No matter how hot or cold or windy it is, you will take those children outside, not just for them but for you! Little kids have an enviable amount of energy that needs to be burned off outside. You can bundle up when it is cold, sit in the shade when it is hot but you can’t go outside when it rains. Don’t expect children to sit quietly and read or watch a video when it is a rainy day. Plan ahead for some rainy day activities that you can do with your students that they will enjoy enough to replace recess. Consider creating an indoor recess cart filled with games the children enjoy playing. Be sure to focus on games that promote movement since it will be replacing their outdoor time.

Consider using your technology to increase exercise. GONOODLE and YouTube are sites where you can get dance, movement and yoga for kids. Divide the class in half and play balloon volleyball. Fold some origami. Set up an art center for kids to create. Toss silk scarves. Play Simon Says. Build with Lego’s. Play board games. Play Twister using math facts. Introduce your students to games from your childhood like jacks. Turtle Tag, or hopscotch. Play Jenga or checkers or chess. 

Many classrooms are operated with a behavior management system that takes away minutes of recess for breaking rules. Children are going to break rules. They are going to suffer consequences and they are going to learn from it. However, there are some children who, if their recess time depended on following all the rules, they would never go outside. The children who have the most trouble sitting still seem to be the ones who spend the most time standing along the fence watching others play. There is substantial research to suggest that the academic level of a learner is directly related to his or her activity level. When developing consequences for unacceptable behaviors, consider techniques that you can implement outside during recess that also movement. Some teachers use “walking tickets” which are slips of paper the student is given to indicate how many laps around the playground are required. You might also have students wipe down slides and playground equipment. You could also make a list of motor skills or sensory activities that the student must do before free playing. Reduce screen time rather than activity time. Try to focus on the value of movement for the child who can barely sit still instead of looking at recess as an earnable reward or  free play.

Dr. Carla Hannaford, Ph.D., states in her book, “SMART MOVES… Why Learning Is Not All In Your Head”..”movement activates the neural wiring throughout the body, making the whole body the instrument of learning.” In schools today, there seems to be less time and opportunity for children to just play . If recess is not a possibility, then go on a walk-about. You can have a scavenger  hunt and give them a list of things to find while walking (inside or outside). Teach them how to skip and then cross crawl skip all over the building…. Inside and out. Draw large Lazy 8 designs on the outside sidewalks and have the children walk slowly, quietly and intentionally on them..

Please never take recess away as a punishment for a child. Movement, especially whole body  integrated movement, is necessary to support all areas of learning. Dr. Carla Hannaford has taught us that movement, through the motor cortex, is very much a part of verbal expression. The neural connections between the motor cortex and the formal reasoning area of the frontal lobe support the connection of movement to thought processing. Whole body integrated movement  activates the neural wiring throughout the body, making learning easier, less stressful and more joyful. The whole body becomes an instrument of learning. 

Please let children play.

 Ashley Montagu, a British-American  anthropologist, shares the following thoughts about play…. “ In the early formative years, play is almost synonymous with life. It is second only to being nourished, protected and loved. It is the basic ingredient of physical, intellectual, social and emotional growth.”

Pamela Webster, M. Ed., SPED