Each day, there are occasions when teachers have 5 to 10 minutes before their students go to a specialist class, recess, lunch or leave for home. It is a good idea to have some go to "Time Fillers" to use during those time frames. Time Fillers are activities used to educationally engage students (so that the time is not wasted) until they transition to the next part of their school day. They are undoubtedly a necessity as there will always be times during the school day when there is too little time to finish a lesson, you finish a lesson earlier than planned, or you have an abbreviated class period due to a special school event or field trip. During my years as a full-time classroom teacher, students were always excited to participate in these activities. Of course, many of them had a few favorites. Time Fillers can be used in elementary, middle, and high school classrooms. Below are a few ideas that you might like to use with your students. You can always tailor activities to best fit your classroom dynamic. Time Fillers can also be used at home by parents when kids say they are bored and have nothing to do.
1. Choose a medium-sized beach ball.
2. Write (with a permanent marker) the numbers from 0-10 covering the entire ball.
3. Toss the ball to a student.
4. After catching the ball, the student looks at the two numbers that are touched by his/her thumbs. The answer must be given within 10 seconds.
*Before the game starts, decide which two fingers will be used (generally the thumbs are used) and which math operation will be used. You can use fractions and decimals too. There are beach balls that can be purchased with everything on them, but I think it is more fun to make your own.
1. The class forms a circle.
2. The teacher says a word.
3. The first student says the first letter of the word.
4. The next in line says the second letter.
5. The next in line says the third letter. This continues until all letters of the list word have been spoken.
6. The student in line AFTER the last letter, then says the word.
7. The next student in line says "SPARKLE" and is OUT, and returns to his/her seat.
8. Anytime a student says the wrong letter, he/she is out and returns to his seat.
9. The game continues until there is one student remaining.
* For lower grades, teachers can use spelling words and/or words from their core literature books. For older students, grade appropriate words should can be used from all subject areas.
* This is a classic game. A good activity to sharpen an important skill...LISTENING.
1. Designate a person to be "Simon" (you can use any name).
2. All other students are players.
3. Simon stands in front of the group and tells the others what to do.
4. Players must only obey commands that begin with the phrase "Simon says..."
5. Any player that carries out a command if "Simon says" is not spoken, is out.
Deductive Reasoning & Creativity
1. Choose a person (Answerer) to start. This person thinks of an object.
2. All other players will take turns asking "yes or no" questions (a total of 20) in order to guess the correct answer. The Answerer is not allowed to lie.
3. If a questioner guesses the correct answer, he/she wins and becomes the new Answerer.
4. If 20 questions are asked without a correct guess, the Answerer has stumped the Questioners and remains the Answerer for the next round.
What Time Fillers do you use in your classroom?