Playground Leaders

Teacher Card 5

Aim of session: For pupils to be able to organise the correct equipment for an activity.

Introduction:There are 4 things that a leader must organise in order to lead a fun and safe activity. These things spell out the word S T E P.

See if you can work out what the letter E stands for.

Activity: Pupils play the following games and try to work out what the problems with the activity are.

  1. Scatterball

Give pupils the Scatterball Activity Card. Ask them to work out what equipment is needed to play the game.

Set up the game:

There is a batting team and a fielding team. The bowler has4 tennis balls. Bowler bowls the first tennis ball, batter hits it (or misses it) and nobody moves. Bowler bowls the 2nd ball and the same thing happens, then the 3rd and then the 4th. Only once the batter hits (or misses) the 4th ball can anyone move.

The aim is for the batter to get round the cones to and back to their box before all 4 balls have been returned to the bowlers box (put an upturned cone in the bowlers box to put the balls into). If the batter gets round before all of the balls have been returned to the bowlers box then they score 1 point for their team. If the fielding team return the balls first then they score the point.

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  • Allow the pupils to play the game using a range of bats.

Question: Does the type of bat make a difference? How?

  • Now play using larger, softer balls or more/less balls.

Question: Does the type and number of balls make a difference? How?

Goalie

Set up the game:

All players stand in a circle with their feet wide apart and touching the feet of the players either side of them.

Keep 1 hand behind your back. Use your free hand to stop the ball from going between your legs. Use 1 soft ball. The aim of the game is to stop the ball from going between your legs. If it does, then you must sit down. If you sit down, you can still roll the ball and try to get others out. The ball must stay on the ground. You can’t use your feet to stop the ball going through your legs and you can’t close your legs. The winner is the last person still standing.

  • Ask the pupils to work out what equipment is needed to play the game.
  • Play the game with a large soft ball and then a smaller ball.

Question: Does the size of the ball make a difference to the game? Which is harder to use?

Question: Which types of ball must you not use in this game? Why?

Question to ask pupils: What do you think E stands for in S T E P?

Recap:

Complete Equipment worksheet.

Why is it important to make sure that you use the correct equipment when setting up an activity?

Points for discussion : Safety, Enjoyment, So that all players can be successful (if they always miss the ball when batting they will lose confidence etc).

You are about to set up a game of scatterball. Some player sin the group are very good at scatterball and others haven’t really played much before.

Decide which type of bat you would give to each person below (remember they might want to choose which bat to use but you could try and advise them). Draw an arrow to the bat which would be best for each person.