Inside: 15 Non-Contact Morning Greeting Options for Social Distancing with Kids. Includes a poser of no-touch greetings choices for the classroom.
Our popular Morning Greeting choices poster is one of the most popular resources amongst our readers, but…
Since social distancing in schools is in place at this time, and some of the greeting choices from our downloadable poster are mainly contact-based, we added a no-touch greetings poster as part of the same download, so teachers can use both charts, depending on the stage of restrictions that are in place in the schools and nurseries of their area.
** Download poster at the end of this page **
The following no-touch greeting options for kids are included in the poster:
- Jazz Hands
- Foot Bump
- Namaste
- Smile
- Wave
- New Way (anything distance-friendly that the children come up with)
In the poster, we only included 6 non-contact greetings to support the children to make a choice easier. Especially for classrooms with a higher number of students, which means no-long wait for each student to choose a greeting.
Anyway, there are plenty more options of social distance-friendly greetings that you could do with kids, so we list all of them below:
15 Social Distancing Greeting Choices for Kids
1. Hello Bow
Traditional bowing as a greeting is a popular gesture in many cultures around the world. One way to do it consists in keeping your arms on your sides and bowing your head forward with a straight back.
2. Pirate Arr!
Make a pirate face and a hook motion with your arm as you say “ARR!”, maybe throw in a little wink for an extra pirate touch (that’s me as a pirate in the pic, arr!).
3. Hand-in-Heart
Place your hand on your chest, make eye-contact with the other person and say “Hi!”
4. Telephone Hand
This greeting is also known as “shaka” or “surfer” and it involves extending your pinky finger and thumb while curling your three middle fingers toward your palm. It looks like the gesture you do with your hand when you pretend that you are on the phone (not a smartphone though!).
5. Peace Sign
Curl in your pinky finger, ring finger and thumb, then keep the index finger and middle finger extended, like signing the number “2”. And face the front of your hand to the other person.
5. Vulcan Sign
Not everyone can do it right away, but It consists in doing a “v” shape with your hands (like this emoji ?). It is the popular Star Treck’s character Spock’s salute that means “live long” (though the kids probably don’t know anything about it because it is not Star Wars!).
6. Astronaut Salute
Do this greeting traditionally used by the military by placing your straight hand near your forehead. We did not include this one in the poster as it may encourage younger children to touch their face! So we only recommend it with older children who would you feel sure they will do it without touching their face.
7. Air High-Five
A classic high-five without the touching.
8. Air Fist bump
Same, a classic greeting with new air in between.
9. Elbow Bump
This one is a hands-free version of the fist bump, there is still some sort of closer contact so we would not recommend using this one in places with stricter social distancing measures.
10. Jazz Hands!
Wave your hands rapidly to and fro with the palms facing forward and the fingers splayed…let the jazz shine through your fingers!
11. Foot Bump
Face the person you are greeting, extend your foot and tap their foot’s side with yours.
12. Namaste
Palms pressed together pointing upwards. Add a smile too if you can!
13. Smile
They are 100% free!
14. Wave
Not the most exciting one but definitely the most understood one and easy to reciprocate.
15. Sparkly Fingers
A variation of jazz hands, where the dingers wiggle and the hands stay still. We use this in the classroom whenever is time to stop an activity and we need to get the children’s attention, but it can also be used as a social distance greeting in this case.
Good for Zoom Classes in Preschool and Kindergarten
The contactless nature of these greetings makes them perfect for using them during distance learning sessions over Zoom.
____________________________________________________
You might like: Virtual Scavenger Hunt for Kids
____________________________________________________
DOWNLOAD PDF
The download includes at no extra cost our traditional Morning Greeting Choices posters so you can use those as well when the social distance restrictions are lifted.
Option 1 (Teachers Pay Teachers account required)
Option 2 (Gumroad – no account required)
