Budding Buds

Skill: Balance, Run
Time Required: 15
Activity Type: Physical
Group Size: Large Group, Medium Group, Pair, Small Group
Age Group: 6 - 9yrs, 9 - 12yrs
Play area: Gymnasium (large indoor space), Outdoor - Field
Safety Considerations: 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: Beanbags (seeds)
Hoops (plant pot)
Objective:
The objective is for each group to get the most beanbags (seeds) inside their pot (hoop).
Set up:
Participants get into groups of 2-3 participants.
Place a bunch of beanbags in one area, and place a hoop for each group 15-30 feet away from the beanbags.
One participant from each group will start lying down on their stomach a couple feet in front of their group's hoop (you can place a pylon or rope to mark where they will lie down).
Step by Step:
1. One participant for each group will be lying down on their stomach a couple feet in front of the hoop (the hoop is their plant pot).
2. The other one or two participants will run to the beanbags (plant seeds) one at a time, collect one, and run back to the participant on the floor and place it on their back (they have to use communication and problem solving skills as a group).
3. When they place the beanbag on the participant's back, the next participant can run to the beanbags and collect one.
4. The participant lying down can stand up whenever they have a minimum of 2 beanbags on their back.
5. The catch is that they have to stand up without the beanbags falling off their back.
6. If even one falls off, they have to lie back down, and try again.
7. When they get up, they walk over to their hoop, and dump the seeds into the pot.
8. The next participant will lie down, and the participants run to collect more seeds.
9. Continue until one group has a set amount of "seeds" in their "pot", or who has the most after a set amount of time.
Variations:
If in groups of 3, one participant runs to the beanbag area and then throws one beanbag to a receiver who will place it on the participant's back, and then they run to the beanbag area and the thrower is now the receiver.
Participants will place beanbags on top of participant's heads, and they have to walk a couple feet and around obstacles before dropping the beanbags into the hoop (if even one falls off, they have to go back to the start).
Sources: Developed for the Leisure Information Network.