DON’T WALK IN THE HALLWAY: ENERGIZER ACTIVITIES
Originally published in Healthy Schools Alberta Magazine Fall 2016 Edition
Recognizing the importance of promoting healthy learning environments, floor decals offer a way to modify school spaces, helping to activate your students and enliven your lessons. Activities that range in intensity have demonstrated the ability to increase a student’s readiness to learn. The Don’t Walk in the Hallway initiative has been a proven resource to energize students (and staff) in active ways throughout the school day. Here are a few examples of energizer activities that have students up and moving:
DON’T WALK IN THE HALLWAY, HOPSCOTCH!
Using a small object, such as a beanbag, play a game of Don’t Walk in the Hallway, Hopscotch! Find your favourite floor pattern in your school. By standing at one end of the pattern, toss your small object in an attempt to have in it rest on one floor decal. Hop through the floor pattern to retrieve your object, then continue to hop to the end of the decal pattern. Repeat these steps attempting to toss your object, having it land on each decal in the pattern.
DON’T WALK IN THE HALLWAY, BE ULTIMATE.
Grab some friends, some beanbags and a whiteboard marker and get ready to Be Ultimate! With your school’s permission using a dry erase whiteboard marker walk through your school and write the numbers 1-10 on ten floor decals (the more space between each numbered decal, the better). Next, start from the number 1 and try to toss your beanbag to the number 2. The person with the least number of tosses to get their beanbag to land on number 2, wins the round. Can you repeat the course you designed in less tosses? What other challenges can you create?
DON’T WALK IN THE HALLWAY, STOP AND FIND YOUR FITNESS.
Find some friends and grab a few dice to play Don’t Walk in the Hallway, Find your Fitness. Next walk through your school to find your favourite decal pattern. Discuss with your friends and identify four fitness movements you can each do. For example, squats, push ups, jumping jacks and planks. Next, identify a colour that will represent each of these movements. Starting at one end of the pattern, one person rolls their first dice and hops or jumps the same number of times as the number that appears on the dice. Once they complete their hops or jumps, they roll their dice a second time. This number will determine how many times they will complete the fitness movement that corresponds to the colour of the decal they are standing on.
Have you come up with your own Don’t Walk in the Hallway games? Send your ideas to us, and let the rest of the province in on the fun!
