Mailbox Delivery Obstacle Course

Each child is a mail carrier who picks up a letter (a beanbag) and carries it through a course to the mailbox, a cardboard box with a slot. Carrying the object over obstacles makes kids coordinate body and hands.

How to play

1. Set up: 5-cone zigzag, 4 hoops, a gym bench and the tunnel. At the start, a box of beanbags (post office); at the end, 2 boxes with a slot (mailboxes).
2. In a circle, show how it goes: "I take a letter, carry it carefully so it won't fall and drop it in the mailbox" (1 min).
3. They start a few seconds apart when you tap their shoulder, go through the course letter in hand and post it (4 min).
4. They jog back around the outside, take another letter and repeat. When it runs out, empty the mailboxes into it.
5. Tambourine: "Now the letter is very important!" They carry it on an open palm without closing the hand (4 min).
6. Tambourine: for the last stretch, from the tunnel to the mailbox, they carry it tucked under the arm (3 min).
7. At the end, everyone sits and helps count the letters out loud: "Look how many letters we delivered!" (3 min).

Rules

• If the letter falls, pick it up and keep going from there.
• Only one letter at a time.
• One at a time on the bench.
• Walk back around the outside, not through the course.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: the child does the zigzag and mailbox in a wheelchair or with support, skipping the bench.
• Visual impairment: the mailbox has a bell and the course follows a rope on the floor.
• More skilled: carry two letters at once; less skilled: a large, soft beanbag.

Learning goals

• Carry an object while completing a course.
• Coordinate hands and legs at the same time.
• Take part in a shared group task.

Equipment for a class of 25

• beanbags: 30
• cardboard boxes: 3
• gym bench: 1
• fabric tunnel: 1
• cones: 5
• hoops: 4

Teacher tip

Counting the letters together at the end gives a shared goal without comparing anyone. Prepare 30 beanbags so the post office never runs empty.

More activities like this

More main activities for Elementary