7 - Up

Purpose: to assess and improve catching skills

Suggested Age: K - 4th grade

Equipment: 7 different objects that can be caught without trapping

Game Objective: the objective of the game is work your way through as many different levels as possible by catching different objects with your partner.

Set Up:
Select 7 different objects of varying difficulty and set them up in order from most difficult to least difficult. Have students break into partner groups and then send them to two different lines in the gym that are roughly 10-20 feet apart (depending on age). Once the music starts the students will begin by collecting the first item and will attempt toss or throw it to their partner who will attempt to catch it. Once they have caught the object 10 times they move on to the second item. After repeating this process and moving their way through all 7 items they will then start over at the first and easiest item on level 2. As students progress through each level the rules will change to make it slightly more difficult. The game will be played for a set amount of time that the students may or may not be aware of.

Rules:

• Level 1: the object must be caught 10 times. If dropped your current score stays the same.
• Level 2: the object must be caught 10 times in a row. If dropped, your score resets to 0 but you stay on the same object.
• Level 3: each partner now has the same object and must toss/throw the object towards each other at the same time. If dropped your current score stays the same.
• Level 4: repeat level 3, but now the object must be caught 10 times consecutively in order to move to the next object.
• Level 5: repeat rules for level 3, however they must now toss/throw, spin around, and then catch the object. 
• Level 6: repeat the rules for level 2, however if at any point an object is dropped you must return to the 1st object.
• Level 7: repeat rules for level 4, however if at any point an object is dropped you must return to the 1st object.

Tips:

• When teaching the game I only explain the rules for level 1 and level 2. After a group has beaten level 2 I will explain to them the rules for level 3 and any consecutive levels as they reach them.
• Make sure you scale the difficulty of the objects to be appropriate for the age.
• For Kindergarten age (1st grade if it's early in the year) I have them work on catching off a self toss instead of a toss from a partner. You can also simply have them choose their item and switch after every 1-2 minutes instead of having them work their way up to the most difficult.
• You can change the difficulty of each level or make up your own, these are simply ones that I've found to be successful (primarily with 2nd-4th graders).

Note: I would like to give credit to Tom Dahl from Longfellow Elementary who gave me the basic idea for this game