Animal Relay Race

Topic
- Movement & sports
Learning skills
- Cooperation
- Spatial orientation
- Body awareness
- Gross motor skills
Activity type
- Relay race
Materials
- None
Age
- 0 - 5 years
- 6 - 11 years
5 - 15 minutes
+5 players
Easy
Hard
Medium (classroom, square)

Contributors

Mobile School

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Everything you need to play this game

Animal Poster (optional)
Animal Yoga Rota Disc (optional)

A step-by-step guide to play the game

Divide the players into teams of three. Each team lines up behind the starting line.

Assign an animal to the groups that is distinctive in its movements (see additional game information for inspiration) or let the children decide which animal to imitate.

On the “go”, the first player from each team begins moving from the start line to the end line and back, imitating the assigned animal’s movements.

When returning to the start line, the player tags the next team member who then performs the movement of this animal. This continues until all team members have completed their leg of the relay.

The first team who sits down at their starting position wins the race.

Repeat the race as many times as you want with different animals.

Extra game information

Animal movements that can be used in the relay race:

Frog Jump: Leap forward like a frog.
Cheetah Sprint: Run towards the end line and back as fast as you can, as fast as a cheetah.
Bear Crawl: With hands and feet on the ground and hips raised, move towards the end line and back.
Starfish Jump: Jump up and down spreading arms and legs as wide as possible, moving from the start line to the end line and back.
Elephant March: Lift knees high and march, stomping your feet down hard.
Crab Walk: Sit with hands next to hips on the ground, lift your body, and scuttle towards the end line and back.
Gorilla Shuffle: Squat down, place hands on the ground, and shuffle towards the end line and back.

Source: Wat als je iets heel ergs meemaakt? - Eva Kestens; Micaela Randall via Pinterest

Variations

Divide the animals among the players

The first player is animal number 1, the second number 2 and so on. Make sure each player knows which animal he is. The team that finishes first, is the winner.

Combine this exercise with the Animal Poster

Have the player move to the end line while imitating the animal's movements and have them look for this animal on the animal poster before they are allowed to return to the starting line.

Combine this exercise with the Animal Yoga Rota Disc

Have the players do the relay race first and use the rota disc to cool down.

Zoom in on specific areas and associated animals

Ocean Relay (swim like a fish, crawl like a crab, jump like a dolphin, crawl like a turtle, jump like a star, crawl like an eel)
Jungle Relay (blow your trunk like an elephant, crawl like a gorilla, fly like a parrot, move slow like a sloth, run like a lion, walk tall like a giraffe)
Desert Relay (hop like a kangaroo, walk like a camel, fly like a bird, crawl like a lizard, run like a coyote, slither like a snake)
House Pet Relay (chase your tail like a dog, hiss like a snake, stretch like a cat, fly like a bird, swim like a fish, run like a ferret)

Specific learning objectives

Learn how different animals move and behave.

What people said about this game

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