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Name of Activity:

The Three Little Pigs

Purpose of Activity:

To give students practice moving safely through a large area (i.e., without bumping into others).

Activity cues:

Look where you are going!

Prerequisites:

The student should have had practice in moving safely through general space (e.g., they shouldn't be running into others or following them around "on a racetrack"), and they should have had practice in basic locomotor skills.

Suggested Grade Level:

K-2

Materials Needed:

Five cones: three with one picture each of the three little pigs' houses (straw, stick, brick) taped onto the cone; one cone with a picture of the wolf; and another cone with a picture of the mother or father pig.

Description of Idea

The cones should be set up so that the cones for the wolf den and the mother or father's pig house are across the gym from each other. Have the three pigs' houses spread around the gym so the students will be able to move throughout the gym.

At the beginning of the lesson, remind students about what it means to move safely through space: to look where you are going, and to make sure one does not follow exactly behind another person.

To play the game, have the "Big Bad Wolf" stand in the middle of the gym. A mother or father pig must be chosen; this person will go to that such-designated cone. The rest of the students will be divided up equally among and placed in each of the three pigs' houses.

The wolf will then pick one of the three houses upon which to call (e.g., "House #1"). He or she says loudly, "Little pigs, little pigs, let me come in". The pigs in the house will say together "not by the half of my chinny chin chin." Then the wolf counts to three "1, 2, 3". On the count of three, each of the little pigs in that one house move to a new house. The wolf then tries to tag a pig; any pig that is touched by the wolf must then go to the wolf den.

The only way a pig can get out of the wolf den is if the mother or father pig sneaks over to the den while the wolf is trying to catch more pigs and brings one pig only out of the den. If a pig is saved, that pig may have a free walk back to any of the pig houses.

After every few turns, choose a new wolf and mother or father pig. (Have the wolf or parent pig choose a student who has not been either of these two roles.)

Variations:

If students are very good at moving safely through space, you can have them move AS A GROUP to a new house they choose at the beginning of each turn. For example, if the wolf picks house #1, all the students in house #1 would move to the house which the group decided to move to before the wolf called out to them. Be sure to stress safety when there are a lot of children at one house.

Allow students in each house to pick a locomotor movement which they will use to move to a new pig house. The wolf must also use that locomotor movement when tagging the pigs. A new movement is picked at the beginning of each turn.

Assessment Ideas:

Students will be assessed on their ability to move without running or bumping into each other.

Submitted by Carolyn  Pena who teaches at Cedar North Elementary in Cedar City , UT . Thanks for contributing to PE Central! Posted on PEC: 3/24/2001.
Viewed 154702 times since 8/24/2001.

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The Three Little Pigs

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Previous Comments:

John

Great game, except the sayings is, "Not by the HAIR on my chinny chin chin.

Erin

My students really enjoyed this lesson! I made visuals for the houses and the kids were moving. Three cheers and a cartwheel!

Elizabeth

This is a really fun game....my kids love it!!! :) It is great b/c I can assess motor skills, spacial awareness, as well as tagging and dodging skills.



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