Find Someone Who...: A First-Day Warm-Up

A start-of-year warm-up where students jog around the space and, at each prompt, find a classmate who fits a condition, such as being born in the same month, and do an activation exercise together. It raises heart rate and mobility while breaking the ice among people who don't know each other yet.

How to play

1. Easy jog around the space with ankle, hip and shoulder mobility while the activity is explained (2 min).
2. Prompt: «someone born in the same month as you»; when you find them, introduce yourselves by name and do ten high knees face to face (3 min).
3. New prompts every 40 seconds, such as «someone who plays a different sport» or «someone you've never talked to», with different exercises: mirror squats, lunges and jumping high fives (3 min).
4. Finish: form groups of four that must discover something they have in common and do dynamic leg mobility together (2 min).

Rules

• Always jog looking ahead and never cut between pairs doing an exercise.
• If you can't find anyone who fits the prompt, join another pair to make a trio.
• No one has to answer a prompt that feels uncomfortable.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: the student moves at their own pace and swaps the exercises for mirrored upper-body mobility.
• Hearing impairment: prompts are shown on a large whiteboard as well as spoken.
• Autism: the student can start with a buddy and join the search when they feel comfortable.

Learning goals

• Gradually warm up the body before the main activity.
• Get to know new classmates at the start of the year.
• Encourage an open, friendly group climate.

Teacher tip

Prepare ten varied prompts and avoid any that could single someone out, like weight or family situation. It works really well on the first day with groups coming from different schools.

More activities like this

More warm-ups for High School