Slow, Fast and Sticky Potions
The wizard hands out pretend potions in empty cups and each one changes how you move: the slow potion turns you into a snail, the fast one into lightning, and the sticky one glues your feet to the ground. Children practice changing speed and running with control.
How to play
- Each child takes an empty cup and sets it on a line: that's their potion table (1 min).
- Fast potion: "drink" it, set the cup down and run around the playground until the drum sounds (2 min).
- Slow potion: move in slow motion, like snails or astronauts (2 min).
- Sticky potion: shuffle without lifting your feet, as if walking through honey (2 min).
- The wizard mixes: calls two potions in a row and we switch speed when the drum sounds (4 min).
- Resting potion: walk back to your table and turn your cup upside down (1 min).
Rules
- My cup stays on the table while I run.
- With the fast potion, I run without bumping anyone.
- When the drum sounds, I switch potions.
- The potions are pretend: we don't really drink anything.
Variations
Easier
For 3-year-olds, only fast and slow, with a long pause between them.
Standard
For 4-year-olds, all three potions with drum changes.
Harder
For 5-year-olds, they invent a fourth potion (bouncy, sideways, backward) and the wizard adds it to the mix.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: show each potion with the wheelchair's speed and with arm movements (fast, slow, glued to the body).
- Hearing loss: each potion has a colored cup the teacher holds up.
- Autism: preview the potion order with cards and count down on your fingers before each change.
Learning goals
- Change travel speed in response to a signal.
- Run with control in a large space.
- Tell apart fast, slow and shuffling movement.
Equipment for a class of 25
- Plastic cups: 25
- Hand drum: 1
Teacher tip
Set the cups well away from the running area so nobody steps on them. Keep the fast potion short and the slow one a bit longer: that paces the effort so they don't get wild.
PatioLab has "Slow, Fast and Sticky Potions" and 8714 more activities ready to drag into your lesson and run from your phone in the gym.
More main activities for Elementary
"Al Pasar la Barca" Parachute Rowing
Sitting around the parachute, children row by pulling the fabric toward them and letting it go toward the middle to the rhythm of the traditional Spanish song "Al pasar…
"Corro de la Patata" Parachute Circle
Children circle with the parachute while singing the traditional Spanish song "Al corro de la patata" (Potato Circle), and on "achupé, achupé" everyone sits down…
"El Patio de Mi Casa" Parachute Song
Children sing the traditional Spanish ring song "El patio de mi casa" while circling with the parachute and lowering it to the ground on "agáchate" (squat down).
"Que Llueva" Parachute Rain
Using the traditional Spanish children's song "Que llueva, que llueva" (Let It Rain), children make rain, clouds and sun with the parachute, and some hide underneath as…
«A la Zapatilla por Detrás»: The Slipper Behind Your Back
Sitting in a circle with eyes covered, one child walks around the outside with a slipper singing the traditional Spanish rhyme «A la zapatilla por detrás» («the…
«A Tapar la Calle»: The Chain That Blocks the Street
Half the class forms a hand-in-hand chain that walks forward singing the traditional Spanish song «A tapar la calle» («Block the street so nobody passes»), while the…