Personal Space

This is going to be a work in progress. This year I've had the luxury of having a district P.E. Specialist come in and work with my morning Kindergarten class once a week. She has been so helpful showing me several activities I can use with my afternoon class. One of the most difficult activities is personal space. I would like to find activities that teach children how to stay out of their classmate’s space. Physical contact is a big thing in Kindergarten. Every day I'm barraged with tattling about somebody touching, hitting, kicking, or breathing on them.

Before I begin any game I explain to the children that the first one to finish or the last one standing may not be a winner. To be a winner my rule is one, you must play the game. Two you must have a good time. And three you have to learn something. The person who finishes first or is the last one standing could be a looser. And the person who is last to finish or the first person tagged out could be a winner. In fact the entire could be a winner or a looser depending on who follows my rules.

One activity is to have the children walk, skip, or hop around the room, while music is playing, without touching anybody. If they touch anybody they are out and have to sit on the sideline. When the music stops everybody left on the playing floor must stop and stand still until the music starts again.

One problem that I have found is that there aren't many sites to teach personal space for P.E.