Greeting Scale: From Subtle to Over the Top

The group walks around and greets each other in different ways, from other cultures and other eras, slowly turning the gesture up from 1 to 10. It warms up the body and gets students ready to express themselves without embarrassment, always as a group.

How to play

1. Walk around the space. When you pass someone, give a tiny greeting: a nod or raised eyebrows, size 1 (2 min).
2. No-contact greetings from around the world: a Japanese bow, namaste with palms together, hand on the heart, a raised-hand wave. The teacher explains each one in a sentence (3 min).
3. Greetings from other times and from fantasy: the knight tipping a hat, the movie star, the astronaut in a heavy suit, the robot. Each one at size 3, then 6, then 10 (3 min).
4. Final group greeting: on three, the whole class greets each other at once with the most over-the-top greeting they can think of, then freezes (2 min).

Rules

• No physical contact unless both people agree (elbow bump or fist bump).
• Walk, don't run.
• Greetings from other cultures are done respectfully, never as a joke.
• Everyone picks their own size; a 10 is never required.

Variations

Adaptations

• Visual impairment: greetings by voice and an agreed touch (a hand tap) within a fixed pair.
• Limited mobility: trunk, arm, and head greetings from the spot or the wheelchair, and classmates come to them.
• Students who don't want contact: they keep one hand raised to signal “no-contact only.”

Learning goals

• Warm up the body with movement around the space and big gestures.
• Learn about greetings from other cultures and treat them with respect.
• Build expressive confidence step by step.

Teacher tip

Explain the meaning of each cultural greeting in one sentence so it doesn't turn into a caricature. If the group freezes up, go to 10 yourself first: a teacher who does it unlocks the class.

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