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This activity gets students moving while they also practice identifying and creating shapes. This activity incorporates movement as well as critical thinking skills that are used in STEM and math skills.

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It's one thing to recognize a shape drawn on a piece of paper, but it is another thing to draw that shape.

Now, to take it one step further, what if we were to have kids create a shape with their body? Not only are they unable to see what they are "drawing," but they now must direct their limbs, torso, and head to coordinate, move, and hold a specific pose.

While at face value it might seem that having a child make their body into a triangle is easy, it really tests a child's preconceived notion of where they think their body is in space versus where it actually is.

Kids will look around and see different interpretations, and we will see how aware each child is of their body in space. With this information we can better tell what kids will need to work on just to be proficient in the language of movement.

If a child simply doesn't know what a rectangle is, for example, this then becomes a great way to increase cognitive learning. When playing Body Shapes with kids we can guide them by telling them a triangle has 3 sides and a wider base, but we should not correct too much. We want kids to explore movement and figure some things out, not feel that they got a geometry question wrong!

Doing body shapes can be a challenge so a great way to get kids to create variety in movement and improve body awareness is to start with movement variables. These are simply ways to tweak a common movement, such as a skip or crawl, by changing the shapes, space, effort, or relationships of various body parts. For example, kids could be instructed to crawl with their legs wide, while moving in a zig zag pattern, at a slow speed (for a free complete movement variable chart click here).

Try Body Shapes with your kids and you will be amazed at how it gets them moving and thinking. You'll learn a lot about how they can move and they'll have fun figuring out new ways to move their bodies.
We would love to hear from you! Please leave a comment below and let us know some of the fun shapes your kids made and how they did with it. BODY SHAPES
Age: 5+

Total time: 1-2 minutes

Equipment: None

Group size: Any

Set up: None necessary

Fitness component: Awareness/Coordination

1. Arrange children randomly in the space.

2. Instruct them to make their body into various shapes, such as a round shape, a triangle shape, a twisted shape, etc.

Craig Valency, MA, CSCS, president and co-founder of SPIDERfit, has been a personal trainer for the last 11 years. He is currently working at Fitness Quest 10 in San Diego, an elite personal training and athletic conditioning facility. He specializes in youth strength and conditioning programs that promote physical literacy, injury prevention and optimal performance. Along with training youths from 6 to 18 years of age for general fitness, Craig has also worked with some of the top junior tennis players in the world. He has been a physical education consultant for the Stevens Point school district in Wisconsin for the last 3 years, helping revamp the district wide programming for the K-12 PE curriculum. Craig earned his bachelor degree from UCLA, and Masters Degree in Kinesiology from San Diego State University.

We'd love your feedback!

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Body Shapes - Figuring out new ways to move - SpiderFit Kids

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by Craig Valency, MA, CSCS It's one thing to recognize a shape drawn on a piece of paper, but it is another thing to draw that shape. Now, to take it one step further, what if we were to have kids create a shape with their body?

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This music and movement activity requires students to use listening skills, follow directions, and have control of their bodies. This can be incorporated into a lesson on forces and motion (as I used in my 5 day unit), as well as incorporated into a lesson about sound. The basic skills used (listening, direction following) are also necessary in all other content areas, including STEM lessons, particularly when students have to follow a set of directions to complete discovery activities.

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The Dance Freeze Song | Freeze Dance | Scratch Garden

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What is engineering? What do engineers do?

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What is engineering? What do engineers do?

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This song is a fun, interactive way to introduce engineering to younger students. The students can sing along and dance as they learn about what engineering is and what engineers do, this knowledge can be built upon in following lessons.

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The Engineering SONG | Science for Kids | Grades K-2

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This song is so engaging because it sounds like everyday music. It describes the design process for students and as it is put into a song it can help students to remember the process more easily. Students can get up and move to the song as they sing along. This would be a great supplemental resource for teaching the engineering design process.

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Engineering Design Process (lyric video)

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This song incorporates a great movement activity while also explaining the scientific method in simple terms. This music and movement activity could be used to help students gain a better understanding of the scientific method.

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The Scientific Method | Songs For Kids | Sing Along | GoNoodle

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This music and movement activity can be used to introduce students to simple machines and what they do, it can also be incorporated into a force and motion lesson.

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Machines In Motion | Fun Movement Song for Kids | Jack Hartmann

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This song provides examples of push and pull acting as forces, it provides students with an active movement activity while incorporating the science content. This could be used during any force and motion activity to help students understand forces, push/pull, and how it relates to their daily lives.

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Forces Can Push or Pull | Science Is A Snap | Jack Hartmann

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In this activity, students will use their bodies to model different scientific concepts. This can be incorporated into many different science lessons: rotation and revolution, sunrise and sunset, states of matter, moving electrons, and many more!

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Adding movement to science lessons could be the key to unlocking student engagement and performance.

Using movement to enhance student learning has been a big deal in education for years, and with good reason. Research shows that when teachers incorporate movement into their lessons, student interest and motivation increase (Vazou et al, 2012). There are also measurable improvements to content knowledge (Browning et al, 2014).

As a teacher, I can see when my students are losing mental stamina during a lesson. Their bodies start to wiggle, their feet swing under their chairs, or they might even start to engage in side-conversations. It is a clear sign that they need to get up and move.

Here are some easy ways to get students out of their seats and focused on their learning.

Body Responses

Ask students a question that has options for answers and assign each answer option to a specific body movement.

Discuss the answer options and body movements with students and tell them not to respond until you say GO. Example: Is an iron nail an electrical conductor or an insulator?

Conductor: Pretend you are a traffic officer and use your hands to wave cars through an intersection.

Insulator: With fisted hands, repeatedly cross and uncross your arms in front of your face, making an X.

In addition to giving students a chance to engage their body and mind muscles, this strategy also provides you with an opportunity to formatively assess the entire group in a way that is low risk for the students.

Scoot (Solve the Room)- with a twist!

This strategy has a lot of different names, but the basic idea is that you post individual questions around the room for students to answer as they move around the classroom. My recommendation is that you post the questions on the wall instead of putting them on desks.

My favorite place to do this activity is in the hallway. Students get so excited about working in a different environment. Post the questions up high enough that it would be inconvenient to sit down because then they wouldn't be able to the the question anymore. By keeping the questions in one hallway, you can keep an eye on all students while working with small groups to provide extra support.

Mingle and Discuss

Students love to talk, so why not use this to our advantage?! Provide each student with a Science Discussion Card and have the move around the classroom until you tell them to partner up. You can also play music and have student partner up when you stop the music. Be sure to set behavior expectations so that students are not only partnering with their friends. To mix up the conversations, have students trade cards after they have finished their discussions.

Use this activity when you have a few extra minutes of time or for an extended block of time during a unit review. Here are a few Science Discussion Card sets that we have available. They are easy to prep and can be used in a variety of ways to get your students up and moving. Use this link to see them all.

Body Modeling - perfect for adding movement to science lessons!

This is a student favorite! Actually, it is probably my favorite as well. Students use their bodies to model a scientific concept.

We have done them for lots of concepts, including:

creating circuits

moving electrons

states of matter

traveling sound energy

energy flow in food webs

rotation and revolution

Sun, Earth, and Moon relationships

Sunrise and sunset

Check back here often! We will be adding blog posts that detail these body modeling activities.

In science, models are fantastic supports for helping students to 'see' concepts that are otherwise hard to understand. When having students model concepts, it is important that each student has a part to play because they need to DO in order to LEARN.

Do you have any favorite strategies for incorporating movement into your science lessons? I would love to here them and perhaps add them to this list. Feel free to email me at tammy@twoteachingtaylors.com or DM me on Instagram @twoteachingtaylors.

-Tammy

Vazou S., Gavrilou P., Mamalaki E., Papanastasiou A., Sioumala N. (2012). Does integrating physical activity in the elementary school classroom influence academic motivation? International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 10 (4), 251-263.

Browning C., Edson A.J., Kimani P., Aslan-Tutak F. (2014). Mathematical content knowledge for teaching elementary mathematics: A focus on geometry and measurement. Mathematics Enthusiast, 11 (2), 333-383.

More from Two Teaching Taylors BLOG:

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Easy Ways to Use Movement in Your Science Lessons

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Using movement to enhance student learning has been a big deal in education for years, and with good reason. Research shows that when teachers incorporate movement into their lessons, student interest and motivation increase. There are also measurable improvements to content knowledge.