Hello PE Nation!!! I'm eager to share the high-flying world of parachute games that's been lighting up my Florida PE classes! Discover how these vibrant activities are not only a blast but also a clever way to sneak in fitness and teamwork skills. I'll be walking you through the best ways to keep things safe and spirited, whether your students are leaping on a lush lawn or a gym's polished floor. Plus, I'll toss in my top tricks for keeping those parachutes in tip-top shape, even when enthusiasm threatens to send them soaring into the stratosphere.
Cue the laughter and gasps of excitement as I recount tales from the most beloved games like 'Shark Attack' and 'Cat and Mouse.' There's a reason these activities get kids buzzing like a hive of happy bees. You'll get the scoop on how I tailor each game to fit our sunny surroundings or adapt them for indoor fun. And wait until you hear about the creative twists that keep every child engaged and eager for more! So, lace up your sneakers and prepare to be the hero of your next PE session, armed with a parachute and a pocketful of playful strategies.
Hello PE Nation!!! I'm eager to share the high-flying world of parachute games that's been lighting up my Florida PE classes! Discover how these vibrant activities are not only a blast but also a clever way to sneak in fitness and teamwork skills. I'll be walking you through the best ways to keep things safe and spirited, whether your students are leaping on a lush lawn or a gym's polished floor. Plus, I'll toss in my top tricks for keeping those parachutes in tip-top shape, even when enthusiasm threatens to send them soaring into the stratosphere.
Cue the laughter and gasps of excitement as I recount tales from the most beloved games like 'Shark Attack' and 'Cat and Mouse.' There's a reason these activities get kids buzzing like a hive of happy bees. You'll get the scoop on how I tailor each game to fit our sunny surroundings or adapt them for indoor fun. And wait until you hear about the creative twists that keep every child engaged and eager for more! So, lace up your sneakers and prepare to be the hero of your next PE session, armed with a parachute and a pocketful of playful strategies.
Hello and welcome to the Supersize Phys Ed podcast. My name is Dave and I am here to talk about parachute games today. Yes, parachute games we all loved as a kid and hopefully you love now as a PE teacher. So let's get ready and here we go. All right, pe Nation, welcome in. So today, like I said, we are talking about parachutes, not the kind that you jump out of a plane with, of course, but the parachute you use in your PE class. So I hope all of you have a parachute to use with your classes, use with your students.
Speaker 1:
We have a few of them, and some of them are small, some of them are medium, some are big, and what I found is it really depends on your situation. So I teach outside. We do have a pavilion, we have two basketball courts, we have a couple fields. They're kind of divided by a tree, so we call it field one and field two, and even field three is way out there in the very end of our area, I guess what you'd call it. So we have room, but we don't have an inside space, at least not normally during rainy days. That's a whole other story. That's a whole other podcast. We do have inside space, like the media center and, you know, push into classrooms, so we don't have a regular inside space. I know some of you do and some of you don't. So that's what I want to talk about with the parachute what are the pros and cons and what can we do in our space and if we're inside or outside that whole deal.
Speaker 1:
So again, I am outside and I want to make sure I get it done before the end of the school year, because right now in Florida it is in the 90s and the heat index sometimes is up to almost 100 or a little above, and that means we have to be inside when it's 104. Again, that's a whole nother thing, but I want to make sure I got the parachute in before it got too hot. And when it sits out all day in the grass in my case in the grass it gets hot. So I want to make sure our children's hands don't get too hot from the parachute. Now, I usually do it on grass, like I just said, sometimes I do it on the cement. As a matter of fact, we had a PBIS party, if any of you know what that is, but basically the students that earn the reward for good behavior. They came out last Friday and, yes, they took my specials time away and we had to do that instead. But anyways, I ran parachute the whole time on cement and in that case I made sure we didn't go under, we didn't crawl, and I'll get to some of those games in a little bit.
Speaker 1:
But again, it depends on your situation. You could be inside, outside, on a gym floor, on cement, on grass. I don't know your whole situation and everybody's different, so I'm going to go over the variations and how I play these games and, by the way, just a little disclaimer, these games I'm about to go through with you. I didn't make these games up. I got a lot of these online and for my paras in the past, just making up some games, but most of these I saw online and I'm not sure exactly who to give credit to. So I do apologize, but I did not make up, I don't think, any of these games. I'm just kind of going by what works for us. Maybe one game I kind of made up a little bit that I'll go through later, but for the most part these are not my games. I'm just trying to be a resource to put all these good, solid games together for you at your disposal.
Speaker 1:
So, without further ado, let's talk about the first one. We'll make it a boomer today. Here we go with number one, okay. So before I actually say number one, let's go over a couple of quick rules. I have the students hold them, either underhand or overhand. You might have handles on yours, so it's up to you. I do not have them hold the handles because they start to rip, but that again is up to you. If they want to take a break, we kind of like stretch our arms a little bit and take breaks with the waves of the ocean or whatever you want to call it. And sometimes we'll put the inflatable fish out in the middle of it and they can just kind of pop it along with baby waves or big waves, things like that. So that is a little quick note.
Speaker 1:
So number one is actually popcorn. So what I will do is put yarn balls in the middle and they have to pop them out, and it takes teamwork. If we can't get it out, if they just don't pop out, naturally I'll have them work together. I'm going to hold it still and then, like, we'll tilt it to one side or we'll try to do it like a ball launch, which that's another thing where just put, put a bigger ball in the middle and we kind of work together, we go up together and down really hard together at the same time, and that should get the popcorn out or the ball out. So it's a pretty simple concept.
Speaker 1:
Again, it depends if you have a hole in your parachute, which one of mine does have a hole. My bigger one actually has a hole in the middle, so it can pop into the middle or outside. I do need to get that sewn or something next school year, but it does have a hole in it. If it doesn doesn't, you try to pop it out and we just you could time it. You could say, oh, you know, first grade got it out in this amount of time. Let's see how well kindergarten can do it or second grade can do it. So these are games like popcorn is a real simple one and, yeah, the kids really enjoy it. By the way, it's, it's fun. It gets a little tiring, so we do take breaks, like I said. But number one is popcorn, all right. Number two is NASCAR, and I again, I again. I saw this online. I do not know who originally posted this, I didn't name it NASCAR.
Speaker 1:
But I tell them where we don't go. We don't go underneath the parachute on this one we go around, and I usually do these in this order, by the way, because I get them used to going around on the outside in a certain direction. By the way, I have them run counterclockwise. It doesn't matter whichever way you want, but I don't want kids running into each other. So we will all lift up the parachute over our head, we'll count down. We'll start a 10 count.
Speaker 1:
After I call color, I'll say, okay, yellow, and they all have to run around and we'll go 10, 9, 8, all the way down to 1, and then we put it down. The object is to get around all the way back to your color by the time we hit 1. So it's hard sometimes, especially if you have a bigger parachute, but the kids really enjoy it. I make sure I call every color once and then, if we have time, we do it again. So it's a pretty simple concept. Again, everybody goes up with it. Call a caller, everybody runs around If you're on that caller and you run back to your spot within a 10 count. So that's pretty simple, right, and it's fun. Kids like it.
Speaker 1:
I actually did this on the cement last week. Like I said, I could do this on cement or the grass. So we're not going under and we're not, uh, going on like on our hands or knees or anything like that. So that is nascar and it is number two, okay, number three, I don't even know what to call this. It's just go to the middle and back. So middle and out, I don't know what to call it. Basically it's the same concept as nascar, except you are going to, or the team everybody's going to lift up over their head and I'm going to call color again, and you go in the middle and back after the 10 count is done.
Speaker 1:
Now, during that 10 count, they can go in the middle, they can kind of dance around a little bit. That's what they like to do. But I do tell them by about 3 they have to get out because they're. And by one, when they go three, two, one down, I think it's actually called mousetrap. Now that I say that it's called mousetrap, or I've seen it called that before where they kind of catch a mouse inside the area of the trap, inside the parachute. So when they get to about three, they got to get out. I just want kids getting hurt and sometimes that has happened actually, when kids kind of goof around in there and or kids pull down early, I tell them they can't do that either. So you got to be careful with those kind of things, and I usually have two class out there at a time doing parachute, so it depends on the size of your parachute, the size of your class, everything like that. But either way, safety is important. So it's got to be careful on some of these games. But that is called again. I put into the middle and out. How about this Mousetrap? I've seen that before. So that is number three, mousetrap.
Speaker 1:
Number four another not so great name, I don't know what to call it, just switch or switch colors. So students will again put it up in the air for 10 seconds and I'll call a color. Let will again put it up in the air for 10 seconds and I'll call a color. Let's say I call red. Every red has to switch to another red color. Now sometimes that gets a little crazy in there and sometimes it ends up being too many kids at one color red, let's say and not nobody at the other one. So I do tell them they have to go with their partner and find another red color. So it should even out. But sometimes we have to. Sometimes, honestly, I don't even do that game, this game, but the kids do like it, and again they get to switch and be with their friends and just move around a little more. So that is um, it's a simple game. Again it's a 10 count up in the air and find another color and switch, just like it's called. So that's an easy one. So it's number four is switch. So that was a quick one. Well, this one's going to take a little bit longer, I think.
Speaker 1:
Number five is shark attack. Now, this is the one that I'm not saying I made up. I did not, but I kind of modified it to help my needs in my program with what I'm working with. As far as the surface goes, so and I've seen it done before where students go under the parachute and then they pull somebody under, I think it's called life or like a lifeguard has to try to save them from the shark. I don't do that because we do that. Okay, I either have cement, where we're not gonna do it at all, or on the grass, where we have dirt and anthills and things like that that I try to get rid of beforehand and I just don't want kids on their back and get all dirty and muddy and I just to me that's not safe. As far as, again, my environment, my surfaces, I have heard kids, even my students, say, oh, could we play a game where you pull kids my surfaces. I have heard kids, even my students, say, oh, can we play a game where you pull kids under? Again, I want to. I just don't feel like it fits the needs and the again environment of my program.
Speaker 1:
So what I do again, I do something a little different. I give about it depends how many, but about five or six foam noodles to the students ahead of time and they are the sharks. So I will have all the students make waves Again. I'll put a inflatable fish in the middle and I'll say, okay, make waves, maybe make baby waves, make big waves, whatever. And then I will say, okay, sharks attack and they go under and they have to tag somebody in the legs and then they will switch with them and take their spot so I can tell them they have 30 seconds to do that. By the way, they can't hang out there all day long and I want to make sure that they're. The kids aren't looking. So I say, okay, you got to stand up, put your, put it by your waist or hips or belly button. I do call that out quite a bit. I forgot to mention that. I'll say, okay, belly button for little kids, and they know to pull it tight with the belly button, so when they make waves they have to keep it at their waist level, make waves. And then I might say, okay, take a peek, take a peek under the water and they'll look and they'll see the sharks under there. And it's really just to give them a break from their arms getting tired. So I'll do that a few times again. They switch with people who they tag and if I give out six noodles, I just should see six people under the parachute. If I look under there and I see students without noodles, I know they're not supposed to be there and they need to get out or there will be a consequence there as far as sitting out or something else.
Speaker 1:
So that's one of my favorite games, games and the kids really liked that. It is called shark attack and again, I didn't make up that game, but that's the way I play it. You could do it where they pull kids under, which I would really like to do. Honestly, I just again, I don't think I can with my setup, and lifeguards have to try to save them before they get pulled under all the way by the sharks. I think that'd be really cool and I know some of you have played that before. I just don't see it in my environment, like I said. So, anyways, that is called Shark Attack. That is a cool game to play.
Speaker 1:
And that is number five. I'm going to save the fan favorite for last, so I'm going to go, I'm going to skip what I was going to do and I'm going to tell you not that you know that anyway. Number six will be mushroom or make a dome. And that is when, simply, I think most of you have done this before if you've done parachute, you lift it up high in the air, you take a couple steps in and you put it behind you and sit on it and hopefully you'll get a big dome or mushroom cloud. I've heard it called different names, so the students really like that. The dome or mushroom cloud I've heard it called different names, so the students really like that. The problem I've had is it doesn't last very long and it kind of like is really low. Maybe I'm just not very good at it, so I don't know.
Speaker 1:
I don't do that a lot, but the students really like it, especially the little kids. What we'll do with the kindergartners is we're going to pretend like if another class is walking by, like my para is bringing their class by to. You know, at the end of the day, um, we're going to, I'm going to pretend we're hiding from them. And one time there was a different pair out there watching a student and we're like, okay, we're going to hide from her, can we be really quiet? And we you know she pretended like she couldn't find the kindergartners cause we're inside the mushroom cloud. So it's fun. The kids like it, especially little kids, but it's not my favorite because I just don't get it to work very well. Again, maybe it's my fault, I don't know, but anyways, that is number six. That is mushroom or make a dome, all right. So number seven is my students personal favorite.
Speaker 1:
It is called cat and mouse and again, I did not make this up, but I've seen online quite a bit. And my students personal favorite. It is called cat and mouse and again, I did not make this up, but I've seen online quite a bit and my students just love this game. This is a game that we play on grass. We do not play on cement, uh, at least not actually. I have played on cement before, but it's more of a um, a smooth kind of cement. At my school we new school that I'm at we have more of a like a black top and I probably wouldn't play it on that. But if you're on smoother cement, I guess, or definitely grass, you can play this, or gym floor, definitely. So, cat and mouse I pick a few good students to go in the middle to be the cats.
Speaker 1:
I tell them they take their shoes off and they have to go on their hands and knees in the middle of the parachute. I always tell them if anyone goes on top of the parachute they have to take their shoes off because at least mine can rip, or they do rip sometimes. So they go in the middle and they have to. Again, they're the cats. They always have to stay on their hands and knees because someone could really get hurt. If they run around or something like that, they can trip over people.
Speaker 1:
The mice the rest are the mice, and the mice we're going to make waves Again. I know it doesn't really make sense that mice are making waves, but let's just say we're making waves and I'll call a color. Let's say again I call red Red. Anybody in red goes underneath the parachute. They are the mice and the other mice are trying to hide them and making waves. The cats are trying to find them and it's not easy If you've never played it before. It's harder than it sounds because it sounds like, oh, they can just go see them. Well, if you're making waves it's hard to see if you're a cat. So the mice go underneath. They're trying to make it around as far as they can to the other side or to another red spot.
Speaker 1:
If they get tagged, they simply go out and start over again. I just have to have some kind of consequence for being tagged, or why bother playing tag? So they just kind of go out and back in. They're not out, they just get as far as they can. And then they, when I tell all the mice get out, they go back to the color and I call another color. This continues until all the mice to get out. They go back to their color and I call another color. This continues until all the colors are called. Usually I only have like four colors, so they will go as far as they can. They'll crawl and again, the cats try to tag them. If some of the cats as my cat is making noise in the background, I don't know if you heard that if any of the cats are getting too rambunctious, let's just say I'll tell them. Well, I'll give them a warning, but also then I'll just have them get out. If they're getting too crazy or they actually pounce on people, which I've kind of seen before, they'll have to get out and we'll try it again After that round I will have, if there's time, I'll have those cats pick other cats to go in the middle or I'll pick my own. So either way, that is definitely my students' favorite game to play is Cat and Mouse. It is a lot of fun and it is number seven.
Speaker 1:
And now it's time for your Cowbell Tip of the Day. All right, everybody. So tip of the day is to try different games, try different things. Go online, look at games. Besides even the ones I mentioned today, there are other games on there. These are the ones that I usually play. So everything depends on your situation. Again, if you're inside, outside, if it's cold outside, or warm or really hot outside like me, or like not me, but Florida If it's you're on a certain kind of surface. If you have a big or small parachute, one or two classes at a time to do the parachute Everything matters in this case. So it's not a one size fits all type thing for parachute. So play to your strengths and give it a go. That is my recommendation. It's a short cowbell tip of the day, but I think let's stick with that. Give it a try, give it a go, play to your strengths and that is your cowbell tip of the day.
Speaker 1:
Thank you everyone for tuning in. I really do appreciate it. Pe nation, you are awesome, as always. Go to supersciencephysedcom for more information or go to my website, the teacher, chef, hockey player, bookcom, if you'd like to purchase the book or leave a review. There's actually a cool button Now. It says something like text. I don't know, I'll take a look at it. There's something in the thing that says you could text and give me feedback right away. I just saw it and I just put it in there. So you could text a number and I will get your message. Whether you liked it, loved it, hated it, I hope not good review, hopefully a four or five star review on the platform, whichever platform you are on. So thank you again for tuning in. You are awesome. I see you out there at the gym or in your car or whatever you're doing, listening to this. You are amazing. You are awesome and we're getting near the end of the school year. So have a great day, week, weekend, whenever you listen to this, and let's keep pushing our profession forward. Thank you.
