Animal Walks on the Line

Students travel along the court lines using animal walks: the cat walks heel to toe, the flamingo goes on tiptoes, the crab crosses its feet sideways and the heron freezes on one foot. The activity builds dynamic balance and control over different parts of the foot.

How to play

1. Put a cone with an animal card at the start of 5 court lines about 10 m (30 ft) long; make 5 groups of 5 and assign each group a line (2 min).
2. Demonstrate the five walks: cat (heel touching toe), flamingo (tiptoes with high knees), crab (sideways with crossover steps), penguin (on the heels) and heron (three steps, then freeze on one foot for a count of three) (3 min).
3. Each student walks their line using the walk on the card; the next one starts when the first reaches halfway, and groups switch lines every minute and a quarter (6 min).
4. Zoo game: the teacher shouts an animal and everyone, on whatever line they are on, switches to that walk right away; anyone who steps off does the heron for three seconds and keeps going (2 min).
5. Each group invents a new animal with its own line walk and teaches it to the class, who copy it (2 min).

Rules

• Keep your feet on the line for every walk.
• Don't start until the person ahead of you reaches the middle of the line.
• Return to your group along the outside of the lines so you don't bump into anyone coming the other way.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: travel the line in a wheelchair or walker, acting out the animal with arms and upper body, and pick the animal for the zoo game.
• Autism: use cards with a drawing and a photo of each walk, and announce a fixed line order ahead of time.
• Advanced students: combine two animals on the same line, such as half cat and half crab.

Learning goals

• Maintain balance while walking a line on different parts of the foot.
• Tell the difference between walking on tiptoes, on heels, sideways and with pauses.
• Create and teach a new walk to classmates.

Equipment for a class of 25

• cards: 5
• cones: 5

Teacher tip

Make the cards big with simple drawings so they can be read from a distance. Watch for students staring at their feet and cue them to look at the cone at the end of the line.

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