Color Cone Fartlek

A run with pace changes in which the color of each cone tells students how to cover the next stretch: jog, run fast or walk. It builds aerobic and anaerobic endurance through play, and students end up designing part of the course themselves.

How to play

1. Place 12 cones around the court to create stretches of 15–20 m (about 50–65 ft): green means jog, yellow means run fast and red means walk. The cone's color tells students how to cover the stretch to the next cone.
2. Walk one lap with the whole class to learn the color code (2 min).
3. Block one (4 min): each student runs at their own pace following the colors and counts their laps.
4. Recover for 1.5 minutes walking with a hand on the chest: how is your heart beating now?
5. Block two (4 min): swap 3 red cones for yellow ones to make it harder and repeat. Then take 1.5 minutes to recover.
6. In groups of 5, each group rearranges the cones in one section of the court to create its own fartlek stretch (3 min).
7. Block three (4 min) on the course designed by the class. Afterwards, each student compares their laps across the three blocks and says which one was toughest.

Rules

• Always run in the same direction and pass on the outside.
• On yellow stretches run fast, but never push or cut someone off.
• Count your own laps honestly; you are not racing anyone else.
• If you feel dizzy or hurt, switch to the red pace and tell the teacher.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: the student covers the stretches in a wheelchair using the same colors on a shorter inside loop.
• Visual impairment: the student runs with a guide partner who calls out the color of each stretch.
• Different fitness levels: anyone who needs it may treat yellow stretches as green for one block.

Learning goals

• Alternate running paces in response to a visual signal.
• Recognize how effort and recovery feel in the body.
• Design a running stretch with pace changes as a group.

Equipment for a class of 25

• colored cones: 16

Teacher tip

Put yellow cones on the straightaways, not the curves, to prevent slips. When groups design their section, check that they do not place more than two yellows in a row.

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