Recess is a time that a lot of my students struggle to interact with peers. They’re happy to play alone on a play structure or the swing set, but helping them participate in games with peers can be a challenge. I’m going to share how to structure recess and support your students so they are successful! If you implement some of these tips for how to structure recess, they’ll be playing with their peers and enjoying their recess time!
Before I get started and sharing how you can structure recess time for your students I want to bust a myth for you. Often times, I’ve heard teachers share that their students “want to play alone at recess”. I don’t think this is exactly true. Once students know how to play games and how to interact with peers they’re happy to join along in recess activities. With the proper structures and supports, you’ll see your students enjoying more of their time at recess!
Structure #1: Teach Students to Play Common Games
Before I can start structuring recess activities for my students, I find it’s important to teach them how to play different games. I know each school culture is different and what kids like to play at recess is different, but these are some of the most popular games at our school:
- Four square
- Jump rope
- Soccer
- Tetherball
- Tag
Once I figured out which games our students like to play, it was time to teach my students. To do this, I made visual rules for the games and thought out different adaptations I could use to teach the games. For example, I talked with our admin and recess staff and got the go ahead to draw a big circle on one of our tether balls. This provided a visual cue for my students for where to hit the ball. Then we practice playing the games!
Sometimes I use recess time to teach students how to play these games. Other times we take a 10-15 minute “break” outside to learn how to play the games. Once my students learn how to play some new games they have more options for interactions at recess.
Structure #2: Provide a Schedule
Once my students have learned how to play a new game, I’ll start making a recess schedule for them. This usually starts with just 2 activities. I’ll place the new activity on the schedule followed by their usual, favorite recess activities. As we learn more games, I’ll expand the schedule to 3 activities, sometimes 4, depending on the student. I’ll even have students build their own schedules as they learn to play more games. This is a great way to get students participating in different games and activities.
You can always use visual supports to create a schedule. I like to print off icons for some of my students and add them to a green/red (to do/done) schedule board sometimes I’ll use the recess schedule from my recess choice board. It just depends on the student. As a quick tip, if you have readers, a whiteboard is your best friend! Just jot down a list of activities or games to play and cross them off or erase them when finished.
After using a schedule for a while, I notice my students are easily able to engage in activities and I’ll usually fade it out. I will bring it to recess for times when it appears my students don’t know what to do, but it’s not something we use forever.
Structure #3: Provide Communication Supports
As we’re interacting and playing more, I find my students aren’t always initiating play with their peers. This is when I’ll start providing communication supports for students. Of course, this looks different for each student, but I keep a recess specific communication board in our recess supplies so that we can pull it out and use it during recess.
On the communication board I made, it includes a sentence starter and the various recess activities we like to engage in. Students can use this board to construct a sentence and (often times) ask a peer to play with them.
What are some structures you put in support for your students at recess time? These are 3 quick structures you can put in place to help students at recess, but there really are no limits! If you have more supports you use, drop them in the comments. I’d love to hear them!
