Build Your Own Sandbag: Weigh, Seal and Train

In teams, students build sandbags of different weights from freezer bags, an old gym bag or cover and duct tape, weigh them on a scale and test them in a mini circuit. They learn that well-made homemade equipment allows safe, almost free strength training.

How to play

1. Show a finished sandbag and explain the system: 2.5 kg bags of sand, double-bagged and taped shut, placed inside a cover or old backpack, so weight can be added or removed (3 min).
2. Teams of five: each team fills and weighs eight 2.5 kg bags, seals them with a double bag and tape, and builds two sandbags, one of 5 kg and one of 10 kg (12 min).
3. Quality check: another team makes sure the sandbags don't leak when shaken and that the weight matches the label (3 min).
4. Mini circuit with the sandbags: squat with the bag on the shoulder, floor-to-chest lift, 15-meter bear-hug carry and side slam to the floor without letting go; two rounds of 40 seconds per station (12 min).
5. Clean-up and review: approximate cost of each sandbag and three exercises students could do with it at home (5 min).

Rules

• Handle sand carefully, never throw it, and sweep up any spills.
• No one uses a sandbag that hasn't passed the quality check.
• Lift the bag from the floor with a hip hinge and neutral back, never pulling with a rounded back.
• On the side slam, don't let go of the bag: just tap it gently against the floor.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: handles weighing and quality control and does the circuit seated with the 5 kg bag (press, rotations and hug).
• Blind or low vision: fills bags with a funnel and a fixed-size scoop and gets verbal guidance on the carry.
• Dust allergy or asthma: works on sealing and checking, away from the filling area.

Learning goals

• Build safe homemade training equipment with a controlled weight.
• Apply safe techniques for lifting and carrying awkward loads.
• Cooperate in a production process with quality control between teams.

Equipment for a class of 25

• sand: 50
• freezer bags: 50
• duct tape: 6
• scale: 2
• cones: 8

Teacher tip

One 25 kg bag of builder's sand covers the whole class and costs very little. The sandbags can stay in the PE department for future lessons.

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