Colored Eggs to the Henhouse

The hens have laid eggs all over the yard, and together the children dribble them with their feet to the nest of the matching color without “cracking” them with hard kicks. It builds gentle dribbling, color sorting, and group cooperation.

How to play

1. The teacher scatters the balls (eggs) across the yard and sets the hoops (nests), one of each color, inside a rope henhouse on one side (2 min).
2. Demonstration: you move an egg with soft taps “so it doesn’t crack”; a hard kick breaks it (1 min).
3. Everyone at once: each hen finds an egg, dribbles it to the nest of its color, and goes back for another (4 min).
4. Check the nests together: is any egg in the wrong nest? Fix it with a foot (2 min).
5. The teacher “shakes the henhouse” and scatters the eggs again; second round in pairs, moving each egg together (4 min).
6. Count the eggs in each nest and give all the hens a round of applause (1 min).

Rules

• Eggs move with our feet, using soft taps.
• Each egg goes to the nest of its color.
• We do it all together: no winners, just a full henhouse.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: a child using a wheelchair is the farmer who receives the eggs in the henhouse and checks colors.
• Color blindness or visual impairment: mark eggs and nests with shapes (circle, cross) or textures too.
• Less coordination: bigger or slightly deflated eggs.

Learning goals

• Dribble the ball with soft touches.
• Sort objects by color.
• Work together on a shared task without competing.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Soft balls in assorted colors: 30
• Colored hoops: 4
• Long rope: 1

Teacher tip

Put out more eggs than children so there’s always a free one. If someone hoards eggs, give them a job: “You’re the farmer who checks the colors.”

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