Energizers

Description:
Energizers are fun little 3-5 minute activities that I like to do in my Health classes at the beginning of the hour to get the kids energized for the day. I typically do Energizers 2-3 days per week, or periodically in the middle of a lesson if I notice the kids need a quick break. There are dozens of other Energizers you can find elsewhere online, but here are some of my students favorites.

1-2-3-MATH

In this energizer students will pair up with another student and stand facing them with their hands behind their backs.  On the count of 1-2-3-SHOOT, both students will pull their hands out in front of them with a number of fingers held up on each.  The first student to ADD all 4 hands together and say the CORRECT answer out loud wins.  The students will all start in the Middle group (#2 circle).  The winners of a round will move to the Front group (#1 circle) and the student who lost the round will move to the Back group (#3 circle).  Once in the new circles play with a new opponent there and continue for 5 minutes moving up and down from circles as you win or lose. 

*Teachers can make this game more difficult by changing the rule of ADDING all the numbers to MULTIPLYING the numbers.  

Talk-a-Lot

Students begin by finding a partner and facing them, but then look down at their partners toes.

On the count of three both partner look up at each other and begin talking continuously.

The first person who stops talking, fails to maintain eye contact, or bursts out laughing is the loser.

Students must say actual words and are not allowed to touch their partner, however they can speak in any accent that they want, or another language if they know one.

Once students have finished their match they may roam around the room and find a new partner

*Make sure to remind students that what they say has to be school appropriate

Push Game

Two students will stand facing each other about 3-4 feet apart with their feet together.

Students begin clapping/pushing their hands against their opponents in attempt to push them over or get them off balance

Students are allowed to fake clapping pushes in attempt to get their opponent to lean forward and lose balance

Whichever student does not lose balance is the victor

If students touch their opponent in any place other than their hands as a means to get them off balance they forfeit

Students may circulate the room to find a new partner after each match

***Safety: make sure there is adequate spacing both behind and around each of the students so they
      do not fall back and get hurt. Students are also never allowed to grab their opponents hands or any
      other part of their body

RPC Entourage

Have all the students partner up and begin a Rock, Paper, Scissors tournament – one round per contest

The loser must be the “winner’s” greatest fan (with or without sounds – depending on the environment)

By the end of the tournament there will be only two people competing with everyone else supporting and cheering them on

If you have a smaller class this can be done by playing matches 2 out of 3, or you can do multiple rounds.

This activity is best done outside or in a gym so students can cheer loud. I also let my members of each entourage talk smack to each other as long as they keep it appropriate.

RPC Evolution

The goal is to evolve through five different stages, starting out as an egg, then chicken, then dinosaur, then superhero, then super cool dude. To progress through the evolutionary chain, students will walk around the room, first as eggs, and play a partner at a game of "rock, paper, scissors, shoot." If they win, they become a chicken. They must then find another chicken and defeat him/her to evolve into a dinosaur, and so on. If you lose, you go down one evolutionary step (dinosaur to chicken, chicken to egg, etc.). Once a player reaches the level of super cool dude, he/she doesn't have to challenge or accept challenges from anyone. If they do accept and lose, however, they must shrink back down to an egg. Be sure to physically demonstrate each stage when teaching this game, let the students try out each one. Also, reiterate the type of "rock, paper, scissors" is acceptable.

RPC Foot Slide

To start have everyone partner up and stand facing one another. Each student must then place one foot forward so that their toes are touching, then they must put their other foot directly behind so they are standing in a straight line, toe to heel. Both students then play one round of Rock-Paper-Scissors. Whoever wins gets to take their lead foot and bring it back behind their other, still standing toe to heel. The other student then slides their lead foot up so their legs are spread apart. Next play another round of RPC and repeat the process.

As the game progresses the students will be forced to stretch out further and further to maintain toe to toe contact. When one student ultimately loses their balance and either touches the floor with their hand or has to correct their footing, they lose.

*Make sure you have plenty of space to play this game for safety reasons.

Number Fingers

Students will stand in a circle facing in so they can see everyone, group size doesn’t matter but should be at least 3

     - Smaller groups are encouraged for smaller classes

All students will hold out their hands with only their index fingers pointing out

Starting with one person the game will move counter clockwise with each person getting one turn.

The goal of this game is to get other people’s hands “out” by adding their fingers up to 5. If a student gets to 5 they may no longer use that hand but can still use their other hand until both are gone.

Each time a player has their turn they will tap their fingers from one hand onto another students fingers adding the two together

     - Ex: if a student with one finger out taps a student with two fingers out, the second student now
       has three fingers out.

If a student has their fingers tapped and the total is above 5 the student will continue counting on that hand but starting over at one

     - Ex: a student with four fingers out gets tapped with another four. This would add up to eight
       which would result in the student now having only 3 fingers up.

Once all students are out except one the game is over.

     - Ties are possible as numbers can keep on repeating once it’s 1v1

Bunny-Bunny

This game is played similar to catch, where an imaginary ball is being thrown and caught back and forth between players. The ball is caught by a “bunny-bunny” towards themselves, then is thrown by a “bunny-bunny” towards another player.

• Players begin by forming a circle and face in towards the center so they can see everyone else.
• Players should be slightly bent over with their hands on their knees and will begin chanting at a steady rhythm “Khum-Cha, Khum-Cha, Khum-Cha, Khum-Cha” as they bob up and down together
• One player begins by turning their hands in towards themselves and as if talking to themselves with two hand puppets they say “bunny-bunny” in rhythm with the “Khum-Cha’s”. Immediately following proceeding they turn their hands outwards towards another play and say “bunny-bunny” again.
• As soon as they finish the player that was indicated towards does the same thing, turning their hands towards themselves as they say “bunny-bunny” then towards another as they say “bunny-bunny”.
• Meanwhile the players on either side of the one currently saying “bunny-bunny, bunny-bunny” must turn in and face them, throw their arms in the air and wave them as they yell “TOGEE-TOGEE, TOGEE-TOGEE”. They then move back to repeating the “Khum-Cha’s”.
• The “ball” continues to be passed until a player loses rhythm, forgets to say “bunny-bunny”, or neglects to do a “TOGEE-TOGEE, TOGEE-TOGEE”.
• One a player makes a mistake they are out and a new round starts, or everyone stops, laughs, and then begin again.
• As the game goes on the tempo should progressively speed up 

Earthquake and Evacuation

Begin by having the whole class split into groups of 3, and hopefully you will have 1-2 students left over. If you’re class size is divisible by 3, you need to play as well so there is always someone left out. In each group, 2 people make a house by facing each other and touching hands in the air while the other person stands underneath. The 1-2 students that are currently not part of a group then call either "evacuation", in which everyone in a house must leave and find new one, or "earthquake", in which all houses collapse and everyone must form new group of 3 with house and resident. In either situation, the lone person or people try to get into one of the new groups of 3, therefore the person or people left over become new "callers"

Arm swings with and without sound

Start this energizer by having students swing both arms to front of their body, and then behind. Their hands will eventually clap in front and behind, so the swings should not go much above waist level. Three numbers are to be chosen at random (typically no number should be higher than 9 or 10). The first number will have claps, the second number will have the arm swings without sound, and the final number will have claps.

For example:  5 – 2 – 3

Students will clap five times, swing without sound two times, and then clap again three times. There will always be alternation between the front and the back of the body. For “5,” clap 1 would be in front of the body, clap 2 behind, clap 3 in front, clap 4 behind, and clap 5 in front. There is to be no sound for “2,” so the swing to the back will not have a clap. Nor will the subsequent arm swing to the front. The next swing to the back will begin the final series of claps: one behind, one in front, and the final clap behind the back.

The Numbers Dance

All students are asked to stand up.  The teacher demonstrates each part, then students complete each action.  The teacher begins by outstretching each arm in the air and counting to four while flicking the left wrist 4 times (1,2,3,4), flicking the right wrist four times (1,2,3,4), kicking the left foot 4 times (1,2,3,4), and kicking the right foot 4 times (1,2,3,4).  After students understand the concept, teacher and students can complete the sequence together.  Together, all complete a cycle of 4 for each action, then 3 for action, then 2 for each action, and 1 for each action.  For a longer task, the cycle could go down and then back up (4,3,2,1,1,2,3,4).  Random or more challenging sequences may also be used.

Toe/Eye tag

Start by breaking your students up into two separate circles. All of the students will start out looking at their own feet. Designate one student to count to 3 then all students look up and at another student in the eyes. If the person you are looking at is looking at you, then the first student to scream/yell is the 'winner.' The person that screamed second or didn't scream moves to the other circle. If no student makes eye contact with another than you continue to a new round. The game is continuous and players will join or leave circles in between counts to 3. Ultimately the objective is to stay in the same circle as long as possible, but there are no real winners or losers in this game.
*This activity is best done in a gym or outside where the screams/yells won't be distracting. Also make sure to give a disclaimer letting kids know to not get too carried away with the yelling.

Zumi Zumi

Zumi Zumi is a rhythm game that helps students to remember each other's names. Students start by standing in a circle and then counting off from 1 all the way up. The student in the 1 spot is considered the Zumi Zumi. The Zumi Zumi then starts by saying, "Let's play Zumi Zumi, let's have some fun." While doing this, he/she claps his hands to a beat, with sets of two claps. One set of claps is just a regular clap, whereas the other is two pats on the thighs.
After saying, "lets have some fun", the Zumi Zumi will say, "Zumi Zumi" with two regular claps, and then another person's name as they do two thigh claps. The person called on then says their own name with two regular name, and then another person's name with two thigh claps. During this whole time, the rhythm that the Zumi Zumi set must be kept.

When someone fails to keep the rhythm or forgets to say someone's name the round ends, and that person moves to the ‘end’ of the circle (location of the highest number. All players then will shift down to fill in the spot, and players that previously had a number higher than the person who made the mistake now get a new number. Ultimately the goal is to shift down the circle into the Zumi Zumi spot.

Zip-Zap-Zop

Everyone playing starts by forming a circle facing inwards

This game is played like “catch” where an imaginary ball is being passed from one person to the next

The game starts by one player saying “Zip” and pointing with a bladed hand towards someone across the circle. The person pointed to must immediately say “Zap” and with a bladed hand must point to the person to either their right or their left. The person pointed to must then say “Zop” and either point back right or left towards the previous person with a bladed hand, or towards the person on their other side. This final person pointed to will then start the process over by saying “Zip” and passing the imaginary ball across the circle to a new player.

This is a game of speed and as such players need to respond with “Zip”, “Zap”, or “Zop” immediately. If a player fails to do a motion, say one of the words, or takes too long they are out (or the round simply starts over). 

Everyone “it” Tag

This game is played like regular tag except that everyone is “it”, meaning anyone can tag anyone else.

If you get tagged you must stand in place and hold out your hands palm-upwards. The only way you get back in the game is if someone comes by and claps your hands 3 times with their own. Once someone has done this you can begin tagging others again

If you are about to be tagged you can also assume the “nose-toes” position for up to 5 seconds. To assume this position you must touch your nose with one hand and balance on one foot while touching your toes with your other hand. You can only hold this position for 5 seconds before you must move again.
*I would not recommend this game unless you have a gym or can go outside