Warm up games for circle-time E book -Item 097

This is the Warm up games for circle-time E book resource. Circle time is not a subject but a tool for teaching. This can be extremely effective when used regularly. It is used in restorative practice to sort out problems and to give each child an equal voice. It is used in primary schools to develop emotional literacy, self-esteem, problem solving and the teaching of PSHCE. Circle time can be used with any age groups.

When you look at what a circle signifies, closure, never ending (you can go round and round), it is easy to see how it can be effective as a teaching tool. It is useful for teaching other subjects too like literacy or numeracy and absolutely brilliant for problem solving.

Circle-time helps to develop:

• Confidence
• Self-esteem
• Community
• Belonging
• Communications skills
• Listening skills
• Social skills
• Friendship
• Sharing
• Turn taking
• Non-verbal communication such as gestures, facial expressions and eye contact
• Trust
• Moral values
• Thinking skills
• Co-operation
• Teamwork
• Emotions
• Vocabulary

And many, many more areas of children’s development. There are also all the benefits to the teacher/teaching assistant or ELSA. You can find out so much about your children through circle-time. It gives you an opportunity to be an equal with them so they will talk to you more. It gives you the opportunity to have fun with your children.

Warm-up or icebreaker activities

Children are often reserved or shy when beginning circle-times and it is important to warm them up or to help break the ice. This can be done with many different games. This booklet has lots and lots of ideas for warming-up games and activities. Always begin your circle-times with a reminder of the rules and then a warm up game before going onto your learning objective for the lesson. The warm-up game does not have to link to your learning objective. It is purely used to make your children feel happy and ready to learn.

This Warm up games for circle-time E book resource can be used as an E book with clickable links to take you to different parts of the document or can be printed off and kept in a file.

There are 72 games in this PDF book along with resources where relevant.

A very useful resource for teachers, teaching assistants, ELSA’s and anyone working with whole class or groups.