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Circle time for the 2nd grade
Случайное колесо
2-й класс
3 класс
10-й класс
11 класс
Техническое / профессиональное образование
Высшее образование
Adults
Unit 3
Сопоставить
elementary
speak out
time
What’s the time?
Случайное колесо
beginner
Средняя школа
Adults
English
Numbers
Time
What time is it?
Случайное колесо
beginner
Начальная школа / начальная
Adults
English
Numbers
Time
time collacations
Найди пару
pre-intermidiate
time collocations
new english file pre-interm
In preschool
fun and engaging circle games can teach many crucial skills that children can
then use to deepen their play. Eye contact, turn-taking, understanding
emotions, and listening are all key skills in life. The benefits of short,
snappy, fun circle games that really work cannot be overestimated.
However, there seem to be so many games around that don’t really work that well in reality. This article presents just the games that are tried and tested, that children really ‘get’ quickly, the games they will ask for again and again.
These are the cream of the crop from my book – 101 Circle Time Games…That Actually Work! (that you can check out here).
This book offers the very best math circle games, literacy games, physical circle times, mindfulness, circle times, and so much more! Check it out here.
So what are the best circle time games for preschool? Some excellent circle time games for preschool are:
- Snowball
- Don’t
Wake The Monkey - Pass
The Rhythm - Act
The Emotion - Parachute
Pairs - Pass
The Potato - Wonkey
Donkey - Baby
Bear Game - Pass
The Smile - Spin
The Bottle - Spare
Place - Picnic
Memory Game - At
The Zoo - Where
Is It? - Pass
The Puppet - Matching
Socks - Pass
The Ball Round The Circle - Change!
- Missing
Child Game - Mystery
Object - Mystery
Box
Read on to find a detailed description of each and check out our amazing online courses to help take all of these developmental concepts to the next level. But for now, read below to help to bring your preschool circle times to life!
The Games
1.Snowball
This game can be adapted in lots of
different ways.
The idea is that you have lots of
pieces of paper that all have pairs of matching pictures on. The adult just
draws the pictures on themselves. For example, they could be simple pictures of
shapes. You could have two separate pictures of a triangle, a square, a circle,
and a pentagon etc. You need as many pictures as you have children. For
example, if you have 12, you need 6 pairs of matching pictures.
The pictures could be anything. Nice
easy ones are things like numbers, shapes, letters, animals, weather, or
emotion faces.
Children are handed a piece of paper
each. They screw it into a ball – a snowball – and throw it into the middle of
the circle. Then they have to go and pick up a ball. The only rule is that they
can’t pick their own snowball up. They must pick up someone else’s.
When they pick up their new snowball,
they unscrew it and then try to find their partner. If you have an odd number
of children, you will have someone without a partner, and this is normally the
‘champion’!
Children develop lots of skills through this game. They have to show each other, they must look at other people, and it helps to ask.
Also they will usually have to go and stand
next to a partner that is not their best friend.
2. Don’t Wake The Monkey!
You don’t need a monkey for this game – any puppet or teddy will work fine. I just happen to use a large monkey puppet.
Put the puppet
or teddy into the middle of the circle. They are ‘asleep’.
Then get either a tambourine, bells or keys. In a moment you are going to pass these around the circle as silently as possible.
Before that,
though, there is a chant to all say together in a whisper. It goes like this:
Little monkey’s sleeping on the ground.
Sh! Sh! Sh!
We must not wake him with a sound.
Sh! Sh! Sh!
Then, as
silently as possibly, try passing the instrument around the circle. The
children have to work together, and try and get it all the way around.
Another way of
playing this game, is to split into two teams. The two teams form two circles,
each with their own instrument and sleeping puppet in the middle.
The two teams then battle it out, and see which one can be the quietest passing the instrument around. This is a great variation for competitive children.
3.Pass The Rhythm
This is a
great game for early phonics as well as behaviour.
There are two
ways of playing it, an easy way, or a slightly harder way. The harder way is
generally much better for social skills and turn-taking.
In the easy
form of the game, the adult makes up a quick rhythm (maybe limit them to three hits),
using different parts of the body. For example, tap your head once, and then
your knees twice. Everyone copies. Then do another rhythm, for example, tap
your shoulders, then legs, then feet. The children copy.
When they become good at that, then you can move on to the harder version of the game. In this the children will make up their own rhythm. Start with the first child in the circle. They make up a rhythm of 3 actions, for example, tap head then shoulders then legs. The other copy. Go around the circle, taking it in turns to each have one go.
If you’d like to find out a whole lot more rhythm games, then why not check out my article the essential guide to rhythm sticks games, featuring at least 12 ideas.
4. Act The Emotion
Have three emotion cards in the middle of the circle – happy, sad, angry. You just draw a happy face, sad face and angry face on pieces of paper.
The adult goes first to show them what
to do. They stand up and act out being one of these emotions. For example, if
it is sad they bow their head, hunch their shoulders, mooch around and do a sad
face. The children point to which emotion they think you are feeling.
Then it is their turn. One at a time a
child will stand up and act out one of the emotions. The others try to guess
which one it is. Talk about the body language and facial expressions.
5. Parachute Pairs
Parachute games are brilliant for young children to develop all sorts of listening and cooperation skills.
This pairs game is a nice simple one to have a go of. The idea is all everyone holds the parachute at about waist height. Then you pick two children, by saying their names. They are the two children that are going to swop places.
The idea is that the adult goes
‘1,2,3!’ On the ‘3’ everyone lifts the parachute up over their head as high as
they can, so the chute mushrooms up in the air.
At that moment the two children run under the parachute and swap places.
Then bring the parachute down and pick
the next two children. Repeat the same process.
A slightly harder version of this game
is the fruit salad game. In this you give everyone a name of a fruit. Go round
saying ‘Apple, banana, strawberry, pear’, or something like that. Have about
four fruits, and give them out equally so you’ll have roughly the same number
of children each being an apple or a strawberry.
Then go ‘1,2,3!’ On the 3 lift the
parachute and shout a fruit name, for example ‘strawberry’.
The idea is that all the strawberries
will run underneath the parachute and swop places. Then repeat for other
fruits.
This is a bit harder just because the
children have to remember what fruit they are. For some this is an extremely
tricky task.
Did you know you can also play all sorts of math and phonics games with parachutes?! Try reading my favorite 14 Parachute Math Games . Also, one of the best ways of keeping phonics exciting and engaging is by trying some of these 10 Brilliant Phonics Parachute Games.
There is also a whole chapter on the very best parachute circle time games, that you can find in my book 101 Circle Time Games…That Actually Work! (which you can check out here).
6.Pass The Potato
This game is
bit like pass the parcel, only you use a potato! All that is required is a
potato and some music.
Put some music
on and pass the potato around the circle. When the music stops, whoever is
holding the potato is out and has to stand up and sit outside the circle.
Continue until you have a champion.
Some children
react better to being ‘out’ than others.
7. Wonkey Donkey!
This is a
really fun game, that helps children listen to the voices of others.
One child is
the Wonkey Donkey! They come and sit in the middle of the circle and put a
blindfold on. They also put on either an old shirt, or an apron or a bib.
Whatever you have to hand will work.
The idea is
that you pick one child to come up and hold on to the back of the child’s shirt
or apron. This is the donkey’s ‘tail’. That person shakes the ‘tail’ and shouts
‘Wonkey Donkey!’
The idea is
that the Wonkey Donkey has to guess who has shook their tail!
This game
helps them to begin to recognize the voices of their friends. It also tunes
them in and gets them listening.
8. Baby Bear
Game
This is one of my favorite listening games.
To play it you need a blindfold, a jar of honey and a noisy instrument of some sort – usually a tambourine or some keys work well.
The idea is
that you get a child to come and sit in the middle of the circle. They are Baby
Bear, and they put a blindfold on so they can’t see. Baby Bear is ‘asleep’.
Put the honey
behind Baby Bear.
There is now a
chant that goes like this:
Isn’t it funny how a bear likes honey!
You give the
tambourine to one of the children in the circle. Their job is to stand up as
quietly as possible, and sneak over to Baby Bear, pick up the honey, and sneak
back to where they are sitting with it.
The tricky bit
is that they have to try to hide both the honey and the tambourine behind their
back.
They keep
their hands behind their back, and everyone else puts their hands behind their
back as well, so anyone could be the thief!
Then Baby Bear
wakes up (takes the blindfold off). The bear has three guesses to work out who
the thief is.
There are
usually lots of clues if everyone stays quite – footsteps, little jingles from
the tambourine and other noises like that.
If the
children are having problems putting the tambourine behind their back, then the
easier version of the game is to swop the tambourine with honey, so you take
the honey back but leave the tambourine behind the bear. You get less sound
clues this way, but it is easy for very young children to accomplish.
There seem to be many variations of this game, and I have seen it played with the Bear as a pirate, with someone robbing his treasure, or as a Giant and someone robs his keys. The basic skills behind all these games are the same.
9.Pass The Smile
This is a
circle game that is great for eye contact, turn-taking and thinking about
emotions.
The adult to
begin smiles at the first child. They ‘pass’ the smile to the child next to
them, by looking at them and smiling. Then the children pass the smile all the
way around the circle. You may need to give the occasional child a bit of a
reminder to look or pass it on.
You can also
pass a frown, a wink, a nod or some other facial expression. Great for thinking
about emotions, and what our faces do when we are feeling different ways.
10. Spin The Bottle!
This is the child-friendly version of
this classic game.
All you need is an empty bottle. This
game works better on a harder surface, such as wood or laminate flooring. The
bottle doesn’t really spin enough on a carpet.
Put the bottle in the middle of the
circle, and choose one child to come and spin it. They spin the bottle and
shout one child’s name. That child has to jump up and pick up the bottle before
it stops spinning.
Then they spin it and shout a child’s
name, and just carry on repeating.
11. Spare Place
In this game you need cards with pictures on. The pictures all have to be different. A good example would be to use pictures of animals. You could have a full range of animals – a cow, a horse, a dog, a cat, a mouse etc.
Sit in a circle, but have one big space
in the circle, easily big enough for a child to sit in.
Give each child a picture of an animal,
and you also have one spare picture that goes in the space.
Say an animal name. The child holding
that picture will move to the spare space. They then say an animal name, and
that child will move to the space that the first child has vacated.
12. Picnic Memory Game
There are many
variations of this classic memory game, but here is just one way of playing it.
For this game you need a bag of simple pretend (or real) food and a picnic hamper or box of some sort to put them in.
There is an
easy and a hard version of the game. For the easy version, what you do is take one
piece of food out of the bag first. For example, let’s say it is an orange. The
first person would say, ‘For our picnic we took an orange.’
They put the
orange in the box so everyone can see it.
Then the next
person goes. They take a piece of food out, for example a banana, and say ‘For
our picnic we took an orange and a banana.’
They put the
banana next to the orange and the game continues.
This is much
easier than the hard version, because you can see the food, and just need to be
able to say it in a sequence.
For the harder
version, the idea is that you put one piece of food into the box and then close
the lid so you can’t see it.
For example,
the first person says ‘On our picnic we took an orange.’ They put the orange in
the box and close the lid.
Then the next
person says, ‘On our picnic we took an orange and a banana.’ They open the lid
and put the banana next to the orange, then close it.
There is lots
of memory and listening and looking required in this game. You may want to
start with just 3 or 4 objects, though some children are amazing at remembering
a huge number.
Just see how it goes, and make the game easier or harder as required.
There is a whole chapter on ‘memory circle time games…that actually work’ in my book 101 Circle Time Games…That Actually Work.
13. At The Zoo
This is
another variation of the picnic memory game.
Have a story bag with animals in. Say ‘In the jungle, we saw a (pick one out) an elephant!’ Pass it to next person. ‘In the jungle we saw an elephant and a tiger etc etc.’ Keep going just like that.
There are many
variations that you can play on this classic memory game. All you need is some
kind of objects in a bag and some sort of context. Other ideas could be a bag
of vehicles. Say something like ‘On the road I saw a …lorry.’
You could use
dinosaurs, or superheroes, or whatever you like. Be creative! Whatever the
children are interested in will get the best response.
14. Where Is
It?
Have one child
sitting in the middle of the circle. They put a blindfold on.
Then get a noisy instrument – it could be a tambourine or keys or something similar. The idea is then that the children pass the noisy instrument around, all giving it a shake when they are holding it before passing it on to the next person.
When the adult
says ‘stop’ the person holding the tambourine holds it silently.
The child in
the middle is going to try to point to whoever they think is holding the
instrument. Then do it again.
15. Pass The Puppet
This is a
great activity that can be adapted in many ways, and is one that I play a lot,
possibly the most out of this article.
Have a puppet, and it is good to have some sort of story. For example, the puppet is happy because his friend has shared their toys. You basically have some sort of them. The puppet might be sad for a reason, or worried, or anything like that.
Pass the puppet round, and everyone says one thing that makes them happy, or sad, or appreciative of a friend, or whatever the theme is. You can only speak when you’re holding the puppet!
If you’re interested in reading more puppet games, then check out my article about the 22 best uses of puppets in teaching.
16. Matching Socks
Some group
games are great for mixing and working with people that you wouldn’t normally
work with.
The matching
socks game is a great example of this. The idea is that you have lots of pairs
of socks. The sock pairs all need to be a different design, and you need at
least one sock per child.
Give the socks
out! The children stand up and try to find their matching sock partner.
This gets them
thinking about color and pattern. It also gets them looking at their friends,
and also standing next to a partner that they wouldn’t necessarily choose to
stand next to.
17. Pass Balls Round The Circle
Simple ball
games are great for young children, and this is about as simple as it gets.
The very simplest way of playing this game is to have one ball. All you do is pass the ball around the circle.
The slightly harder version of this game is to have several balls. You pass these round the circle!
This game is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ball games that preschoolers love. Why not check out my 30 Preschool Ball Games For The Whole Curriculum.
The book contains a whole chapter on simple and imaginative passing games like this.
18. Change!
To extend this game yet again, pass several balls round, but when you say ‘change’ the balls all have to go in the opposite direction. This is not as easy as it sounds!
The next stage
of this game is to have two colors of balls. For example, have three blue balls
and three yellow balls. The blue balls are going to go one direction, and the
yellow balls are going to go in the opposite direction.
See how you
get on! The tricky bit is that some children will get two balls at once. They
will have to switch them over to keep them going.
When, and if,
the children are doing well at this game, you can then introduce a ‘change’
again. So when the balls are all going around in the two directions, say ‘change’,
and see if they can move them back the other way. This takes a lot of teamwork
and cooperation! It also is good for conflict resolution, as some children will
naturally get it wrong, and you will be encouraging children to support each
other.
If you liked
the sound of these simple ball games, you will be pleased to know that I have
written 30 Preschool Ball Games for The Whole Curriculum. There is a host of
ball games for math, phonics, physical development and more – the whole
curriculum. Why not take a look?
19. Missing Child Game.
This is a
great game for eye contact.
The idea of
this game is that all children close their eyes. This is the tricky bit! They have
to try and do it properly, and no cheating!
Then tap one
child on the shoulder. That child is going to go and hide somewhere where the
others cannot see them.
Then tell the
children to open their eyes. Who has gone missing?
This moment is great for them all to be looking into each other’s faces to see who is there and who isn’t. Eye contact is a massive target for so many children, and this game really helps this skill. Looking for more eye contact games? Why not check out my 12 Fantastic Eye Contact Group Games .
There is a
version of this missing child game using a parachute. In that version the children
sit around the edge of a parachute that is on the floor. They close their eyes,
and you tap one child on the shoulder. They go under the chute and sit in the
middle of it.
When the
others open their eyes they can see a child under the parachute, but who is it?
20. Mystery Object
This is a bit like Chinese whispers,
but with an object. Have a mystery object in a bag or box (or even an envelope).
The object is just to really focus the attention of the children.
Whisper what the object is to the child
next to you, and they have to pass it round the circle whispering to each other
as they go.
When they have gone all the way around,
the last person guesses what it is. Open the box or bag and reveal have they
got it right!
21. Mystery Box
This is
similar to the last game, but without the whispering element.
In this you
have a box, and inside the box is a mystery object. What you do is pass the box
around and everyone gets to shake the box, hear what is inside and then guess
what they think it is.
After you have
passed it all the way around the circle, and everyone has guessed, then you are
ready for the tricky bit. You ask ‘Who guessed it was a bottle?’ The children
point to who they think guessed it was that. ‘Who guessed it was a lion?’ You
just carry on saying the children’s suggestions, and the children point to who
they think it was.
At the end open up the box and see what it is!
If you’ve found these games beneficial, then I would definitely recommend checking out the book!
It’s called 101 Circle Time Games…That Actually Work! and it contains:
-Active circle games
-Phonics and literacy circle games
-Math circle games
-Emotion and mindfulness circle games
-Memory circle games
-And so much more!
You can check out further details of the book here.
Conclusion
So there you
have the complete guide to preschool circle time games that actually work!
Children learn the most through play at this young age, but some well structured and engaging group games develop lots of skills that children can use in their play. Skills such as eye contact, turn-taking and cooperating are the key elements of play.
Good luck with these circle time games, and if you try any out feel free to share this post!
If you’ve found this beneficial, then you will probably also like The 40 Greatest Parachute Games For Kids.
Preschool Circle Time is for Group Lessons, Games, and Interaction
Running out of ideas for Preschool Circle Time? Every preschool program needs circle time for group interaction. This is a time to build structure into the program, so the children know what to expect each day. It is great to offer circle time at least twice a day- once in the morning, and once just before time to go home. These ideas will help build a sense of togetherness, (community) a time for sharing, and a fun learning environment for the kids. Enjoy!
This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.
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| Elementary Circle Time Games, Activities, and Ideas for Preschoolers and Toddlers. |
14 Ideas and Activities for Circle Time
1. Dance Freeze — Play some music or sing a song. Everyone dances willy nilly. Suddenly, stop the song, but don’t sing to the end of a verse, that is too predictable. Everyone must freeze in their position. Is one leg up? Are they doing the worm? If they move, they must sit frozen in that spot, criss-cross applesauce and wait to see who can freeze the longest. No blinking or twitching allowed.
2. Bug in a Rug — This is an oldie, but a goodie. Everyone sits in the circle. Before you begin to play, explain EXACTLY how the game works. Grab a blanket or a big beach towel. Now, pick one child to leave the room or wear a fun blindfold. Teacher picks a student. Shh! Just point at the child, grab their hand and take them away from the group. Now, point at another child and then to the «rug». Hide the child under the «rug.» Bring the other preschooler back. Can they guess who is missing?
3. Pass the Movement — I played this for years with preschoolers and school-age children in summer camps, but I didn’t give it a name. I found the name at Preksharing Blog. She says it is adapted from a book published in 2011, but we used to do this years ago in summer camp and afterschool programs. Just goes to show, great minds think alike! It is simple to play. Teacher starts with a movement. Perhaps, you wave your hand in the air. Now, the person sitting to your right must wave their hand and add a movement like wiggling their nose. The next person to the right, does those movements and adds one of their own. It is a «WAVE» of different movements.
4. Shake the Sillies Out — Need a game to get kids’ moving? Find some Dragon Tunes
from the cartoon, Dragon Tales, and every morning, «Shake the Sillies Out»! Just play the song, and follow the instructions. Kids love this one!
5. Circle Time Collaborative Painting — I like the idea of painting circles in collaboration like the one from Art Project Girl in the link. You know, where Teach lays out a big sheet of paper and painting supplies and everyone paints concentric circles? What if we do it as a part of Circle Time? Pass the painting, and make a PROGRESSIVE PAINTING.
This idea teaches patience. Everyone must wait their turn. It builds excitement too. Lay out a large painting tarp, sit the children in a circle on the tarp, give each child a cup of paint and a brush. No painting unless it is your turn. To make it less frustrating, pass two large poster boards around starting at opposite ends. Children are allowed to paint only 1 circle or shape of their choice per turn. While they are painting, teacher shares an art lesson on shapes!
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| Collaborative Concentric Circle Painting from Art Project Girl. |
6. Click, Clack, Moo
Story Starter — You know the story about the unhappy cows in the barn? They have a typewriter. They are making demands. An electric blanket would be nice. What else might the farm animals want from the farmer?
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| Click Clack Moo Story Starter Circle Time Game. |
Play a Circle Time Game where each child is given an animal. Before the game, print out cards with farm animal pictures on one side and their name on the other. Each child draws a card from a hat. Give this example to the kids: What does the (insert animal here) pig want? «Dear Farmer Brown, the barn is smelly. Please send air fresheners.» Have each child come up with their own idea for what the animal on the card might want from the farmer.
7. Animal Movement Game — Take the game above one step further. Get the kids moving like the animals. Ask, «What does a pig say?» Now, «How does a pig move?» The children take turns walking around the circle like the animal on their cards.
8. Quiet Mouse, Still Mouse — When Circle Time is done, keep children in a circle to release them to the next preschool activity. The teacher explains, the child who sits as quiet as a mouse (the quietest) get to line up first. Continue until everyone (or almost everyone, I don’t like to single out those who can’t sit still or quiet) is in line.
9. Calendar Time — Sing «Sunday, Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday Friday, Saturday. Suunday, Munday… TUUESday» Emphasize the current day of the week. Sing the song and then check the calendar. Who can find today on the calendar? Here’s another days of the week song sung to the Addam’s Family theme.
10. Alphabet Shopping — Using the first letter of each child’s name, pretend to go shopping for an item that begins with that letter. For example, “Jake will buy a jump rope.” Go around the circle until everyone has had a turn. This helps with letter recognition. For more ideas like this visit Early Childhood News.
11. Talking Stick — Bring in a cane, or recycle a cardboard wrapping paper tube. The kids can help decorate the «Talking Stick» with Washi or Duct Tape, Glitter, or Feathers. During Circle Time, grab the stick. Now, explain to the group that this is a talking stick. Only the person who holds it may speak. This is a great tool to use for Show and Tell or other situations where children take turns sharing. More lessons in patience and turn taking.
12. Birthday Day of the Week Bags — PreK Pages Blog has a fun idea for Day of the Week Bags. Make a brown paper bag for each day of the week. Give it a colorful label, and fill it with the names of classmates who have birthdays on this day or other special things that happen on this day of THIS week.
13. Pictures with Facial Expressions — Hold up magazine pictures of facial expressions. Ask, «What is this person feeling.» Have the children take turns making the face. After you play this game, have the kids draw themselves like this emotion art lesson.
14. Play Duck, Duck, Goose? — This old standby might be boring to you, but it is likely new to the toddlers and preschoolers in your class. Change it up each day. After they get the hang of the game, add a creative play element by acting it out. Have the kids act and walk like the animal as they toddle around. Walk and Talk like the animal. For older or school-age children, change the theme to pig, pig, cow or ghost, ghost, vampire.
Preschool Circle Time Activities
Chicken Art Project for Preschool
Preschool Circle Time Songs
Nature Based Circle Time Activity
How to Play Four Corners Group Activity
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Having taught for a number of years, I have built up a collection of tried and tested circle time games, which have not only been enjoyable for the children but beneficial too. Many of these games encourage teamwork and social interaction. Children soon learn that success is a result of positive attitude and immense enjoyment.
These are all games that I have been using for a long time…old -time classic games…..
I thought other people might find them useful too. It’s only few of the circle games in my collection!
These games involve the learners sitting in a circle and working as a whole class. Quite often we form circles to play games, have group discussions, or make announcements. Circle Games are easy to monitor, ensure that participants are on equal ground (no one is at the front of the line, etc), and enable everyone to see and hear one another
Some of them are too simple, for very young learners or just for fun. Others, are more demanding…
- Conditional chain game
This game is good to revise and practise structures in the first conditional.- The teacher begins with a sentence, for example “If I go out tonight, I’ll go to the cinema.”
- The next person in the circle must use the end of the previous sentence to begin their own sentence. E.g. “If I go to the cinema, I’ll watch The Last Samurai” The next person could say, “If I watch The Last Samurai, I’ll see Tom Cruise” etc. etc.
- Word Associations
A very simple game where students must think of words connected to the word that comes before.- For example, the teacher says, “Fish”, the next person thinks of a word they associate with fish, such as “water”, the next person could say “a glass” the next, “window” etc.
- You can decide as a group if associations are valid. Ask the student to justify the connection.
- To make it more competitive, set a thinking time limit and eliminate students.
- When they are eliminated they can become judges.
- Chinese whispers – telephone lines
A sentence is whispered around the circle. The last student to receive the message either says it aloud or writes it on the board. This can be a fun way to introduce a topic and activate schema at the beginning of a class. For example, for a class on food, whisper the question, “What did you have for lunch today?” Equally, at the end of a class it can be a nice way to revise structures or vocabulary from the lesson.
- Concentration
- To begin with, students sit in a circle and do the hand actions of lap (both hands to lap), clap, left click, right click.
- When they get the hang of it, add these words in time to the rhythm “Concentration, concentration, concentration now beginning, are you ready? If so, let’s go!”
- On the first finger click, you say your name, and on the second click you say the name of someone in the circle.
- You have passed the turn to the person you nominated on your second finger click.
- Then they say their own name on the first click and the name of another student on the second.
- When they have got the idea, use lexical sets. For example, everyone says their favourite sport first then use these to play the game.
- For a competitive group, eliminate those students who make mistakes.
- I went to the shops and I bought…
The classic memory game where each person adds a new item to the list in alphabetical order.- For example, student 1, “I went to the shops and I bought an apple”. Student 2, “I went to the shops and I bought an apple and a bike”. Student 3, “I went to the shops and I bought an apple, a bike and a coat”.
- This game can be adapted to different levels and lexical sets. I recently revised sports and the use of do/ play/ go by playing “I went to the sports centre……”, the same game but using different vocabulary. For example, student 1 “I went to the sports centre and I did aerobics”, “I went to the sports centre and I did aerobics and played basketball”, “I went to the sports centre and I did aerobics, played basketball and went canoeing” etc.
- Yes / No game
- Nominate one student to be in the hot seat, slightly apart from the rest of the circle.
- The rest of the group must think of questions to ask the student in the hot seat.
- They can ask anything they like, the only rule is that the student in the hot seat must answer the questions without using the words “yes” or “no”.
- Also ban “yeah”, head nods and shakes! For example, a student asks, “Are you wearing jeans today?” The student in the hot seat could reply, “I am” or “you can see that they’re jeans!”
- Student in the circle spies an object in the classroom (or elsewhere) and other students need to ask questions that will help them figure out what the object is. The student who has spied the object can only answer “yes” or “no” to student questions. Circle keeper counts the questions. At ten questions, keeper can ask the student for a clue. At twenty questions if the circle hasn’t guessed the object, the student tells the circle what it was.
And more…….
Eye Nod Game
All students sitting, with one student standing in center of circle. Sitting students must make eye contact with someone else in circle and nod. Once they nod, both must leave their chairs and either switch chairs or sit in any empty chair (student may not go back to the chair they just left). Person standing who has no chair can take any empty chair. Multiple students can be switching chairs at any point. (As a safety precaution, students claim the empty chair by first placing both hands on the empty seat then sitting. If two students claim the same chair, student with their hands on the bottom wins). Game can be stopped periodically and student left standing is pointed out. Game is then started again.
Counting to Ten
Students sit quietly in a circle. Students to stand up randomly, one at a time and count a number out loud: “one”, another student stands and says “two”. Game continues until it reaches “ten”. However, if two students stand up and say a number at the same time, circle starts at “one” again. This game really teaches students to slow down and watch each other for nonverbal cues. There can be no talking during the game.
Hide and go clap
Have a student leave the room. Another student hides an object somewhere in the room. Bring the first student back in the room. Instruct the class to clap quietly to start and as the first student gets closer to the object to start to clap louder until the student finds the object.
Bead game: I’ve done something you’ve never done!
Have each person introduce themselves and then state something they have done this summer that they think no one else in the class has done. If someone else has also done it, the student who has done it also gets a bead, if no one has done it, the student gets 4 beads. Most beads wins!
Bunny Ears
This is a great game for students to learn names. One person starts, and says someone elses name. The two people sitting next to this person have to give them bunny ears. Now it is that persons turn to call someone’s name.
Pass the ball
Have a student leave the classroom. Explain to the class that they need to pass an object around the circle, but they don’t want to person out in the hall to find it. Show the kids how they can pretend to be passing it to confuse the person. Invite the person back in and give them 3-4 chances to find the object/ball.
Who’s the leader?
A volunteer leaves the room. Assign on leader in the circle, everyone needs to follow their actions. The volunteer returns, and needs to figure out who is the group leader.
Who’s missing?
This is a good game for early in the year when students are still figuring out who’s who. A volunteer leaves the room. Have someone leave the circle/group. Volunteer comes in and has to figure out who it is.
Fortunately/Unfortunately
Tell a story one sentence at a time. Have students use “fortunately” and “unfortunately” alternately as the first word of the sentence.
Variation 1: The teacher sits in the centre of the circle and points to a student, who starts the story, then points to a new student, who adds a word, and so on.
Variation 2: Perform the story that has been developed in the circle.
Variation 3: Go around the circle with each student leaving a “chunk” of story dangling. (For example, “The gate creaked open, and as the cloud passed by the full moon, we saw. . . .”) The next student then takes over.
Variation 4: Tell a story that starts with a person in danger. Continue around the circle with each student contributing an additional sentence. The first word in each sentence should be “fortunately” or “unfortunately,” alternating every time.
Accept-Change-Pass
A student takes an imaginary object from an imaginary box, uses it, and then passes it to the next student, who changes the object into a different imaginary object.
Frozen Pictures
Students perform a selected scene and, at a critical point in the action or at the height of a dramatic moment, they are directed to “freeze,” creating a still frame or “frozen picture.” After an interval, actors are directed to resume action until the next “freeze” is called. Examples of scenes that lend themselves to the “frozen picture” activity might be a bank robbery, a roller coaster ride, beach volleyball, or a blind date.
How the ___ Stories
To encourage the imagination, have students, as a class, in groups, or in pairs, use a process of brainstorming, selection, and rehearsal to create a story to explain How the Zebra Got Its Stripes, How the Pig Got Its Curly Tail, How the Turtle Had to Carry Its House on its Back, and so on. Use a narrator and a group of actors.
How the Skunk got it’s stink!
How the Pirate lost his leg!
How the Zebra got it’s stripes!
How our ancestors (cavemen) found fire
How the Earth was created.
Sculptures
Working in pairs, students create a statue. One student is the clay, and the other is the sculptor. The sculptors do not need to touch the clay, but by putting a hand near the part of the clay they want moved, they can manipulate the arms, legs, head, and body of the clay into an interesting statue based on titles or themes. The students then switch roles.
Pairs on Chairs
Ask the children to find a boy/girl partner, collect a chair and find a place in the room. Each pair needs to improvise a scene where one person would be sitting in a chair and the other offering them a service. The only catch is that you are not allowed to speak. E.g hairdresser, dentist…
Watch each performance quickly, and discuss which ones were effective and why.
There may be a number of groups who pretend to speak without sound. This is not mime, but pretending to speak.
Use one example and discuss how you could design a scene where you never had to speak.
E.g. person sitting on a seat, pretending to be on a moving bus. Old person struggles up the isle, young person stands up, smiles, and motions for the older person to sit. Both continue the journey looking forward as though on a moving bus.
Ask each group to design another mime scene using the chair.
Sound Pictures
The leader or one member of the group acts as conductor, whilst the rest of the group are the ‘orchestra’. Using their voices (and body percussion if appropriate!), the group paints a sound picture of a particular theme, for example the seaside, a city, a jungle. The leader controls the shape of the piece by raising her hand to increase the volume or bringing it to touch the floor for silence.
- One way to do this is to allow everybody to choose their own sound – discuss what types of sound might be appropriate before you start.
- Or, if it is a very large group, or very lively, you can divide the participants into sections, giving a particular sound for each section, then conduct them accordingly.
- The group should bear in mind contrasting and complementary sounds and try to be aware of natural peaks and troughs in the piece – or the conductor can try to create these.
- Sound pictures can easily be used as part of an improvisation or performance
One-Two-Three
This is a fun introductory warm-up and concentration game. You can begin sitting down or standing up. In pairs, face each other. Start counting from one to three between yourselves, over and over. Once you get the hang of that part you are ready for the next stage. Instead of saying the number “one”, you should clap your hands – but you would still say “two” and “three” aloud.
Once everyone has mastered that, the next step is that instead of saying “three”, that person should bend their knees. You should still clap your hands for the number “one”. This is a bit like trying to pat your head and rub your stomach at the same time – in fact, you could try that afterwards!
A: “One” (Claps hands)
B: “Two”
A: “Three” (Bends knees)
B: “One” (Claps hands)
A: “Two”
B: “Three” (Bends knees)
Tip: Make sure you allow time to encourage pairs to show everybody else how they are doing after each step. It’s fun watching people trying to concentrate, especially if it goes a bit wrong!
If you have extra time, pairs could make up their own movement and/or sound for the number “two”.
Count To 20
This is one of the simplest, yet most challenging drama games. Sit or stand in a circle. The idea is for the group to count to twenty, one person saying one number at a time. Anybody can start the count. Then a different person says the next number – but if two or more people happen to speak at the same time, counting must start again from the beginning. It is possible to get to twenty if everybody really concentrates – but try and be relaxed as well.
- Try doing it with and without eye contact
- Other variations you can try include members of the group facing outwards and closing their eyes (difficult!) or counting back from twenty to one.
Catch My Name
A fun way of learning names. The group stands in a circle and begins by throwing a beanbag or bouncing a medium-sized ball, such as a children’s football, across the circle from one person to another. Make sure people are ready to throw and ready to catch. Eye contact is important.
Now, introduce yourself as you throw or bounce the ball across the circle – ‘Hi, I’m Robert’. Once everybody has had a go at that, continue the game but this time say the name of the person that you are throwing to – ‘Jessica to Kelvin’. The group should ensure that everybody receives the ball. One way of doing this is for everybody to hold one hand up until they have caught the ball, or each person folds their arms when they have thrown it.
- As a variation, the catcher can call out the name of the thrower
- Ask everybody to call out the name of the thrower
- More balls can be added in so that it develops into a Group Juggle.
- Don’t make name games into an actual test – people are less likely to learn names if they feel pressurised. Keep it light and enjoyable
- A useful adaptation for language learners – use word categories so that each person throwing the ball must say a word in the named category.
Two Truths- One Lie
Highly recommended for getting to know each other in a new group. Tell your partner three things about yourself – two of which are true and one of which is a lie. For example, you might tell your partner about your hobbies, your work, where you live, your family or where you have travelled. Afterwards, your partner tries to guess which was the lie. You might choose to tell three everyday facts or three more unusual things – but remember – only one of them should be a lie. Make sure each person listens carefully to what their partner says!
- Now introduce your partner to the rest of the group and see if they can guess which was the lie.
- Alternatively, tell your partner three true things about yourself and then swap over. Now the whole group makes a circle. Each partner introduces their friend to the group – they tell the group two of the true things and make up one lie about their partner.
Alphabet Conversations
Have a conversation where each sentence begins with the next letter of the alphabet. This may seem difficult at first, but improves with practice. If you get stuck, you can also use sounds to start a sentence, for example ‘Mmmm’ or ‘tut-tut’. Here is an example:
A: Anyone seen my cat?
B: Black one, with funny eyes?
A: Can’t say I remember.
B: Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten what it looks like?
A: Every cat looks the same to me.
B: Fortunately, I found one yesterday
A: Gee, that’s great!
- You could also try beginning somewhere in the middle of the alphabet. Then when you reach ‘Z’, return to ‘A’ until you arrive back where you started
- Try setting the scene or location before you start
- It’s great for car journeys too!
Essence Machines
This activity provides a useful technique for generating physical and aural ideas around a theme. Explain that the group is going to create a “machine” out of themselves. Name a topic and give the participants a few moments to think of a repeating sound and action linked to that theme. For example, if the theme was “shopping” a participant could mime taking money out of a purse to give to a shopkeeper, whilst saying “I’ll have two of those, please.”
As soon as someone has an idea, ask them to step into the centre of a circle to begin their repeating sound and movement. Ask if somebody else can think of a suitable way to add in their own idea. Gradually, more and more people join in the activity. Some may be linked to existing parts of the “machine”, whilst others may be separate. To continue the example above, someone could join the action by becoming the shopkeeper and saying “Shall I wrap them for you?”, whilst somebody else could be a cleaner in the shopping mall.
You may find that everybody wants to join in the activity, although be careful not to let it go on for too long or get too unwieldy. Once it is set up, the machine can be frozen, then played back at twice or half the “normal” speed. Themes could include: a football match, a meal in a restaurant, folk tales, Halloween. You could have a machine that actually makes something, like chocolate biscuits, school dinners or weather conditions.
- If using this for language teaching, encourage the use of single words or short phrases instead of a sound
One Word At A Time
In a circle, the story is started, with each person in turn adding one word. It usually starts with ‘Once – upon – a – time’. The idea is to keep your thoughts free flowing, so that you don’t try to guess what is coming or force the story in a particular direction. It is not always easy to maintain a logical flow for the story, although it is always amusing. If the group is too large, break into smaller groups.
- Another variation is to throw or roll a ball around the circle in any order.
- Add your word as you pass the ball to the next person.
- This ensures that people are more attentive; although you should make sure everyone is included.
Try playing the game in pairs, where both participants act the story out as it is told. In this case, tell the story in the present tense and as ‘we’. For example, ‘We – are – climbing – a – mountain. – Look – a – giant -spider – coming – towards – us. Quick – run!’ You can soon create an adventure story in this way. You can also use the one word at a time technique to create characters made up of two or more people – great fun for interview scenes!
The Teacher’s Dog…
The teacher’s dog
This is an alphabetical word game.
Everyone gets in a circle and claps hands to the beat.
Start with A.
Example:
“The teacher’s dog is an Angry dog”, “The teacher’s dog is a Black dog” etc etc
Cross The Circle
Everyone is numbered around the circle as 1,2,3. Then, when you call their number, everyone
must cross the circle in role as…..a ballerina……….a panther………an astronaut……..someone who’s stuck in the mud……..a fashion model……whatever you can think of
How is circle time going for you? Are the kids engaged? Do you all look forward to doing it each day? Could it use a little tweaking? Would you like to make your time literacy-rich? If so, I’ve got some great tips and resources for you. Circle time activities are a great way to build community and build early literacy skills.
Building a Literacy-Rich Circle Time
Building a Literacy-Rich Circle TimeBefore we add any literacy-rich activities into our circle time, we need to check to make sure that what we are already doing during circle time is effective and working. I like to think of it as a little circle time audit.
What is Working and What Isn’t Working?
Think back to your last circle time. What activities worked well and had the kids super engaged? What didn’t work so well? Now, think about why. Could it be the kids already know the days of the week and therefore don’t need to recite them over and over again? Could you more authentically do the weather outside at recess? Is circle time lasting too long?
A quick but thorough audit of circle time will help you find areas that you can tweak or areas you can add in some literacy-rich circle time activities.
What Circle Time Activities Are Best For Kids?
There are some concepts and skills that work especially well for circle time. Here are some of them. Later in the post we will talk about hands-on activities to work on some of these ideas.
TODDLERS
- Notice print in the environment
- Can find books and name them (not necessarily exact title)
- Recognize some letters in their name
- Identify and categorize familiar sounds in the environment
- Listen for rhyming words
- Begin to recognize name
- Listen to stories for enjoyment and respond to simple questions
- Describe details in pictures of books
- Develop oral vocabulary
PRESCHOOLERS
- Understand that writing and reading convey meaning
- Develop awareness of concepts of print
- Recognize environmental print
- Begin to name and write alphabet
- Aware of gross motor differences
- Listen for rhyming words
- Hear sounds in words
- Orally segment words
- Read and write name
- Listen to stories and gather meaning
- Practice listening and speaking
- Develop oral vocabulary
KINDERGARTENERS
- Strengthen concepts of print
- Name and write the alphabet
- Listen for and generate rhyming words
- Identify sounds in words (beginning, middle, and end)
- Orally segment words
- Blend and segment onset and rime.
- Use phoneme manipulation
- Identify grade-level sight words
- Gather meaning and details from a story
- Practice listening and speaking
- Build oral vocabulary
Best Call the Kids to Circle Time Songs
I like to use a signal song to call the kids to our circle time. For years, I used the Oklahoma song, “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning.” Recently I created a Spotify song list of music that would also work well. You are welcome to access that list for free.—>SONG LIST
Best Literacy-Rich Circle Time Songs and Chants to Build Literacy Skills
Songs are a great way to build fluency, memory, vocabulary, and sequencing.
Greeting Song
A good morning song is a great way to welcome the kids. Here is a free one that you can print and use. It’s great for helping kids learn the names of everyone in the class.—>GOOD MORNING SONG
For even more greeting songs that also work on name recognition, check out these other songs.—>7 Circle Time Welcome Songs for Preschool and Kindergarten
Nursery Rhymes
Nursery rhymes pack a literacy punch. I like to keep a cup full of song sticks handy. While we wait for everyone to gather, we can pull a few and sing together.—>GET THE SONG STICKS
More Literacy-Rich Songs
I also have 35 other songs and chants that will build literacy skills. They cover the alphabet, phonological awareness (rhyming, beginning sounds, syllables, etc,) name recognition, vocabulary and more.—>I WANT THE 35 CIRCE TIME SONGS AND CHANTS TO BUILD LITERACY SKILLS
And, check out our newest volume of circle time songs called Circle Time Songs and Chants (Month by Month) Vol. 2.
Best Circle Time Books
All books are not created equal when it comes to finding the best books to share at circle time. You want to seek out books that have the following features.
- Short
- Big Bold Pictures
- Repetitive Text
- Character Voices
- Sections to Act
- Rhythm and Rhyme
- Class Favorites
Here are some favorite books for circle time.—>CIRCLE TIME BOOKS
Circle time is also a great time to introduce poetry to kids. Here are some of my favorite poems and poetry books to use.—>POETRY FOR KIDS DURING CIRCLE TIME
Get kids moving and grooving during circle time with this fun and active list.—>MOVING AND GROOVING BOOKS FOR CIRCLE TIME
Funny books are always a hit.—>TRY THESE FUNNY KINDERGARTEN READ-ALOUDS FOR CIRCLE TIME
Books that engage children are important.—>TRY THESE SING-A-LONG BOOKS
Favorite Literacy-Rich Circle Time Activities
Fingerplays
It’s so important the kids are engaged during circle time. Fingerplays are a great way to get that engagement and build skills.—>TRY THESE PRESCHOOL FINGERPLAYS
Seasonal Circle Time Activities
A fun way to spice up circle time is with seasonal content. Check out these circle time activities for each season.
Fall Circle Time Activities
Winter Circle Time Activities
Spring Circle Time Activities
Summer Circle Time Activities
Chinese New Year Circle Time Song
Christmas Circle Time Songs and Activities
Halloween Circle Time Songs
Valentine Circle Time Songs
Circle Time Themes
Farm
Construction
Alphabet Song
Spice up the traditional alphabet song with these six activities.—>6 WAYS TO USE AN ALPHABET CHART (includes a free printable chart)
Name Songs and Games
Build community, name recognition, and learning to spell your name with these engaging ideas.—>Name Games and Songs
More Nuts and Bolts Circle Time Help
Circle time should be an enjoyable active learning time. If it’s not, here are a couple of problem-solving questions to help.
- Is your circle time lasting too long?
- Are the circle time activities engaging? Do the kids have a chance to be interactive?
- Would some of the portions of circle time be better suited to other times of the day?
- Do your kids have room to move? Can everyone see?
What questions do you still have about circle time? Leave a comment below and I’ll try and help.
P.S. Don’t forget to grab a copy of 35 Circle Time Songs and Chants HERE.
Image: Shutterstock
Circle time promotes togetherness. It allows children to interact with each other and provides a fun learning experience through these hands-on activities. In addition, these activities offer various other benefits such as improving attention span, social skills, adding value for the class community. Preschool circle time activities also strengthen bonds amongst students that may last a lifetime.
Circle time activities help promote positive relationships and develop stronger bonds among children. In this post, we bring you some creative and fun circle time activities for toddlers that you could do with your preschoolers.
These creative activities keep preschoolers engaged and give each child the opportunity to indulge in positive interaction. They also help foster a feeling of inclusivity and enhance children’s development.
Circle time activities for children could involve group reading, singing, or reciting poems (1). Try the circle time activities given here to help your toddlers bond
Tips For Organizing Preschool Circle Time Activities
Here are some tips that you may follow to organize circle time activities for toddlers (2):
- Flexible circle time: Don’t always stick to the same time to perform any circle time activity. Being spontaneous can add excitement to circle time.
- Interest-based activities: You may plan activities that are specific to children’s interests. This helps in getting children excited and motivated for the circle time activities.
- Variety: Monotonous activities can get boring after a while. Therefore, you may keep experimenting with new activities every time.
- Exercise: Look up some easy and simple physical exercises that can be performed during circle time.
- Role designation: Have a new circle monitor every day, as it boosts their motivation to participate in the activities.
- Duration: Initially, kids may not be used to performing circle time activities, so they might get restless if it continues for too long. You may gradually extend the time (3).
- Participation: During circle time, you must encourage children to participate equally and make them feel as involved as possible.
25 Preschool Circle Time Activities
Here are some fun preschool circle time activity ideas that you may try (3):
1. Circle time singing
Image: Shutterstock
During this activity, kids can practice rhymes and songs. Circle time singing is an engaging activity that encourages every child to participate and sing their hearts out.
2. Creative circle formation
Come up with interesting ways to invite children to form a circle. For example, you may ask simple questions to kids, and once they answer, allow them to join the circle. Alternatively, children may also sing one line each of any song or rhyme before joining the circle (4).
3. Chants to move along and end the circle time
You can use a drum or clap your hands after each activity is done during circle time. This would keep the children excited. You can also choose a rhythm for each activity, such as clapping hands in a specific rhythm for the game “passing the parcel.”
4. Quiz
Image: Shutterstock
Use the circle time for a short round of the quiz. Prepare a list of interesting questions for children to enjoy while learning.
5. Musical chairs
Arrange chairs in a circle facing outward. Make sure you are short of one chair as compared to the number of students. Now play music and let the kids move around in a circle. When the music stops, they have to grab a seat. Whoever is not able to find a chair gets eliminated.
6. Picture pieces
Give the children a puzzle to solve. Sitting together in a circle to solve a puzzle can help them notice how others perform. As a result, children would be encouraged to perform faster.
7. Go!
For this movement activity, ask the children to stand in a circle. First, the volunteer has to make eye contact with a player, indicating to say “go.” Once they have received the command, the volunteer will slowly move toward the player. Meanwhile, the player makes eye contact with another player who will say “go” to make a spot for the volunteer and so on.
8. Story assembling
For this activity, you would need pictures of a story. Distribute pictures of this story to each child. Once they all have received a picture, they have to display it in front of them. Now ask them to form these pictures in the right order of the story.
9. Circle of silence
Image: Shutterstock
The volunteer stands in the center of the circle. Ask the children to pass a box containing marbles without making noise. If the volunteer points out where the noise came from, the child who gets caught would be the next leader of the game.
10. What’s new?
For this activity, you can bring in any new toy, parts of a game, stationery, or anything that would interest the children. Now, introduce these new materials or toys during circle time and explain how they should be used (5).
11. Greeting and welcoming
This activity promotes classroom community and manners. Teach children to welcome everyone to join the circle and learn how to greet each other.
12. Discuss children’s concerns
Circle time can be used to discuss queries or concerns of children. It can be about the ongoing classes, activities, or anything else they would like to express. If a child feels shy and wants to talk in privacy, it should be respected.
Did you know?
Activities during circle time significantly impact your preschooler’s cognitive development because they help children learn, acquire knowledge, and interact with their environment (7).
13. Reminder alert
You may also use circle time to remind the students of all the tasks assigned to them. This may include their homework, assignments, and other activities.
14. Differentiated learning
Image: Shutterstock
Through small groups of children can learn something different from their partners in the circle. Every child thinks differently and comes from a unique cultural background. Hence, it promotes the learning and development of a child both emotionally and academically.
15. Open ended conversations
Circle time can be a new “safe space” for the children to discuss anything that they want to. Let the discussion move in a circle, and each child would get to express their thoughts.
16. Group reading
Reading time can be done sitting in a circle. This can promote togetherness, and the children may feel comfortable and encouraged to read with their friends (1).
17. Word activity
Come up with a “word of the day” every day during circle time and let each child make a sentence using this word. For instance, if the word is “fruit,” each child would have to say a sentence with the word fruit in it, such as “I like to eat fruits.”
18. Game time
Image: Shutterstock
Use circle time to play a game that involves participation from each child, such as Chinese whisper, where the child has to whisper a word in the other’s ear, and the game continues so on. The last child has to tell the entire list of words without missing any.
19. Lunch circle
Circle time can also be used by children to share their lunch with each other while enjoying the company of their friends.
20. Story building
Ask each child to tell a sentence and let the next one build on to it, finally making these sentences into a short story. For example, if the first child says “the bear was hungry,” the next one has to say “the bear was hungry and looking for food,” and so on.
21. Discuss the schedule for the day
Circle time can be used to inform children about all the activities that lay ahead for the day. This may help them to remember the tasks better as they have the day’s schedule.
22. Class attendance
Convert the attendance line into a circle activity. Take a child’s name and let the other children answer if they are present or not.
23. Question and answer
Let the children ask questions about anything during circle time. Children may also ask and respond to each other. This activity not only helps in engaging them but promotes teamwork as well.
1. What is circle time in primary school?
Circle time, also sometimes called group time, involves a group of children in a class sitting together (usually forming a circle) with their teacher for an activity such as reading or sharing thoughts on a particular topic. Furthermore, circle time enhances children’s social and academic skills (6).
2. How long should circle time be for preschoolers?
Ideally, a circle time could last about ten minutes; however, it depends on the activity and interests of the group of children involved (3). Nevertheless, splitting the circle time by incorporating two different activities into two sessions is also a good idea.
Circle time activities for toddlers help them come out of their shells, learn the importance of interaction and help them socialize. The above activities are not only fun but also educational as they can engage in different learning activities such as quizzes, word of the day, or simple discussion to stimulate their cognitive abilities. Moreover, these activities are a great energy booster for children and a fun way to get to with their peers and friends better.
Infographic: Tips For Organizing Circle Time Activities For Toddlers
Preschool is where children learn to develop positive relationships and become part of a social circle. In the following infographic, we have included a list of important points to remember while organizing circle time activities. Save this list so that you can refer to it easily.
Illustration: Momjunction Design Team
Key Pointers
- Circle time activities make learning a fun experience for children.
- Group reading and lunch circle can help promote togetherness and the quality of sharing among children.
- Open-ended conversations, question-answer games, and many other similar activities are mentioned in this post.
References:
MomJunction’s articles are written after analyzing the research works of expert authors and institutions. Our references consist of resources established by authorities in their respective fields. You can learn more about the authenticity of the information we present in our editorial policy.
- Getting The Most Out Of Circle Time.
https://www.childrenshospital.org/sites/default/files/media_migration/38171466-a50b-4fb3-a892-b108182ae004.pdf - 5 Tips For A Successful Circle Time
https://teachingmama.org/5-tips-for-a-successful-circle-time/ - Successful Circle Times
https://extension.psu.edu/programs/betterkidcare/early-care/tip-pages/all/successful-circle-times - Circle Time And Movement
https://ccfs.ucdavis.edu/home-young-children/circle-time-and-movement - From Circle Time To Small Groups
https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/tyc/apr2020/circle-time-small-groups - Successful Circle Times with Young Children
https://crane.osu.edu/our-work/successful-circle-times-with-young-children/ - Thinking and play: preschoolers
https://raisingchildren.net.au/preschoolers/play-learning/play-preschooler-development/thinking-play-preschoolers
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What are they? These are games played while sitting or standing in a circle. Easy, huh?
They are excellent activities to do as they usually do not require any or only a few materials for preparation. They typically include such tasks as “pass the ball” or “eliminate something”, or “listen to music and do the task”, etc. Lots of well-known games can be adapted to a circle game. Another reason I like them is that they include a physical activity which is quite essential in teaching young learners.
Below I will share some of the examples of circle games.
- Snowball
This is a good way to revise new vocabulary. For example, you’ve taught animals. You say an animal and pass the ball to a random student. They have to repeat your animal, add another one and pass the ball to the next one.
You can add timing, e.g. they cannot have the ball for more than 5 seconds.
You can add extra movements, e.g. they have to clap twice or jump after they throw the ball, etc.
You can use a “bomb-timer” ticking. The student who has the “bomb” or ball when the timer goes off, leaves the circle.
- I spy
Use this game to practise the classroom vocabulary or you can hang flashcards with pictures of vocabulary from another topic; or you can put different objects, realia of the target vocabulary in a room. Students sit/stand in a circle, one has a ball and says “I spy something white”, the first student to guess, e.g. “whiteboard”, gets the ball and now they say “I spy … “, and so on.
- Miming game
One leaner stands in the centre of the circle and mime a word from the target vocabulary list. Others have to guess. Then, they switch places with the one who is first to guess. Another option of this game is “Day-Night”. One learner says one word but mimes it or a different one to confuse the others, students who mime the wrong word are out.
- Follow me
One learner stands in the centre of the circle. Others pass the flashcards, toys or objects behind their backs so the one in the centre doesn’t see. If he/she notices who passes, he/she shouts out (here you can choose any word to shout, the funnier the better). If he/she names the object correctly, they change places.
- Memory game
A teacher or a student puts different flashcards or objects inside of the circle. Other students name them. Then, they close their eyes or turn back. The teacher or the student takes one or several flashcards or objects. Others have to remember what’s missing.
- Change it
This game is slightly similar to the “Memory game”. Here you need two circles of students and objects inside them. Then students turn back or close their eyes, you change several objects between them. They have to find out what’s been changed. The first team to guess is the winner.
- Red light, green light
Tell students to do a task, e.g. mime “riding a bicycle”. Then stop the music or say “Red light”, they have to stop. The one who doesn’t stop on time is out. Continue with another word.
- Chain game
There are several ways to play this game. First, is when students take turns to name words on the topic and they cannot stop for 3 seconds. You can modify: say a word on the last letter.
Another option is to practise grammar. Have students make a sentence. For example, one student says, “Are”, another “Are you … ”, the next one “Are you playing … ” and so on. The first to stop is out.
With students of higher levels, you can retell or create stories, each student says one phrase or sentence. You can set a rule to use the target language.
Another idea is to practise both vocabulary and grammar. One student says a word, the next one has to make a question with this word. The next one has to answer this question and say another word on the topic. The one who makes a mistake is out.
- Forwards, backwards
This game is great to do with numbers. Students take turns naming numbers forwards from 1 to … what they’ve learnt. When you, let’s say, clap. they say backwards. When you stomp, they say forwards again, etc. You can also add other signs, for example, snap or clap twice, they must count faster, or slower, etc.
You can modify the game: students can count in two, or they cannot say numbers that are a multiple of 3, ec.
This game can also be used to practise ABC. Students have to say a word starting with letters A, B, C, and so on, when you snap, they go backwards, so on. The one who makes a mistake is out.
- True/False
Students take turns to say a sentence about themselves on a topic, e.g., daily routines. One student says and others have to guess, vote if it’s true or false. Those who don’t guess are out.
- Telephone line
One student whispers a word or a sentence to the next student and so on. The last student to receive a word/sentence says or writes it on the board.
- Hello/goodbye or physical activities
Circles can be used at the beginning or end of the lesson to sing and dance hello or goodbye songs together. It can also be used in the middle of the lesson to do some activities using TPR or just do some exercise aimed at changing the type of activity or improving concentration/focus skills; give students time to move around, etc.
- Yes/No games
One student is on the hot seat, others ask him/her questions. He/she cannot answer with “yes” or “no”, nod or shake their heads. For example, “Did you get up at 7 a.m. today?” The answer can be “I did”.
- Change seats
One student stands in the centre, others sit in a circle on chairs. The student says a true sentence about themselves. For example, the topic is clothes and they say, “I’m wearing a blue T-shirt”. If it’s true for some other students, they have to stand up and change seats. The one who is left without a chair says a sentence.
- Handwriting
A child (using a finger) writes a letter or draws a picture of the target word (depends on the topic) on the back or hand of another child. This kid must guess the letter or word with their eyes closed. If they cannot guess, they are out. Then, the next child repeats until there’s one kid left.
- Pictures
Give each child a piece of paper and a pencil. They write their names. Then, they pass their sheet to the next kid, you say, “Head”. Learners look at the name and draw a head of this student. Then. they pass around again. You say, “eyes” and they draw eyes and the game goes on until the paper is returned to the original owner.
- Balloon
This one is great to use to practise body parts too. Learners must keep the balloon in the air but only using the body parts you call out. For example, you pass a balloon to one student and say “head”, they can pass or keep it in the air only with their head and say “finger”, the next student can use only fingers and so on. The one who misses a balloon or makes a balloon fall down is out.
- Who am I?
Children have stickers on their foreheads that have names of animals, for example. They can play in pairs or altogether, taking turns to guess what animal they are asking yes-no questions. The first to guess is the winner. This game can be played with different vocabulary.
- What’s in a bag?
Put different objects in a bag and have kids reach into the bag and guess the object within. Another option is to have several bags with one object in each and each child has to guess what’s in it without opening it. Adapt for different topics, e.g. toys, classroom objects, animals, etc.
- Spelling bee
A student throws a ball and says a word to the next student. They have to spell this word. If they do it correctly, they pass the ball to the next student and say the next word.
As you can see, circle games can be used to practise the target language, to change the activity and do some exercise, to say hello/goodbye or to practise listening skills.