Ultimate Red Light Green Light

Purpose: to apply movement concept and strategy. To improve object control skills. To end class on a high note if you have 5 minutes to spare

Suggested Age: K-6 (add object control for older kids)

Equipment: Tumbling Mats, and type of ball or long/short handled implement that you're using for object control

Game Objective: the objective of the game is to make it from one base line to the other without being caught by the "Officer"

Set Up:
Designate one end of the gym as the starting point and the other as the end zone. In between the starting point and end zone stand up several tumbling mats, making sure that there are more towards the start and fewer towards the end. Make sure the mats aren't too close to each other.

Have all of the students go to the starting point (baseline). Now go to the end zone (other baseline) to be the first Officer. You can also pick a student to start as an Officer but I prefer to have this role during the first game. The Officer must start facing the students on the other end and stand in the middle of the baseline.

Rules:

• Once the Officer says "Green Light" they must do a half turn so their back is turned to the students. At this points the students must try to advance forwards towards the End Zone
• Once the Officer says "Red Light" they must turn around quickly so they are facing the students. At this point, instead of stopping the students must hide behind a mat as quickly as possible.
• If an Officer sees a student and says their name before they hide they must go back to the beginning. If a student peeks out from behind a mat while hiding the Officer can say their name. Officers are NOT allowed to simply guess or say names as random.
• Students may keep moving after the Officer says "Red Light" in attempts to make it to the end, though this often doesn't work well unless they're right next to the baseline.
• If a student makes it from one baseline to the other without being called out they receive a point. After getting a point they should go around the outside of the gym and start over. After 3 points the student may become an Officer if they choose to.
• Once you have 5-10 Officers, start a new round.
• All the same rules apply if playing the game for the sake of object control practice. If doing object control I make them stop on the End Zone line before getting a point to show that they maintained control.

Tips:

If you play this game for the sake of improving object control it helps to have more mats. This helps prevent students losing control of their object on account of there being too many students behind the same mat.

Sometimes I will play for the duration of 1 song and encourage students to get as many point as possible. However, you need to be careful with certain groups if you do this with object control as they will use poor form to score as many points as possible.

Once students have become Officers, make sure that they stay behind the baseline and in the middle. They often times like to move side to side and/or forward to see and catch more students that are hiding.