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Name of Activity: Grinch Tag
Purpose of Activity: To provide students an opportunity to work on cardiovascular fitness while working on their chasing and fleeing skills in a fun holiday environment.
Prerequisites: How to safely chase, tag and flee from others.
Suggested Grade Level: K-5
Materials Needed: two to three green foam hand paddles, two 6" red Gator Skin balls
Description of Idea Explain to the students that Grinches don't want Christmas to occur but that Santa and Mrs. Claus do. Two students will each have a green foam hand paddle and be the Grinches. Two other students will be Mr. and Mrs. Claus and each will be given a red Gator Skin ball. All other students are elves or Santa's helpers. Tell the elves that the gym is their workshop and they are very busy this time of year running around the workshop to get all the toys ready for Santa to deliver. However, the Grinch has come into the workshop and is trying to get the elves to stop working by tagging them. If an elf is tagged by a Grinch (s)he can no longer work and "freezes" with legs apart and arms out to the side. Santa and Mrs. Claus want the elves to continue working and will touch the frozen elves with the red Gator Skin ball to send the elf back to work. Switch taggers every minute or two. After they have run for awhile, switch locomotor movements to skipping, galloping, side-stepping, etc.
Variations: To increase the cardiovascular work-out, older students, when tagged, can go to a designated area such as a hula hoop and perform various exercises. Suggestions include jumping jacks, ski jumpers or jump rope. When they complete the exercise they can jump out of the hoop and get tagged by Santa or Mrs. Claus to get back in the game.
Assessment Ideas: Prior to and after the game, have the students take their pulse so they can see how their heart worked by running. Also, discuss how well you saw chasing and fleeing by the students. Discuss safety in tagging, chasing and fleeing in the general space.
Adaptations for Students with Disabilities: Allow students with motor impairments to be taggers, having another student assist with propelling the wheelchair while the student with a disability tags others.
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