It’s mid-afternoon, and you’re sitting at your desk. The blood is pooling to your feet, and all you can think about is your body’s desire to move and stretch. The same thing happens to your learners after sitting for long periods of time. And in order to keep participant attention, you need to help them get the blood flowing. So how can you liven up your classroom and raise engagement levels? Energizers!
Energizers are a great way to increase engagement when the energy in the room is low. Whether it’s after a meal, early in the morning or right after a long section of content, energizers will help refocus and reengage your learners. Start increasing the energy and participation in your classroom by implementing the following energizers into your sessions.
Three Breaths
Step One: It’s important to keep participants’ physical abilities in mind – you can modify as needed.
Step Two: Have group members rub their hands together – this will help learners focus their attention on the task at hand.
Step Three: Direct your audience to take three deep breaths.
Step Four: Guide the participants back to their seats.
Additional tip: To add some fun to this energizer, you can encourage participants to high-five a neighbor or do three claps and a chant before sitting down.
Silent Sit Down
This is a fun 60-second energizer to liven up the group.
Step One: Distribute a set of cards to your learners. One learner will receive a card that identifies them as the “winker” of the group. We typically recommend using a Joker or Ace as an identifier. Be sure to tell your audience to keep their cards secret.
Step Two: Tell the group to begin stretching; the “winker” should begin winking at members of the group.
When the “winker” winks at someone, that person must silently sit down. The group must then identify who the “winker” is. Once the winker is identified, the game is over.
Take a Vacation
Daydreaming isn’t typically something that comes to mind when you think of ways to reengage a group, but it can be a great way to encourage optimal learning.
Step One: Encourage your participants to close their eyes and take a mental vacation. Whether it’s somewhere they’ve been or want to be, encourage them to go there for 60-seconds.
Step Two: After the short mental vacation, encourage the group to take a vacation around the room. Whether that’s moving from poster to poster or walking through the room as if it were an art gallery, it will get participants out of their seats and moving around.
Energizers are a great way to reinvigorate the group and create an optimal learning experience. Start using these energizers throughout your classroom sessions and you’ll see in increased engagement levels in your participants.
