Zoo Tag
Taggers turn the students they tag into animals: kangaroo, crab, bear, or frog, and the tagged student moves that way until a classmate rescues them by doing the same animal together. It warms up with lots of movement patterns and encourages helping.
How to play
- Mark an area about 65 × 65 ft, ideally in the gym. Pick 3 zookeepers in pinnies; everyone else runs.
- First, spend 1 minute trying each animal on cue: kangaroo (two-foot jumps), crab (crab walk face up), bear (bear crawl), and frog (low frog jumps).
- On the whistle, the zookeepers chase. When they tag someone, they call an animal, and that student must move like it.
- To become a person again, a free classmate moves next to them and does the same animal for 5 steps or jumps.
- Switch zookeepers every 90 seconds. Play 3 rounds with a 20-second walking break.
Rules
- No tagging a student who is rescuing an animal.
- Animals can still escape, but only by moving as their animal.
- Tag with a gentle touch, no pushing.
- In crab and bear, place hands with fingers forward and keep the head up.
Variations
Easier
Use only two animals, kangaroo and bear, and one fewer zookeeper.
Standard
Four animals, three zookeepers, and rescues by copying for 5 steps.
Harder
Rescues take 10 steps, and zookeepers can call new animals such as seal or flamingo.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: a student using a wheelchair copies the animals with their arms, like bird wings or crab claws, and moves at their own pace.
- Autism: show picture cards of each animal so the student knows exactly which movement to do.
- Fitness level: a tired student may pick the easiest animal, a gentle kangaroo, when tagged.
Learning goals
- Explore ways of moving other than running.
- Warm up arms, legs, and trunk through crawling and jumping.
- Rescue classmates by working together.
Equipment for a class of 25
- pinnies: 3
Teacher tip
Avoid crawling animals on rough blacktop; outdoors, use jumping animals. Students love it when the teacher does the animals too during the demo.
PatioLab has "Zoo Tag" and 1299 more activities ready to drag into your lesson and run from your phone in the gym.
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