Conversion Tag: Three Colors That Switch Teams

Three teams in different colored pinnies: reds tag blues, blues tag greens and greens tag reds. Anyone tagged switches to the color of the person who tagged them, so teams grow and shrink and players must decide at every moment whether to attack or flee.

How to play

1. Easy jogging, side shuffles and dynamic mobility (2 min).
2. Three teams of nine or ten in red, blue and green pinnies; a field of about 100 x 100 feet marked with cones and a box of spare pinnies in each corner (1 min).
3. Round 1: each color chases its prey and flees from its hunter. A tagged player goes to a corner, puts on a pinnie of the tagger's color and returns to play (3 min).
4. Round 2 with the cycle reversed: reds tag greens, greens tag blues and blues tag reds (2 min).
5. Count players per color at the end of each round and discuss which strategies worked (1 min).

Rules

• Tag gently on the back or shoulder.
• Pinnie changes happen in the corner, outside the field, where nobody can be tagged.
• If a color drops below three players, the teacher sends back four players from the other colors.
• Run facing forward; no running backward.

Variations

Adaptations

• Color blindness: use very distinct colors and add a number or armband to each pinnie.
• Limited mobility: acts as a moving safe spot; anyone touching their hand cannot be tagged for 3 seconds.
• Overweight: may go to a corner to rest for 20 seconds whenever needed without changing color.

Learning goals

• Make continuous decisions between chasing and fleeing.
• Raise warm-up intensity with a cooperative-competitive game.
• Adapt to teams that change size during play.

Equipment for a class of 25

• pinnies: 45
• cones: 4

Teacher tip

Before starting, have each team say out loud whom they chase and whom they flee; it prevents half the confusion.

More activities like this

More warm-ups for High School