Poet, the free, multimedia education project we designed to help teachers engage their students in poetry.

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We've changed our name to better reflect our mission and our work.

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Math from K-8

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It's such a thrill when someone new lands in our sparkly corner of the universe.

Our business began by sharing what I was teaching in the art room that worked - and what didn't work. From my first blog post in 2009, teachers from around the world have shared their stories and struggles, asked for advice and direction. Now twelve years later, we couldn't be more proud to not only design lovely lessons, but to be a supportive guide through many art teachers' careers.

I'm so glad that your interest in children's art guided you to us. This page shares our story - how it all began plus I'll point out all the resources our team has created to help you create an art program, share art with your children or even start an art business of your own...

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We make teaching art to kids easy by providing elementary art lesson plans, kid's art tutorials and creative teaching resources.

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Scratch is a free programming language and online community where you can create your own interactive stories, games, and animations.

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Learn computer science. Change the world.

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Every student in every school deserves the opportunity to study computer science.

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For more than 15 years, we've been helping parents, mentors, teachers, and youth leaders deliver self-esteem education that's reached more than 60 million young people so far. By 2030, we're aiming to have helped ¼ billion build their positive body image.

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Our Dove Self-Esteem Project Articles

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Skip to content For more than 15 years, we've been helping parents, mentors, teachers, and youth leaders deliver self-esteem education that's reached more than 60 million young people so far. By 2030, we're aiming to have helped ¼ billion build their positive body image.

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LEGO Math Challenge Cards - Little Bins and Bricks

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Try this fun LEGO Math activity with free printable LEGO Math Challenge cards. All you need are some basic bricks.

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LEGO Math Challenge Cards

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During the last few weeks, I have shared geometry activities that focused on vertices and sides. JDaniel got make geometry aliens and explore geometry riddles with LEGO at home to re-enforce the skills he was working on at school. If he was working on geometry at school and it made sense to review those concepts at home. Now he is moving on to fractions at school so, we have moved on to them too. Today's activity uses LEGOS to play fraction games.

Disclaimer:
We have tons of LEGOS at home! (So many LEGO that I made him a special LEGO storage bucket.) We are using them a lot to review and learn skills. If you have tons of blocks, you might want to use them for this activity instead.

How We Put the Workspace Together:
Supplies The link below is an affiliate link. Tip:
We accumulated a lot of LEGO by purchasing an assortment of LEGO Classic Large Bricks
Steps

We created six towers using three 1×8 in each.

The three towers were placed in two rows.

A single 1×8 was placed two rows in front of each tower.

This created an index card display space.

With the workspace completed I wrote various fractions of small pieces of index cards.

Playing the Fraction Games

I laid the fraction cards out on the kitchen table along with a bowl of 1×4 LEGOS. JDaniel was asked to select a fraction and place in it a cardholder. Then he was asked to display that fraction.

He chose to display some of the fractions horizontally and some vertically. We talked about how it really didn't matter how the LEGOS were displayed. What mattered was that they displayed the right fraction!

Fraction Game Alternatives

After he had finished the two rows of fractions, he decided that it would be fun to build the fraction and have me find its fraction card.

This would be fun for two children to play or an adult and child as we did.

Here are several more fraction game ideas we tried out:

First, you can create vertical fractions.

We displayed our fractions flat on the base plate. Children could display the fractions in towers if they like. There really isn't a wrong way to play these fraction games.

Second, you can create an opposite fraction.

After we created the fraction displayed in bricks based on the card, we talked about what the other fraction displayed. The first fraction displayed in the first row of this picture showed three-fifths of the bricks as blue, but what fraction was displayed by the red bricks? It displayed a fraction of two fifths.

Third, you can work on reducing fractions.

If you had a larger base plate to work with, you could work on larger fractions. If you worked on larger fractions, you could then talk about reducing the fractions to their lowest terms.

JDaniel noticed that one half and two-fourths were the same when we worked on building the fractions. The LEGO fraction display made it easier to see that relationship. I think working with bigger fractions will do that with many fractions.
Fourth, you can call the color of the numerator.
If you are ready to go into numerators and denominators, children could be asked to display the top number in a specific color. The remaining bricks could be different colors or all the same of any color but the one used for the top color.
JDaniel pointed out that to me with he was working on fractions. If was a great time to introduce "big kid" math words.

If you like this LEGO activity, here are some more LEGO learning activities:
Three Blind Mice STEM Activity- LEGO Braille Alphabet Ocean Themed Counting Sheets

LEGO Graphing

If you do try any of the above fraction games, please leave me a comment below telling me about it or share a picture of it on my Facebook page.

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During the last few weeks, I have shared geometry activities that focused on vertices and sides. JDaniel got make geometry aliens and explore geometry riddles with LEGO at home to re-enforce the skills he was working on at school. If he was working on geometry at school and it made sense to review those concepts at home.

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With so many activities available on the internet, it can be hard to decide which ones are right for you and for your kids.

Is it too hard?
Is it too easy?
Is the theme engaging?
Is it easy to prepare?
Does it have 32 million small pieces that I have to cut out?

So many valid questions to ask when you are evaluating an activity.

And that's why scrolling through Pinterest can be so overwhelming.

For the next 10 days, I am going to share a series of e-mails with you that will take the sting out of searching for activities. I'll be going skill by skill and sharing activities with you that are not only SUPER easy to prepare, but crazy easy to differentiate.

And fun. Definitely fun.

Take a look at what I'll be sharing:Day 1- Alphabet

Day 2- Number Recognition
Day 3- STEM Activities
Day 4- Fine Motor and Gross Motor
Day 5- Counting
Day 6- Beginning Reading
Day 7- Addition and Subtraction
Day 8- Patterns
Day 9- Shapes
Day 10- Measurement

From Preschool to Kindergarten to Early Elementary these skills are repeated over and over for the purpose of mastery, so many times the same activities can be used in multiple grade levels with just a few tweaks or using the different levels included in the activity.

For instance, we definitely teach the alphabet in preschool and kindergarten, but we also use the alphabet to learn the basics of alphabetical order in 1st and 2nd grade. Or perfecting letter formation. And learning about all the letter combinations needed to make words.

So while most 1st graders can recognize the letters of the alphabet, some alphabet activities can be used for teaching higher skills.

Without further ado, here is a sample of our best alphabet activities! Teacher tested and approved!

Beginning Alphabet Skills:
Alphabet Coloring Pages - Letter recognition
Magnetic Letter I Spy - Letter identification
Alphabet Hide and Seek Games - Letter identification

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With so many activities available on the internet, it can be hard to decide which ones are right for you and for your kids. Is it too hard? Is it too easy?Is the theme engaging?Is it easy to prepare?Does it have 32 million small pieces that I have to cut out?