Coordination.
Materials
- Balloons galore!
- Markers
Framing
Make sure to have enough balloons for at least 1 per group of 3. Have paper and a pen/pencil for each group. Participants hit the balloon in the air with the correct body part.
Instructions
- Participants will get into groups of 2-3.
- Each group will get a balloon (they can blow up their own balloon, or they can already be blown up)
- Each group will write down the sequence and body parts they have to use to hit their balloon in the air.
- The number of hits is up to the leader. Examples of body parts to use are: head, right hand, left hand, right elbow, left elbow, nose, right knee, left knee, right foot, left foot, right
heel, left heel, right shoulder, left shoulder, and any others you choose to add to the list.
- To make it easier, don’t specify right or left, just write “hand” or “foot”, and so on. Groups write their own sequence of 10 or so hits.
- One participant will start and do the first hit of the sequence. In the example above, they would hit the balloon with their right hand.
- The next participant will go and hit the balloon with their right hand.
- The first participant will go again and do the first two hits (right hand and then left hand).
- If the balloon touches the ground at any point during the sequence or a participant uses the wrong body part, then that participant cannot move onto the next hit of the sequence on their next turn; they have to redo the same sequence.
- As they get to more hits, have a group member read out the sequence to them during their hits (optional).
- Continue until one (or all) participants have completed the full sequence!
Modify
- Only use hands, feet, and knees to make it easier.
- Group members are not allowed to read out the sequence for the participant. Each participant has to remember it while they are doing the sequence.
- If a participant uses the wrong body part, or the balloon touches the ground they get a letter, and when a participant spells a certain word they are out.
- If a participant uses the wrong body part, or the balloon touches the ground they get a certain amount of points. If the balloon touches the ground on the first step of the sequence they get 10 points (if there are a total of 10 hits in the sequence), second step, they get 9 points, and on the last step they would get 1 point.
Safety
- Make sure the groups are spread out.
- Remove any safety hazards or obstacles from the activity area.
Wrap-up
No wrap-up is necessary for this activity.
Adapted from: http://activeafterschool.ca/activities/balloon-twister