I kind of feel like "fun" and "indoor recess" is a bit of an oxymoron. Indoor recess days used to stress me out, but I've come up with a couple tried and true indoor recess ideas that are great for those dreaded rainy days. Sometimes I will divide students into small groups and let them choose from a list of activities, other times we will play whole group games. Either way, older kids need breaks too (and so do we). Here is a list of some indoor games and brain break activities for those dreaded rainy days.
Would You Rather - Exercise Edition
I love these would you rather exercise games. Basically, the screen comes up and shows two familiar objects - let's say Doritos and Cheetos. If you would rather eat Doritos do jumping jacks for 30 seconds, if you would rather Cheetos, do lunges for 30 seconds. They LOVE it. I fully expect eye rolling from several fifth graders but nope, all the kids join in and they laugh the whole time they're doing it. Here are a couple "Would You Rather" links:
Dancing
Dancing takes some time for the class to warm up to depending on how outgoing they are and how familiar they are with one another. I like to play Just Dance on Youtube. Here are a couple my kids have loved in the past. It depends on the class. In some years, students led the dances while the rest of the class watched. Other years, its just about everyone joining in. I use Just Dance for brain breaks and not just during indoor recess time, because let's face it even big kids need to get up and wiggle.
There's also Go Noodle. If you choose a dance from Go Noodle, you know it will be clean and appropriate whereas you definitely want to preview the Just Dance videos. I feel like Go Noodle is geared towards younger students. They have fun music and interactive videos, but the characters and moves are pretty primary
Heads Up 7 Up
Heads Up, 7 Up is a classic whole class game. You select 7 students to come to the front of the room to be the "pickers". You say, "Heads down, thumbs up. Let's play 7 up. The rest of the class puts their heads down on top of their desks with their thumbs sticking up. The "pickers" tiptoe through the room and gently tap a thumb. When 7 kids have been picked, they stand and one by one, guess who picked them. Can't go wrong with Heads Up, 7 Up.
Four Corners
I don't like Four Corners as much as Heads Up, 7 Up, but my kids are always begging to play it. Four Corners is another whole group active game. One student stands in the middle of the room and counts to 10 (or 20). All the other kids have to go to one corner of the room. When the counter is finished, he calls a corner , "corner number one". Every student in that corner is out and has to sit down. The game continues until there is only one student standing.
Silent Speedball
Traditional Silent speedball is a quick, fun game that requires focus and works with gross motor skills. You need a squishy ball or some kind of soft ball (foam). Students throw the ball to one another. You're "out" if you make a sound, throw the ball bad, or don't catch a ball thrown to you. The last person who isn't "out" wins.
Personally, I try to make the game more inclusive. I like to play silent speedball in a "Minute to Win It" fashion. I set the "Minute to Win It" timer (search online) and they have to work together to see how many catches they can make in 1 minute - silently, of course 😉. Then, I add in challenges like, you can't catch it a second time until everyone has touched it or boy, girl, boy girl. When they get better at the game, I add in 2 balls.
Oh No, 99!
Once my students learn to play Oh No, 99, they beg to play it all the time.
This is a simple 2 player game, but one of the best card games for reinforcing math skills in a fun way.
Goal: To force the other player to go over the score of 99.
To play, start with a deck of cards with jokers removed. You will need to write the designated card values on the board or give groups the direction page.
Person 1 shuffles and passes 4 cards to each player. The rest of the deck remains face down in the middle.
Player 2 places a card face up in the middle and announces the number. Players take turns placing cards and adding to subtracting to the accumulating score.
Each time a player places a card down, they need to replace it with the card from the face down stack.
The first person to force the other to go over 99, wins.
Here are some resources to help get you started:
Board Games
Board games are a novelty to kids now. Since they don't really play them at home anymore, they are a perfect rainy day activity for your classroom. Here are some board game ideas. I've asked people on Facebook to donate old games they have at home. I've gotten games at Goodwill, but I'm always afraid they are missing pieces. Here are some of the games I have in my classroom, but the list is endless:
Drawing with online instruction
This is a great option if you don't really have enough time to get out the games, but you want the entire class to have something to do. Pass out a sheet of paper to each student. Art For Kids Hub is a free website that has guided drawing lessons in short videos. It is very kid friendly and every student ends up with an adorable drawing. You could even mount the pictures on construction paper and place them on a bulletin board.
Fortune Tellers
Do you remember making fortune tellers as a kid? Once my students learn how to make them, they make a million of them. Here is a great video for modeling how to make a fortune teller.
Technology
I know we don't love putting our kids on technology. They get so much of it at home and in school, but sometimes I give in and they LOVE playing games on the computer. Here are a couple great go-to alternatives for older students in elementary.
Blooket is an alternative to Kahoot. To play, go to Blooket.com. I believe you need to make a free account. Then, you pick a trivia topic and one of the unique game modes. My students love the game Crypto Hack, but there are probably about 10 to choose from. Students join the game on their device and answer questions. Even though they are on the computer, my students interact the whole time and have so much fun with Blooket.
There are a lot of math games on this site, but there are also just for fun games. My students seem to find the no-so-math games (especially my boys), however, they laugh and talk to each other the whole time they are playing. The site is school friendly and engaging. It definitely provides a brain break for kids.
Saved the best for last? This might be my all-time favorite website. With Pixton, students create their own comic adventures. They create an avatar that looks like them, they can interact and work together to create a comic/graphic novel together. All you have to do is sign them up they do everything. It is $99 a year. Our media specialist bought it and all of our 4th and 5th grade classes LOVED it!!!! Definitely worth checking out!
Well, there you have it, my list of top 10 (well more than 10) best indoor recess ideas for 5th graders. If there is something that you love ❤️ doing during indoor recess that keeps kids buys and keeps your sanity in tact, I would love to hear about it!
