That last half hour before my husband pulls in the driveway from work are the hardest for me when I’m home with the kids. By that time of day, I’m tired, hungry, and cranky and so are my boys…not a good combination. One afternoon, we were playing (and whining and arguing and fighting) in the front yard while waiting for daddy to get home. My 5-year-old started talking about a game they like to play in the gym at school called “Line Tag” and asked if we could make the same game on our driveway using sidewalk chalk! It was the perfect way to entertain everyone (mom included!) for awhile and we even added some of our own ideas to make the game even more interesting! Line Tag has become one of our favorite gross motor activities at our house!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED: Sidewalk chalk and an open, paved space where you can draw the course for your game
WHAT TO DO:
1- Draw a huge rectangle (we made ours the entire length of our driveway) with your sidewalk chalk.
2 – Add some diagonal and straight lines running in all different directions across the rectangle.
3 – Draw six large circles in the spaces throughout your course.
4 – Inside two of the circles, trace both of your child’s feet.
5 – Inside two of the other circles, trace just one of your child’s feet.
6 – Inside the last two circles, trace both of your child’s hands.
When you’re finished, your game course will look something like this:
Now you’re ready to play! For this game of tag, one child is “it” and the other children have to try to stay away from him, but here’s the twist. EVERYONE has to keep their feet on the lines at all times, balancing as they walk quickly away from the child who is “it”.
The only way they’re allowed off of the lines is if they step onto one of the cirlces – the “Safety Zones”. But, you can’t just stand there! If you want to stay safe, you have to do the following:
-On the circle with two feet, you have to jump up and down the whole time you’re on base.
-On the circle with one foot, you have to balance on one foot the whole time you’re on base.
-On the circle with two hands, you have to put your hands down on the ground and do donkey kicks (kick both feet up into the air behind you) the whole time you’re on base.
HOW TO CHANGE IT UP:
-For younger kids, draw a simpler course with lots of lines to balance on and remove the “Safety Zones” to keep it simple.
-Make up your own ideas for the gross motor actions that the kids have to do on the “Safety Zones” – jumping jacks, hopping on one foot, anything that gets them moving!
-Drawing fewer lines on your course makes it a little more challenging because there are fewer routes for the person who’s “it” to take to get to the other kids.
SKILL AREAS ADDRESSED: Gross motor skills, endurance, visual motor integration, social skills, cognitive skills, balance, coordination, motor control
Be sure to sign up to receive our newsletter, a weekly roundup of our favorite posts delivered right to your inbox! Simply enter your email address in the box in the sidebar and click “Subscribe”!
Related articles across the web
Latest posts by Claire Heffron (see all)
- Starting a YouTube Channel as a Pediatric Therapist - July 15, 2021
- Tactile Defensiveness - July 14, 2021
- Teaching Children Patience: 10 Ways to Support Kids During Wait Times - July 11, 2021