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Sponge Activities for Elementary Children

Have you ever had one of those days when your lesson plans go so smoothly that suddenly you're left with extra time left over? When the kids ask "can we just play?" you may wish to say yes, but why not have the kids do an activity that's a little bit more constructive? It's these times when you can supplement your lesson plans with a sponge activity that keeps your students thinking and under control.
  1. Math

    • It's the end of the day and the kids are bopping around anxious to move out the door, so why not play a game that uses this energy? In an open space, choose kinesthetic activities (such as jumping jacks) for the kids to do in multiples of numbers that you announce to them. As a twist on this, you can review multiplication tables by naming two numbers for the kids to multiply and then do that number of toe-touches, or whatever activity you choose.

    Reading and Writing

    • There are always journal writing prompts to choose from, but at the end of a lesson or day, it can be difficult to calm the children down enough to sit and write quietly. Why not involve the class in a verbal activity? Try to have the class create a story by taking turns for each student to say the next sentence in the story. As a twist on this, you can use a ball or stuffed animal as a prop for the students to toss to volunteers for the next sentence.

    Sciences

    • If you can, give each student a magnifying glass to use on a short trip outside. They should look around with the magnifying glass, trying to identify something incredible. Once they find their ultimate incredible item, they should predict what it is and how it came to be in its current state. Make sure you pull the class together with some time at the end so they can share their findings and continue speculating together.

    Social Studies

    • Pretend with your class that you are all archeologists and have been working in a unique dig. Reveal a bucket of artifacts to the kids. These can be a random assortment of household items but, in the "pretend world" you're creating, treat them as artifacts you've never seen before. As a class, discuss what they could be and what that says about the civilization they come from.

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