Up and Moving Ideas

It is good to get the children up and moving while doing their work as opposed to having them sit for long periods of time. For young children I recommend working in 15-20 minute time periods, taking a break of 5 to 15 minutes, and starting back. These are just a few ideas to get you started. Of course you won't do all of these all the time. Vary the ideas so that you are always doing something different.

IMPORTANT: Invest in a good stop watch.

  1. Mount drill charts on a wall with "Tac-It" or some similar non-permanent substance. Have children stand ten feet or so from the chart. When you start the stop watch they run to the chart, read out a column or section assigned, run back to the starting place. Keep track of their personal times on a chart or even on a marker board. You might record their "personal best" in a note book.

  2. Have the child do "jumping jacks" as they recite drills or verses.

  3. Play "hot-potato" and the person with the potato when you stop humming/singing/clapping (with your eyes closed!) gets to spell the word, add up the math question, recite the verse, etc.

  4. Have children alternate saying words, doing totals in math, reciting "phrases" in a verse. You take a turn as well mom! Do this standing or sitting in a circle on the floor.

  5. For reading, once the child has practised the portion a few times, have the child stand on a sturdy chair or wooden box and read with feeling and drama.

  6. Have child see how many columns, words, problems, etc. he can accomplish while standing on one leg!

  7. Blow up a balloon and bat it around the room. Every time a child hits the balloon he has to shout out a spelling word for the day or whatever you want – see how long you can all keep the balloon from touching the ground.

  8. At the dinner table have the child recite the verse or spell spelling words before getting to eat the meal.

  9. Post a drill chart outside the bathroom door. When you see a child heading that way the "password" to get in is to read a column you point to and the "password" to get out is to do another column.

  10. When doing the exercises where the child is to identify a sound or a word, have the child clap hands whenever hearing it, have a lollipop in their mouth and "pop" it out loudly when they hear the word (use candy only rarely!), jump up when they hear it, etc.

  11. Mark "drill" words or sounds on index cards and scatter them around the floor. Children gather them and put them into right order. Use the stop watch.

  12. On index cards or pieces of paper mark scripture reference or first half of a verse or rhyme on one card and the second half on another. Scramble and have child match them up. You might place them on a piano back board or along a wall in scrambled order, child runs up, makes matches, runs back to starting position. These sets of cards could be used over and over again for quickie reviews.

  13. Have the child jump on a mini-rebounder (personal sized trampoline) or jumping-jacks on the floor as they recite or read off lists, give answers, etc.



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