Time Fillers

Time Fillers 1. Looking for Letters - Have the students write down the alphabet in a list down the side of the paper. - Give the students 5 minutes to write down as many objects around the room that start with each letter of the alphabet. - For more competition, after the 5 minutes, divide the class into boys and girls. Create two charts: one for the boys and another for the girls. List their responses on the chart to see which gender came up with more responses. 2. What if… - Lead a What if discussion - Example: What if animal and human roles were reversed? What if a child was elected President of our country? 3. Word Hunt - Have one child find a long word in the dictionary. - List the word on the chalkboard and discuss the definition with the class. - Give the students one minute to create words with the letters within the big word. 4. What am I? - Designed to improve children’s ability to ask questions, learn adjectives and think logically. - Children sit in a circle. - Each student has a post-it note and they write a noun on it (cat, table, chair, etc.). - The children place the post-it note on the person’s forehead sitting beside them. - Instruct the class to do this to the person on the right or the left. - Each child has to ask questions to figure out what he/she is. - The children have a chance to ask 3 questions before their turn is up, continuing until the children guess what they are. 5. I like to… - Good memory game, also improves self-esteem. - Students sit in a circle, each student names an activity they like to do. - The next person has to say the previous student’s activity before they say their own favorite activity. If a person messes up, they are out. Game ends when one person is left. 6. The Minute Game - The teacher times a minute on her clock while the students count out a minute in their head. - Once the students think it is a minute later, they stand up, the closest one to a minute wins. 7. Bingo – various ways - Math - call out the numbers in the form of sums (11x2=?). - Word - use word wall words and key words. - Say the definition of key or word wall words. - Name – use at start of school to learn student and teacher names. 8. Orange, Orange, Orange - Students sit in a circle, each will be given name of a fruit. - One student stands in the center, repeats the same fruit three times. - Person in circle (same fruit as being called) must interrupt by shouting the name before the person in the middle finishes. - Interrupt successfully – person in the middle stays and chooses another fruit. - Not quick enough – they replace the person in the middle. 9. What’s the Object? - Students are divided into teams, one student from each team is given a card with an object on it. - The student must get the rest of the class to say the object by describing it without using any of the words on the card. 10. Desert Island Activity - Give the scenario to the students – You are going to be on a desert island, alone, for one month. Come up with a story as to why you are there. You can have 5 of each of the following: tools, clothes, drinks, books, records, animals, friends, one luxury (not alive). - The students come up with a story, publish it and present it to the class either verbally or written. 11. News Headlines - Give the students an event in the news, plus one minute to write a typical newspaper headline. 12. Don’t Get Tangled - Children sit in a circle, one person starts with a ball of string. - They name someone, tossing the ball of string to that person. - Once everyone has been called they go in reverse order, but don’t get tangled! 13. Chinese Whispers - Similar to telephone, one person says a phrase to their neighbor, the message goes all the way around the circle of students. - The last person says the message aloud, then the original phrase is told by the first person. - This is a fun game to see the difference between the original and final phrase. 14. Describing Pictures - One student stands in the front of the class and describes a picture to the whole class. - The class draws what is being described, the one closest to the original picture wins. 15. Frogs and Flies - Similar to wink murder, expect the student picked is a frog, who sticks out their tongue to eat the fly. The detective looks for the frog. - Addition roles could be a fly saver, which can bring flies back to life. 16. Hangman Headlines - Use hangman to begin a discussion about a headline from the news. - Once word is revealed, students will explain story behind headline and use it to start discussion within the class. 17. Kids’ Questions - Using the book, “The Kids’ Book of Questions” (filled with 260 of kids’ most asked questions), ask a couple of questions per day, giving students time to write in their journal. 18. Odd One Out! - Write a list of four or five numbers in a line on the chalkboard, students will pick the odd one out. 19. The Magic Pen - Have a special pen to rotate around the classroom for each child to tell a story. - No one is allowed to talk without the pen. 20. If I were… - Students will fill in anything they would want to do on a special event or day. - Example – If I were president, I would… 21. Guess the Celeb - Three students stand in front of the chalkboard, with a celebrity’s name listed above their head. - The students can ask 5 yes/no questions to find out who they are, while the class answers yes or no. 22. TOAS- Think of a Sentence - Students select 4/5 letters of the alphabet and write a sentence beginning with the letters. - Example – BFAS – Big fish always swim. 23. Classroom Timeline - At end of school year, students could create a timeline of events that happened throughout the school year. Decorate and hang around classroom. 24. Tic Tac Toe Game - Split the class into two groups and draw a tic tac toe game board on the chalkboard. - Write verbs into each of the squares on the board. - One student from each group will pick a verb; they must say its past tense to win the square. - Rotate between the groups. 25. Heads up, 7-Up - Five students are selected, all others put their heads down on their desk with their thumbs up. - The five selected students go around and choose one student to pick, the students picked hide their thumbs. - Once the five selected students have chosen, they come back to the front of the room. - The new students picked try to guess who chose them. - If they are right, they replace the student and they get to chose someone. - If they are wrong, they sit back down. 26. Two Truths and a Lie - Each student tells two truths and one lie, while the rest of the class tries to guess which one is a lie.