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Activity Central!
Games, Greetings, Closings, and Acknowledgements to Build Community and Engage Students in Learning

Fun, active, and energizing activities build community and bolster student engagement. Educators can reinforce their implementation of the Responsive Classroom or Developmental Designs for Middle School approaches with these activities. Print, use, and distribute these resources as needed.

Activities are identified as games, greetings, closings, or acknowledgements, and can be sorted by:

  • Grade level
  • Team/trust-building element
  • Academic skills
  • Risk-level continuum—
    Community Level 1: Acquainted
    Community Level 2: Familiar
    Community Level 3: Comfortable
    Community Level 4: Trusting
  • Educators use their judgment as to where on the continuum their groups fall at any particular time. For example, one class may be ready for "Familiar" games at the end of Week 2, while another class may need to wait much longer.

    To find the activities that you need, browse alphabetically by title or use the categories in the drop-down list. We update this list regularly, so visit often, email us with an idea or a game (we'll give you credit), or give us feedback on whether this resource is what you need. We truly appreciate hearing from you!

    For selected activities and additional resources to support academic instruction and classroom management, see
    Developmental Designs Teaching Ideas (middle school educators)
    Responsive Classroom Teaching Ideas (K-6 educators)

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