Social Studies

1. Square dancing, ethnic dancing.

2. Learning directions: hop north, skip east, gallop west, walk south.

3. Learning to tell time: draw a clock and then have children walk to different times. Change the locomotor movement and the designated time.

4. Geography Walk (or other locomotor) – give maps to children; have them locate items on the map in designated area (gym, hall, classroom, etc).
A. Skip to the capital of a country/state; gallop to another
B. Relay teams do different locomotors to different areas

5. Spelling Bee Baseball (any locomotor) – children spell words; if correct, advance a base (like in baseball).

6. Jeopardy Hop (or other locomotor) – Questions asked; if answered correctly, advance along “game board” through hopping.

7. Hop – actual map or use “Twister” format to have students balance on certain continents or countries.

8. Walk – place map of country or trace it on the floor with time zones marked. Have students walk to each one and figure out each time zone.

9. Gallop – discuss the west. Have play pony sticks and gallop around to different areas of the “town” in the gymnasium or classroom.

10. Slide or Skip – two slides north and four slides south; identify which continent or ocean you are on according to the map on the floor.

11. Leap – leaping the time periods. Pick eight time periods and have students leap to each one first. On the second round, pick up information; on the third round, write down information about previous time period.

12. Jump – make cones represent mountain ranges. Have students “scale” or jump the range and identify where the range is located.

13. Have dates on gym floor and ask questions. Have children figure out what date events happened, and children will do different locomotors such as hop, skip, run, leap, etc. to get from one date to the next. Could put dates closer together and have students throw beanbags on the dates of certain events.

14. Divide children in groups, as in Crows and Cranes, except children in east and west or north and south. The teacher will name off a state or event and if that state or event occurs or is in the east, the west will try to tag any members of the east group.

15. Map Skills “Shopping Trip.” Students are given maps using school hallways as streets. Various “stores” are set up in different locations. Pairs of students are given shopping lists and, using the maps, they must bring specified items back to the classroom (fast walk). “Stores” consist of signs or logos posted on the walls; cut out “items” are taped beneath the signs for retrieval.

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