When planning an engaging morning meeting, one of the most challenging aspects is deciding on the morning meeting activities. You want these activities to be quick, fun, and interactive, but it’s easy to fall into the trap of using the same 4-5 ideas repeatedly. This repetition can make the activities feel dry and dull for both your class and yourself! To help you keep your morning meetings fresh and exciting, here are 10 of my favorite morning meeting activities for upper elementary grades.
1. Rock Paper Scissors
This is such a fun and simple game for your class! To play Rock, Paper, Scissors, have your students walk around the classroom. When you (the teacher) say “STOP,” students must find a partner to play Rock, Paper, Scissors with. The loser sits down, while the winner continues to pair up with others who are still in the game. Students keep pairing up and playing until only one winner is left standing.
2. Yes, and?
In this game, have your class sit in a circle. Start a silly story by adding to it with each sentence, beginning with “Yes, and…” You (the teacher) can kick off the story with a simple statement, like, “The weather is looking terrible today.” The next student will say, “Yes, and…” and add something more exciting or exaggerated, such as, “Yes, and a thunderstorm is coming.” The following student might say, “Yes, and we must all find earmuffs to block out the thunder.” Each player continues the story with increasingly silly and imaginative ideas, always starting their sentence with “Yes, and…”
3. Recreate the Art
For this fun morning meeting activity, have students get into small groups of 3 or 4. Show them a famous, fun, or iconic piece of art (e.g., the Abbey Road Beatles photo). Give the groups 1 minute to creatively represent the famous art using their bodies, expressions, or any other creative method they can think of. Choose a winning group for the best representation.
4. Word Associations
Have your class sit in a circle. Start with any word, such as “classroom.” Each student will then say a word that comes to mind based on the previous word. For example, if the starting word is “classroom,” the next student might say “school.” Continue around the circle, with each student adding a word that is linked to the last word spoken. For instance: Classroom, school, learn, play, basketball, jump, skipping, tired, sleep, bed, and so on. This is a great morning meeting activity for stimulating quick thinking and creativity.
5. Spot the Difference
Show your students a picture scene and have them try to memorize everything happening in it. Then, show them the same scene again, but with 5 differences. The students must guess what has changed in the altered picture and discuss their observations with their classmates. This morning meeting activity helps sharpen students’ attention to detail. While this activity can take some time to create, the exact example below is included as part of my morning meeting free week, which you can download here.
Can you find them all? (It’s more of a challenge than you think!)
6. Heads or Tails?
Have your class stand up and choose “heads” or “tails” by placing their hands on their head or hips. Flip a coin, and the students who guessed correctly get to stay standing. Those who guessed incorrectly sit down. Continue playing until only one person is left standing. This is a fun and active morning meeting activity that gets everyone moving. The “Heads and Tails” slide, featuring a digital coin, is part of my morning meeting free week, which you can download here.
7. Do What Was Said
For this morning meeting activity, have your class form a circle and choose a leader. The leader gives commands, and the class must always perform the action that was last said, not the newest instruction. For example, if the leader says “Raise both hands in the air,” the class should ignore this command. If the next command is “Balance on one foot,” the class should follow the previous command (raising both hands in the air). The class should always do the action that was last said.
8. I’m Going to a Party
This is such a great morning meeting activity that I love to use any time of day. To play, choose a special word rule or theme, such as “the letter B,” “words with one syllable,” or a theme like “food.” Students will try to guess the pattern by bringing items related to the theme to an imaginary party. Start by giving a hint. For example, if the special rule is the letter B, you might say, “I’m going to a party and I’m bringing butterflies.” Students will raise their hands to guess the pattern.
For example:
- Student: “I’m going to a party and I’m bringing pizza.”
- Teacher: “Sorry, you cannot bring pizza.”
- Student: “I’m going to a party and I’m bringing balloons.”
- Teacher: “Yes, you can bring balloons.”
Students will continue guessing items they can bring to the party until they figure out the pattern.
- Sit in a circle. Your teacher will make up a simple statement. For example, “The weather is looking terrible today.”
- Student: “Is the pattern things that begin with the letter B?”
- Teacher: “Yes!”
9. Gosh-Wash
For this morning meeting activity, have your class pair up. You will select a common word such as “went,” “I,” “but,” “like,” or “and.” Instead of using that word during their conversation, students must substitute it with “Gosh-wash.” You will provide students with a topic to discuss. For instance, “Share what you did last night.” If the chosen word is “and,” the students’ conversation could sound like this: “Last night I read a new book, gosh-wash it was great.” You may invite volunteers to present their conversations in front of the class.
10. Who’s Missing
In this morning meeting activity, select a student to be the “Guesser” and have them leave the classroom or close their eyes in a corner. Then, silently point to a student to hide somewhere in the classroom. The Guesser will return to the classroom and try to guess which student is now missing!
If you like the look of these morning meeting activities, you can try a whole free week!
If you want to be organized with fun and easy to run morning meetings for the entire school year? Purchase the full year growing bundle HERE!
Further Reading
If you enjoyed this blog post, check out my other blog posts with morning meeting ideas:
