Today we began our "We've Got Game" Physical Education theme. Children will be learning about different games from around the world. My hope is that they will realize that many games involve little or no equipment and simply encourage the use of one's imagination. When researching this theme, I also discovered that many countries share lots of the same games but call them something different or make them more applicable to their culture. We are using a world map to locate the countries and determine to which continent the country belongs.
Our first game was called "Cheetahs and Cheetals" and came from India. It was a tag game with one side being the cheetahs and the other being the cheetals (spotted deer). One person was chosen as the prince or princess who called out in a long, drawn out voice, "Cheeeee-tahs" or "Cheeeee-tals." Since neither team knew which one would be called, each team had to be prepared to chase the other team to its home base and attempt to tag them with a pool noodle (used only for safety). Any player tagged had to change teams. Children always seem to enjoy running games.
This class waits back to back for their chance to run.
The prince calls out "Cheee-tahs" and the Cheetals begin to run for their home base.
Cheetahs (green) chase the cheetals (blue). It was easy to accidentally run the wrong way.
This game required good listening skills.
Cheetals (blue) chase the cheetahs (green).
Even the younger students enjoyed this game.
