Arrow Signals: Follow or Flip
The teacher holds up an arrow drawn on cardstock and students move in that direction; with the red arrow, they do the exact opposite. It warms up the body and works on left-right awareness, visual attention and controlling automatic responses.
How to play
- Make two cardstock signs with a big arrow: one green and one red. Students spread out facing the teacher, two arm lengths apart.
- With the green arrow, everyone moves the way it points: up means a short jog forward, down means walking backward slowly, and sideways means side shuffling. Practice for 2 minutes.
- Introduce the red arrow for 2 minutes: students move the opposite way. If it points right, they go left.
- For 2 minutes, the teacher calls out a different direction from the one shown. Students always follow the arrow, never the voice.
- Add two extra signals: spinning the card in a circle means turn around once, and hiding it behind your back means freeze like a statue.
- For the final 2 minutes, two students take turns holding the arrows.
Rules
- Always walk when moving backward, looking over your shoulder.
- Each move lasts only a few steps; when the arrow changes, switch right away.
- If you run out of space, march in place instead of hitting the wall.
Variations
Easier
Use only the green arrow and two directions: forward and backward.
Standard
Mix the green and red arrows with all four directions.
Harder
Add the tricky voice calls and change the arrow every 2 seconds.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: the student responds by pointing their arms or leaning their trunk from their spot.
- Visual impairment: use large, high-contrast cards and place the student in the front row, or have a classmate whisper the direction.
- Fitness level: students may walk or jog the moves depending on their fitness.
Learning goals
- Identify right, left, forward and backward quickly.
- Hold back the automatic response when the signal asks for the opposite.
- React to a visual cue while ignoring a verbal one.
Equipment for a class of 25
- cardstock: 2
Teacher tip
Remember that your right is the students' left when they face you, so point the arrow from their point of view. Have students face away from windows so they can see the cards clearly.
PatioLab has "Arrow Signals: Follow or Flip" and 2499 more activities ready to drag into your lesson and run from your phone in the gym.
More activities like this
More warm-ups for Elementary
Across-the-Floor Gymnastics Steps
A gymnastics warm-up where students travel across the gym on the diagonal in small waves, using basic steps: tiptoe walk, side gallop, chassé, grapevine, and scissor…
Active Blind Man's Bluff
A dynamic version of Blind Man's Bluff in which a guide uses only their voice to lead a blindfolded partner to tag classmates moving inside a small area.
Active Corners
Each corner of the space is marked with a cone and an exercise; the teacher calls a corner and students run to it to complete the exercise.
Animal Races
Students move around the space imitating different animals: bear walks, frog jumps, crab walks, and kangaroo hops, with short races between lines.
Anton Pirulero Copy-and-Switch
A movement version of the traditional Spanish-language singing game "Antón Pirulero": each student does their own exercise, and when the leader copies theirs, they must…
Around the World
Different areas of the playground become continents, and students travel between them using the locomotor move the teacher calls out.