Category: Interactive Activities

Physical activity can be a fun learning experience, especially when everyone in the family is trying something new. Children will most likely model what their parents do. If children see parents being physical, then they will most likely follow this lifestyle in the future.

 Parents that are active can teach their children so many life skills.  Parents can also learn from doing physical activities with their children.

Let’s say a family decides to do a new activity together such as rock climbing.

Rock climbing requires decision-making skills because you have to decide the path that reaches the top.

It incorporates problem solving skills where you may decide to take a different path because your first course of action failed. Furthermore, family members are cheering and encouraging each other to climb higher.

This is teamwork!

If you don’t want to leave home, try the activity below. Enjoy learning and being physical with your family!

1. Tell your family you will have a game night of Charades!
2. You can play the game two ways…
3. Divide the family into two teams.
4. Have one person on the team guess and the other person act out or use pantomime to represent the word.
5. If the team guesses the word, then they will get a point.
6. Or you can have one family member at a time act and the other family members guess the word.
7. The family member that guesses the word will get a point.
8. Choose categories that will be really physical and incorporate learning…
   • Strange Animals such as a Featherless Chicken
   • Unusual Sports such as Chess Boxing
9. Since these categories will be unfamiliar, have a list of the names near the game (optional).
10. Record the points and have fun!

Physical activity increases learning because it increases blood flow to the brain. Blood flow to the brain increases oxygen which heightens alertness.  Examples of interactive activities that incorporate movement are games, role plays, and learning stations within the classroom.

When students are physical and learning simultaneously, they are using multiple functions. They are activating their sense of hearing, seeing, and touching.   If the students are creating a role play or campaign, they are using all their senses and being innovative, which stimulates the brain.

Physical activity has a way of bringing laughter, if it’s fun. It can also bring a since of accomplishment, if it’s challenging.  Physical activity before or after learning something new is beneficial. If exercise is done before learning, then your brain is more alert to receive the information. If exercise is done after learning, then it helps your brain process the information. If possible, try to incorporate some physical activity in your class. Below is a way to do it!

1. Have your class stand in a line or a circle (instructor’s choice).
2. Tell each student they will lead the class in a physical activity.
3. Examples are
   • Waving hands above head
   • Low kicks
   • Twisting body
   • Touching toes
4. Each student has 20 seconds to lead the class in their activity of choice.
5. After 20 minutes is up, say “Switch”
6. The next student will lead the class in their activity.
7. At the end of this activity, your brains should be ready to learn!
8. You can also do this activity at the end of your session to help students’ brains process what they just learned.

Note: Please adjust activity if you have physically disabled students in your class.

Interactive memorization techniques can be practiced at home. There is certain information immediate family members should know about one another in case someone is sick or lost. This information can include family medical history and social security numbers. This is where interactive memorization methods can be applied.

Let’s use family medical history as an example. Medical history includes knowing your family members’ cause and age of death, health problems, allergies, birth defects etc.   Knowing your family’s medical history can be a lot to remember because you need to know your grandparents’ histories on both your mother’s and father’s sides.

One way to remember this is by talking with one another and drawing a group Family Medical History Tree.  You remember items better when you draw them rather than write.  You use the left side of your brain when you draw pictures and the right side when you write. So, let’s incorporate both in this activity!

1. Ensure you have family medical histories of grandparents, mother, father, and children.
2. Set up a family meeting.
3. Tell your family you all will create a Family Medical History Tree.
4. Get a big piece of paper such as flip chart paper or craft paper.
5. As a family, draw the tree with relatives’ names and pictures if possible.
6. Under each relative’s name write the following…
   • Member’s cause of death (if applicable)
   • Member’s age of death (if applicable)
   • Diagnoses or health problems
   • Allergies
   • Birth defects
7. If you have a young child, he/she can decorate the tree.
8. Put the tree in a safe place.
9. Have family members look at the tree repeatedly so it can be ingrained in their minds (repetition)
   • Review it during family meetings.
   • Ensure each family member knows where this tree is located so they can review it when they like.

Incorporating interactive activities in the classroom increases a person’s memorization rate of a lesson or subject. Interactive activities encourage you to think about the material in different ways. For instance, a group of students is learning about the lifecycle of a butterfly.  Sure, you can tell them the stages and expect them to remember.

But why not supplement this lesson with a project where the students become the butterfly and then they teach others the life cycle?

This will help students absorb the material. Teaching others a concept is an effective memorization and learning method. As a teacher, you want to grasp the material in case your students ask questions. If you know the subject, you will also be confident in delivering the material. Below is an example of how to incorporate this in the classroom.

1. Choose a subject you want your students to learn.
   • Let’s use the lifecycle of a butterfly for this example.
2. Explain to your students the four stages of a butterfly in 15 minutes or less.
3. Break your class up into 4 groups.
4. Each group will have to act out (role play) the four stages of a butterfly and teach their classmates.
5. Tell students to be creative.
6. After this class, students will have a better chance of remembering the lesson because the following memorization methods are used…
   • Lecture by instructor
   • Prepping for role play
   • Performing the role play
   • Repetition by seeing each group’s version of their role play

The application of critical thinking skills at home is different than in the classroom. Children will be analyzing issues with people who they are related to and live with, their family. In this environment, children may have more time to evaluate with their family.

Also, the family members’ reactions will be different than peers in the classroom. Family may be more critical or supportive of what a child is thinking. The child’s parents and older siblings, may be apt to tell their child all the answers instead of letting them figure it out. To prevent this, we will use a different version of the critical thinking question in the previous post: Time has just been taken away from the world for a day. How will your family function?

Most people use time as an indicator to achieve something such as: eating, working, playing, and sleeping.

Many parents and older siblings will be in unfamiliar territory if you take time away. Doing an activity around this question will most likely have the whole family stumped. Below is how you put the whole family’s critical thinking skills to practice with this question.

1. Plan to have a day or half a day where you operate with no time.
2. The best time to do this is on the weekend or a day when no one needs to work or go to school.
3. Put everyone’s cell phone and watches into a safe place the night before.
4. Cover all clocks in the home the night before.
5. Put away computers and anything that keeps time.
6. Remind your family of the question/problem: Time has just been taken away from the world for a day. How will your family function?
7. The day before, the family should come together and predict how they will function (critical thinking).
8. Record each family member’s response.
9. The next day, as soon as you wake up, start to function without time.
10. After the activity, debrief how your day went… (critical thinking)
    • How did you know when to eat?
    • Did you communicate more without your cell phones?
    • Who was the most comfortable with this activity?
    • Who was the most uncomfortable with this activity?
    • What family member predicted what would happen?
    • Would you do this again?
11. PLEASE NOTE: Adjust this activity if there is a situation where you need time. For example, if someone needs to take their medicine every 4 hours. This is not worth the risk.

Interactive activities are a powerful way to build critical thinking skills. Critical thinking is evaluating something and making a conclusion from what you observed. Experiential learning is the perfect method for building this skill because your brain is drawing conclusions as you participate and think about the activity.

One way to incorporate this in class is by asking an open-ended question. The question/problem could be:  Time has just been taken away from the world. How would humans function without time? If students are analyzing this question in groups, then they will combine each other’s thoughts and form a conclusion.

This question will allow them to think about their daily routines within their families and environment and answer accordingly. This also encourages students to think about the importance of time. Now let’s make this an interactive activity.

1. Break students up in to groups of 3 or 4.
2. Cover all the clocks in the classroom.
3. Put everyone’s cell phone and watches into a box or a safe place.
4. Put away anything that keeps time like computers.
5. Tell students they will answer the question/problem: Time has just been taken away from the world. How would humans function without time?
6. Have students create a commercial that gives the world tips on how they can function without time.
7. Have each group perform the commercial for the class.

Today, let’s discuss hands-on learning within the family. Experiencing something new with the family can create and strengthen bonds. If you do an activity that no one in the family is familiar with, then most likely you will see each members’ strengths and weaknesses exposed. This can be beneficial because where one member is weak, another family member can assist.

This creates a dynamic where the family is relying on each other to complete the task. For instance, a family of four has decided to go camping for the first time. Mom may be good with organization so she is in charge of the meals and ensuring everyone has appropriate clothing. Brother loves being outdoors and observing animals. He is in charge of animal safety and exploring nature. Sister is into event planning so she is in charge of games and nighttime activities. Dad is a great builder and is in charge of tent care and picking the camping site.

In this activity, the family is relying on each other’s skills to have a positive camping experience. Below is another way to incorporate hands-on learning within the family.

Cooking in unfamiliar territory

1. Plan for the family to cook a meal that no member has eaten before.
2. You can find a recipe from another country or ethnicity.
3. You can have half of the family make the entrée and the other half make the appetizer or dessert.
4. This activity incorporates so much learning such as: following recipe directions, math skills with measuring ingredients, food science, various cooking temperatures needed for certain food, patience, teamwork, communication skills and diversity.
5. Enjoy your meal!

Hands-on learning is a great tool to use with students. Hands-on learning is when children can physically experience information. Examples are use of games, role plays, building, and creating. These methods engage both the right and left hemisphere of the brain and incorporates various learning types.

Let’s say you have your students break into small groups and create roles plays. Children will do the following: Create props (Visual learning), Write a dialogue (Verbal learning), Act (Physical learning), Create a story line (Logical learning), Work in groups (Social Learning). Children may choose to incorporate music in their role play (Auditory learning). Some groups may choose to delegate one specific role such as the Prop manager (Intrapersonal learning).

Hands-on learning can be done individually, but is really effective when done in small groups.

Why not try both in the classroom? We will show you how below.

How to apply it

1. Tell students they will learn about communication skills in this activity.
2. Pick a topic or lesson (examples are below) …
   • Manners
   • How to count to 15
3. Have the students work individually to create a game that would…
   • Teach preschoolers certain manners
   • Teach preschoolers to count to 15
4. Give students time to create their game individually
5. Then break students into groups of 3 or 4
6. Have students combine their ideas to create one game.
7. Have each group play their game with the class.
8. Create a discussion by asking students if they liked creating the game individually or in groups.

Diversity can be applied within the family setting. I know what you are thinking. How are people in the same family considered a diverse group? Let’s explore! Families can be diverse by gender, age, experiences, preferences etc.

Let’s take a family with a mom, dad, older brother, and toddler sister. Mom and sister are females and dad are brother are males. Brother is older than his sister and has had more experiences. Mom and Dad had different lives before marriage and bring those experiences to the table. The toddler sister most likely participates in imaginative play; for example, she may create an ice cream cone by putting a small ball in a cup.

This is diversity in the family!

Use this to your benefit to solve family problems or to answer a question. For instance, the family problem may be brother feels that his parents give too much attention to toddler sister. He feels left out. Below is an example of how to apply diversity of the group to this issue.

How to apply it – Example

1. Come together for a family meeting
2. Older brother can present the problem of feeling left out.
3. Mom and Dad can ask brother to offer ideas on how they can be more inclusive.
4. If brother doesn’t offer ideas, ask him to tell you the following…
   • What are your favorite activities?
   • What does a fun day with the family look like?
5. Mom and dad can offer ideas on how to make brother’s fun day a reality.
6. Include toddler sister by having her…
   • Draw a picture of brother’s family fun day
     • Incorporate ideas from her picture and include it in fun day
   • Gather toys for imaginative play about brother’s family fun day
     • Incorporate ideas from her play and include it in fun day
   • The family can make a fun day calendar that includes…
     • Brother’s favorite activities
   • Have toddler sister decorate the calendar with art supplies
   • Make sure you do the activities on the calendar!