Duck, Crab and Bear on the Line

Children travel along tape lines on the floor, moving the way a duck, a crab or a bear would. Each animal challenges balance in a different way: crouched low, sideways or on all fours.

How to play

1. Tape several long lines on the floor, one for every three or four children (1 min).
2. Walk normally along the line like people, one foot in front of the other (1 min).
3. Duck: squat down, hands on knees, quacking, without leaving the line (1 min).
4. Crab: sideways, one foot on each side of the line, snapping your claws (1 min).
5. Bear: hands and feet on the floor, with hands on the line (1 min).
6. The teacher calls one animal at a time, faster and faster, and we finish tiptoeing like people (1 min).

Rules

• I follow my tape line.
• I wait for the friend ahead to move before I start.
• Each animal moves its own way.
• If I wobble off, I laugh and keep going.

Variations

Adaptations

• Students with limited mobility act out each animal with arms and head while traveling the line their own way.
• Students with autism: show picture cards of each animal in the order they will come up.
• Students with low muscle tone: the duck is done with knees just slightly bent instead of a full squat.

Learning goals

• Keep their balance while moving in different body positions.
• Follow a line with different body parts on the floor.
• Warm up legs and arms before the lesson.

Equipment for a class of 25

• Colored masking tape: 2

Teacher tip

Space the lines at least three feet apart so the crabs don't bump their neighbors. Act out each animal yourself and exaggerate it: they copy what they see far more than what they hear.

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