Design-a-Tag Warm-Up
Each group has 3 minutes to invent a no-elimination tag game around a required feature from a card, then teaches it to and plays it with another group. Students get a high-energy warm-up while practicing creativity and explaining rules.
How to play
- Make six groups of four and give each a card with a required feature: rescuing tagged players, switching taggers on the fly, safe zones with a time limit, always moving in pairs, tagging only with a ball, or tagging by pinnie color.
- Each group has 3 minutes to make up the rules: who's it, how you tag, what happens when you're tagged, and how you get freed, with nobody out for more than 10 seconds.
- Pair up the groups in a space about 15 by 15 yards marked with cones.
- Group A explains its game in 30 seconds, and all eight players play it for 3 minutes.
- Switch, and group B explains and runs its game for another 3 minutes.
- When finished, each group names one thing that would make the other game more fun or safer, and the teacher picks one for the whole class to play another day.
Rules
- No game can keep anyone out for more than 10 seconds.
- Tag with an open hand on the shoulders or back, never a push.
- Rules are explained before playing and don't change mid-game.
- Safety: the space is marked with cones, and everyone stays inside it.
Variations
Easier
The teacher provides a rules template, and the group just adds the required feature.
Standard
Each group invents a full game around its card in 3 minutes.
Harder
The game must also include a sport skill from the current unit, like dribbling a basketball or a soccer ball.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: the group writes an active role into its rules for that student, such as a rescuer from a fixed zone.
- Autism: write each game's rules on the card so they can be checked during play.
- Fitness level: taggers switch often so nobody stays in a demanding role for long.
Learning goals
- Create a movement game with clear rules and no eliminations.
- Explain game rules in an organized, easy-to-follow way.
- Participate actively and intensely in chasing games.
Equipment for a class of 25
- pinnies: 12
- cones: 12
- cards: 6
Teacher tip
Groups tend to invent overly complicated rules, so cap them at three rules. Have pinnies sorted by color to speed up changes.
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