KPED 292 Warm-Up Handout Gillian Shields

Name of activity: Octopus tag

Equipment: No Equipment needed

PURPOSE of activity: The purpose of Octopus tag is to increase movement, heart rate, and pump blood into the muscles. This will prepare students for the following activ-ity.

Skills used in the activity: Octopus tag is a great warm-up because it includes all the movement concepts from Laban’s movement analysis: body awareness, spatial aware-ness, effort awareness, and relationships. Students will use different locomotor skills to manipulate there way across the gym. Spatial skills will be used by all students to avoid getting tagged, and tagging others.

Description & Rules:• Two people chosen as an octopus. The octopus is considered “it”.• The boundaries of what is considered the ocean will be decided based on num-

ber of players.• Everyone else are considered the fish, and must line up along one side of the

ocean.• When the octopi call out “Here fishy fishy”, the fish must run to the other side of

the ocean with out being caught by an octopus. • If a fish is caught by an octopus, he/she will become a seaweed. Seaweed can

also tag fish, but must pivot on one foot, and cannot run freely.• If the word tidal wave is called out, the seaweed are free to move anywhere and

tag the fish.• If the word Crab shack is called out everyone must do the crab walk while contin-

uing the game.• If the word Starfish is called out everyone must side shuffle while alternating

arms up and down while continuing the game.

Safety Considerations: • It is extremely important to make sure students stop inside the boundaries and

not at the wall to avoid injury. Be cautious of wall and bleachers.• No pushing or shoving.

References: http://physicaleducationresources.comwarmups_small_games_physical_education_ re-sources.aspx