National Creativity Day is a relatively new celebration observed on May 30th. The day was established in 2018 by Hal Croasmun and the company ScreenwritingU to recognize and appreciate all types of creators. When you think of creativity, you may think of painting, photography, theatre, dancing, or writing. There are so many ways we express ourselves!
Educators and parents always want to foster the growth of their student’s and children’s creativity. Every child has their own unique and imaginative mind. This year, we’re sharing some creative movement-based activities for students to celebrate National Creativity Day in elementary school. Movement is a powerful way of expressing oneself. Best of all, movement can easily be incorporated into lessons and educational moments. Try out these creative activities for kids in your classroom!
Challenge your students to come up with some creative movements to go along with a familiar tune. Have students choreograph a dance to the ABCs or their favorite nursery rhyme. Students will be able to get up and move around while working collaboratively.
If they choose to dance to a nursery rhyme, students can even take on small acting roles! This activity also serves as a great memorization and rhythm exercise for music class.
Ask your students to write a poem or a story using their vocabulary words or spelling words. Read the writings aloud to the class. You can incorporate movement by having students clap or stomp their feet every time a vocabulary word is read.
Alternatively, you can have students act out their stories. Not only is this a great creative activity for kids, but you’ll also get in some valuable literacy practice!
This creative activity for students can be adapted to literacy or math lessons. Take your class outside to the blacktop! Use sidewalk chalk to create a hopscotch course with your class. Set up the course with numbers for students to practice skip counting or have students write their vocabulary words in hopscotch squares.
If their vocabulary words are nouns, they could even draw a picture of the word. Let the students choose the colors of chalk. Then, challenge students to hop down the course while counting or reciting their vocabulary words aloud!
Creative movements can be a part of art class, too! Think about the gestures that are made when you draw with a pencil or paint with a paintbrush. Challenge students to make a piece of art that uses a movement of their choice.
This movement could be a big swipe with a paintbrush across the page from left to right or repetitive, quick dashed lines with a marker in random motions all around the page. The final work can be an object, a landscape, or simply an abstract composition.
In either P.E. class or during math time, have students create a cheer routine to practice basic counting or skip counting. Cheers can be simple, such as clapping or jumping while reciting a multiple. You can assign movements to specific types of numbers, such as stomping while counting odd numbers and making fists while counting even numbers.
Find ways to incorporate stretches. For example, have students count by 10s to 100 starting at 0 while standing and reaching down to touch their toes. Have them slowly bring their arms up while counting until they are reaching for the sky at 100. See what creative movements your students can come up with!
Additionally, you can check out our Math & Movement Training Manual to get started with movement-based activities in the classroom. We also have a manual specifically for Physical Education!
May 30th is a dedicated day for creativity, but incorporating movement-based learning into your school routine can add creativity to every day of school. Math & Movement is here to help make that easy!
What creative movements will you come up with for National Creativity Day? Share your favorite creative activities for students in the comments below!
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