What Did We Play Today? Picture and Sign Review

Sitting in a circle, children review the session's games with picture cards and small gestures, choose their favorite and show how they feel with cards and signs. It works as a cool-down, builds memory of what they did and lets them express feelings without relying on speech.

How to play

1. Sitting in a circle, the teacher lays out in order the pictures of what we played today (1 min).
2. Remember each game by doing its move in miniature while seated: drumming with one finger, jumping with our hands (2 min).
3. Each child clips their clothespin onto the picture of their favorite game (1 min).
4. Show how we feel by pointing to a card: happy, tired, angry or calm (1 min).
5. Say goodbye together with the signs for "thank you" and "goodbye" (1 min).

Rules

• I wait my turn to place my clothespin.
• Every face is OK, even tired or angry.
• I look at the pictures without stepping on them.
• We all say goodbye together.

Variations

Adaptations

• Autism: this closes the visual schedule used at the start; flip the last picture over to show we're finished.
• Deaf or hard of hearing: the whole review uses pictures and signs, with no spoken explanation needed; teach the sign for each feeling.
• Blind or low vision: attach an object or texture from each game to its picture card (a piece of rope, a bell) so it can be recognized by touch.

Learning goals

• Recall and sequence what happened in the session.
• Express preferences and feelings with visual supports and gestures.
• End the session calmly and predictably.

Equipment for a class of 25

• session picture cards: 6
• clothespins: 25
• feelings cards: 4

Teacher tip

Laminate the picture cards and put Velcro on the back: use the same ones you used to preview the session. If a child picks the angry card, don't ask about it in front of everyone; check in afterward.

More activities like this

More cool-downs for Elementary