Having a handy list of filler activities is key for any elementary teacher. When those awkward breaks happen or students finish their work early, it’s important to keep them occupied with something to do.
Below, you will find 50 filler activities to use in the classroom. Print this article and keep it in your desk, you never know when it could come in handy.
Read about 50 attention grabbers here.
- Read a story: either play an animation for students to listen to or read it yourself!
- Tell a joke: check out some school-appropriate jokes here.
- Share a story: take the time to share a bit about yourself. Students always love listening to the crazy things their teachers get up to.
- Go on a walk: enjoy the fresh air and walk a couple of laps around the school.
- Reading buddies: have students find a partner and read to them.
- Do yoga: destress with someone light exercise and stretching.
- Math minutes: you don’t even have to print it out. Post it on your online board and start the timer.
- Have free time on the computers
- Play board games: if you have any lying around, use them!
- Meditation: slow down and do some breathing exercises.
- Chill and talk: don’t plan anything and let the students talk
- Complete any unfinished work
- Practice coding: use a computer or iPad to work on some coding.
- Dance to music: put on a song or two and dance to the beats!
- Free writing: choose a topic or question and write about it!
- Scavenger hunt: get students to find items around the class with a timer on the board. Choose simple things with a healthy amount of challenge. For example, find a book that has the title ‘she’ in it. Then compare and share.
- Current events: read a new article and have a discussion about it!
- Would you rather?: ask some would you rather questions to keep the conversations interesting.
- Share a few riddles
- Trivia: have some friendly competition with trivia questions.
- Sharing: kids love to talk! Give them time to speak their mind and share their ideas.
- Give free time for drawing or coloring!
- Unscramble: chose a few words, scramble them and have your students solve them. To make it more challenging add a countdown timer.
- Word search: either complete a word search together on the digital board or print some out for your students to complete.
- Go to the playground
- Pictionary: choose a picture to draw, if others guess it before you finish they win. If not, you do!
- Watch a movie
- Pass the story: Sit in a circle and begin by saying a word. The next person must say another word and so forth. The goal is to make a coherent story.
- I have a hat game: this is a fun riddle game I love to play with all my students. Begin by saying ‘I have a hat and I give it to *student 1*, *student 1* gives it to *student 2*, who has the hat?’ The trick is.. whoever says something first has the hat!
- Splat: Have your students stand in a circle with one person in the middle. The person in the middle spins around and points to someone in the circle. They need to duck and those on either side shout splat to one another. The last person to call splat is eliminated. Play until 1 person stands.
- Mirrors: this is a silent game. Students must choose a partner and face them. One person will be real and the other will be a mirror. The mirror has to copy everything the real person does. This game is fun because it encourages a lot of silent giggles!
- Clean the room: grab a duster, broom, and spray.. and let the kids do the rest haha!
- Have some races at the gym or outdoors.
- Play hangman
- Explore google earth: good earth is a great way to visualize countries or cities you may be talking about already! You can look at foreign places and learn about the land space of the area.
- Spelling contest: have a mini spelling bee and let your students shine. Begin with the whole class with each wrong spelling eliminating someone.
- Solve a puzzle
- Charades: choose a word for a student to act out while others guess what it is. Use a timer to add pressure.
- Do a virtual escape room: you can either make your own on google forms or find some on teachers pay teachers!
- Telephone: sit in a circle and choose a word. Whisper this word to the person next to you and have this individual do the same until it reaches the whole circle. The last person says the word out loud and oftentimes it’s wildly different than how it started.
- Musical chairs: much like hot potato, if you don’t have a seat when the music stops, you get eliminated! Play until there is only 1 winner.
- Silent ball: While standing, pass a large ball silently. Students need to make eye contact and communicate nonverbally so they know who the pass is for. If the ball isn’t received, that person is eliminated.
- Bingo: Play bingo online or with cards!
- ISpy: Use the room
- Reorganize desks and supplies
- Silent game: in this game, anyone that speaks or laughs is eliminated. Play until there is only 1 winner.
- Play Kahoot: in this online quiz, participants need to answer quickly and correctly. You can create a quiz or find one online.
- Practice counting: if you have 1-2 minutes to waste, count with your class to see what number you will make it to.
- Hot potato: pass a potato or similar item around to the music. When the song stops, whoever is holding the item is eliminated. Continue until 1 person is standing.
- Play a classic game of Simon says
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