Keeping children active at a distance!

Under alert level two, schools across New Zealand opened their doors and welcomed students back to classrooms. Things are slowly returning to normal, however, it’s still important to practice social distancing where possible, so we thought we’d share some ideas for playtime!

It may not always be possible in schools for teachers to keep children obtaining physical distancing but there are games they can play to help minimise this interaction while keeping the children engaged by having fun!

Here’s five spread out games teachers or parents can play with a group of children:

1. Play freeze dance. Dancing requires minimal equipment, gets the blood pumping, and creates an easy and joyful atmosphere. Play some tunes and get the kids moving. As the kids dance, pause the music and check out how long they can stay still for!
2. Charades. This social distancing game is great for all ages. Children take turns to act out films, characters, scenes, animals and words for the rest of the group to guess.
3. Scavenger Hunt. Get kids to search for a list of items. This could be in the school building or outdoors. The items could be natural materials, that they can then use to create a collage.
4. Detective: Kids form a circle standing 1.5m apart. The teacher picks the detective who then leaves the circle and a leader who will make movements for everyone to follow. The detective then returns and tries to figure out who the leader is in three guesses or less.
5. Bingo: If it’s a rainy day, Bingo is great to play indoors, and can be played while at a distance. Every child receives a Bingo card. The caller will describe an image, the kids will then mark that image on their card if it’s present.We hope that these tips help to keep kids busy, safe, and happy! Skool Loop understands that returning to school with social distancing rules still in place is a challenge for everyone involved. We try our hardest to support staff, kids and parents settling back into school routines and to ensure that communication between parents and teachers is consistent and reliable.We’ve also implemented a contact tracing function for school staff to track and monitor visits. The function in the Skool Loop app allows parents or visitors to schools to sign in and out via the app.