Here is a great warm up idea that you can do with your younger students. I have done this at the beginning of classes where I cover different jumping skills. It dove tails perfectly into these types of lessons.

The activity is called "Jump the Creek." It begins by having the class come into the gym and sit along one end wall. I lay two elastic ropes parallel to each other, about one foot apart in the middle of the gym. The ropes we have are about 20 feet long.

Along one side of our gym (that has protective padding on it because of a basketball basket) I have drawn a washing machine, dryer and a towel on a rack. I use some thick white chalk to do this. More on these later!

The object for the students is to have them run up to the "creek" and jump over it without landing in the "water." If that happens, we tell the kids that this is called a "hot foot."

If they get a "hot foot," they have to "clean up." Here is where the drawings of the washer, dryer and towel come into play. Once they are all "wet and muddy" from landing in the water, they have to go over to the laundry room. Once there, they have to pretend to put their wet, muddy clothes into the washer and dryer. While their clothes are drying, the need to pretend to take the towel off the rack and dry themselves off (not forgetting to dry off behind their ears!). When they finish this, they need to pretend to hang up the towel and pretend to put their cleaned and dried clothes back on and get back into the game.

Believe me, your younger students will get a big kick out of going through this entire production!

Before everyone goes for the first time, you have to tell them one more thing. Each time that the class jumps over to the other side, the creek gets bigger and bigger and BIGGER! Just move the ropes 6-10 inches apart each time through.

When the ropes get too far apart for the kids to be successful, just change the rules a bit. Tell them that you have a turtle friend that swims in the creek with his shell out of the water. He will allow the students to take one step on his back as they attempt to get over. If they try to take a second step on his back, he will dive under the water and give them a "hot foot!"

Now, instead of your students jumping off of one foot and landing on two feet, they are taking off of one foot, leaping to the "turtle's shell," then landing on two feet on the other side of the creek. You are requiring them to move over the creek in a specific pattern. You can create any type of jumping pattern you wish. The changes are subtle, but important for your students to be able to understand.

A few notes on organization for this activity. Do not let the entire class go at the same time. You are only asking for trouble. Divide them up some how. One way I have found successful is to integrate some nutrition information into the activity.

I will say something like, "Everyone that had chocolate milk with lunch today, go! Everyone else now go!," or "Everyone who's favorite vegetable is carrots, go! Everyone else, go!," of "Everyone that had orange juice with breakfast this morning, go! Everyone else, go!"

These types of questions not only create manageable groups to go over the "creek," they also lead to some good "teaching moments" with your students. It gives you the opportunity to stress the importance of good, solid nutrition as it relates to physical activity.

I have also used this setting to really get the kids thinking. Between rounds of jumping, I'll tell them that I have a way to really "freak their parents out!" This statement alone will guarantee that I will have their attention. All they have to do, I tell them is to do one of two things. They either have to ask to select the vegetables for supper that night, or ask for seconds on vegetables for supper that night.

These, or other similar ideas you will come up with not only get your students to think about what they eat, but it does so in a fun way. Kids will often come back and tell me that their parents couldn't believe it when they asked for more vegetables at the supper table!

As stated earlier, this type of activity flows naturally into a lesson on jump rope skills. You have given their lower bodies a good warm up. They are ready now to proceed with whatever jumping skills and activities you will cover next.

If you want more information, contact Tom Winiecki