10 Engaging Back to School Activities with Social Distancing

10 Engaging Back to School Activities with Social Distancing

Now that many are starting to look forward to the end of lockdown, schools are facing challenges they’ve never experienced before.

Teachers are now searching for ways to conduct team building school activities for kids that balance both the need for student's safety and their need to return to some normality.

Training and education equipment providers from Direct Appliance Rentals acknowledge these challenges affecting their clients. Head of Operations Karina Wolfin says, "COVID-19 brought a new and overwhelming situation for all of us. With schools in Melbourne opening soon, it's comforting to know that teachers ensure children are safe and protected. They encourage children to play games while strictly following health protocols, especially social distancing. Playing games and engaging in school activities is not just fun. Still, it's a way to improve well-being and increase social interaction after some of these privileges have been deprived during the pandemic."

Unfortunately, this is not easy in the current environment. School activities that often give excitement and competitiveness to children can unintentionally lead to violations of social distancing.

Below are ten of the most engaging school activities that adhere to protocols— two-in-one team building activities for students with social distancing.

#1 Line Bingo

Line Bingo is first on the list of worthwhile team building activities for kids. This activity is a perfect alternative to traditional bingo and can be played while apart. To play this game, each student needs a set of word cards.

Give each student a pack of cards and let them arrange in lines resembling the bingo card. The teacher then will call one of the cards, and then the students will check their line of cards and turn them over. The first student to create a pattern of turned-over cards wins.

#2 Charades

Another example of fun school outdoor activities in Melbourne is playing charades. Children of all ages will take turns acting out book or film characters, storylines, and scenes for their friends to guess in this easy-to-use game.

To add a little twist to these fun outdoor activities for school kids you can use props and costumes; just make sure to sanitise them before and after use. Don’t forget to remind everyone to wash their hands and observe social distancing.

#3 Foot-golf

Footgolf merges the skills and accuracy of golf with the excitement of football. If you don't know how to play this one, here's how you do it:

Children can use their feet to kick a ball to a goal, similar to a hula hoop. You can set a course of 'holes' around the playground or inside the classroom. Keep a record of how many kicks each child makes to get around the time. You can also challenge older children to use a tennis ball while making younger children focus on a football or a big sponge ball.

#4 Telepathy Games

What school activities could be more engaging for kids than a telepathy game? Telepathy games are comfortable and incredibly fun! There are two correct answers in this game, and students should guess the answer that the teacher is thinking. To discover the teacher's answer, the students use 'telepathy' to read the teacher's mind.

To play this one of the most fun school activities in Melbourne, tell each student to prepare a pencil and a piece of paper to write their answers. After showing the students the question and two potential answers, ask students to write down one answer. After all the students write their answers, they will show the answer you've been thinking about, and if the students guess correctly, they'll get the point. If you're playing this game with kids, you can pretend to 'send' the answer to them through 'telepathy' using only the power of your mind to make it more fun.

#5 Noodle Tag

Another new on the list of recommended outdoor activities for school kids is noodle tag. For this engaging team building activity for kids, you can group the kids; three or more are perfect and give everyone a pool noodle. The person who is "it" has to tag their friends using the noodle's end. It is soft and stretchy so that nobody gets hurt, but still, everybody should stand at least 1 metre away from each other. Noodle tag can be another fun outdoor activity for school kids, but this engaging game can also be done indoors as long as there’s sufficient space to observe social distancing. Also, make sure that the kids are wearing their masks and are sanitised before playing the game. 

#6 Bust a Rhyme

This next one on the list of engaging team building school activities is ideal for more than five players. Start the Bust a Rhyme game by making all participants stand 6 feet apart in a circle. First, pick a leader to say a word (like "cat"), then have the child to his right say a word with the same rhyme. Continue around the circle before you get back to the leader! The following person then becomes the leader, and the game continues. If someone gets a word wrong, can't think of one or say something that isn't rhyming, then they'll do five squats.

#7 Simon Says (Stay 6 Feet Away!)

A study in the Journal of Early Childhood Research Quarterly indicates that this classic game, Simon Says, is a key to improving children's chances to succeed in the classroom. The study found that children's capacity to self-regulate is crucial in their language and literacy development. Kids who are good at self-regulation can control their feelings and actions to accomplish a specific goal. Such fun school activities in Melbourne are best for children younger than in the first grade. Ask them to play "Simon Says" by following the directions but doing the opposite of what they're asked for. 

#8 Stand Up Game

Another one on the list of exciting and interactive team building activities for kids is the Stand Up Game. Students will stand up and say a number in this game, but if two students stand up simultaneously, they're out. A version of this game is an excellent social distancing classroom experience as students can sit behind their desks while playing.

To play, tell students that they're going to count to five as a class. Tell them that one student has to stand up and say the number one (1). Then another student has to stand up and say number two (2), and so on up to five (5). Any student can stand up at any moment, but they lose if two students stand up simultaneously.

#9 Cross the River

The list goes on for fun outdoor school activities in Melbourne. One of those is Cross the River, where students can play in a bigger space one at a time. 

You'll have students on one side of the playground or classroom six feet apart. Place poly spots randomly in the middle of the ground. Then, students will go one at a time, attempting to jump from spot to spot to cross the river. If they fall in, they have got to go back to the beginning. The goal is for them to keep going until they've all gotten through. Students will undoubtedly enjoy cheering for their classmates, and if one finds a way out, the others quickly follow. 

Plus, this activity encourages locomotive skills in jumping and landing in patterns. This means that you don’t only provide fun and engaging school activities but also improve their skills.

#10 Fence Art

Finally, aside from outdoor activities for school kids, doing something to help your neighbours can make a difference. Inspire your neighbours and friends through fence art. To start with these activities, provide individual art stations around a big outdoor table or inside a classroom where students sit in a circle 6 feet apart. You need construction paper, markers, colouring materials, and paper plates for designing the "fence flowers." To make one: cut small slits into a paper plate, paint with your favourite colours, and then make a small hole in the centre of the plate. Put a piece of string through the hole and tie your flower plate to the fence. Instruct the students to bring their fence art home and tie it to their fence. Anyone passing will surely turn their heads to appreciate it.

Be Fully Charged With School Activities When School Reopens

While many teachers will return to the classroom with changed schedules or a hybrid approach, building the foundation of the new normal is essential. Adopting these outdoor school activities may make this new norm easier for both teachers and kids alike.

Urban Quest is high on the pedestal when it comes to creating meaningful experiences for kids, whether it be school incursions in Melbourne or the neighbouring cities, during a party, or in learning engagements. We live by our belief that experience is the best teacher. Thus, we strive to create meaningful yet fun experiences for children. We do these by implementing our years of experience in event planning and school team building events. We've worked with all ages and know the true meaning of learning and having fun.

Contact us to learn more about Urban Quest school activities. Let's change the world together, one child at a time. 

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