Activities

BasketVolley

Grade Level: 6-8

Teams of four work to volley a ball down floor to volley into basketball hoop. All Basketball rules apply, including dropped ball goes to opposing team.

Partner Travel Challenges

Grade Level: K-2

Students perform the following stunts with/without partners after they problem-solve the methods. Each of the following stunts should be performed by moving from one end of the gym floor to the other. Examples: How would you move across the floor with 1 foot? 2 feet? 2 feet and 2 hands? 2 feet and 1 hand? Or with a partner: how would you move across the floor together with 2 feet total? 4 feet and 4 hands? etc.

Paper or Plastic

Grade Level: 3-5

One partner throws a plastic grocery bag up in the air, while the other partner throws a ball at the bag. Partners get one point for each time they hit the bag in the air.

Wall target grid

Grade Level: 3-5

Mark out a grid with tape on the wall. Assign point values for each space in the grid. Students will throw objects at the grid and see how many points they can earn.

Castle Ball

Grade Level: 6-8, 9-12

Castle Ball is like building a “house of cards” out of 4 to 6 hula hoops. This structure will stand on its own but will fall when a ball strikes any part of it. To build the castle teams place one hoop on the floor, four hoops form the sides, and one the top.

Depending on the space available have many games going on at the same time. It works best when teams are 3-on-3 and no more than 4-on-4.

The object of the activity is to try to work with classmates to knock down the castle of the other team, while protecting your own. One point is awarded each time a castle is knocked down, even if a player bumps into hisher own castle. Castles that are knocked down should be set up as quickly as possible so players can continue playing.

The game area is separated by a center line, which players cannot cross to retrieve a ball (this center line is optional–you decide). It is also best to have a throwing line inside each teams area to make sure all balls are thrown from the same distance. Teams are not to throw at castles inside of that line. Players should be encouraged to try different throwing strategies, i.e; different angles, speeds, trajectories, bounced off the wall or the ceiling etc. They should also be encouraged (and even recognized with scoring rewards) to pass the ball to teammates to surprise the defenders or to make sure everyone gets to throw the ball. In defending the castle, players should be alert, on the balls of their feet, and cooperate with their teammates to form strategies that will best defend their “castles”.

Team Outfield Scramble

Grade Level: 3-5

Divide the class into a team with at least four players in each group. Two members from each team are selected to hold the two person parachute and be the “catchers”. Their job is to work together to catch a thrown object with the parachute (the object may not bounce or be rolled). Catchers may move side to side but cannot move closer to the thrower. If an object is caught in the parachute, the “catchers” must work together to transfer it into the team hoop/basket without using their hands. Each caught pop–fly is counted as a run/score.

One player is selected as the “thrower” and they must perform an underhand or overhand throw from a designated area (cone) using the parachute as the target. The last member of the team is the “Retriever.” They must pick up one object that is scattered in the outfield and run it to the “thrower”. They must hand it (do not roll or throw) to their team thrower and then go back to the outfield for another object. After all the objects have been collected from the outfield, count up your team “runs”, return objects to outfield and switch jobs so that everyone gets a chance to work the parachute, throw, or retrieve.

Follow the Leader Throw and Catch

Grade Level: K-2

Spread hoops out on the floor in the activity area (half as many as there are students) and place a ball (or other object that can be thrown–bean bag, koosh ball, yarn ball, etc.) inside each hoop. Students should be paired with a partner–each pair stands at a hoop. One student per pair begins as the leader. When the music starts, the leader moves around the gym to the music and their partner has to copy their movements. When the music stops, each pair goes to the closest hoop and practices their throwing and catching over the hoop. When the music starts, the other person in the pair becomes the new leader and the game begins again, with the original leader in the pair, copying the movements of their partner who is the new leader.

Freezamania throw and catch

Grade Level: 3-5

After introducing/reviewing the cues for throwing and catching to be focused on during this lesson (for ex. throwing: “follow through to your partner”; “twist your body”; catching: “give with your body”; “pull the ball in to your body”), students are arranged in a scattered formation with one ball for every two children (allow them to choose object to throw).

As a musical selection is played, the children proceed to throw and catch back and forth. When the music goes off, the person that is holding the ball must chase after the other until the music comes on again. When the music starts again, students begin to throw and catch again (you might allow–or require–students to quickly change the object they are using at this point). Observe students during the activity to see if they are using the cues introduced when throwing and catching; give feedback based upon their use of these cues.

Wall Ball

Grade Level: 3-5

The basic activity of the game is throwing the ball up against the wall, letting it bounce on the ground if you want, then catching it. You can throw it against the wall and catch it yourself, or let another team member catch it, or whatever. The fun starts when one of two things happen: 1) if a person throws the ball and it touches the ground before hitting the wall or 2) a person fumbles or drops the ball in any way. When either of these things happen, the fumbler/bad thrower must run to the wall. Meanwhile another player is trying to throw the ball so that it hits the wall before the fumbler can touch the wall.

FIre and Ice Freeze Tag

Grade Level: K-2, 3-5

Level one

3 ways to get frozen: Getting tagged by an icicle, falling down, going out of bounds

• If you are frozen you must do the fist pump dance moving side to side (just like Noodle Dance Tag)
• If you have a fireball you can not be frozen
• If you are frozen, someone can toss you a fireball and if you catch it you are unfrozen
• If the fireball is not caught when tossed, it must be re-tossed until it is caught successfully

Level Two:

• If the fireball is dropped it is dead and can not be picked up

Level 3

• The fireball is no longer invincible and can be frozen by the ice. If frozen they can still be unfrozen by another fireball if they make a successful catch. They should then have 2 fireballs to toss to other players that are frozen.

Red Light Green Light Dribbling

Grade Level: 3-5, 6-8

This game is just like red light and green light. The teacher will hold up signs of either green or red. When the teacher is holding a green sign, students will move forward and dribble towards the teacher. When the teacher is holding a red sign, students will stop where they are, however, they will keep dribbling. Remember to remind the students that it is more important to control the dribble than focusing on speed. If you lose control of the ball you have to go back to the start line.  As soon as any student passes the line they give themselves a point and return to the starting line to begin again.

Basketball Frenzy

Grade Level: 3-5, 6-8

• Scatter the basketballs on the gym floor and have the students stand next to a basketball. On the “go” signal, each student will pick up a basketball and dribble it two times, leave it, move to another ball and dribble it two times. The object is to keep all of the basketballs moving until the stop signal. To add a challenge, the teacher can point to a stationary basketball and start counting out loud. If he/she counts to three before a student dribbles the ball, the teacher gets a point. If the teacher scores three points by the end of the time period, the teacher wins that round. When they have become comfortable with dribbling, add the following:

• • Dribble three times and move to another ball.
  • Dribble with the non-dominant hand.
  • Do cross-over dribbles.
• Do patterns: one dribble, two dribbles, three dribbles then back to one dribble, then two, then three, etc.