Virginia AHPERD_SpringSummer2026

will defend their choice to someone who chose differently. This can also be done with only 2 corners/walls and pose true/false or yes/no questions. Have students physically act out scenes, dialogue, and conflicts from readings, scenarios, and debates.

Role Play

Creative Movement

(Merrill and Gonser, 2021 (Merrill and Gonser, 2021) (Sinha, 2014) (Merrill and Gonser, 2021)

Scavenger Hunt

Project-Based Hide clues and materials of your content around the room for students to find that are also questions about the lesson to continue with the hunt.

Human Timeline

Kinesthetic Learning

History: Have each student be a different event in a time period and then have students put themselves in order of how it happened in history. Math: Have students labeled as pieces to a whole and then have them out themselves in order or how it needs to be done (PEMDAS) Science: Students physically module how molecules behave in different states of matter. Health/Science: Have students physically module how the body’s bones and muscles function when pushed to certain limits and what it looks like.

Body Flow Creative

(Cuthbertso n, 2024)

Movement

People Search

Project-Based Students complete individual work for a given amount of time. When time is up, students search to find classmates to sign a square for a question they answered. They must find a new classmate for each

(Kansky, 2024)

question therefore they have a signature from everyone in the class. They also must discuss their answers before they sign each other's square if they do not have the same answer.

There are many tips and tricks to keep in mind when implementing movement

There are many tips and tricks to keep in mind when implementing movement-in curriculum. First, be sure the movement-in curriculum strategy you are implementing aligns with the content goals and objectives (Lander et al., 2024). It can be easy to stray off the main goals of a lesson when incorporating other aspects (including movement) into the lesson body. Offering clear and purposeful de scriptions of the activity and goals of the movement-in cur riculum integration is valuable to lesson success (Schmidt et al., 2016). Use open communication with your students to let them know that these activities are designed to help them learn more effectively and gain a deeper understand ing of the content, which research confirms leads to im proved outcomes like reading fluency (Wold et al., 2023). Before integrating movement-in curriculum strategies, be sure to consider your space and transitions, so that you don’t run into too many bumps during the process (Erwin

et al., 2022). For example, consider lesson location (inside vs outside), materials needed, and visual timers. Lastly, uti lize clear and consistent routines with your students when integrating movement-in curriculum so that students know exactly what the expectations are for all activities and know generally how the class is going to run and the behavior that is expected (Buchanan et al., 2021). Movement-Based Energizers Movement-based energizers are short, brief, physical activity or movement breaks to reset and refocus the mind and body, commonly called brain energizers (Buchanan et al., 2021; Schmidt et al., 2016). Movement-based energiz ers are commonly used between content pieces of the les son, breaking up the content coverage, and thus are often not directly related to lesson content (Hillman et al., 2019). There are four main types of movement-based brain

in curriculum. First, be sure the movement-in curriculum strategy you are

implementing aligns with the content goals and objectives (Lander et al., 2024). It can

be easy to stray off the main goals of a lesson when incorporating other aspects

(including movement) into the lesson body. Offering clear and purposeful descriptions

of the activity and goals of the movement-in curriculum integration is valuable to

lesson success (Schmidt et al., 2016). Use open communication with your students to

let them know that these activities are designed to help them learn more effectively

and gain a deeper understanding of the content, which research confirms leads to

improved outcomes like reading fluency (Wold et al., 2023).

SPRING/SUMMER 2026 • Virginia AHPERD • 9

Before integrating movement-in curriculum strategies, be sure to consider your

space and transitions, so that you don't run into too many bumps during the process