Mouse in the House

Purpose: To apply movement concepts and strategy to in chasing and fleeing activities. To increase cardiovascular, core, upper and lower body strength.

Suggested Age: K-4

Equipment: 6 polyspots, 7 collapsible tumbling mats, enough pinnies for all students

Game Objective: the objective of the game is for the mice to avoid being caught by a cat for as long as possible. The last two mice to be caught will be the winners.

Set Up:

• Place the polyspots (mouse holes) around the gym and the 4 mats (mousetraps) in the corners as seen on the diagram below
• Using the remaining 3 mats, stand 2 up on their edge parallel to each other only a few feet away from each other. Then take the 3rd mat, open it up, and lay it flat over the other two, making the mouse house
• Have 2 students put on pinnies. These students are the cats. All other students are considered mice and must spread out around the gym

Rules:

When the music starts the cats will attempt to "catch" the mice by tagging them while the mice attempt to avoid the cats. If a mouse is tagged or steps onto a mouse trap they must go outside of the boundaries (basketball court lines), do 2 exercises from the workout of the week, then must put on a pinnie and become a cat. Once there are only 2 mice left the game is over and they will become the new cats for the next round. 

If a mouse stands in a mouse hole they are safe from being tagged by a cat, but a mouse can only stand in the mouse hole for 5 seconds. If a cat thinks they are staying too long in a hole they may count to 5 themselves. Cats are also not allowed to enter the mouse house, but if a cat comes over to a mouse house and starts counting out loud, they may reach inside and tag the mice after 10 seconds. There is no limit to how many mice can stay in the mouse house.

Tips:

Each time you start a new round have the cats alternate from wearing pinnies to not wearing pinnies. This saves a lot of time from students taking off and putting on pinnies.

ex: Game 1 cats wear pinnies and students put on pinnies as they're tagged. Game 2 the 2 students that weren't tagged do not put on a pinnie and as students are tagged they remove their's as well, becoming cats.

If you have a larger class you can use the whole gym, add a 2nd mouse house, and increase the boundaries. Once mice are tagged they can do their exercises on a mouse trap mat before putting on their pinnie/taking it off.

If students are not controlling themselves and knock over the mouse house, give them a warning that if they knock it over again the next round there will be no mouse house. This usually works for me and they become a lot more cautious to not knock it over.