After 2 weeks of practicing different kinds of kicking, I wanted to give my 1st and 2nd graders some game action. I didn’t think most of them were ready for a full game of kickball and I didn’t want most of the class standing in line waiting for their turn so this is what I came up with. Half the class lined up as kickers. I would pitch (roll) the ball and the first in line would run up and kick it as far as he/she could. Then that child had to run around the bases and then get in the back of the line. I had a tub full of balls and as soon as one child kicked I was pitching to the next in line. My other half of the class were lined up as fielders. I found it worked best to line these children up behind me then the front person went and retrieved the ball, put it in the tub, and got in the back of the line. This kept the game running smoothly and quickly. As soon as each kicker had had a turn to kick I yelled “switch” and the fielders became the kickers. It moved along quickly and all the students got many turns to kick as well as field a ball. I had to pause with the first graders a couple of times to remind them of their good kicking form we had practiced. The game went perfectly with the 2nd graders.
*note: When I first started the game I had the fielders spread out in the field with the idea that they would field balls that came in their area. This didn’t work very well. They ALL ran after EVERY ball and kept running in front of me as well. When I lined them up behind a cone and had them take turns it went much better. Since the kicks were coming so fast, this group stayed busy as well.