Games with Movement and Motion

Family Of Elephants. In pairs, children create an elephant with their bodies, or by both straddling a stick that has a head (e.g., decorated paper bag) and tail (rope) attached to it. Human arms make fine elephant trunks. Elephants plod or gallop around the room, connecting trunks (arms) to tails (ropes), until the whole family is linked together.

Secret messages, consisting of pictures of a certain number of elephants connected together, can be placed around the room. The children can show or share these messages with other elephants and then attempt to follow the picture (message).

Wagon Wheels.
The wagon wheel is created by about seven children facing each other and joining hands to make a circle. The wheel then moves in a circular motion around the walls of the gym. Two or three children (the bottom the of wheel) have their backs touching the wall momentarily as the wheel spins along the wall.

The fun increases as the wheel picks up speed. As a six-year-old said to me, "It wheely works!" Try putting it into reverse or changing the speed limit for more fun. The wheel can stop by turning itself into a human hubcap. To do this, one child lets go of her wheelmate's hand and begins to turn toward the inside of the circle, drawing the line into the center. This coiling process continues until everyone, still holding hands, is wrapped into a human hub.

Double Bubble.
Bubbles are formed by two or three children holding hands or using any other means the children devise to make a small circle. The bubbles begin by floating around slowly, being careful not to bump in to any other bubbles for fear of being popped. The object of the game is for the children to work together to create their bubble and to avoid collision. The bubbles can hop, bop, or twirl around once the children become familiar with the game.

To vary the game, children in groups of two or three are still bubbles but the objective becomes to merge the little bubble into bigger bubbles. This can be done by two, two-people bubbles gently squeezing together until the bubble pops into a four-people bubble. This process continues until there is only one giant bubble. Again, music can add extra fun to this game.