Achoo, Into Your Elbow!

Children move around like animals and when the teacher goes “Ah… ah… achoo!”, they stop and hide their face in their elbow as if sneezing or coughing. It practices reacting to a signal and makes covering with the elbow automatic.

How to play

1. In a circle, the teacher shows the trick: when we sneeze or cough, the face hides in the elbow like a bird under its wing (1 min).
2. Move around the space like cats on all fours; on “Achoo!”, sit down and hide your face in your elbow (1 min).
3. Hopping frogs and trotting horses; the “Achoo!” can come at any moment (1 min).
4. Sideways crabs and elephants coughing through their trunks: coughs go into the elbow too (1 min).
5. Last “Achoo!”: everyone does a huge, silly one together and then scrubs their hands with pretend soap (1 min).

Rules

• Sneezes go into the elbow, never into your hand or toward a friend’s face.
• When you hear “Achoo!”, stop where you are.
• Animals move into empty spaces.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: show the animal with arms and head, and do the elbow move the same way.
• Autism: warn that the “Achoo!” will be loud, or do it softly if noise bothers the child.
• Hearing loss: the teacher pairs the “Achoo!” with a very visible move of the face into the elbow.

Learning goals

• React quickly to a sound signal.
• Make covering with the elbow automatic.
• Warm up the body with different ways of moving.

Teacher tip

Repeat the elbow move whenever someone really sneezes in class and name it: “Great, into the elbow!” Usual mistake: covering with the hand; correct it without scolding by showing the bird’s wing.

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