Mini Games

Title: Frisbee football

Equipment: 2 Frisbee’s and 6 waist strap pull bands

Age: gr. 6-12

Skills: passing, spatial awareness, teamwork, hand eye coordination, stop and go, dodging, and pivoting

Rules: exact same rules for the CFL except no tackling.  One Frisbee is used to play with and the other is to indicate the offensives team line of scrimmage. Each player wears a waist band with the pull tabs. The person holding the Frisbee is the only one that can have their tags pulled to indicate a tackle. Also the player with the Frisbee is not allowed to walk with the Frisbee and must pass to every member of the team for a touchdown.

Modification: On a larger field can have the other with the Frisbee to only be able to take a set number of steps, if the teams are quit large only have to pass the Frisbee to a set number of team mates before scoring.

Title: Bean bag relay

Equipment: 18 bean bags and 6 pylons

Age: K-12

Skills: team spirit, balance, spatial awareness

Rules: Each person is given 3 bean bags. There are 4 pylons that are in a zigzag  pattern. The green and the blue pylons are upside down with the wide end on top and the skinny end on the floor. Each team sends one player at a time to zigzag from one end to the other. If you drop your bean bag mid route you must go back and start again. Once you get to the end you must tilt your head downwards and slide the bean bag into the hole of the pylon. Once this is done the next member of you team may go. Repeat this till all bean bags are in the pylon.

Modifications: For the younger kids you can take away a few pylons to make it easier or just make them go in a straight line. There could also be a stet time limit to get as many bean bags in the pylon as possible.

Our group worked quit well together, we all contributed to each of the games and there was no dominate leader. Creating the games was a great way to experiment with our pass experiences and try and combined multiple ideas together to create a fun and functional game. Some of the games did not come out the way we thought they would when we did the dry run and had to make modifications to the games either creating more rules or adding more direction to make the game run smoother.

What is your philosophy when it comes to teaching physical education to children

Entry 1

What is your philosophy when it comes to teaching physical education to Children?

I wanted to become a teacher because I was always the child that was passed along from one teacher to the next. No one cared that I couldn’t read, or that I was constantly picked on, or that I struggled with all aspects of school life. When I finally got to grade four I had a teacher that completely changed my outlook on life, when she noticed I had the reading level of a kindergarten student she personally made sure that I got the help that I needed to get my reading levels where I could comprehend and contribute in class. During silent reading she put a chair beside her desk and got books of an easier level for me to read and cool little jelly soups as a reward for when I finished a book. She made a huge impact on my life and as I got older I realized I wanted to become a teacher because I wanted to give back to students just as that teacher had done for me.

I realize and understand personally how it feels to be a child that is mistreated by other children for the magnitude of reasons from not being as equally coordinated as the others, being a heavier weight, or kids just not liking other kids. I personally believe that to teach children how to respect themselves and each other is a fundamental block in teaching physical education. By setting boundaries as to how to treat the gym equipment, your fellow class mates, and respecting the rules that are in place I believe are the beginning steps to a child that can take the respect from the gym to society.

Self-esteem is becoming a bigger a bigger concern and what better way than using physical education as a source to help children build up their self-esteem. I know that these changes don’t happen over night or maybe not even in a year, but I hope by using games that incorporate all skill levels and making rules and letting children set a short term goal of which they wish to accomplish for that class or that week is a great way to build on. Even just simply telling a child the good things they did that day adds to their self-esteem.

All three of these coincide with one another, they each branch off into other areas of life outside of the gym, I hope by working on these particular things children will not only to be able to have fun in gym but to be able to take all of the fundamental skills and life skills and incorporate them into their everyday lives.