Ready, Set, Move!

This morning was my first attempt at creating a 'physical education' morning for our little homeschooler group. After being worried during January about the smallish size of our local group, it appears that over the holidays (whilst I was freaking out) the numbers have in fact swollen by another four families increasing our childrens numbers by, I think, fourteen children! It's so exciting :D! Our group has almost doubled in size and best of all, both my boys are steadily gaining some nice little mates there - both boys and girls of the same or various ages.

Seeing as this was our first organized get together for the year I wanted to create a 'this is awesome fun' attitude in the kids and parents so everyone was keen to keep on coming for subsequent events. You know, I think, just maybe, judging by the numerous boa constrictor hugs I received and profuse I love you's and you're the best Mum in the world claims offered up from my small fry at the mornings conclusion, I think it may have been a hit.

I had some great helper Dad's along too and if I needed to step away for a moment to look after my Kangaroo, they were right there to continue the fun. So, so lucky to have great parents in our group, they just really made the morning easy as.

Physical Education has been a 'subject ' I've wanted to cover for many years but have struggled because of either my terrible organizational skills or that the medium age of our group has been about four. Very little people are pretty content to get together and free play but now we have a wider age group ranging to include a thirteen and fourteen year old, we can start to enjoy some structure. The beautiful thing about today was the way when some kiddo's had had enough they would wander off for a play or a drink or something to eat while the games continued and when or if they were ready the kiddo's would rejoin the group. Pairs of children would wander off and chat and rejoin the games later. I really felt from watching this behaviour that I could see lovely friendships growing so nicely already between the the newer additions and the established kiddo's.

We began with a quick stretching out of the arms in full circles to explore our personal space. We didn't want to accidentally bump into anyone during our fun :D!

After we established our space we played this fantastic game called Pirate Ship (I've included it below) which the kids loved! and it got them ready in a great fun way to follow instructions during the rest of our mornings games.

I felt that from the very beginning we should establish a few quick ground rules to keep play safe and fair. The list might change as I develop the program so what follows is a tentative list to be developed as our sports days grow.

1. Take Care of Our Mates - If someone falls, be there to help them up. If we have an accident be ready to say 'Sorry Mate'! and help dust each other off and keep going.

2. Be a Good Sport - if the other team wins give them a clap and tell them 'Well Done!' and if you're a part of the winning team shake your opponents hand and say thanks for a good game.

3. Play Fair - pretty much means, take turns and be nice. We have a rule in our family which would apply nicely here 'Nice Words, Gentle Hands and Shining Face (Smile Baby!)' which describes our conduct when playing or anytime really.

So I'm making it up as I go along but I want the kids to establish an acceptable way to behave when we get together for sports and games.

Okay so that great game I mentioned earlier was:

Pirate Ship

So easy peasy fun to play. It's as simple as calling to your 'Scurvy Dog Crew' instructions and demonstrating the moves. Try it out soon. A great game for small and large groups.

So here are those instructions - Super fun! :

Man the Lifeboats - find a friend and sit on the ground facing each other holding hands and rock backwards and forwards singing 'row, row, row your boat'

Scrub the Deck - children crouch down and pretend to clean the floor with the hands

Climb the Rigging - children pretend to climb a rope ladder

Crow's Nest - Now that they've climbed the rigging, the children stand on one leg which will become their masts while their other foot rests on their knee to become the crows nest and their torso is the pirate looking out to see, hand above eyes! Peer into the distance and shout 'Land Ahoy!'

Captain's Coming -children salute and shout out 'Aye Aye Captain'

Man Over Board -children jump as if going over the side and then sink down holding their nose with one hand and raising the other hand in the air as if going underwater. Make sure you start swimming guys!

Walk the Plank - children have to walk in a perfectly straight line one foot exactly in front of the other with arms outstretched to the sides

Captain's Wife - Everyone curtsy's

Submarine - everyone lies on the floor with one leg raised in the air like it's a periscope

Fire the Cannons - the children grab a friend and pretend to fire a cannon, shout 'Boom!' and jump into the air

Hit the Deck - well the cannon ball is coming! and the children need to lie down on their stomachs as quickly as possible to avoid it!

Port - run to the left

Starboard - run to the right

Bow - run to the front

Stern - run to the back

Sharks - sit with their knees up off the floor, hugging knees

Compass Point - All the children gather into a big tight bunch

Last One in the Dinner Line - children all line up in a very straight line

Polly the Parrot - flap arms and shout 'Pieces of eight' or 'Polly wants a cracker'

Mutiny - sword fight everyone (gently! with our hands pretending to hold a sword :)

Stormy Weather - Rock from side to side

Peg Leg Jim - the children all walk with one leg straight and the other normally

The Ultimate Homeschool Physical Education Game Book by Guy Bailey is the greatest resource I've purchased of late and was integral for planning out todays fun. But I think all the kiddo's had the best fun playing Pirate Ship and of the days games I felt that this was the definite stand out.

Whether your group is large or just you and your fam, give Pirate Ship a whirl.

Play it! and Soon :D!