Setting up fitness classes for kids??

Please Kill Me · 16-05-2012 3:18pm #1

I don't think this has been asked before, but anyhoo....

I'm thinking of setting up a fitness class for kids (6 to 12 yrs old) in the local school. I was approached by a couple of the parents and asked would I be interested in doing it. I have no problem doing it, but am unsure of what I can do with them. I've had a couple of people asking advice on weights, cross-fit, Convict Conditioning etc., and I have (for the most part) been able to point them in the right direction. But I can't do any of this with kids. So - does anyone have any ideas/suggestions on what I can do with them?

Thanks.

RedXIV · 16-05-2012 3:24pm

Games, trust me on this. I used to work in summer camps and if you want to keep kids coming to your classes, circuit training without a "fun" aspect will fail.

I remember doing a Tae Kwon Do session in one camp and it was very apparent that the guy running it with me who was leading the class and teaching the technical stuff was losing the kids rapidly, but when I had them running and jumping with kicks into a pad onto some mats, I had to stop because I was the one who was tired.

Just be aware that from 6-12, if they aren't running around and having fun, they won't come back, so I'd stick with simple games with lots of movement like Stuck in the mud or leap frog and stay away from perfecting form for press ups and sit ups

Hanley · 16-05-2012 3:29pm

+1 for games

And have a look at the Crossfit Kids stuff.

Please Kill Me · 16-05-2012 3:30pm

RedXIV wrote: »

Games, trust me on this. I used to work in summer camps and if you want to keep kids coming to your classes, circuit training without a "fun" aspect will fail.

Yes, I was told this by the other half today. She "reminded" me that they're kids, and I'm not to be a drill instructor. As if!! :rolleyes: :pac:

cc87 · 16-05-2012 3:39pm

Please Kill Me wrote: »

Yes, I was told this by the other half today. She "reminded" me that they're kids, and I'm not to be a drill instructor. As if!! :rolleyes: :pac:

Everything has to be made fun for them or they just won't do it.

Try and find out if they have any physical activity stuff going on in the school at the moment and if they do, can you find out about it or even watch a session. Keep what you do along the lines of what they are familiar with.

The younger they are the shorter their attention span is as well.

If you haven't worked with children before it might be worth asking someone who has or currently is just so you can cover yourself with all the different child protection stuff around.

http://www.canadiansportforlife.ca/ is a useful website

Please Kill Me · 16-05-2012 3:42pm

cc87 wrote: »

Everything has to be made fun for them or they just won't do it.

Try and find out if they have any physical activity stuff going on in the school at the moment and if they do, can you find out about it or even watch a session. Keep what you do along the lines of what they are familiar with.

The younger they are the shorter their attention span is as well.

If you haven't worked with children before it might be worth asking someone who has or currently is just so you can cover yourself with all the different child protection stuff around.

http://www.canadiansportforlife.ca/ is a useful website

Well, they don't do P.E. in school at all (long, ongoing saga!) which is why I was approached in the first place. But (and I know it's not really the same) but I have 5 kids from 1yr to 10yrs old, so I know only too well about the attention span (or lack thereof!) LOL

Nice one on the link, good stuff. Cheers.

Barry.Oglesby · 16-05-2012 3:47pm

Fitness training for kids already has a name- it's called sports.

Don't get caught up in this "anti-obesity", fitkidzzzzzz, If-only-someone-had-taught-me-how-to-lift-when-I-was-young horsepucky. If you're going to give them something, give them something real and decent. If you're in an urban area, there are probably 10-15 other sports within a 3 mile radius that are crying out for young people to join and that cost next to nothing. If you want to make a difference and get kids fitter, buy a mini-bus and drop them off at those. Or if you're a coach of another sport, start an after-school club.

If I ever see anyone teaching kids how to lift pvc pipes over their head in my jurisdiction I'm going to punch them square in the nose.

Please Kill Me · 16-05-2012 3:51pm

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

Fitness training for kids already has a name- it's called sports.

Don't get caught up in this "anti-obesity", fitkidzzzzzz, If-only-someone-had-taught-me-how-to-lift-when-I-was-young horsepucky. If you're going to give them something, give them something real and decent. If you're in an urban area, there are probably 10-15 other sports within a 3 mile radius that are crying out for young people to join and that cost next to nothing. If you want to make a difference and get kids fitter, buy a mini-bus and drop them off at those. Or if you're a coach of another sport, start an after-school club.

If I ever see anyone teaching kids how to lift pvc pipes over their head in my jurisdiction I'm going to punch them square in the nose.

I live out in the sticks and the only "sport" available is GAA, and not every child is interested in that. I do boxing and kickboxing 3-4 times a week, so I was thinking maybe something along those lines, but there's already a karate class going on of a Tuesday night.

Barry.Oglesby · 16-05-2012 3:54pm

Why not kickboxing? You're going to lose kids pretty fast if you're doing strength or fitness work. 6 year old's just don't have the capacity or interest. And the benefits are sketchy at best. Kids get stronger by running, jumping, climbing, wrestling, hopping, doing handstands and so on. That takes up 15 minutes of your class before they're bored. They need a structured sport to keep them going.

mood · 16-05-2012 5:41pm

Games orientated is the best way. I don't think sit ups, push ups or the like are suitable. I also wouldn't talk about calories, toning or weigh loss. Make it fun but also make it for kids who may not be the fastest runners etc.

Please Kill Me · 16-05-2012 6:44pm

mood wrote: »

I also wouldn't talk about calories, toning or weigh loss.

Oh good God no, that'd be the furthest thing from my mind. This is a fun thing with a benefit factor. I certainly won't be going into any of that with them.

Cheers.

mood · 16-05-2012 7:10pm

Who is it aimed at? Sporty kids or non sporty kids? I'm assuming non sporty. If that's the case the fun element is very important. I was never sporty as a child (not a fast runner and not good catching a ball etc) so it resulted in me avoiding sports. Make it non competitive if possible. Sorry I can't be more specific.

Please Kill Me · 16-05-2012 8:15pm

mood wrote: »

Who is it aimed at? Sporty kids or non sporty kids? I'm assuming non sporty. If that's the case the fun element is very important. I was never sporty as a child (not a fast runner and not good catching a ball etc) so it resulted in me avoiding sports. Make it non competitive if possible. Sorry I can't be more specific.

Nah, that's bang on, cheers!

It's aimed at non-sporty really. I was similar, never did footyball or hurling or anything like that. So if nothing else, I can empathise.

Mr. Rager · 16-05-2012 9:27pm

I'd say start them off on a strict, structured, low carb diet, maybe a cheat meal once every few months. Protein shakes thrice daily.

Slowly begin their strength training with something like Stronglifts 5x5, and then work it up to high rep isolation exercises and perhaps even some more advanced lifts, eg clean and jerk.

Their fitness training should definitely consist of HIIT, circuits and weekly 5km's. Perhaps give them a break on the Sabbath.

You should try to instill a winner-takes-all attitude into the kids , right from day one. I recommend bi-weekly motivational video classes, and perhaps forewarning the children of the perils of unemployment, the Fiscal Treaty, relationships and how we are all going to die one day, most of us with regrets.

Persuade the kids to take down their Wayne Rooney posters and hand out Ronnie Coleman and Jay Cutler ones for them to hang up on their walls.

And finally, encourage them to discover the wonderful world of bro-science.
Soon enough, you will have your own legion of superhuman Mr and Mrs Olympia's. Good luck, and godspeed.

Please Kill Me · 16-05-2012 9:37pm

Mr. Rager wrote: »

I'd say start them off on a strict, structured, low carb diet, maybe a cheat meal once every few months. Protein shakes thrice daily.

Slowly begin their strength training with something like Stronglifts 5x5, and then work it up to high rep isolation exercises and perhaps even some more advanced lifts, eg clean and jerk.

Their fitness training should definitely consist of HIIT, circuits and weekly 5km's. Perhaps give them a break on the Sabbath.

You should try to instill a winner-takes-all attitude into the kids , right from day one. I recommend bi-weekly motivational video classes, and perhaps forewarning the children of the perils of unemployment, the Fiscal Treaty, relationships and how we are all going to die one day, most of us with regrets.

Persuade the kids to take down their Wayne Rooney posters and hand out Ronnie Coleman and Jay Cutler ones for them to hang up on their walls.

And finally, encourage them to discover the wonderful world of bro-science.
Soon enough, you will have your own legion of superhuman Mr and Mrs Olympia's. Good luck, and godspeed.

and hopefully end up with this....

UL_heart_throb · 17-05-2012 12:22am

I actually think this is a fairly significant endeavour. Make sure you cover yourself with regard to public liability insurance, inform and get written consent from parents and make sure the school has officially endorsed everything you are doing.

I'm not a PE teacher nor have I substantial coaching experience of children but I do have some thoughts on the matter.

What's fun and interesting for a 6 year old probably won't appeal to a 12 year old and vice-versa. If my assumption is correct, and you'll be talking the entire school for a exercise class, it's going to be very difficult to adequately supervise, control and stimulate that many people with such varying ages.

I would strongly advocate against the sports approach, mind you, this is almost purely academic and not built on actual first hand experience so feel free to ignore. What I mean is, throwing them a ball and letting them play for an hour might give a good chunk of them good exercise but it will leave a significant chunk bored and possibly disillusioned.

What facilities and equipment do you have access to anyway? A hall? A field? Balls, hulla-hoops, bean bags, mats?

What I would do, would try and implement some kind of adventure/obstacle course using what ever stuff you have available to. Let's say you have 30 kids, I'd split them into groups of 5 or 6. Based on age/height/gender/something (or those demographics evenly split across groups).

The aim of the obstacle course would be testing gross motor, balance, coordination, speed, agility and stuff like that. So maybe 6 stages.

Stage one - walk across a balance beam (long school bench or something).
Stage two - Climb over wooden/pommel horse
Stage three - Frog jump 10m
Stage four - hulla hoop for time or something
STage five - move some blocks or balls from one location to another
stage six - skipping
stage seven - spring back to start or something

What I've described sounds a bit like what you'd see a border collie do on TV but that's really what i just came up with off the top of my head, maybe you see something in there you can use.

Please Kill Me · 17-05-2012 8:41am

@ UL heart throb - thanks a mill, that's brilliant! It's a pity I can only click the thanks button once!

You've given me quite a few ideas between that and the crossfit kids and boxing. Hmmmm....

mood · 17-05-2012 8:49am

I don't think a class of 30 is workable. Also you will need to break up into age groups.

Barry.Oglesby · 17-05-2012 9:12am

Where has King of Kings' post gone it was really interesting?

UL_heart_throb wrote: »

I actually think this is a fairly significant endeavour. Make sure you cover yourself with regard to public liability insurance, inform and get written consent from parents and make sure the school has officially endorsed everything you are doing.

Whatever you do, do this.

I would strongly advocate against the sports approach, mind you, this is almost purely academic and not built on actual first hand experience so feel free to ignore. What I mean is, throwing them a ball and letting them play for an hour might give a good chunk of them good exercise but it will leave a significant chunk bored and possibly disillusioned.

I don't think anyone has said that should be the approach. I think you've straw manned me.

I'm going to do one of those annoying dissections of a post now.

Stage one - walk across a balance beam (long school bench or something). - Or walk on a wall on the way to school.
Stage two - Climb over wooden/pommel horse- or just climb over any old thing in your daily life.
Stage three - Frog jump 10m- or play on a trampoline for a while
Stage four - hulla hoop for time or something- or buy a €5 hula hoop for your kid and let them play
STage five - move some blocks or balls from one location to another- Or clean your room.
stage six - skipping- Or buy a €2 rope to skip with
stage seven - spring back to start or something- or run more often.

I'm highlighting those, not to make a fool of you, but to show that kids get these things anyway. They don't need structure to learn how to do these, and if they do, they're covered in the Primary PE curriculum.

My basic point is that people get to 25-35, and naturally assume that their lack of fitness or professional sports career is entirely due to the failings of the primary school system, or that they didn't meet a coach who really inspired them when they were younger. "If only I'd discovered X or Y sport in school imagine what I'd be today". It's wishful thinking. Then there's others who have some desire to mould kids into their ideal shape, so they set about training them the way they (think) they would like to have been trained as kids, but they don't have the practical experience and they wonder why the kids aren't as disciplined as they are.

Bad news guys, the PE was probably quite decent in school, you were just too lazy and disinterested to take part. (cue stories of "all we ever had was GAA....")

UL- your above obstacle course lasts 5 minutes in a practical environment. You now have 55 minutes left with the kids. Pop quiz hotshot- what now?

Knocking 5 seconds off your obstacle course time will be great for maybe 1% of 6-12 year olds. They'll like that. The others just won't give a damn because after a while (like 5 minutes) it's old and dull. What they need is a game they enjoy playing, that is constantly varied and new, and that they are stimulated by. Just because some aren't any good at football doesn't mean that there's not a sport out there for them. Might be a team sport, might be individual.

So here's what I think as a practical idea. Get in touch with every sports coach in the local area- say 10 sports, and make it as diverse as you can, basketball, archery, gymnastics. Tell them they can have one free afternoon/evening with a group of kids you're looking after and that you'll have warmed them up in advance. (so you get to do your obstacle course and can add in what you think you'd like to do) They'll be delighted to come, they'll get to promote their club and sport, the kids will be exposed to all manner of activities, and they may find something they love to do.

Other than that, it's just ****enastics or what they're doing in PE anyway.

Thud · 17-05-2012 9:30am

Mr. Rager wrote: »

I'd say start them off on a strict, structured, low carb diet, maybe a cheat meal once every few months. Protein shakes thrice daily.

Slowly begin their strength training with something like Stronglifts 5x5, and then work it up to high rep isolation exercises and perhaps even some more advanced lifts, eg clean and jerk.

Their fitness training should definitely consist of HIIT, circuits and weekly 5km's. Perhaps give them a break on the Sabbath.

You should try to instill a winner-takes-all attitude into the kids , right from day one. I recommend bi-weekly motivational video classes, and perhaps forewarning the children of the perils of unemployment, the Fiscal Treaty, relationships and how we are all going to die one day, most of us with regrets.

Persuade the kids to take down their Wayne Rooney posters and hand out Ronnie Coleman and Jay Cutler ones for them to hang up on their walls.

And finally, encourage them to discover the wonderful world of bro-science.
Soon enough, you will have your own legion of superhuman Mr and Mrs Olympia's. Good luck, and godspeed.

You've just described Hanley's childhood

Hanley · 17-05-2012 9:40am

Thud wrote: »

You've just described Hanley's childhood

My childhood was spent riding your mum pretty much as Barry described tbh!

UL_heart_throb · 17-05-2012 10:25am

Barry.Oglesby wrote: »

Where has King of Kings' post gone it was really interesting?

Whatever you do, do this.

I don't think anyone has said that should be the approach. I think you've straw manned me.

I'm going to do one of those annoying dissections of a post now.

Stage one - walk across a balance beam (long school bench or something). - Or walk on a wall on the way to school.
Stage two - Climb over wooden/pommel horse- or just climb over any old thing in your daily life.
Stage three - Frog jump 10m- or play on a trampoline for a while
Stage four - hulla hoop for time or something- or buy a €5 hula hoop for your kid and let them play
STage five - move some blocks or balls from one location to another- Or clean your room.
stage six - skipping- Or buy a €2 rope to skip with
stage seven - spring back to start or something- or run more often.

I'm highlighting those, not to make a fool of you, but to show that kids get these things anyway. They don't need structure to learn how to do these, and if they do, they're covered in the Primary PE curriculum.

My basic point is that people get to 25-35, and naturally assume that their lack of fitness or professional sports career is entirely due to the failings of the primary school system, or that they didn't meet a coach who really inspired them when they were younger. "If only I'd discovered X or Y sport in school imagine what I'd be today". It's wishful thinking. Then there's others who have some desire to mould kids into their ideal shape, so they set about training them the way they (think) they would like to have been trained as kids, but they don't have the practical experience and they wonder why the kids aren't as disciplined as they are.

Bad news guys, the PE was probably quite decent in school, you were just too lazy and disinterested to take part. (cue stories of "all we ever had was GAA....")

UL- your above obstacle course lasts 5 minutes in a practical environment. You now have 55 minutes left with the kids. Pop quiz hotshot- what now?

Knocking 5 seconds off your obstacle course time will be great for maybe 1% of 6-12 year olds.

Other than that, it's just ****enastics or what they're doing in PE anyway.

I swear to god, I meant to stick in a disclaimer admitting i'd strawmanned you just to make a point. I should have said that from the start.

In my head I just had the kids doing this like, 5/6 times in a row.

Fair enough, you think my idea is **** and ripped it to sheds. I thought the point was this school didn't have a pe teacher or a primary school curriculum in place and my ideas are there to incorporate the principles.

Essentially if you see your role as being the guy that blows the stop and start whistle and throws the football/basketball/floor hockey ball well that's different to how i envision it.

Not that i don't think it's a good idea. It would be very stimulating and enjoyable to be exposed to a new sport/game every week - badminton day one, table tennis week 2, tkd week 3, ballet week 4, yoga week 5, netball week 6.

Barry.Oglesby · 17-05-2012 10:29am

UL_heart_throb wrote: »

Essentially if you see your role as being the guy that blows the stop and start whistle and throws the football/basketball/floor hockey ball well that's different to how i envision it.

More strawmanning. When was the last time you watched a kids session?

mood · 17-05-2012 10:31am

UL_heart_throb wrote: »

Not that i don't think it's a good idea. It would be very stimulating and enjoyable to be exposed to a new sport/game every week - badminton day one, table tennis week 2, tkd week 3, ballet week 4, yoga week 5, netball week 6.

But that would mean the OP investing in a lot of equipment. And he/she possibly doesn't have all the skill to teach such a variety of sports.

UL_heart_throb · 17-05-2012 10:34am

I've sat in on a few different kids PE sessions in primary schools with primary school teachers.

The younger kids did something fairly similar to what i outlined (senior infants).
The older kids played football (6th class).
Left to their own devices the sessions would develop into chaos (mostly good chaos).
Regulation for the older kids required a drill Sargent approach.
Regulation for the younger kids seemed easier as they were more compliant, but did look bored.

i've sat in on a few sports sessions for kids and they focused on teaching the sport through mini-games but it was even more chaotic than the PE classes.

UL_heart_throb · 17-05-2012 10:35am

mood wrote: »

But that would mean the OP investing in a lot of equipment. And he/she possibly doesn't have all the skill to teach such a variety of sports.

I thought the idea was you ring up the local basketball/tennis/gymnastics coach, offer him the opportunity to promote his club/game to the school if he can bring his own insurance and his own nets/balls/stuff.

that was my interpretation

COH · 17-05-2012 10:39am

Do Irish kids still play unihoc?

I remember it being the single greatest 30 minutes of the primary school week... I can almost guarantee that anyone that ever played it loved it, ask the person beside you if you don't believe me. I just asked three people in work, they all smiled in recollection, and one suggested I clear out all our gym equipment and just focus on a unihoc facility.

There ya go... Unihoc.

Problem solved

UL_heart_throb · 17-05-2012 10:40am

I thought it was ****. the sticks were too light and bendy. i always wanted to play real ice hockey and smash into people.

Hanley · 17-05-2012 11:18am

COH wrote: »

Do Irish kids still play unihoc?

I remember it being the single greatest 30 minutes of the primary school week... I can almost guarantee that anyone that ever played it loved it, ask the person beside you if you don't believe me. I just asked three people in work, they all smiled in recollection, and one suggested I clear out all our gym equipment and just focus on a unihoc facility.

There ya go... Unihoc.

Problem solved

We used to being roller hockey sticks and a street hockey ball into the hall instead. Now THERE'S carnage.

Monkey61 · 17-05-2012 5:41pm

Ooooo a big plus one for Unihoc. I don't think you'll ever meet someone who doesn't enjoy that. The best thing about that being that nobody is particularly good at it, because nobody has a clue what they're doing, so it is always more fun rather than competitive.

The problem with football for instance is that there are always going to be the kids that are brilliant at it and play every day and those that aren't. I loved sports as a kid, but always dreaded sports at P.E in primary school, because it usually descended into 4 kids hogging the ball and giving out to anyone else who dared get in their way.

Martial arts would be great, or letting them try new sports that none of them are familiar with. I also like the idea of a variation on circuits (climbing jumping etc) if you have the space and equipment to make it interesting.

traco · 17-05-2012 6:39pm

Firstly - make sure you're covered from a Child protection perspective as it is very important.

I'm far from an expert but I do look after groups of young kids on Saturday mornings to introduce them to sport and try and get them moving.

We have a "loose" format / structure, genrally a warm up routine, follow the leader or races etc to get them moving, you'll get 5 -8 mins out of that.

Then I put them into teams, pick a captain and make them responsible for knowiing who is on their team and tell the team members to make sure they know who their captain is. From here you can be a drill seargent with an intermediary!

The team thing works cos it means you can keep if competitive, make up games that contain the actions / items that you want to get them to do and issue points to teams, can be for speed, consistency, skill whatever.

Keep asking teh captain to track points - its becomes like a vidieo game and young kids of 5 or so really get into it. Before you know it the time will be gone. One suggestion I would have and this is from personal experience, introduce some small ball games with something like a tennis ball as I am stunned at how poor the hand eye co-ordiation can be of some kids.

So, teams for competitive short fun games, that'll keep them focussed on pushing themselves while carrying out specific exervises that would work certain skills.

gymfreak · 17-05-2012 9:21pm

Hey, I mind chime in here. I'm a primary school teacher so i might be of a tiny bit of help. Have taught PE to classes from infants up to 6th..but take any of my advice with a pinch of salt. I'm teaching 5th class boys who have very limited attention spans so generally I keep everything snappy and change before they even look the slightest bit disinterested. Others may disagree but it's great for keeping them on task..which is my main aim.

I generally pick 2 games/sports to focus on a week. So at the minute we have one football day and one unihoc day. And then I change sport every 6-8weeks depending on how i think they're liking it. One day a week is generally something that NEARLY everyone is gonna like-unihoc, dodgeball, races (highjump longjump, sprints from lying down, sprints from facing backward etc), benchball, orienteering...etc and then the other day is the more organsised sport day gymnastics, football, basketball, tag rugby etc.

I generally do 30-40mins lessons..
Would start of with the fewest of mobility stuff..more so cause my crew are mad into sport and always asking questions about how to stretch, warmup, eat ...and really your talking easy kid stuff..groin rotations, arm circles, hamstring walks etc. or move like a snake, spider, rabbit frog, bear-they actually find this one hilarious and will shout out animals...be careful they dont try to act out animal tendancies and kill each other:pac::pac:believe me it happens!!

Then we go for a few quick games that get everyone inolved-tag, redletter, ship to shore, stuck in the mud, ladders, traffic lights, cups and cones, snatch the bacon, cat and mouse...all those childhood games.
I usually play 2-3 games of these, keeping them quick and changing things up.
Then for example we're doing unihoc this term so they practised dribbling around cones maybe 2-3 times each as a relay but not racing.
Then we played a few quick games of unihoc ALWAYS ALWAYS keep teams small 4-6 players on a team so that it's easier for everyone to play a part in the game and keep games short and swap over <

probably the most important part! I generally go for teams changing after someone scores or else game finishes after 3-5mins. Kids get really used to popping on for quick matches and popping off.
And then we might finish off with a penalty shoot out at the end or another 'childhood game' but Id pick something to calm them down a bit.

Hope that helps...I'm purely thinking from a management and attention span point of view rather than anything else.

Also a REALLY good resource http://www.ppds.ie/pcsparchive/pe/pssi/strand.html

Details lesson plans from infants up to 6th of all the aspects of the PE curriculum..even great for you to browse and get ideas and games.

Any questions, please ask

thehamo · 17-05-2012 9:38pm

gymfreak wrote: »

Hey, I mind chime in here. I'm a primary school teacher so i might be of a tiny bit of help. Have taught PE to classes from infants up to 6th..but take any of my advice with a pinch of salt. I'm teaching 5th class boys who have very limited attention spans so generally I keep everything snappy and change before they even look the slightest bit disinterested. Others may disagree but it's great for keeping them on task..which is my main aim.

I generally pick 2 games/sports to focus on a week. So at the minute we have one football day and one unihoc day. And then I change sport every 6-8weeks depending on how i think they're liking it. One day a week is generally something that NEARLY everyone is gonna like-unihoc, dodgeball, races (highjump longjump, sprints from lying down, sprints from facing backward etc), benchball, orienteering...etc and then the other day is the more organsised sport day gymnastics, football, basketball, tag rugby etc.

I generally do 30-40mins lessons..
Would start of with the fewest of mobility stuff..more so cause my crew are mad into sport and always asking questions about how to stretch, warmup, eat ...and really your talking easy kid stuff..groin rotations, arm circles, hamstring walks etc. or move like a snake, spider, rabbit frog, bear-they actually find this one hilarious and will shout out animals...be careful they dont try to act out animal tendancies and kill each other:pac::pac:believe me it happens!!

Then we go for a few quick games that get everyone inolved-tag, redletter, ship to shore, stuck in the mud, ladders, traffic lights, cups and cones, snatch the bacon, cat and mouse...all those childhood games.
I usually play 2-3 games of these, keeping them quick and changing things up.
Then for example we're doing unihoc this term so they practised dribbling around cones maybe 2-3 times each as a relay but not racing.
Then we played a few quick games of unihoc ALWAYS ALWAYS keep teams small 4-6 players on a team so that it's easier for everyone to play a part in the game and keep games short and swap over <
probably the most important part! I generally go for teams changing after someone scores or else game finishes after 3-5mins. Kids get really used to popping on for quick matches and popping off.
And then we might finish off with a penalty shoot out at the end or another 'childhood game' but Id pick something to calm them down a bit.

Hope that helps...I'm purely thinking from a management and attention span point of view rather than anything else.

Also a REALLY good resource http://www.ppds.ie/pcsparchive/pe/pssi/strand.html

Details lesson plans from infants up to 6th of all the aspects of the PE curriculum..even great for you to browse and get ideas and games.

Any questions, please ask

+1 on this. The ppds website is gift, well wortha look. Stations also work really well, though you have to make sure it's something they can do by themselves. After 5 minutes , blow a whistle get them to move on to the next station. Stops people waiting around and getting bored and disinterested which inevitably turns into messing!

Please Kill Me · 17-05-2012 10:19pm

gymfreak wrote: »

Hey, I mind chime in here. I'm a primary school teacher so i might be of a tiny bit of help. Have taught PE to classes from infants up to 6th..but take any of my advice with a pinch of salt. I'm teaching 5th class boys who have very limited attention spans so generally I keep everything snappy and change before they even look the slightest bit disinterested. Others may disagree but it's great for keeping them on task..which is my main aim.

I generally pick 2 games/sports to focus on a week. So at the minute we have one football day and one unihoc day. And then I change sport every 6-8weeks depending on how i think they're liking it. One day a week is generally something that NEARLY everyone is gonna like-unihoc, dodgeball, races (highjump longjump, sprints from lying down, sprints from facing backward etc), benchball, orienteering...etc and then the other day is the more organsised sport day gymnastics, football, basketball, tag rugby etc.

I generally do 30-40mins lessons..
Would start of with the fewest of mobility stuff..more so cause my crew are mad into sport and always asking questions about how to stretch, warmup, eat ...and really your talking easy kid stuff..groin rotations, arm circles, hamstring walks etc. or move like a snake, spider, rabbit frog, bear-they actually find this one hilarious and will shout out animals...be careful they dont try to act out animal tendancies and kill each other:pac::pac:believe me it happens!!

Then we go for a few quick games that get everyone inolved-tag, redletter, ship to shore, stuck in the mud, ladders, traffic lights, cups and cones, snatch the bacon, cat and mouse...all those childhood games.
I usually play 2-3 games of these, keeping them quick and changing things up.
Then for example we're doing unihoc this term so they practised dribbling around cones maybe 2-3 times each as a relay but not racing.
Then we played a few quick games of unihoc ALWAYS ALWAYS keep teams small 4-6 players on a team so that it's easier for everyone to play a part in the game and keep games short and swap over <
probably the most important part! I generally go for teams changing after someone scores or else game finishes after 3-5mins. Kids get really used to popping on for quick matches and popping off.
And then we might finish off with a penalty shoot out at the end or another 'childhood game' but Id pick something to calm them down a bit.

Hope that helps...I'm purely thinking from a management and attention span point of view rather than anything else.

Also a REALLY good resource http://www.ppds.ie/pcsparchive/pe/pssi/strand.html

Details lesson plans from infants up to 6th of all the aspects of the PE curriculum..even great for you to browse and get ideas and games.

Any questions, please ask

Absolute legend!! That's perfect, thank you!!

problum8 · 31-05-2012 11:48am

Hey all.. Im a primary teacher and think there is a need for fitness/movement classes for kids combined with education on nutrition etc. In my school approximately one in four kids are obese. I was wondering does anybody know of any course which would be useful for learning about specific childrens fitness/movement and nutrition or is there such a course? I would be grateful if you could help. Many thanks.

WeeBushy · 31-05-2012 3:28pm

problum8 wrote: »

Hey all.. Im a primary teacher and think there is a need for fitness/movement classes for kids combined with education on nutrition etc. In my school approximately one in four kids are obese. I was wondering does anybody know of any course which would be useful for learning about specific childrens fitness/movement and nutrition or is there such a course? I would be grateful if you could help. Many thanks.

Imo there's not much point in teaching a child about nutrition. They aren't the ones doing the shopping or making the dinners. They eat what's put in front of them, so telling them what's healthy and what's not is kinda pointless. Nutritional education should be for parents, and on the secondary school curriculum.

problum8 · 31-05-2012 8:57pm

WeeBushy wrote: »

Imo there's not much point in teaching a child about nutrition. They aren't the ones doing the shopping or making the dinners. They eat what's put in front of them, so telling them what's healthy and what's not is kinda pointless. Nutritional education should be for parents, and on the secondary school curriculum.

Oh I agree weeBushy. I would be thinking about educating the parents about nutrition. 1 in 4 3 year olds in Ireland are obese. It is an epedemic at this stage and is close to abuse imo.

gymfreak · 31-05-2012 10:09pm

problum8 wrote: »

Hey all.. Im a primary teacher and think there is a need for fitness/movement classes for kids combined with education on nutrition etc. In my school approximately one in four kids are obese. I was wondering does anybody know of any course which would be useful for learning about specific childrens fitness/movement and nutrition or is there such a course? I would be grateful if you could help. Many thanks.

I havent really come across many courses that address children's fitness/ movement and I've certainly never seen one that addresses nutrition. I'm not exactly sure what your looking for. Are you looking for effective ways to teach PE or is it an afterschool club or just for your own professional development?

I've done a few PE-esque courses for primary teachers-hurling, gaelic, badminton, volleyball, tag rugby, FAI football...I'm sure there is probably one or two more I'm forgetting about.. All the courses were grand, gave good ideas for playing the sports but all focused mainly on the children enjoying being active and having fun. Of those I think the FAI football or the badminton were probably my favourite as you got excellent folders full of ideas and skills to teach and laid everything out really simply (my favourite thing!). They are the only ones that I have experience with though. The PSSI website that I mentioned earlier in the thread is excellent at showing you how to organise a PE lesson in all the various strands. It gives plenty of warmup games, mobility exercises, stretches and then a lesson plan to follow and states very clearly the skills being developed. Currently I'm doing a version of the athletics lessons that they have up and it has helped me greatly as I really know nothing athletics!

Imo there's not much point in teaching a child about nutrition. [/B]They aren't the ones doing the shopping or making the dinners. They eat what's put in front of them, so telling them what's healthy and what's not is kinda pointless. Nutritional education should be for parents, and on the secondary school curriculum.

Although I completely understand the point that you are making and I agree that obviously it is the parents that are feeding the children unhealthy foods I still completely disagree with the highlighted statement. These children will hopefully be parents themselves at some stage and they need to know how to feed themselves and their children.

TBH I think it's quite important to catch them young and give them snippets of information about food. The kids in my class know that I have an interest in nutrition and exercise and we frequently chat about food and at least once a week if not more, one of them will ask me a question about 'whether ...is healthy or not' or what did I have for my breakfast/dinner etc Obviously I dont go ramming nutrional advice down their throats but I'd always categorise any food advice as ...not so good, alright, very good.

As an example..we were filling in questionnaires about the school breakfast club yesterday and one of the questions asked if there was any changes the children would like, this brought up a conversation on the various foods/drinks available and then I was asked by the kids which was the very good option/ okay option and not so good option out of the foods/drinks that they are served. Obviously the children are not going to have much of a say over the food that is served to them at home or in school but I do think it's important to have them thinking about food. And to be honest the whole topic of food does come up in the primary school curriculum..the only problem is that the advice in the textbooks isnt the best advice!

To break a cycle of bad nutrition the education has to start somewhere...why not start with the kids.

Setting up fitness classes for kids??

Comments