SKILL FOCUS

Eye hand coordination, throwing, aiming, balance

GROUP SIZE

12+ children

EQUIPMENT

12 hula hoops, 12 bowling pins, 20+ sponge balls

LOCATION

Inside

SAFETY

Make sure children roll or throw the balls low, not in the air so they do not hit another child in the face with ball

PURPOSE

Students protect their pot of gold (bowling pin) while trying tk knock over their classmates’ pin with foam balls.

SETUP

Lay out the 12 hula hoops around your large room. Place a plastic bowling pin in the center of each hoop. The bowling pin represents a pot of gold. Place one child in each hula hoop. When a child is in a hoop, they are a Leprechaun protecting their pot of gold (the bowling pin). The extra children form a line on the sideline waiting for their turn to enter the game.

INSTRUCTIONS

On the command of ‘go’ the children in the hula hoops may leave their hula hoop to find a loose ball on the ground. Once they pick it up, they must return to their hula hoop.

Once the child is back at their hula hoop, they can roll or throw their ball at another child’s pin in an effort to knock over the pin. If they are successful, the child whose pin got knocked down goes to the end of the line on the sideline as a new child who is first in line now enters the game and goes to the hula hoop of the pin that just got knocked down. They must stand up the pin immediately and are now involved in the game play.

This pattern will continue for whatever period of time the instructor chooses.

MODIFICATIONS

Increase the number of balls to make the game a little more challenging or add more hula hoops to make it harder to guard the pins.