For an English or language class, you can use a warm-up exercise called "Describe the Picture," from Colorado State University's website, "Writing at CSU." To perform the exercise, show a picture, play a piece of music or even choose a celebrity, and ask the class to take turns saying one descriptive thing about the topic. For example, if you show a picture of a mountaintop, one young learner might say: "It's high and looks like a triangle." You can also adapt this exercise to other types of lessons, such as voice, where the students sing the description, or science, where each student points out the one thing he wants to learn from the picture.
To warm-up students for any type of class, use a counting game provided by the ArtsWork program at ASU. First, split up an even number of young learners into pairs of two students. Tell the students to alternate counting to three, where the first student says, "One," followed by the partner saying, "Two" and so on. Once the pairs reach the number three, they start over with one. When the students can perform this task comfortably (after a minute or two), assign an action to the first number. Make sure the action correlates with the day's lesson (marching for a lesson on the Civil War, or play swimming for a lesson on fish). The students then perform the counting so it occurs: "[Action], two, three, [Action], two, three." This continues until the pair can comfortably perform the series. At this point, replace the number two with another relevant action. Once the pair is comfortable performing the altered series, replace the final number with a final action.
Physical warm-ups don't just help your young learners get ready for physical education classes; these exercises also assist in relaxation for any type of learning environment. For example, ArtsWork at ASU suggests simple arm swinging and head rolling before voice and theater classes. When creating a physical warm-up, always use exercises provided by reputable sources (doctors and universities, for example). You wouldn't want any of the young learners to injure themselves.
Use your class goals and learning styles to create your own warm-up exercises. On any day, write down a simple phrase, including both the subject matter for that day and the way the children love to learn. For example, your phrase might say, "Learning math in a physical style." Spend the next couple of minutes brainstorming about how to make a short exercise for math that incorporates physical exercises. For example, you might choose to show addition and subtraction through the game "Red Rover."