I'm sure there have been many discussions on this which ill go and look at, but just wondering if anyone had any really good ideas of how to amuse kids (about 7-13) in the same, not hugely exciting park for 4 x 3hrs sessions!
thanks.
fun games
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hire a bouncy castle & an ice cream van:)
Go orienteering in Lithuania......... best in the world:)
Real Name - Gross
http://www.scottishotours.info
Real Name - Gross
http://www.scottishotours.info
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Gross - god
- Posts: 2693
- Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2003 11:13 am
- Location: Heading back to Scotland
hahaha! i heard a lot of english parks have lawn bowls, perhaps you could try that aswell...
seriously though...
make sure you have a central base. check the weather forecasts. it might be worth having some shelter.
then run all your exercises from the same point. star exercise is good - e.g 14 (or any number of) control points in a circle around the start, 14 different maps each with one control on - each kid gets a map with the start and one control - they run out, punch that control, run back, then take another map and do the next one. once they have all 14 punches they can finish.
thats just one idea, i'm sure some other people will give you advice. i think its important with school kids to emphasise the competition aspect of the sport - make some of the exercises a race. that way you'll get their heart rates up and do your bit to make the kids of this country less obese!!
seriously though...
make sure you have a central base. check the weather forecasts. it might be worth having some shelter.
then run all your exercises from the same point. star exercise is good - e.g 14 (or any number of) control points in a circle around the start, 14 different maps each with one control on - each kid gets a map with the start and one control - they run out, punch that control, run back, then take another map and do the next one. once they have all 14 punches they can finish.
thats just one idea, i'm sure some other people will give you advice. i think its important with school kids to emphasise the competition aspect of the sport - make some of the exercises a race. that way you'll get their heart rates up and do your bit to make the kids of this country less obese!!
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bendover - addict
- Posts: 1459
- Joined: Sat Nov 08, 2003 5:00 am
- Location: London
Once they know a bit about what they are doing, short head to head racing loops go down well.
3 or 4 controls, 100-150m total for the course. If you put out 10 controls you can have an endless combination for the courses, and on an easy area they don't have to be on line features.
I have had 7 and 8 year old absolute beginners racing around the gym like pros within a few minutes and having a whale of a time with it.
3 hours is a long session! I would be tempted to have a picnic and a game of rounders in the middle of it (or an ice cream and a go on a bouncy castle!).
3 or 4 controls, 100-150m total for the course. If you put out 10 controls you can have an endless combination for the courses, and on an easy area they don't have to be on line features.
I have had 7 and 8 year old absolute beginners racing around the gym like pros within a few minutes and having a whale of a time with it.
3 hours is a long session! I would be tempted to have a picnic and a game of rounders in the middle of it (or an ice cream and a go on a bouncy castle!).
Make the most of life - you're a long time dead.
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Stodgetta - brown
- Posts: 569
- Joined: Fri May 07, 2004 2:55 pm
- Location: north of brum, south of manchester
Tess, I agree with Stodgetta that 3 hours is long for that age group. Is it the same group you are taking each of the 4 sessions, or is it one 3 hour plan that you need to use on 4 different groups?
I'd say definitely a drink and food break built in.
Is there just you running it, (hopefully not!) and do you have any sort of indoor facility that you can use in addition to the park? Racing around may be great for most of them, but if they're mixed in their enjoyment of running some may need other activities which they can enjoy and excel in.
Lots of books and useful bits of equipment here at my house if you want to come and browse and borrow anything
I think the longest running thread on this on nopesport was "Inspire me!" in Spring 2004 if you're searching the site for ideas
I'd say definitely a drink and food break built in.
Is there just you running it, (hopefully not!) and do you have any sort of indoor facility that you can use in addition to the park? Racing around may be great for most of them, but if they're mixed in their enjoyment of running some may need other activities which they can enjoy and excel in.
Lots of books and useful bits of equipment here at my house if you want to come and browse and borrow anything
I think the longest running thread on this on nopesport was "Inspire me!" in Spring 2004 if you're searching the site for ideas
- ifititches
- blue
- Posts: 400
- Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2004 9:15 pm
- Location: just SW of greatest track junction in UK, I think.....
Just doing a sort of egg hunt exercise for tomorrow. Rob's idea. Put an O question at each control with three options. Ie use the answers to dtermine the course. Eggs are at the end if right.
Also punching relays good.
And dressing up- Fill black sacks with kit some suitable for O some not. Get them to run to sack and find item and take it back . At end have to dress member up. Usually do this after a basic talk on O, to see how much they've taken in. Put things like umbrella, Wellies, pretty socks, goggles, sun cream always makes them think. You can make one team sort out for summer O and one for winter.
Photo O good. Get them to find pictures and mark them on map.
When do you need ideas for. Might think of more when I'm more awake.
Also punching relays good.
And dressing up- Fill black sacks with kit some suitable for O some not. Get them to run to sack and find item and take it back . At end have to dress member up. Usually do this after a basic talk on O, to see how much they've taken in. Put things like umbrella, Wellies, pretty socks, goggles, sun cream always makes them think. You can make one team sort out for summer O and one for winter.
Photo O good. Get them to find pictures and mark them on map.
When do you need ideas for. Might think of more when I'm more awake.
Diets and fitness are no good if you can't read the map.
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HOCOLITE - addict
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- Joined: Thu Feb 12, 2004 8:42 pm
- Location: Down the Ag suppliers
This was described in CompassSport April 2005 (Sarah Rollins' sprint o tips but works well for this type of activity as well). mark out (with PE cones for example) a 4x4 grid. Have 4x4 dots on sheet of paper. Mark a start triangle and then join up some dots at random to a finish.
- eagh
- off string
- Posts: 32
- Joined: Sun Oct 03, 2004 5:05 pm
- Location: back of beyond
You can make easier for you if you have a group by making the finish the next cone around for each person so you can check whose done the right course.
* * * *
* * * *<- Finish
* * * *<- Start
* * * *
I've used a set of flash cards for descriptions in a relay- match the map bits or symbol and description. Although if you've got acess to an area rather than just a room there are probably better activities.
* * * *
* * * *<- Finish
* * * *<- Start
* * * *
I've used a set of flash cards for descriptions in a relay- match the map bits or symbol and description. Although if you've got acess to an area rather than just a room there are probably better activities.
- CHS
- blue
- Posts: 412
- Joined: Sun Mar 28, 2004 7:26 pm
thanks all for your help. i have just completed 2 days - aaaah!
3 hours is a very long time, especailly in the wet when you have basically no indoor facilities.
i will post some of the things i have been sent my email some time, some great 'vampire score events!' going on.
easter egg hunts are definitely the way forward though, especailly when you keep some eggs and they have to chase you for them - pete guillaumes wmjs games are always the best!
anyway, thanks to everyone who has posted or sent me emails or given me stuff, its coming in use and ive a got another 2 days to fill...!
3 hours is a very long time, especailly in the wet when you have basically no indoor facilities.
i will post some of the things i have been sent my email some time, some great 'vampire score events!' going on.
easter egg hunts are definitely the way forward though, especailly when you keep some eggs and they have to chase you for them - pete guillaumes wmjs games are always the best!
anyway, thanks to everyone who has posted or sent me emails or given me stuff, its coming in use and ive a got another 2 days to fill...!
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Tessa - red
- Posts: 172
- Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2004 3:44 pm
as promised i have finally got round to writing some games up that i did use and went down well.
everyday we started by orientating the map by features (2 tennis courts) then i would run somewhere random and they would have to point to where we landed up. was a fun warm up they seemed to enjoy.
i borrowed some 'symbols relay' cards from the local RDO and they were great. Have a symbol name on one side, so the kids have to run to the pile and find the symbol that matches, they then turn over the card to find another symbol name, and the next person goes to the pile.
this often combined well with obstacle courses. in order to 'waste' a bit more time of the 3 hours, we set up obstacles which they had to run through before they got to the pile of symbols. We also used this with matching maps (2 sets of identical map segments, go collect one, match it with the twin back at base), fitting jigsaws together and wrodsearches adn crosswords with the clues being symbols.
Just a note on jigsaws - the 6 year olds found the whole jigsaw too complicated, so we made 'windows' which they had to fill in.
another thing with the map segment pairs is to attach them to the backs of the kids and they have to run around describing other's maps in order to find their partner.
easter egg hunts were well recieved! The kids collected stickers (nice orienteering ones as well) for doing well through out the morning. Then i hid eggs on all the benches in the park. Those with the most stickers got a head start and there were various rules depending on numbers about how many they could take from each bench. I also had a stack, so if they could catch me (ha ha) then they could have another.
I hope this is useful for other people. I'll be doing it for maybe 3 weeks again in the summer, apparently there is demand for it. I handed out some nice new BOF leaflets and flyers for local events which many seemed keen to go to...watch out Berkshire Orienteer's YBT team may expand!!
everyday we started by orientating the map by features (2 tennis courts) then i would run somewhere random and they would have to point to where we landed up. was a fun warm up they seemed to enjoy.
i borrowed some 'symbols relay' cards from the local RDO and they were great. Have a symbol name on one side, so the kids have to run to the pile and find the symbol that matches, they then turn over the card to find another symbol name, and the next person goes to the pile.
this often combined well with obstacle courses. in order to 'waste' a bit more time of the 3 hours, we set up obstacles which they had to run through before they got to the pile of symbols. We also used this with matching maps (2 sets of identical map segments, go collect one, match it with the twin back at base), fitting jigsaws together and wrodsearches adn crosswords with the clues being symbols.
Just a note on jigsaws - the 6 year olds found the whole jigsaw too complicated, so we made 'windows' which they had to fill in.
another thing with the map segment pairs is to attach them to the backs of the kids and they have to run around describing other's maps in order to find their partner.
easter egg hunts were well recieved! The kids collected stickers (nice orienteering ones as well) for doing well through out the morning. Then i hid eggs on all the benches in the park. Those with the most stickers got a head start and there were various rules depending on numbers about how many they could take from each bench. I also had a stack, so if they could catch me (ha ha) then they could have another.
I hope this is useful for other people. I'll be doing it for maybe 3 weeks again in the summer, apparently there is demand for it. I handed out some nice new BOF leaflets and flyers for local events which many seemed keen to go to...watch out Berkshire Orienteer's YBT team may expand!!
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Tessa - red
- Posts: 172
- Joined: Fri Jun 18, 2004 3:44 pm
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