The Chair Traffic Light

With three traffic-light cards, the teacher runs the classroom: green means walk between the tables, yellow means head for a chair, and red means sit down in it. It warms up the body and practices stopping and going on a signal.

How to play

1. Learn the three colors: green, we walk; yellow, we go slowly to any chair; red, we sit (1 min).
2. First round tiptoeing between the tables like little cars (1 min).
3. Switch vehicles: heavy trucks, quick motorcycles that don't run, bikes ringing their bells (2 min).
4. On yellow, find a different chair every time, never the same one (1 min).
5. Final red: park on the chair, turn off the engine and breathe (1 min).

Rules

• Green: I move without bumping.
• Yellow: I find a chair slowly.
• Red: I sit and stay still.
• If two of us reach the same chair, one finds another without fighting.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: their wheelchair is their car and on red they park beside a table.
• Visual impairment: the teacher says the color and adds a sound (clap, snap, soft whistle).
• More skilled children: on red, sit at a chair by a different table than last time.

Learning goals

• Warm up with varied ways of moving.
• Stop and go following a visual signal.
• Move between furniture without bumping.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Chairs: 25
• Colored cardstock: 3

Teacher tip

Leave wide aisles between tables and push chairs halfway in. The usual mistake is racing to a chair on yellow, so keep repeating that yellow means slow.

More activities like this

More warm-ups for Elementary