Energizers

Classroom-based Physical Activities

K-2

The way teachers integrate

physical activity with academic concepts

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity
Promotion NCDPI
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 1

Acknowledgements
The ““Energizers”” were
developed by the
EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY
Activity Promotion Laboratory
Department of Exercise and Sport Science
College of Health and Human Performance

Energizer Team Members:

Matthew T. Mahar, Ed.D. Donna P. Scales, M.A.Ed.
Rhonda K. Kenny, M.A.Ed. Gretchen Collins, B.S.
A. Tamlyn Shields, M.A.

The goal of the Activity Promotion Laboratory is to promote active

lifestyles. We are indebted to NC Healthy Schools, North Carolina
Department of Public Instruction, and to Be Active North Carolina, Inc.
for providing support for this project. In particular, we wish to thank
Kymm Ballard at NCDPI for her non-stop support of the efforts to help
teachers integrate physical activity into the school day.
In compliance with federal law, including the provisions of Title IX of the Education Amendments of
1972, N C Public Schools administers all state-operated educational programs, employment activities
and admissions without discrimination because of race, religion, national or ethnic origin, color, age,
military service, disability, or gender, except where exemption is appropriate and allowed by law.

Inquiries or complaints should be directed to:

Dr. Elsie C. Leak, Associate Superintendent
Office of Curriculum and School Reform Services
6307 Mail Service Center , Raleigh, NC 27699-6307, Telephone (919) 807-3761; fax (919) 807-3767

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 2

Energizers
Background

In order to address obesity in North Carolina, the NC State Board of Education

passed a policy, ““Healthy Active Children”” (HSP-S-000) in January of 2003.
This policy provides schools with guidance for local school districts to promote
coordinated school health programs and emphasizes the physical education and
physical activity components. The policy states that schools ““shall provide
appropriate amounts of physical activity”” for children K-8. It further states,
““the physical activity required by this section must involve physical exertion of
at least a moderate intensity level and for a duration sufficient to provide a
significant health benefit to students””.

In order for this to happen in NC schools, the classroom teachers must take a
small but important role to assure children are provided with physical activity.
Michigan State Department of Education began a program called, ““Brain Breaks””
which provided classroom teachers with physical activities that are based on
core academic concepts. In partnership with the Michigan Department of
Education, NC created our own version of Brain Breaks with more emphasis on
““physical exertion”” to create the ““Energizers””. It is through the support of NC
Healthy Schools and Be Active North Carolina, Inc. that East Carolina
University was able to write, pilot, and develop the ““Energizers”” for classroom
teachers everywhere, in order to incorporate them into their daily classes.

Directions

Teachers should align the Energizer activities with the curriculum content they
will teach for the year. To gain a health benefit, we suggest using these
““Energizers”” two to three times per day, when possible. Most activities are
easily adaptable for special needs students, rainy days and other areas of
study, by changing the focus (i.e., California Dreamin”” could be altered with any
other state that you may be studying with little change to the activity).

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 3

Availability:

The ““Energizers”” will be available on the following web sites free in pdf format
for easy download:
NC Healthy Schools: www.nchealthyschools.org
Be Active North Carolina, Inc: www.beactivenc.org
NC Physical Education for Me: www.ncpe4me.com

We are proud of the work from all of the partners which made this document a
reality and especially appreciate the sharing between states in this
collaborative. The following eight activities are modifications of Brain Breaks
that are available on the Michigan Department of Education’’s web site
[http://www.emc.cmich.edu/BrainBreaks/default.htm]: Frozen Vocabulary;
Survivor (renamed as Rescue 9-1-1); Over, Under, Around, and Through; Morning
Routine; Litter Box; Inches, Feet, and Yards, Oh My!; Air Writing; Moving
Monkeys (renamed as It’’s a Zoo in Here). You will also find other Brain Breaks
at this web site.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 4

What teachers say about Energizers

““The students enjoyed the Energizers because they got a

chance to ““have fun”” while learning different academic
concepts (health, spelling, geography). They did admit that
all the movement tired them out.””

The Energizers are easy to use and easily done in the

classroom.””

““Over, Under, Around, and Through is my favorite. Children

generated ideas for each directional word and we
integrated descriptive words.””

““Students loved The 12 Days of Fitness.””

““Stop and Scribble is a great way to review spelling words!

The kids loved it!!””

““Hit the Deck was easy for a substitute teacher to follow

without additional directions.””

““Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb was a good book choice for

listening and following directions.””

““Memory Lane was voted the best activity by my students.””

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:
Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 5

What teachers say about Energizers

““Students love California Dreamin’’.””

““I’’d like a copy of all of the Energizers because I can easily

modify them for my grade level.””

““California Dreamin’’ seemed to be the overall favorite.””

““Travel the Tarheel State was my personal favorite since it

ties to the fourth grade curriculum.””

““My children loved Space Jam.””

““Stop, Drop, and Roll is a great activity for Fire Safety

Week in October.””

““The kids liked Factor It In and occasionally supplied me

with numbers.””

““Shop ‘‘til You Drop is a great health activity.””

““Shop ‘‘til You Drop became one of my favorites by the

second time we used it.””

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 6

Table of Contents
Energizers for Grades K-2 7

Over, Under, Around, and Through 8

Pass it On –– UNO style 9
Inches, Feet and Yards, Oh My! 10
Sports Galore 11
As If 12
Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb 13
Wiggles 14
Space Jam 15
Hit the Deck 16
Stop, Drop, and Roll 17
Heart Smart 18
On the Farm 19
Stop and Scribble 20
Frozen Vocabulary 21
Go Bananas! 22
Morning Routine 23
Rescue 9 - 1 –– 1 24
Air Writing 25
Leaf Line 26
Litterbox 27
It’’s a Zoo in Here 28
Frogs in the Pond 29

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 7

Energizers for Grades K-2

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 8

Name of Activity: Over, Under, Around and Through

Grade Level: K-2
Formation: Students line up around the perimeter of the
room (can also be done standing at desks)
Equipment: None

Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher decides on a pattern where students go over,
under, around and through imaginary or real objects.
2. Lead the line of students around the room, following this
pattern.
¾Example 1 –– Over a sea of sticky peanut butter, under
a cherry tree, around an ice cream cone, and through a
sea of Jell-O.
¾Example 2 –– (geography) Over a turtle, under a big
dog, around the elephant and through a giraffe’’s legs.

Examples:
Over Under Around Through
steep mountain subway hard, round rock deep, dark cave
Atlantic Ocean underground your desk a creaky door
wiggly bridge sand chair long tunnel
steep hill dog circle window
thorny bush water dirty trashcan haunted house
limbo stick the school a swamp
a house spooky hole
camp fire swimming pool
the bed of a
sleeping giant

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 9

Name of Activity: Pass it On –– UNO style

Grade Level: 1-3
Formation: Form a circle around perimeter of the room
Equipment: UNO cards

Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher hands out one card to each student.
2. Students identify color on card and perform activity that
corresponds to that color for 10 –– 15 seconds:
¾Blue: jump to the sky
¾Red: squats
¾Yellow: twist
¾Green: swim
3. When teacher says, ““Pass it On””, students will pass the card
to the person on their right and complete the activity that
corresponds to their new cards.

Variations:
1. Teach colors in Spanish.
2. For younger children, squat and slide card on floor to the
right rather than handing the card to the next person.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 10

Name of Activity: Inches, Feet and Yards, Oh My!

Grade Level: 1-4
Formation: Students line up around the perimeter of the room
or stand at desks.
Equipment: None

Rules/Directions:
1. Have students start with feet side by side and move one set
of toes ahead of the other set of toes to represent inches
or ““small””.
2. Have students place one foot in front of the other to
represent feet or ““medium””.
3. Have students take one giant step forward or backward to
represent yards or ““large””.
4. Call out different measurements:
¾ Example –– Move forward 2 feet, back 5 inches,
sideways 1 yard.
5. Have all students move in the same direction.

Variations:
1. Add directions (right, left, forward, back).
2. Use the metric system.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 11

Name of Activity: Sports Galore

Grade Level: 2-5
Formation: Standing at desks
Equipment: None

Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher calls out the following sports skills to mimic:
¾ Shooting a jump shot
¾ Running through tires
¾ Batting a baseball
¾ Serving a tennis ball
¾ Downhill skiing
¾ Spiking a volleyball
¾ Swinging a golf club
¾ Throwing a football
¾ Juggling a soccer ball
¾ Shooting an arrow
¾ Shooting a hockey puck
¾ Swimming underwater
¾ Fielding a ground ball and throwing it to first base
¾ Dunking a basketball
2. Teacher can also integrate skills into word problems and
have students repeat the number he or she calls out:
¾ If Juan made 5 jump shots and 2 went in the basket,
how many did he miss? (3)
¾ If Briana hit 2 homeruns, how many bases would she
have to touch? (8 bases)

Suggestion:
1. Do each sport skill for 30 seconds.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 12

Name of Activity: As If
Grade Level: K-3
Formation: Standing at desks
Equipment: None

Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher reads sentence to class:
¾ Jog in place as if a big scary bear is chasing you
¾ Walk forward as if you’’re walking through chocolate
pudding
¾ Jump in place as if you are popcorn popping
¾ Reach up as if grabbing balloons out of the air
¾ March in place and play the drums as if you are in a
marching band
¾ Paint as if the paint brush is attached to your head
¾ Swim as if you are in a giant pool of Jell-O
¾ Move your feet on the floor as if you are ice skating
¾ Shake your body as if you are a wet dog
2. Students act out each sentence for 20 –– 30 seconds.
3. Students may create their own sentences for additional
activities.

Suggestion:
1. Use a tree map for children to generate additional action
words.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 13

Name of Activity: Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb

Grade Level: K-1
Formation: Standing at desks
Equipment: Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb (author: Al
Perkins)

Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher reads book while students march at their desks,
around the room, or act out what the monkeys are doing.
2. Whenever teacher reads ““Dum Ditty Dum Ditty Dum Dum
Dum,”” or any reference to drumming, students will drum on
their knees or desks.
3. Use a signal (e.g., raised hand) to indicate students should
stop drumming.
4. Continue activity until end of book and have students march
back to their desks.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 14

Name of Activity: Wiggles

Grade Level: K-5
Formation: Standing at desks
Equipment: None

Rules/Directions:
1. Jog in place while doing the following activities.
2. On teacher’’s signal, the students begin to wiggle their fingers.
3. Then their fingers and wrists.
4. Then their fingers, wrists, and forearms.
5. Then their fingers, wrists, forearms, and elbows.
6. Then their fingers, wrists, forearms, elbows, and shoulders.
7. Then their fingers, wrists, forearms, elbows, shoulders, and
rib cage.
8. Then their fingers, wrists, forearms, elbows, shoulders, rib
cage, and hips.
9. Then their fingers, wrists, forearms, elbows, shoulders, rib
cage, hips, and knees.
10. Then their fingers, wrists, forearms, elbows, shoulders, rib
cage, hips, knees and head.

Variations:
1. Start from toes and work your way up (toes, knees, hips, etc.).
2. Repeat activity without jogging as cool down.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 15

Name of Activity: Space Jam

Grade Level: K-3
Formation: Standing at desks
Equipment: None

Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher reads story to class and class identifies each verb
or ““action”” word.
2. Teacher pauses during reading while class acts out each
verb in place for 15 –– 20 seconds.
3. Continue until end of story:
¾Hello, my name is Zippy and I live on a space station. Today, I will lead you on a tour
through space. First, we need to put on our moon boots. They will allow us to walk
through space. The first stop will be Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.
Mercury is very hot . . . so, OUCH, be careful and step quickly so your feet do not
get burned. Mercury also has many craters. On the count of 3, let’’s jump into a
crater and see what we find. 1 –– 2 –– 3, JUMP! Climb out of the crater so we can
march to Venus. Venus is the second planet from the sun. This planet has very
strong winds and volcanoes. See if you can walk through the wind without blowing
over. A lot of the surface of Venus is covered with lava, and here comes some . . .
RUN! The next stop is Earth, the third planet from the sun. Seventy-one percent
of the Earth’’s surface is water, so hop in and start swimming. See if you can do the
front crawl and the backstroke. Our next stop will be Mars. Mars is known as the
red planet. The largest mountain in space, Olympic Mons, is located on Mars. See if
you can climb to the top! Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun. It is made up of
mostly gas and you can see clouds when you look at this planet. Find a cloud and see
if you can float on it. Our next stop is Saturn, the sixth planet from the sun. It
has a rocky core and there are areas of ice throughout the planet. There are also
rings of gases around Saturn. WHOA, there is a huge piece of ice, be careful and
slide across it. Hop on one of the rings surrounding Saturn and spin around in
circles. Uranus is our next stop. It has a small rocky core. Can everyone tiptoe
across Uranus watching out for the ice? Next, let’’s visit Neptune. Neptune has
four rings and large storms with fast winds. It also has 13 moons. Quick, duck!
Here comes a moon, move to the left so you do not get hit. Pluto is our next stop.
It is the smallest planet and is furthest from the sun. It is a cold planet because it
is furthest from the sun. Shiver and rub your hands together to stay warm. This
ends our tour of space. Grab a partner and hop back to the space station.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 16

Name of Activity: Hit the Deck

Grade Level: 2-5
Formation: Standing at desks
Equipment: 1 deck of cards

Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher places deck of cards in front of the class.
2. Have one student select a card and students will do the
corresponding activity for each suit.
3. Would be helpful to write corresponding activities on the
board for each suit:
¾Heart: touch elbow to knee or crunches for 20 seconds
¾Diamond: jog in place or march in place for 20 seconds
¾Club: modified push up or cabbage patch for 20 seconds
¾Spade: jumping jacks or scissors for 20 seconds
4. Provide other students opportunity to pick a card from the
deck and repeat activity.

Suggestions:
1. Place activities on chart paper so that activity can be done
outside.
2. Choose 3 or 4 cards of each suit instead of using entire
deck to save time.
3. This activity is easy for a substitute teacher to follow.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 17

Name of Activity: Stop, Drop, and Roll

Grade Level: K-3
Formation: Standing at desks
Equipment: None

Rules/Directions:
1. On teacher signal, the students begin to move around the
room.
2. When someone yells ““FIRE””, the students stop, drop, and roll.
3. Yell ““Fires out!”” and begin again.
4. Continue for 3 –– 4 minutes.
5. Next, teacher calls out, ““When the heats up high.”” Students
respond, ““You get down low,”” and squat down to the ground to
avoid smoke (students can also crawl toward imaginary exit).
6. Students immediately stand back up and teacher begins again.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 18

Name of Activity: Heart Smart

Grade Level: 2-5
Formation: Standing at desks
Equipment: None

Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher will discuss the heart:
¾Where it is located? Left side of the chest.
¾What size is it? Size of a fist.
¾Function? Deliver blood to the body.
¾What strengthens the heart? Jumping, swimming, jogging. (Students will act
out each activity)
¾What weakens the heart? Inactivity, smoking, unhealthy diet.
2. Teacher calls out a habit that strengthens or weakens the heart.
3. If the habit strengthens the heart, students will respond by
jumping.
4. If the habit weakens the heart, students will respond by falling
down or squatting.
¾Riding a bike –– jump
¾Eating 4 pepperoni pizzas –– fall
¾Walking your dog –– jump
¾Smoking cigarettes –– fall
¾Never going outside to play and watching TV all the time –– fall
¾Dancing with your friends –– jump
¾Skating –– jump
¾Never eating fruits/vegetables –– fall
¾Riding a scooter –– jump
¾Shooting baskets –– jump
¾Playing PlayStation –– fall
¾Eating fast food –– fall
¾Raking the leaves - jump
¾Washing the car –– jump
¾Taking the stairs –– jump
¾Taking the elevator –– fall
¾Swimming –– jump
¾Eating potato chips and Twinkies –– fall

Suggestion:
1. Have students think of their own habits.
Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:
Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 19

Name of Activity: On the Farm

Grade Level: K-2
Formation: Standing at desks
Equipment: None

Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher will call out various farm animals:
¾ Pig
¾ Cow
¾ Chicken
¾ Horse
¾ Rooster
¾ Sheep
¾ Dogs
2. Students will mimic the farm animal (sounds and movement)
until teacher calls out a new farm animal.

Suggestion:
1. Play ““Old McDonald”” as background music.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 20

Name of Activity: Stop and Scribble

Grade Level: 2-5
Formation: Standing at desks with partners
Equipment: Piece of paper and pencil for every 2 students

Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher calls out physical activity:
¾ Jumping
¾ Twisting
¾ Jogging
¾ Jumping jacks
¾ Hopping
¾ Knee lifts
¾ Playing air guitar
¾ Marching
2. Students begin activity and continue until the teacher calls
out a spelling word.
3. Students freeze and partners work together to try to spell
the word correctly on a piece of paper.
4. After 10 to 15 seconds, teacher calls out new activity.
5. Continue until all spelling words are used.
6. As students cool down, teacher will write correct spelling on
board and students will check their work.
7. Variation: Same activity using sidewalk chalk instead of
paper and pencil (outside).

Suggestion:
1. Use this activity to review spelling words –– it’’s great.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 21

Name of Activity: Frozen Vocabulary

Grade Level: 2-5
Formation: Standing at desks
Equipment: None

Rules/Directions:
1. Begin by having students do an activity standing at their
desks:
¾Jumping
¾Twisting
¾Jogging
¾Jumping jacks
¾Hopping
¾Knee lifts
¾Play air guitar
2. Students continue activity until teacher calls out a
vocabulary word at which point the students freeze.
3. Teacher calls on volunteer to use the vocabulary word
properly in a sentence.
4. Resume activity or begin a new activity when a student uses
the vocabulary word properly in a sentence.

Variations:
1. Students can define vocabulary word.
2. Students can spell the word.
3. Students can name a synonym or antonym.
4. For math, students can give the sum, difference, or quotient
of 2 numbers.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 22

Name of Activity: Go Bananas!

Grade Level: K-2
Formation: Standing at desks
Equipment: Barrel of monkeys

Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher empties barrel of monkeys and picks up one
monkey.
2. Students jump as high as they can jump one time and
teacher says GO BANANAS!
3. Students then GO BANANAS by wiggling their body in all
directions or imitate a monkey.
4. Teacher continues to pick up one monkey at a time and
students do one jump for each monkey.
5. Teacher continues to say GO BANANAS after adding a
monkey to the chain.
6. Continue until the chain of monkeys breaks and start over.
7. Integration: Teacher reads the book, The Day the Teacher
Went Bananas. Students GO BANANAS every time the
teacher reads the word ““bananas.”” Teacher can also discuss
bananas and how unique they are:
¾Color
¾Peel
¾Shape
¾Nutritional value
¾Snack ideas
¾Where they grow

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 23

Name of Activity: Morning Routine

Grade Level: K-5
Formation: Standing at desks
Equipment: None

Rules/Directions:
1. Have students begin the day with a series of simple
activities lasting 30 seconds or more:
¾ Jumping jacks
¾ Knee lifts
¾ Flap arms like a bird
¾ Hopping
¾ Scissors (feet apart then cross in front, feet apart
then cross in back)
2. Follow each activity with a basic stretching movement:
¾ Reach for the sky
¾ Runner’’s stretch
¾ Butterfly stretch (sit with bottom of feet together)
¾ Knee to chest
¾ Rotate ankles
¾ Scratch your back
3. Hold stretches for 10 –– 30 seconds.
4. Repeat a different simple activity followed by a new basic
stretch as many times as desired.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 24

Name of Activity: Rescue 9 - 1 - 1

Grade Level: K-3
Formation: Standing at desks
Equipment: None

Rules/Directions:
1. Review with the students how to make a 911 call.
2. Have students use their bodies to make shapes of 9 –– 1 –– 1
while chanting 911!
3. Review fire safety: what are the things we all need to know
in order to survive a fire?
¾ Practice crawling under the smoke
¾ Practice ““stop, drop and roll”” (using space available)
4. Review storm safety procedures:
¾Practice moving away from windows
¾Practice covering their heads

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 25

Name of Activity: Air Writing

Grade Level: K-2
Formation: Standing at desks or in small groups
Equipment: None

Rules/Directions:
1. Students begin by moving in place or around the room:
¾ Jumping
¾ Marching
¾ Hopping
¾ Twisting
2. Teacher calls out letter, number, word or shape and
students stop activity.
3. Students will draw the letter, number, word or shape in the
air using their hand, arm, leg, head, elbow, knee, bottom or
any combination of body parts until teacher calls out
another activity.
4. Students continue new activity until teacher calls out
another letter, number, word or shape.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 26

Name of Activity: Leaf Line

Grade Level: 2-5
Formation: Standing at desks
Equipment: Leaves brought from home (1 leaf per child)

Rules/Directions:
1. Students walk to the front of class and get in order based
on the size of the leaves they brought from home (without
talking, get in order from smallest to largest).
2. Allow younger classes to talk for modification.
3. Have students move to groups based on leaf color, shape,
and texture.
4. Have students try to identify type of tree the leaf came
from and discuss that type of tree in class.
5. Students can act out the following:
¾ Tree swaying in the wind
¾ Tree during a thunderstorm/hurricane
¾ Tree weighted down with snow

Suggestion:
1. Teacher should have several extra leaves available.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 27

Name of Activity: Litterbox

Grade Level: 1-5
Formation: Partners
Equipment: Paper
Rules/Directions:
1. Have partners ball up a piece of paper and place it on the
floor.
2. Ask the partners to pick up the paper using the body parts
called out by the teacher:
¾ Elbow and elbow
¾ Foot and foot
¾ Knee and knee
¾ Forearm and elbow
¾ Foot and elbow
¾ Knee and elbow
¾ Forehead and back of hand
¾ Toe and finger
3. Students can place the paper ball back on their desks, or
move it to other parts of the room.

Variations:
1. Each student can have his or her own paper ball and play
individually.
2. Could be done as a team relay activity, where students hop
around their desks with the paper ball between the body
parts and pass the paper ball to the next teammate. The
last person hops to the trashcan and puts the paper ball in
the trashcan.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 28

Name of Activity: It’’s a Zoo in Here

Grade Level: K-2
Formation: Standing at desks
Equipment: None

Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher selects an animal or has students select an animal:
¾Monkey
¾Bear
¾Snake
¾Elephant
¾Giraffe
¾Kangaroo
¾Lion
¾Tiger
2. Students must imitate the way the animal walks or moves
beside their desks or around the classroom.
3. Students continue until teacher signals to move like the
next animal.

Suggestions:
1. Make cards with animal names to use as flash cards (Grades 1-2).
Children can read the names and act them out.
2. Use pictures of animals for Grades K-1.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance
 29

Name of Activity: Frogs in the Pond

Grade Level: K-2
Formation: Standing at desks
Equipment: None

Rules/Directions:
1. Teacher selects a student to be ““Kermit””.
2. All other students gather around ““Kermit”” and place one finger
on the Kermit’’s arms, legs or back.
3. On teacher signal, all students become frogs and start
jumping.
4. Kermit jumps around while trying to tag a frog.
5. If tagged, frogs become a prince or a princess and have the
power to tag other frogs with their magic wand.
6. Continue with new ““Kermit””.

Suggestion:
1. This activity works better outdoors.

Energizers were developed by: In partnership with:

Activity NCDPI
Promotion
Laboratory
School of Health
and Human
Performance