Lower Elementary
Grades K-2 continue experiencing playground ball activities. This week, we'll try two games: Tip the Pin and Tunnel Ball.
- Tip the Pin: Class is divided approximately in half. Each team has a pin in the center of a circle. One person is the pinguard. The pinguard tries to keep the pin from getting knocked over. Those on the outside edge of the circle use their hands to roll the ball to try to knock the pin over. Strategies include quick passes to teammates along the edge of the circle and then a quick pass to the pin to try to knock it over. Teamwork and cooperation are emphasized.
In these photos, a second grade class plays Tip the Pin:
- Tunnel Ball: The class is divided approximately in half. Each team stands in a single file line. The person at the front of the line (Leader) starts with the ball. On the start signal, the Leader passes the ball to the person behind them (in a prescribed way) until the ball reaches the last person. The last person in line then runs to the start of the line and becomes the Leader. Everyone shuffles back one place, and the new Leader passes the ball behind them until it reaches the last person, and so on. The game continues until the original Leader is back in her/her starting position at the front of the line. Depending on the class, we may do this as a race, or we may do it as a cooperative activity with no emphasis on doing better than the other team. Variations: Change the way students pass the ball. Ideas: over their head with two hands, between their legs on the floor, between legs off of the floor, to the side at their waist, over/under: over one person's head, under next person's legs.
