From a students point of view...I am searching for ideas or observations on how to make classes more fun without getting silly for kids. Let me know anything you have seen that can add to our ability to get more kids involved. Thanks!!!
Tiger tail is a great one...we move our belt knot to the side and the kids haveto grab it, I love the workout that one gives me as well as teaching them they have to keep moving! Thanks for the other ideas as well...haven't done animal crawls, hops leaps or bounces in awhile!
Thanks, we also do that one! This week we started sprawl defense in a line format...the kids left laughing and I am sure the parents were happy when they past out in the car on the way home!
A good rule of thumb that I've heard is "If your students know the warm ups/drills better than you, you need new warm ups/drills!" You don't have to have "fun day" everyday, but you can make drills exciting by changing them up and often. I have gotten a lot of great ideas from dvd's I've purchased, MAIA Instructor dvds, and I talk to my kids on what are their favorite things to do in PE class (and modify it for TKD). On occasion we play dodge ball with Nerf like balls, kids against the adults. I think the adults like it more than the kids!
Some ideas you can integrate into your classes.
Animal Planet- move across floor like different animals like a bear, snake, ape, kangaroo, alligator (this one is difficult for us big people! Like an army crawl, but not on your belly.)
Balance Buddies- stand facing partner, place each other's hands together, try to push your partner off balance or if you feel your partner pushing let your hands relax and it will make them lean off balance towards you. Then try it on one foot. Then as a joke, I tell them to lift both feet...ha ha! I'll teach levitation another time!
Like T says, a form of Simon Says. We used to do all sorts of relay races using kicks, wheel barrows, duck walks, "the worm" (just for laughs), running backward, grapevines, front rolls, back rolls, side rolls, shoulder rolls. Anything you can think of. We also used to do a team building exercise where we would use targets (hand made w/ cardboard, wrapped w/ duct tape 3'x2') as pathways. We would put all sorts of things all across the dojang floor (jump ropes, kicking shields, hand targets, etc.) as obsticles. At the far end of the dojang would be "The Prize". Some item that represented gold or an idol. First team to reach the far side, w/ all the members on that side would win. The Prize was anything the instructors wanted it to be. No pushups for the winning team for the next training session, free snacks, movie of their choice (we have a DVD player and projector in our Dojang). We used to have a "Fun Day" every week. Our new Master has done away w/ that though .
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