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Winter Games for Recess

Recess serves multiple purposes, and giving children and teachers a break from learning helps to make the educational experience more effective. During recess in warm months, children get exercise playing games outside. When cold months arrive, teachers can still give their students a break from learning and plenty of exercise with indoor recess games.

Footbag and Four Square
- Play ball games during winter recess.
  
  The school gymnasium offers spacious opportunities to re-create an outdoor playground. Provide students multiple opportunities to play games in the gym. Students can play footbag in one section of the gym while students who wish to play other games have space as well.
  
  Four Square is played with a large rubber ball and a large two-by-two square drawn on the floor. Four players each stand in a square and pass the ball to each other in differing combinations around the squares. Players bounce the ball with a closed fist. The ball must not touch any of the lines. When a player&'s bouncing ball touches a line, she is out and another player enters the vacated square.
Four Corners
- Use the four corners of a classroom to play a recess game.
  
  Students can play Four Corners in the classroom or in the gym. Assign a number, one to four, to each corner of the room. Students quietly and quickly head for the corners while one student places her head on her desk as she counts to 10. When the student reaches 10, she randomly calls out one of the numbers. All of the students in that corner must sit down. Repeat. When one student is left standing, that child becomes the next counter.
Heads Up, Seven Up
- Thumbs up indicates an indoor recess game.
  
  Students will enjoy a game of Heads Up, Seven Up. Assign seven students to go to the front of the room. Have the remaining seated students put their heads on their desks with thumbs pointed up. The seven students at the front of the room quietly wander through the room, each tapping one student&'s thumb. When the roaming seven students return to the front of the room, they call. "Heads up, stand up!" Students whose thumbs were tapped stand up and try to guess who tapped them. The students who guess correctly replace the students who tapped them.

Kids Games