When the school day ends, many students file into after school programs where they continue to learn and explore until it’s time to go home. But after hours of sitting at their desks, it may be difficult for students redirect their attention and focus on after school enrichment.
One solution is to provide activities that create a smooth transition from the classroom to your after school program. These activities help students “get their wiggles out” and recharge for the fun, hands-on learning experiences you have planned. Most importantly, transition activities save valuable time and allow you to maximize the few hours you have with students.
The key to successful transitions is building a process and reviewing it with students to ensure they understand your expectations. To help, we summarized author Michael Linsin’s five steps to achieving perfect transitions:
Once students understand the transition process, you can begin using quick activities to help them transition from the classroom to after school. The following activities can help to enhance students’ attentiveness, concentration and focus after a long day at school. Even more, they can be done in under 15 minutes, which leaves ample time for after school learning and fun.
No one can resist a game of BINGO. Games such as a physical activity BINGO get students moving and adds to the fun! Each unique card features a variety of stretches and exercises like windmills, jumping jacks, burpees, and push-ups. To play, the caller will read an instruction card that contains an activity. Everyone performs the activity, and those who have the activity on their BINGO card covers the square with a chip. Continue playing until someone shouts, “BINGO!”
If you plan on using Activity BINGO as a daily transition activity, only reward one winner per day. That winner can be the announcer for the next day and so on. It’s a fun activity to help students break a sweat as they prepare their mind (and body) for more after school activities.
This game from Minds in Bloom gives students an opportunity to interact with one another as they move about. To play, students will shuffle about the room saying, “mingle, mingle, mingle” in soft voices. When you say “Groups of 5,” they must quickly put themselves into groups with the correct number of people. Students who are left over must do a physical activity, like three jumping jacks, before the next round starts. Call out any number for the group size to keep the game going.
If you don’t have time to prepare for the other activities, let students loose for 15 minutes of free play. Recess is a great way to give students a break after the school day to release energy and recharge. And it’s not only a great transition activity. Free play also supports physical, social, emotional and cognitive development in students.
These activities are perfect for helping your students transition from the classroom to after school. They can also be used to transition from one activity to the next. For more activity ideas, check out 10 Energizing Brain Breaks To Get Students Moving.