Lab 4.. Bean Bag Games!

Application and Assessments:
1. When incorporating bean bags into a lesson, it can really benefit the students learning the proper technique at an easy level. While the students are having fun using the bean bags, they also are learning as well as practicing a particular skill. Bean bags are great for young children because it is easy for them to catch or throw. Also they are soft; which will provide the students with a safe environment.
2. The theme that I would use is an animal zoo. I would have the students pick one of there favorite animals in the zoo that can hop. I will have stations set up so that the children can practice the skill while having fun at the same time. I would transform the gym into a zoo like environment.
3. The locomotor movement that I chose is the gallop. I would grade the students out of 4 points. If they perform the 4 different criteria, then they would get a perfect score. If the student has their arms bent and lifted to waist level at takeoff, that is one point. If the student has a step forward with the lead foot followed by a step with the trailing foot behind the lead foot, that is a point. If their is a brief period when both feet are off the floor, thats a point. Then finally, if the student maintains a rhythmic pattern for four consecutive gallops, that a point. The student will lose a point for doing the moves incorrectly.
4. Bean Bag Games:
Bean Bag Surprise: Students come into the activity area and pick a bean bag to stand on, or beside. When the marching music starts you call out a locomotor movement, like galloping, skipping, etc. Students move in their own pattern around the playing space. When the music changes, or whistle sounds, or music stops they move to the nearest bean bag and begin to do that activity. {If it says 'mountain climbers' then they do mountain climbers until the music switches again.} Then they walk in a different locomotor pattern and so on. It is a good idea to have rest spaces, or "do your own thing" to allow creativity.

Bean Bag Shuffle: Every student starts with a bean bag in their hand (Four different colors are good. [i.e, red, blue, green, and yellow]). Each color represents a different locomotor skill (i.e., blue=skip, green=gallop, red=hop, yellow=slide). For a visual cue, make signs that identify the locomotor skill matched with the specific color. On the teacher's signal the students will begin their locomotor skill, moving in general space while holding their bean bag. When the teacher says freeze the students stop and set the bean bag on the ground. The students will then be asked to find a different colored bean bag. The teacher repeats the directions and the activity begins again.