Learning through movement becomes much more meaningful, especially for early elementary children, when you want to lay foundational concepts.  I will show you how you can take jumping jacks and turn it into a springboard for teaching geometry, arithmetic, science, reading/spelling, and social skills!   

So, let’s look at how you can teach a concept from 5 different subjects, using one exercise – jumping jacks!   For these activities, you can use music playing lowly in the background but loud enough for them to catch the beat.  Maybe try Kidz Bop Kids: Hey Ya! available on YouTube. ( I do not own the rights to that music.)

1. Science (gravity) –  If you are in a classroom,  move the desks back.  Tell them to recognize that as their feet come up off the floor when they jump, that they are not able to stay in the air.  Tell them that their feet must come back down due to gravity.  Write the word ‘Gravity’ at the bottom of your board, chart paper, or poster board – (as shown at the bottom this post.)  Have them to vary how they do their jumping jacks.  Let them experience what it feels like when you tell them to jump low with their jumping jacks and then for them to tell you the difference of what it feels like when they come down harder from a high position.   Tell them that the word “Gravity” is on the bottom to show them that it keeps them on the floor/grounded.  Jumping Jacks is at the top because it is the exercise, and in the middle are words you want them to shout out that they think of as they’re jumping.  Collect at least 10 words.  Trust me, those brain neurons are firing as they are jumping, feeling the motions, and coming up with identifying words!  Also, the words you collect will likely be science vocabulary words that you can also cross reference for use in a reading/language arts lesson later.  

2.  Math (geometry/arithmetic) –   Tell the students to stand far enough apart where they will not touch each other.  Use this very common exercise to show the shape of an oval.  First, tell them that an oval is a shape (geometry).  Draw an oval on the board, chart paper, or poster board. Then, write the word “oval.”  Show them that an oval has been made when they do jumping jacks as they bring their arms up to touch their hands together, and then when they take them back down to where their hands are touching again.   As they are jumping, have them to tell you things that are shaped like an oval.  Post those words.   Next, if they have been learning how to count up to 20 or 50 or even skip counting by 2s, 5s, or 10s, then jumping jacks is a great way to sneak that arithmetic in.  

3.  Reading/language arts – Introduce them to antonyms.  Explain that antonyms are opposites.  On  the board, list words where they will need to come up with the antonym.  They will say the word, and then spell it out as they jump.  Then, beside each word have the students come up with the antonym.   For example, if your first word is “in,” they will say it, and spell it as they jump.  Then, they come up with the antonym for it.  When they say “out,” write it on the board, then the student spells it while jumping.  You can explain that their legs and arms go OUT when jumping and then back IN when their arms come down, in case they need help with coming up with the antonym for “in.”  Say again that “in” and “out” are vocabulary words called antonyms.   So, on your board or chart paper, continue writing up to 10 words, and have them come up with the opposite word.  They will  say it, spell it as they jump, and on to the next list word.    

4.  Health – Tell them that jumping jacks is great for their cardiovascular fitness because it gets the heart pumping, sends oxygen to the brain, and most of the time gets them smiling.  Have them find their pulse in their neck after doing the activity for about 1 minute, and tell them to count each time they feel a beat.

5.  Social Skills – Remember that school rule, “Keep your hands, feet, and belongings to yourself?”  Tell them that jumping jacks will help them keep a safe distance from others so as not to accidentally hit or  bump into them.  First, tell your students that their arms and legs are extensions.  Explain that Spiderman’s web shooting out of his wrist is the same way their arms and legs move out from their body, and that just like Spiderman’s web sets a trap, and people can get caught up in it, so can their arms and legs set a trap for others, if those parts are not held close to their bodies.  Others can get hurt.  Tell them setting traps is only for use on the “bad guys” and that the “good guys” are in our classroom.   You can use this for home too and let them know that their siblings are not the “bad guys” (despite what they may think!) 

You can also use that opportunity to strike up a discussion about the similarities and differences between “good guys” and “bad guys,” put up a chart, and have them write, if they can, the similarities and differences or you can write them.

So, when they do jumping jacks, let them know that the area that their arms and legs use as they swing them out and back in, is the area they can call their own space.  Help them to approximate that space when they are standing in a line, walking down a hall, or even sitting next to someone so that they have an understanding of “safe distance.” 

The more you can build your lessons in concrete ways where the students are seeing, feeling, and doing the thing that you want them to learn, then the easier it will be for them to retain it. When that happens, it becomes easier for them to grasp abstract concepts later. So, if they have the concrete, then they will have the foundation up which the abstract can be built.