What Suits You?

Skill: Run, Skip
Time Required: 20
Activity Type: Physical
Group Size: Large Group, Medium Group, Small Group
Age Group: 6 - 9yrs, 9 - 12yrs, 13+ yrs
Play area: Gymnasium (large indoor space)
Safety Considerations: Make sure if teams are sharing decks, that participants are aware of other participants and don't go to the same deck at the same time.
Remove any safety hazards and obstacles from the play area.
Remind participants to be aware of their surroundings and to keep their head up.
Equipment: At least 1 deck of cards; ideally four decks.
Cones for starting line (if necessary).
Objective:
Teams have to bring back all the required cards as fast as possible.
Other Skills:
Speed
Set up:
Divide participants into four equal teams and assign each team a suit (hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades).
Set up four cones at one end of the gym and have each team line up behind one.
Across each team, place a deck of cards at the other end of the gym (make sure the decks of cards are shuffled).
Step by Step:
1. On the word 'Go', the first participant from each team will run to their deck of cards and draw the top card.
2. If they are the 'Heart' team and the participant draws a card that's hearts, then they run it back to their team and place it down on the ground next to them.
3. Then the next participant runs to the deck of cards. If they draw a card whose suit is not hearts, then they place it at the bottom of the deck, run back to their team and give the next participant in line a high five before they can go.
4. Continue until one team has brought back all the cards in their suit (Ace-King).
5. When they do, they yell "*name of suit* suits us!"
6. An additional rule that could be included: If they pick up the correct suit they skip back to their team with the card. If they don't pick up the correct suit, they run back.
7. Change the goal for each round. (Don't always have to go to the same deck; allow participants to choose any deck).
- Bring back ace-king in any suit.
- Bring back four cards of each suit.
- Bring back all face cards (Jack-King) of each suit.
- Participants choose a card, and teams have to bring back all four of those cards.
- Scatter all the cards around an area.
Variations:
If there are too many participants in each team (more than 7), make more than four teams and double up on suits.
If there are not enough deck of cards, all teams can share one deck. The leader could be holding one at the other end of the gym, or the deck of cards could be divided into different piles and participants choose which pile to go to (make sure participants are paying attention to other participants and don't bump heads reaching for the same pile).
Have participants do different movements to get the cards and go back (crab walk, hop, hop on one foot, walk backwards, grapevine etc.)

Adaptations (General):
Ensure that all participants are clear about the rules of the game.

Adaptations (Blindness/Visual Impairment):
Have another participant guide those who are blind or visually impaired. Try to play this game with Braille cards (these can be obtained from the Canadian National Institute for the Blind – www.cnib.org)
Sources: Developed for the Leisure Information Network.