How can I use standing-in-line activities to get my class more active?

When we speak to primary school teachers around the country, one of the things many of them talk about are how they could use the time when the children are lining up as a way to get them active.  This is often a time the children can play up and can soon descend into chaos.   

There are some really simple things that every teacher can do when they're wanting to move the children from one place to another, say from the classroom to the hall.  It is active so helps them focus and also is enjoyable so they want to do the movements, and not misbehave.  

So, let Gaye and Imogen take you through some really good tips on using standing-in-line activities with your primary class and get your children active.    

Scroll down to find a short video and supporting text to help you begin to find ideas to get more activity in your classroom.  

Transcript from the video...

How can I use standing-in-line activities in my class to get the children more active?

To get the most of this, watch the video as it really shows what you can do to simply and quickly get the children moving when they’re standing in line. 

Whenever we’re moving the children around the school, we’re always asking them to get in line.  It’s a great time for them to mis-behave as fundamentally, standing in line is a bit boring!  So why not use this as an opportunity to get the children active? 

Let’s not have them just stand there, let’s get them moving! 

You can use music for them to move to, or tell them a story with a series of actions as they move along.    

An example I have used is getting the kids all in a line marching to the beat.  Get them marching to where you want them, then begin the story they can follow along to:

"Oh, we're marching in a line,

We're waiting to move,

We can touch our toes,

We can touch the sky,

We can do a funky groove!"

The children love it, and once they've been taught the rhyme or the little song with the actions they are away.

And it's something you can just pull out any time when they're stood in a line. You can even do it outside once they know it as they don't need the music.

So remember, when they’re getting in line, use it as an opportunity for the children to be active, simply giving them a simple rhyme or song to move along to will do it.