Warm Up Activities

The first fifteen to twenty minutes of an adult class can feel chaotic and unproductive. Students are arriving late after dropping off children at school or coming from work, and they trickle in a few at a time. How can we make the best of this time?

The answer is the warm up activity. An ideal warm up activity is worthwhile and open ended. Often it can be review. The idea is to give students much needed practice with a skill (or skills), while postponing the introduction of new content until all the students have arrived.

Warm up activities make great routines. The same warm up activity can be used several times a week or even every day. Once students understand how it works, they can get started independently as soon as they arrive, freeing up the teacher to welcome new students, catch up with absent students, or work on other important tasks.

Many of our Tutor Tips make great warm ups!