These are just some of my favorite dynamics that I myself use daily with my students, both children and adults, (adults love to play just as much, if not more, than the kids :).

Have your students gather around in a tight circle and then say , “Mix!”. Have them then weave in, out and around eachother as fast as possible and then say, “Pairs!”. When you say pairs, the students put their hands on the shoulders of whomever is closest to them. If you have an odd number of students, one will be without a partner which is great if you want to isolate one person at a time to give an example or work something out on the board.

If you don’t want to isolate one person, you can participate to make the number even. If you want to have more fun, you can say, “Trios” when you really want pairs and once they form trios, say, “Pairs!” and watch how they try to decide who to let go. Fun and funny. Of course you should remind them that this is just a game and that no one should get offended. After many many years of playing this dynamic, nobody has ever felt bad or gotten offended.

Buy those little crazy bouncing balls like the ones you see in the image. Let’s say you have 10 students in your class. You can isolate one of the students buy using only 9 crazyballs. First, prepare the classroom. Cover all garbage cans, close all backpacks and doors and put all of the desks and chairs against the wall. Have the students stand on one side of the classroom and you on the other side. Tell them that they have to catch one of the balls and then bounce them all at the same time towards the students. Have the student that doesn’t catch a ball do what you want them to do in your lesson.

If you want to pair them up using this dynamic, you can by buying two crazyballs of each color. After the students catch their crazyball, have them find the other student with the same color.

This dynamic is lots of fun but it can get out of hand if you have too many students. I wouldn’t try this dynamic with more than 12 students but if you’re feeling brave… go ahead!

If you like to foster a friendly but competitive spirit in your classroom, you can divide the students into 2 teams. Have them make 2 lines on one side of the classroom and place the hula hoops, one in front of, but a distance away from, each line. Then say, “Go!” and the first 2 students from each team have to run up to the hoop, pick it up, go through it and place it back down. Then they run back to the next student in line, slap his/her hand and the next student takes off and does the same until they reach the end of the line. If you have only a few students on each team, you can have them go around twice before declaring a winner.

If you have a lot of students, you can make 3 or 4 teams and then so the same. A variation would be placing 2 hula hoops in each line, one in the middle and one at the end. The one in the middle they’ll have to go through twice before reaching the next student.

This high energy dynamic is great for a finishing up your class. It leaves the students happy and in a good mood which is what every teacher wants 🙂