Outdoor Recess Games: Social Distancing Edition
Now that some schools are back to in-person learning, there are some new challenges to overcome. Finding ways to allow our children ample time to move and interact with their peers while maintaining social distance precautions can be difficult. Read below to find 12 movement games that are perfect for outdoor recess time for a variety of school-aged children. Share the FREE PRINTABLE game cards with all the teachers in your world.
My children started a hybrid learning schedule last week.
They are going to school 2 days a week, virtual learning one day a week and performing independent learning from home the other 2 days a week.
Whew! Sounds like a logistical nightmare for our school teachers and administrators, right?
I heard from some of the teachers at my son’s school this weekend and they are no doubt exhausted! They are literally doing triple the work at this time!
Since there are no opportunities for volunteers to come to school at this time, I am trying to find ways to ease their burden.
One worry that was echoed last week on a Zoom call from my son’s teacher was “What are we going to do at recess?”
The playgrounds are closed, the students must maintain social distance, wear their masks and cannot touch any shared items (no basketball, no tag, no dodgeball, no gaga ball, etc).
I was determined to make sure that this meant there would be NO FUN too!
Most of our children are already engaging with way more screen time than before and I want to make sure that recess is a time that they burn some physical energy and connect with their peers.
Why is outdoor recess so important?
Research tells us there are many things that make outdoor recess critical for the health of our children. Here are a few:
Sunlight: helps to produce vitamin D which helps with sleep and building a strong immune system.
Encourages Active Play: It’s easier to become physically active when having larger spaces to roam. Our children are spending more time confined to a seat to limit contact with their peers, so being physically active each day is so important for their minds and bodies.
Boosts creativity: Unstructured time and time for children to become bored and socialize with friends boosts creativity and the ability to prioritize, organize and plan new activities (aka. executive functioning). These skills have been proven to be even more predictive of future success than academic skills alone.
Socialization: Even if from a safe distance! The ability to have unstructured time to catch up with friends is so important to our children’s social emotional well-being. This is the big reason my children wanted to return to school.
Reduces stress: Nature has powerful effects on our bodies and brains. Nature reduces our cortisol levels, our stress producing hormone. It also allows us to get sunlight and Vitamin D, which helps with depression.
Doesn’t that make you want to get outside right now?
So I’ve been researching and compiling some activities this week and created a FREE PRINTABLE for you to share these activities with your schools and teachers.
My son’s class has played several of them and so far and I’m happy to report they have all been kids tested and approved! Mission accomplished!
How to use the Outdoor Recess Games
Download your free printable at the end of this post! I laminated mine for easy sanitizing and durability.
Share this post with your children’s teachers and teachers that you work with so they can get their free printable too!
Use some of the games for your individual and/or group therapy sessions.
Use some of the games as a push-in session to teach the whole class a new game.
Allow older children to select the games and carry them out independent from adults. It’s always fun to see if they can get creative to modify the games too!
Most games don’t require extra materials but if teachers happen to have some cones and jump ropes those could come in handy for a few of the games.
12 Outdoor Recess Games: Social Distance Edition
Red Light, Green Light
A classic and good for younger students! Great for teaching stop/go and self-regulation skills.
Jump the Brook
You will need 2 jump ropes or 2 large sticks for this game. The object is for the students to jump over the ropes without landing in the “brook”. The ropes get moved further and further apart until no students are able to jump over. Great for building speed, strength, coordination, and timing for jumping. Sticks could be substituted for jump ropes.
Freeze Dance
This will require an adult to supply the music. A great physical activity that also works on regulation.
Simon Says
Another classic that is great for younger students. Great to work on body imitation, motor planning, crossing midline, coordination, balance, sequencing, and auditory processing.
A great game for a larger group of children. Good for memory and getting some friendly physical activity competition going. Cones can be substituted for another foot target (a clipboard, stick, etc.)
Fun while moving and refining auditory processing skills/memory.
Find out who is making the movements that everyone in the group is following.
The possibilities for physical activity are endless. A great one to adapt to all ability levels!
This one really gets the kids laughing. A great version of tag without needing to touch.
This one is easily adapted for indoor or morning meeting time too!
Opposites
A great way to reinforce the concepts of opposites for younger students and challenge older students with their cognitive and auditory processing skills.
Footsquare
An adapted version of the game Foursquare. Played by kicking the ball to the 4 different squares instead of throwing.
Other Recess activities for preschool and kindergarten aged children:
Bubbles
Scavenger hunts
Nature walks
I Spy
Sidewalk chalk
Hopscotch
Sensory pathways drawn with chalk
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Guidelines for recess may look different this year, but we can still have fun!
Please share this post to social media to support our teachers that are working extra hard these days!
Don’t forget your FREE PRINTABLE!
Grab it HERE!
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