Exercise Battleship - "Exerciseships"

Skill: Jump
Time Required: 20
Activity Type: Physical
Group Size: Large Group, Medium Group, Pair, Small Group
Age Group: 6 - 9yrs, 9 - 12yrs, 13+ yrs
Play area: Classroom (small indoor space), Gymnasium (large indoor space)
Safety Considerations: Make sure the exercises are suitable for the space.
Remove any safety hazards and obstacles from the activity area.
Remind participants to be aware of their surroundings and to keep their head up.
Equipment: "Exerciseships" boards (same set up as a Battleship board) - these can be made with cardboard, cereal boxes, paper or anything else the leader/participants want to use. The number of squares used is up to the leader.
Barriers/Blockers to cover each team's board from the other team.
Markers
Rulers
Pens/pencils
Popsicle Sticks/Pipe Cleaners
Buttons/coins
Objective:
Participants play "Battleship" but with an exercise twist, now known as "Exerciseships".
Other Skills:
Coordination
Set up:
Have the materials prepared to make the "Exerciseships", or the leader could have already created them. Be sure to bring in all the equipment necessary for participants to make the boards.
Have the "What have I said?" sheet prepared for the participants, or the participants can create them. Please see the attached document for an example of this sheet.
Participants can play individually or in pairs. Each participant or pair will have popsicle sticks to create their ships and buttons/coins to use during the game.

Step by Step:
1. Participants can create their "Exerciseship" boards.
2. If using cereal boxes, they can cut out the cover of it and use the inside of the box for their board and they can use the rest of the box to block the view from the other team. Or use cardboard/construction paper/paper and have a barrier between the two teams.
3. Each board will have the same number of columns as rows. The number is up to the leader and participants.
4. Each row will have a letter (starting with A) and each column with have a number (starting with 1).
5. Use popsicle sticks or pipe cleaners for the ships. Make sure they are the correct sizes to across the designated amount of squares.
6. Participants can decorate the popsicle sticks.
7. Example of ships are: "Lunger" - goes across 5 squares, "Pusharine" - goes across 4 squares, "Burpee Vessel" - goes across 3 squares, and "Waller" - goes across 2 squares.
8. Depending on the number of squares, each team could have one lunger, one pusharine, 2 burpee vessels and 1-2 wallers.
9. Each team will also have a "What have I said?" sheet where they will mark down their guesses. These sheets will have the same number of squares as the board. Please see the attached document for an example of the sheet.
10. Participants place their ships on the board (ships cannot go diagonally).
11. The game begins!
12. The first team will name a square, for example, they say "3-F". If the other teams has any part of a ship on that square, they say "hit". If there is not a ship on that square, then they say "miss".
13. The team guessing will mark down on their "What did I say?" sheet if 3-F is a hit "h"/check mark/dot, or if it is a miss "m"/"x".
14. If a square is a "hit", then that team will place a coin or button on the part of the ship that is on that square, so they know it is hit.
15. If it is a hit, the guessing team tells the other team one exercise they have to do one time. The exercise could be a push up, jumping jack, sit up, heel raise, lunge, squat and so on.
16. If it is a miss, then the other team will tell the guessing team one exercise they have to do one time.
17. A sunken ship - this means that all of the squares that a ship is on are hit.
18. When a team sinks another teams ship, they will say "Our/My insert ship name is sunk", and they will then have to do a set exercise (the leader can change the exercises or number of exercises)
19. If their "Lunger" is sunk, then participants have to do 10 lunges.
20. If their "Pusharine" is sunk, they have to do 7 push ups.
21. If their "Burpee Vessel" is sunk, they have to do 5 burpees.
22. If their "Waller" is sunk, they have to do a wall sit for 30 seconds.
23. Play until one team has sunk all the other team's ships.
Variations:
Change the names, sizes and number of the ships.
If playing in a small room, be sure there is sufficient space for each group to do the set exercises. Alter the exercises to accommodate the space. Have participants do heel raises, wall push ups, balance on one foot and so on.
Don't have participants do one exercise if they miss or get a hit.
Sources: Developed for the Leisure Information Network.
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