HEALTHY Schools Lesson Resource Bank

Second Level – Munch & Move

Interdisciplinary Learning Project – Finding the Balance

Planning FrameworkContext for Learning – PEPAS

PE Module – Games 2

HEALTHY Schools

Games 2

Contents

Topic / Suggested Learning Activities
Striking & Fielding / Bench tennis
Striking & Fielding / Keep the hoop full
Striking & Fielding / Drop and catch
Striking & Fielding / Piggy in the middle
Striking & Fielding / Throwing, striking and fielding a ball
Striking & Fielding / Duck down
Striking & Fielding / Leg ball
Striking & Fielding / Crazy golf

Games Activities: striking and fielding

In this unit children learn how to hit or strike the ball into spaces, so that they can score runs in different ways. When fielding, they learn how to work together to keep the batters' scores down. In all games activities, children have to think about how they use skills, strategies and tactics to outwit the opposition. In striking and fielding games, players achieve this by striking a ball and trying to deceive or avoid fielders, so that they can run between wickets or around bases to score runs. When fielding, they try to prevent runs or points being scored.

Games 2

Topic: Striking & Fielding

SUGGESTED LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Bench Tennis
Focus
Children will practice their skills of bouncing , throwing and catching. Children will begin to understand that when working with a partner they can work both cooperatively and also compete against their partner. Children will play a game using both of these techniques. Children will be able to invent a simple fielding game which they will then teach to their partner.
Resources needed
Balls of various sizes - one for every child, Obstacles over which to throw balls - benches, sticks across skittles, boxes, skipping ropes etc.
Lesson summary
Warm up
Ask children to find a space and sit down. Recap quickly on the importance of warming up their bodies, how their body changes during exercise and why exercise is fun and good for them.
Ask children to choose a partner and explain that they will warm up by playing Follow my leader - Children will take turns to be the leader. The teacher gives a movement and the leader moves in that way but varies the movement for their partner to copy. e.g. The teacher may say 'jump' and children would move in this way but find different ways of jumping for their partner to copy.
Give children a variety of movements but start with more gentle movements like walking and progress to the more energetic such as jumping in order for the body to warm up gradually.
Introductory Activity and Experimentation
Ask children to take a ball and experiment with ways of bouncing, throwing and catching it. Challenge them to bounce the ball harder, or throw it higher in order to make the task harder or to choose a smaller ball. For those children who have difficulty encourage them to choose a larger ball. Choose two children to demonstrate what they have done and get the rest of the class to describe what they see.
Can they repeat these activities using their stronger hand or their weaker hand? How many times can they catch a ball before they drop it? Move around the children reminding them to keep their eyes on the ball and to cup their hands around it, drawing it into their bodies when they catch it. Ask children to find a partner and to put one ball away. Ask them to throw the ball to their partner using an underarm throw so that their partner can catch it. If they miss the ball tell them to move nearer and if they find the task easy to move further away.
SkillBuilding
Explain to children that when working with a partner they can work cooperatively or compete against their partner. Discuss what this means. Tell them that they are going to play a game called Bench Tennis (See Teacher Factfile) and that they will use both these ways of working. Ask the children to work cooperatively in the first part of this session. They need to throw so that their partner catches the ball every time. Challenge them to see how many times they can throw and catch the ball in one minute. Ask them to repeat the activity. Did they manage to throw and catch more times the second time?
Put out a variety of obstacles for children to throw the ball over and let the children spend a few minutes throwing over one type of obstacle before they move on to another. Next tell children that you want them to compete against their partner. This time they have to try to catch the ball more times than their partner. They score a point every time they catch the ball. First person to score five points is the winner.
Coach children on how to improve their skills by considering the best place to stand to catch the ball, making sure they watch the ball and are always ready to catch and thinking about how they will change their throw depending upon whether they are cooperating or competing.
Concluding Activity
For this activity children will work alone. They will need a ball and should take another piece of apparatus of their own choice. Explain to children that the aim is to make up their own game that involves throwing and catching. Encourage children to think of a way that they can score points in their game. Let children spend a few minutes inventing and playing their game then ask them to find a partner. They should then take turns to teach their game to a partner.
Cool Down
Ask children to stand in a large class circle. Remind them of the game Tinker Tailor learnt in earlier lessons and the actions that accompany it. (See Teacher Factfile). Say the rhyme a few times with children doing the appropriate actions.
Extension activities
Children could draw a poster to present the rules of their game. Camera pictures could be added.
Assessment cues
  • Are children able to throw and catch a ball of appropriate size for their ability?
  • Do children understand the difference between working cooperatively with and competing against their partner?
  • Can children invent a simple individual fielding game?

Games 2

Topic: Striking & Fielding

SUGGESTED LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Keep the Hoop Full
Focus
Children will practice throwing bean bags into hoops to develop their aim and accuracy. Children will learn what 'fielding' means and play a game, both as a class and in small groups, where they take on the role of 'fielder'. Children will work cooperatively to develop their skills of throwing and catching while at the same time competing against other teams.
Resources needed
Bean bags and balls of various sizes, Hoops.
Lesson summary
Warm up
Tell children to find a space and sit down. Ask them if they are cold, warm or hot. What will happen to their bodies when we do our warm up activity and start to exercise? Tell children that today they are going to warm up by singing the song 'If you're happy and you know it' (see teacher factfile). Sing the song and accompany it with different movement actions. Start with the gentler forms of movement and build up to the most energetic. Finish by singing 'If your heart is beating quickly sing boom, boom'.
Introductory Activity and Experimentation
Ask children to take a hoop and a bean bag and to work individually. Ask them to practice throwing the beanbag into the hoop. Remind them to look towards the hoop when they aim. Encourage them to throw from further away each time they get the bean bag in the hoop. Challenge children to see how many times they can throw the beanbag into the hoop, collect it and then throw it again in 30 seconds.
Ask children to work with a partner and to put the two hoops in a line with a gap of about two metres in between. Children stand in front of their own hoop and try to throw their bean bag into their partner's hoop. Their partner does the same activity at the same time. Once thrown the bean bag must be collected and the activity begins again. How many times can they throw and collect the bean bag within 30 seconds?
Tell children to swap their bean bag for a ball and repeat the activities. Remind them of ways to control the ball and to retrieve the ball once it has bounced in the hoop. Was this easier or harder? Did anyone manage to catch the ball once it had bounced inside the hoop or did they have to run after it to retrieve it?
SkillBuilding
Explain to children that in some games it is important to return the ball as quickly as possible when someone has hit it - such as in Rounders or Cricket. Running after the ball and getting it back is called fielding. Play the game 'Keep the hoop full' (see teacher factfile) so that children have an understanding of what 'fielding' is and are able to play the part of the fielder themselves. Explain what children have to do and start by the teacher being the person who tries to empty the hoop. When children have experienced the game and understand what they have to do divide them into teams of about 8 and let them play again.
Concluding Activity
Teach the children to play 'Bean Bag Circle' (see teacher factfile). Remind children that they are working cooperatively as a team so they need to throw in a way that enables their partner to catch the bean bag. They are also competing against other teams so time is important.
Cool Down
Leave the hoops where they are and ask children to walk around the hoop circle. Each time they step into a hoop they must stretch up as high as they can. When the teacher says 'freeze' the children stand quite still. When she says 'sun is out' the children gradually relax their bodies and pretend to melt slowly into the ground. Repeat a few times then ask children to relax in their melted position while the teacher recaps on what children have done in today's lesson.
Extension activities
Play 'Keep the Bucket Full' instead of 'Keep the hoop full'. In this game the hoop and bean bags are replaced by a bucket and small balls.
Assessment cues
  • Can children throw a bean bag accurately so that it lands inside a hoop?
  • Do children understand what 'fielding' means?
  • Can children catch a bean bag or ball?

Games 2

Topic: Striking & Fielding

SUGGESTED LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Drop and Catch
Focus
Children will improve hand-eye co-ordination by practicing bouncing, dropping and catching a moving ball. Children will begin to develop the skill of passing to a partner by throwing and catching a moving ball.
Resources needed
Balls and hoops for every child.
Lesson summary
Warm up
Ask children to find a space and sit down. Choose a child to say why it is important to warm up our bodies before we exercise vigorously and how our bodies change during exercise. Remind children of the warm up activity in the last lesson song 'If you're happy and you know it' (see teacher factfile) and spend a few minutes moving from the gentler to the more strenuous types of movement to accompany the song. Encourage children to suggest another two ways of moving and make up appropriate verses to accompany the movement.
Introductory Activity and Experimentation
Ask children to take a ball and working alone to practice bouncing, throwing and catching while on the move. Select two children to demonstrate and ask the others to describe what they see. Recap on the important skills needed to catch the ball accurately. Discuss with children the difference between bouncing and catching and dropping and catching. Demonstrate the two actions then get children to practice dropping and catching. Challenge them to catch the ball at different parts of the bounce having been dropped - eg. near the bottom of the bounce, near the top. Can they let the ball bounce twice after dropping it before catching it? Can they drop it and then turn around before catching it etc. Can children suggest other actions they can do before catching the ball after the drop?
Ask children to choose a partner and keep just one ball. One child drops the ball and the other child has to catch it. Ask them to take a hoop and take turns to drop the ball inside the hoop for their partner to catch.
SkillBuilding
Ask children to work with a partner and practice throwing a ball to their partner in a cooperative way so that they can catch it. Practice this skill stationary at first, reminding children about tracking the ball, reaching out towards it and cupping their hands around it when catching so that they can draw it in towards their body. Challenge them to throw the ball while moving - slowly at first and then more quickly if they are confident.
Teach the children how to play 'Hoop Drop and Catch' (see teacher factfile) reminding them how to work cooperatively so that their partner does catch the ball. When children have played this game for a few minutes encourage children to turn it into a competitive game where they try to run ahead of their partner and drop the ball into the hoop before their partner gets there.
Concluding Activity
Remind children of the game 'Bean Bag Circle' played in the last lesson. Explain that they are going to play the same game again but today they will use a ball instead of a bean bag to throw around the circle. Today's game is called 'Ball Circle' (see teacher factfile).
Cool Down
Leave the hoops on the floor and ask children to move around them first by jogging then by skipping and lastly walking. In between these actions call 'hoops' and children have to quickly sit inside a hoop. After one trial take three or four hoops away each time. Any child not in a hoop has to sit down and stay quite still on the floor.
After all hoops have disappeared ask children to remain sitting very still while the teacher goes over the skills learnt during the lesson. Encourage children to describe skills needed to carry out actions accurately and to say how their bodies have changed.
Extension activities
Children could make up their own variations to the game 'Hoop drop and catch'. These could be explained and demonstrated to the rest of the class.
Assessment cues
  • Can children catch a ball after it has been dropped?
  • Can children pass a ball to their partner and catch it when thrown to them?

Games 2

Topic: Striking & Fielding

SUGGESTED LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Piggy in the Middle
Focus
Children will continue to develop their passing skills and fielding skills when working with a partner and as part of a team. Children will begin to intercept balls thrown by their opponents. Children will be able to play a simple net type game that involves passing, intercepting and scoring.
Resources needed
Hoops, balls and bands.
Lesson summary
Warm up
Tell children to find a space and sit down. Choose a child to describe how their body feels and how they think it will change during exercise. Ask another child why they think exercise is good for them. Tell children that today they are going to warm up by playing a version of the game Islands. Today's game is called 'TreasureIslands' and children will have to use their fielding skills to play it. Explain to children what they have to do and then play the game for a few minutes, starting with the gentler movements and progressing to the more energetic.
Introductory Activity and Experimentation
Ask children to take a ball and practice rolling it along the ground. They should run to overtake the ball so that they catch it. Let children do this for a few minutes then pick out one or two children to show what they have done. Explain to children that when they run to overtake the ball they should turn to face it and crouch down, with their hands close to the ground to catch it. They should watch the ball at all times.
Let children practice this again then ask them to work with a partner. One child should roll the ball and their partner should chase it, overtake it and turn to catch it. This child should then throw the ball back for their partner to catch. Each child should have two goes at rolling and then swap roles.
SkillBuilding
Discuss with children that there are some team games in which you need to pass the ball to another person in your team. It is very important that you can throw and catch a ball accurately. Divide the children into groups of six and give them bands so that they know who is in their team. Let them practice throwing the ball to different members of their team. As a team how many times did they catch the ball within a minute?
Explain to children that in team games where you pass the ball to another member of their team it is important to stop the other team from getting the ball. This is another important skill that they need to practice.
Ask them if they know the game 'Piggy in the Middle' and make sure everyone knows what to do. Ask the groups of six to split into two groups of three with one person being the Piggy in the middle. After a few minutes tell children to change roles in case the Piggy has not been able to catch the ball.
Concluding Activity
Tell children that they are going to use the skills they have learnt in the lesson to play a team game that involves passing the ball called 'Hoop Ball'. Children can work in the same teams of six selected for earlier activities. Each team should have bands of the same colour. A hoop is placed in the centre of the workspace and the game starts by the teacher throwing the ball up in the centre. Children have to try to catch the ball then pass it to another member of their team. A goal is scored by bouncing the ball in the hoop.
Cool Down
Ask children to stretch up slowly to make themselves as tall as they can then to gradually curl up small. Now ask them to slowly uncurl and to lie upon their backs. Ask them to lift their arms, then their legs slowly into the air, stretching and relaxing them. Tell children to lie very still and quietly while the teacher recaps on the skills learnt during today's lesson.
Ask a child to explain how their body changed during the Cool down session.
Extension activities
Children could design their own warm up to be used in a later lesson. They must think about warming up the body slowly and involving all parts of the body and stretching.
Assessment cues
  • Can children pass a ball to another player?
  • Can children catch a ball passed to them?
  • Do children understand what it means to 'intercept' or win a ball from their opponent?

Games 2