Start the day off right these with these fun morning meeting games for Kindergarten! They're a great way to help your students get to know each other and form positive relationships.
Morning meetings at a glance
A morning meeting is a short, whole-class routine at the start of the day where students greet each other, share, play a quick game and hear what's coming up.
- Greeting: every child is welcomed by name. For example, a wave, a high five or a "good morning" passed around the circle.
- Sharing: one or two students talk about something that matters to them. For example, the Share chair or a question of the day.
- Activity: a quick game that builds connection or practises a skill. For example, Four corners, Simon says or Buzz.
- Morning message: a short note about the day ahead. For example, "Today we have library and a visit from the dental van."
To run one, keep the same four parts in the same order every day, and explicitly teach each game before you expect the class to play it on their own.
Best Morning Meeting Games & Activities - A Brief Overview
Free morning meeting greetings display
Greetings are one of the simplest things you can do for the whole day. In one study, greeting students positively at the door lifted academic engagement by 20% (around 12 extra minutes of on-task learning every hour) and reduced disruptive behaviour (Cook et al., 2018). Want an easy way to make greetings part of your morning meeting? This one's free.
20 editable greeting options kids choose from as they're welcomed each morning, like a high ten or a secret salute, plus "Good morning" and "Class greetings" header cards. Two designs (list or grid), with illustrated kids or icons.
- Grab the free rainbow version
- Prefer calmer colours? Grab the free neutral version or pastel version.
Now, let's get into the games, plus how to set up a morning meeting routine that actually sticks.
Why morning meetings matter in Kindergarten
Adding a daily morning meeting to your schedule is incredibly important for building a positive classroom community. Whether your school allows for this time or not, it's a crucial way to build relationships in your classroom and start everyone off on the right foot.
The goal of Kindergarten morning meetings is to start the day by bringing everyone together. You want every child to be seen, welcomed, and engaged. Morning meetings show a commitment to so much more than just covering the curriculum - you truly want each child to feel like they are part of a community.
This can be a fantastic way to get everyone in the right headspace to learn and to shake off any frustrations or negative feelings they may have carried into the classroom.
Starting a Daily Morning Meeting Routine
If you're new to morning meetings, it's really helpful to understand the basic concept. It is recommended that morning meetings have four components:
- Greeting
- Sharing
- Activity
- Morning Message
You'll start by saying good morning to each other (often in some fun or silly way), then sharing how everyone is doing before playing a fun game or activity. Finally, you end the meeting with a special message that helps your class understand what is coming throughout the day and to start the day on a positive note.
Change the activity at least every few days. I like to have a handful of games and then try a different one each day. You can also assign a game to each day of the week, or make it random. Try writing the names of your favourite games on popsicle sticks and have the student of the day pull one out!
However you want to do it, this little bit of time playing together is so important and will help your students shake off any negative feelings or frustrations from home, and get them in the right place to have fun at school and learn with their teacher and classmates!
23 Best Morning Meeting Activity Ideas for Kindergarten
Let's explore a whole lot of morning meeting activities ideas. These ice breaker games are a fantastic way to either learn about each other or play. Many of them involve collaboration, which can be both challenging and so rewarding!
1. Simon Says
This is an oldie, but a goodie! Start by leading the class and then swap out the leader position with different students. This is a great activity to get some wiggles out, too!
2. Where the Wind Blows
This is a great way for the whole class to get to know each other! Everyone holds hands in a circle, and the leader says, "The wind blows for people who...." Anyone who likes or does what they add to the statement should move across the circle and find a new spot.
For example, you could say, "The wind blows for people who love Pokemon!" Then, any kids who like Pokemon move across the circle to find a new spot.
3. Four Corners
Assign a preference or opinion to each corner of the room, and have students head to one to show what they like.
For example, assign each corner a favourite animal (dogs, cats, horses or fish). Each student must find a corner and chat with the other kids who like the same thing. This is such a wonderful way to see who likes the same things and make some connections!
4. Beach Ball
If you have access to an outdoor space, this is a great activity to play with a little more room! The goal is to keep the beach ball off the ground, so each student needs to help keep it afloat.
5. Silent Ball
This is one of the most popular classroom games! Kids love it because they get to sit on their desk and throw the ball around the classroom. The goal is to catch the ball each time and not make a sound. If you miss the ball or make a sound, you're out.
6. Would You Rather
This is a great game to play at the beginning of the year when your students are just starting to learn about each other. You can either talk about their answers in the circle or have them move to a spot in the room to show their preferences.
Feel free to make it silly or ask serious questions, too. Here are some examples:
Would you rather...
- Eat a raw egg or a worm?
- Have a pet chicken or a pet turtle?
- Live in a zoo or underwater?
- Be smart or have a lot of money?
You might like to use The Hive's Would You Rather morning slides!
In The Hive: Would You Rather questions, daily sharing questions and kindness prompts are ready to put up on your board, so the question is already there when the kids sit down.
7. Share Chair
At the beginning of the school year, have one student share about themselves daily. Think of it like show-and-tell, but they don't have to bring anything into school if they don't want to. They can share about their family, their hobbies, etc.
This is a fantastic way to build a classroom community early on and help your students learn more about each other.
8. Marco Polo
Pair your students up and have them create their own phrases to find each other across the classroom, like the classic game Marco Polo. It's a good idea to play this one outside or somewhere without a lot of desks to trip over!
9. Mirror
Pair students together and have them copy each other's actions as if looking into a mirror. This one may require modelling in a mirror to show them how the movements are reversed. It's challenging to pay attention to their own body while watching their partner!
10. Create a Dance
Kids love to move, and it's so much fun to have them share their talents and skills! Have your students work on creating a dance together. They should practise it and try to get to the point that they are totally synced up in their movements!
Through this, they'll learn how to practise their communication skills, overcome disagreements, and think about the movements they're making with their bodies. It's also great for practising gross motor skills!
11. Duck, Duck, Goose
This is a classic game for the Kindergarten and preschool crowd, and your kids will love it! The great thing is that you can play for just one or two short rounds or keep it going for longer. It's also a fun brain break during the middle of the day.
12. Musical Chairs
I'm sure you've played this classic game before! It's a great way to get kids up and moving and can be such a fun game.
It can be frustrating, so this is a good chance to work through disappointments and to become more emotionally resilient. Another option is to play this without removing a chair or have eliminated students move to another fun activity, like a colouring page, etc.
13. Buzz (or Sparkle)
There are so many different ways to play this game, and you can use it to reinforce academic skills, like letter order, number order, and more.
One great way to play in a kindergarten classroom is to use it to practice identifying vowels and consonants. Each student in a circle says the next letter in the alphabet. Anytime there is a vowel, that student needs to say "buzz" or "sparkle." If they forget, they're out, and the circle keeps going until there is one winner left.
Feel free to adapt this game however you see fit, and instead of eliminating the students who get the letters wrong, find another way to include them to keep them engaged in the learning.
In The Hive: if you'd like to sneak some phonics review into your morning meeting, The Hive has interactive phonics review apps you can run on your board, plus apps for drawing and counting on the hundreds chart.
14. Hot Potato
Grab a stuffed animal (or stuffed potato) and have students toss it around while music is playing. When the music stops, whoever has it is out!
Feel free to adjust the rules of this game. Try having whoever has the toy at the end choose the game for the next day!
15. Telephone
What a great way to practice careful listening! Whisper a word into the ear of one student, and have them whisper to the next student, and so on until the word makes it all the way around. I like to use vocabulary words for this to give them another chance to learn these important words.
16. Scavenger Hunt
Make up a little scavenger hunt to have students find different things around the room.
In Kindergarten, it's great to focus on items connected to the skills they're learning, like looking for things that start with a specific letter or colour. You can also have them look for things that are certain shapes or sizes.
This is a great way to get your kids up and they'll be so eager to find everything!
17. Pictionary
Most kids love drawing or guessing pictures! Fill a fish bowl with slips of paper with a different animal, food, or item. Take turns having students draw these pictures to see if their classmates can guess them.
It can be helpful to talk about how to be encouraging to others beforehand to avoid any unkind observations!
18. Letter Game
The goal is to have kids think of different things that start with a specific letter. This is a fantastic way to build phonemic awareness!
Choose from different categories, like animals, movies or TV shows, foods, etc. Write each letter on a popsicle stick, draw one, and have them think of or find something in the room that starts with that first letter.
19. Sing a Welcome Song
Music can be such a relaxing way to start the day! Choose a song to sing together to get everyone involved.
20. Ask a Question
Before your kindergarten students come to the carpet for morning meeting time, post a question on the board. These daily questions can be simple, like asking about what they had for breakfast or their favourite TV show, or you can ask about their personalities or preferences.
As your kids start to write, you can have them answer these fun morning meeting questions as part of their morning work, then discuss them when they come to the carpet.
In The Hive: build your whole morning meeting as one slide deck (greeting, question of the day, days of school, weather and the day's plan) and reuse it every morning. The student picker app chooses who answers, so it's fair and random.
21. Staring Contest
Practise making eye contact by hosting a staring contest! It's quick, absolutely no-prep, and they love trying to keep a serious face!
22. Don't Laugh
This is a fun game that always gets your students' attention! The goal is for kids to try to make each other laugh while the other partner really tries to keep those giggles in. It always ends with everyone cracking up, which is the perfect way to release some stress and set your class up for a great day!
23. Build a Pattern
Use the Shape Counting app in The Hive to build a specific pattern. Have your students add the next 2-3 pieces of the pattern each day on your interactive whiteboard. You can even connect this app to a specific time of day, so it's ready to go whenever you need it!
Whether you follow the Responsive Classroom model to the letter or borrow the parts that suit you, morning meetings are one of the simplest ways to do real community building in Kindergarten. Ten minutes on the carpet each morning gives kids a chance to practise social skills like taking turns, listening to a friend and joining in a game, without it ever feeling like a lesson. And you learn sooo much about them along the way.
Over time, that circle time becomes a safe space too. The child who wouldn't say a word in week one starts putting their hand up for the Share chair, and the one who arrives upset has a predictable place to land before the day gets going.
You don't need all 23 games. Pick a handful that suit the needs of your students, teach them well, and play them until they're old favourites. Then swap one out when your class is ready for something new. Some of the best moments of the day happen on that carpet before the first lesson even starts.
Want to simplify your morning routine?
Want your entire year of morning meetings set up for you? The Hive has everything you need to set your mornings up for success! Easily set up interactive digital slides for each part of your meeting, including your whole morning meeting routine and daily activities.
Build one daily slide deck with your greeting, question of the day, days of school counter, weather and morning message, then reuse it every day and just tweak what changes. You can try all of it free for 14 days.
Here are just a few of my favourite morning meeting activities that you'll find in The Hive.
Feelometer
Use it during the sharing part of your meeting, so every child can show how they're feeling before the day gets going. It's a lovely way for quieter kids to share without having to say it out loud. You can completely adjust this to suit your students' needs and classroom context.
Days of School
Weather
Classroom Expectations & Timers
Days of the Week
Daily Affirmations & Kindness Prompts
There are also apps for phonics review, drawing, picking students, counting on the hundreds chart, and so much more.
You can even play mindful breathing videos to calm your class down when they're stressed or overly silly!
It's the easiest way to organise your day and makes it much easier to incorporate these important moments into your daily routine.
Try The Hive today with our 14 day free trial and build your morning meeting deck!
Morning meeting FAQs
What is a morning meeting in Kindergarten?
A morning meeting is a short whole-class routine at the start of the day. Students sit together (usually in a circle), greet each other by name, share, play a quick game and hear about the day ahead. It helps five-year-olds settle in and feel part of the class before learning starts.
How long should a Kindergarten morning meeting be?
In Kindergarten, it's fine to start with 10 minutes and build up as the class learns the routine. A short meeting that happens every day does more than a long one that gets skipped.
What are the four parts of a morning meeting?
Greeting, sharing, activity and morning message. Everyone is welcomed by name, one or two students share, the class plays a short game, and you finish with a message about what's happening today.
What are the best morning meeting games for Kindergarten?
Games with simple rules and lots of movement work best, like Simon says, Four corners, Where the wind blows, Duck, duck, goose and Would you rather. Pick five or six favourites and rotate them, so kids spend less time learning rules and more time playing.
How do I fit a morning meeting into a busy timetable?
Keep the four parts but make each one tiny: a quick greeting around the circle, one sharer, a two-minute game and a one-line message. Some teachers run a shorter version first thing and save the game for after recess. If mornings are impossible, an afternoon meeting does the same job.
Do morning meetings work in Year 1 and Year 2?
Yes. The structure stays the same, and you swap in games with a little more challenge, like Buzz with skip counting or a question of the day that students answer in writing before they come to the carpet.
