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Name of Activity:
Thanksgiving Extravaganza!
Purpose of Activity:
Students will test their fitness levels and tossing/throwing accuracy in a variety of Thanksgiving-themed stations.Prerequisites:
Students must have an understanding of basic fitness activities such as push ups, sit ups, heel raises, arm rolls, jumps, hops, etc. Students must also be familiar with tossing and throwing with varying amounts of force to achieve accuracy.Suggested Grade Level:
3-5Materials Needed:
cones, balance beam, step boxes, hoops, rings, hoop stands, softee balls, bean bags, exercise mats, laminated turkey cut-outs, containers, plastic bottles or bowling pins, laminated pilgrim cut-outs, large wall turkey and paper feathers (laminated) with exercises written on themDescription of Idea
The Turkey Extravaganza is a series of six stations all with a Thanksgiving theme - which may take a bit of preparation, but can be used for multiple days. For multiple classes at one time, set up three sets of each station; however, this will work for a smaller class. Set up enough equipment at each station to limit "wait time" for the students. Have the students practice the skills at each station for a designated amount of time. One may use music to rotate students from station to station. The six stations are:
Turkey Shoot:
Place six bean bags in a container next to a cone about 10-15 feet from some bleachers or other raised area, such as a stage. On the top of the bleachers or raised surface, place your choice of turkey targets (i.e., laminated pictures of turkeys taped to toilet paper rolls). Students have six tries to knock down as many turkeys as they can using an overhand throw.
Bowling for Turkeys:
Place two softee balls in a shallow box next to a cone about 15-20 feet from a wall. About a foot in front of the wall place any number of turkey bowling pins that you desire (note: tape a laminated picture of a turkey to a bowling pin or empty bottle). Students stand behind the cone and roll/bowl the ball to the turkeys. How many turkeys can be knocked down in just two tries?
Pilgrim Ring Toss:
Make up a series of pilgrims/Indians to be taped onto cones. Spread these cones out in a designated area of the gym floor. Place a cone on the floor, or designate a line with 4-6 rings around/on it. Students stand behind the cone and try to ring as many pilgrims/Indians as they can to join them in their Thanksgiving feast.
Create a Pie:
Place hula hoops on the ground in a designated area of the gym. About 10 feet from the hoops, place a cone and a container with 6 bean bags in it. In the hoops, place a cone displaying the name or picture of different types of pies. Students use an underhand soft toss to “create a pie” by having at least two bean bags land in a pie dish (hula hoop).
Turkey Exercises:
After dinner you need to burn off all those calories, so you need to do some exercises! On the wall place a tail-less turkey that is about three feet tall. Create exercise tail feathers by cutting out and laminating feather shapes on a piece of construction paper and writing different exercises on each of them. Some suggestions of exercises include: heel raises, arm rolls, jogging, crab walk, slide, gallop, skip, march, frog jump, bunny hop, single leg hop, bear-crawl, and toe touches. Place all the feathers in a box at the end of a balance beam about 20 feet from the tail-less turkey. Students will walk across the balance beam, select a feather from the box and then do the exercise indicated on the feather all the way back to the turkey. Attach the feather onto the turkey (It works well to place Velcro on the turkey and the feathers so they will stick and one can re-use them easily.) and then return to the line behind the balance beam.
Turkey Maze (obstacle course):
This station can vary depending on the equipment you have available. Two students will begin at the start of the maze (set up two identical courses). Begin by crawling through a chute created by exercise mats, go through a hoop that is held up by hoop stands, jump over the step boxes (you can stack more than one to increase difficulty), go through another hoop, and then try to be the first to reach the Thanksgiving feast (a ball balanced on top of a cone)!
Assessment Ideas:
You can give station cards to track improvement from day to day from station to station. For example, for the turkey shoot, ask "How many turkeys did you knock over with 6 bean bags on M, T, W?" Similar things can be done with the bowling, create a pie, and the pilgrim ring.
Teaching Suggestions:
adjust the distance to the targets, make the targets larger, use modified exercises for the turkey exercises station

Previous Comments:
Kristal Kostiew (yush) |
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