🌿 Health & PE: move first, then talk about feelings

Get the room moving first and open the feelings conversation while the body is ready to have it. Three games that run beside a desk, with no field needed.

Health & PE⏱ 15 minutes

The problem it solves

Open a conversation about feelings after two periods of sitting still and you get the answers they think you want.

What you need

A screen at the front, and room to stretch an arm beside a desk

Run it like this

5min
Open Teacher Says in Animal Moves. Everybody stands beside their desk and follows — nobody is ever sent out, and the number on screen belongs to the room.
3min
Switch to Freeze for three calls, then everybody sits down quietly.
“Notice your own heart for a moment. Is it going faster?”
4min
Open Breathe with Beary and take three breaths together. You breathe too.
3min
Finish with Where Feelings Live: point to where today's feeling sits in the body. No explaining required.

A way in for the learner who isn't ready

A learner who cannot or does not want to move counts for the room, or presses the pause. They are in the activity and important to it without leaving their seat.

When it goes sideways

It gets too lively

Switch to Freeze straight away. It is the volume control of this activity, and it is part of the game rather than a telling-off.

Somebody will not talk about feelings

They do not have to. Pointing is enough, and being in a room where other people do it is itself the lesson.

Open these

🕺 Teacher SaysThe screen calls the moves and the whole room does them, standing beside a desk. Four ways to play, it speeds up as you go — and nobody is ever sent out, so the number at the end is the class's.🌙 Breathe with BearyBeary is asleep. Let your tummy rise and fall with his.🫀 Where Do You Feel It?Read the body's signals and name the feeling they belong to.🕵️ The Emotion DetectiveMatch the face to the feeling.

If the screen fails you

Call the moves yourself with no screen. Same rules: nobody is out, and the count is the room's.