Airplane antics

One of my favorite classroom activities to get children moving is called "Airplane Antics."  This activity involves a minimum of effort by the teacher, but a maximum of effort by the students.  Here's how it works: 

1. Take enough pieces of lined or unlined paper for each student in the room.  Provide a different label for the top of each page. (See the examples below.)
2. Tell the students to answer or respond to the key word or words at the top of the page.
3. They fold the paper into an airplane.
4. On your cue, they sail the plane across the room.
5. Another child picks up the airplane, unfolds it, then provides a new comment or answer.
6. Repeat the process 3-6 times depending on the available time and interest level of your students.
7. Collect the papers and review the answers.

How easy is that!

Here are some examples of possible labels for the top of the paper.  The examples provide only one label of many that you would put at the top for each session.  For example, in the math activity, you would have twenty different numberes for the twenty students in the class. For the animals list, you might also include wild animals, pets, poisonous animals, etc.)

• 15 (students provide different equations for the number at the top of the page)
• Green (students write or draw something that is green)
• Farm animals (students write or draw a different farm animal)
• Vegetables (students write or draw different veggies)

See how that goes?  What categories can you develop for this activity?  For more ideas, see my book, The Kinetic Classroom: Activities that Move Students to Learn.

Happy teaching!