- To increase children's listening skills, endurance and awareness
Equipment:
- Cones to outline the shape of the ship and the brig
- Painters tape to make a line in the middle of the ship for the students to stand on during the roll call command
Getting Started:
- The leader explains that she is the captain of the ship and is going give commands to the players/crew to perform a specific movement or sound.
- Explain
that the crew is sailing treacherous seas and needs to work together and
follow the captain’s commands to survive.
- If
crew members do not follow the commands correctly or are too slow to follow
the commands, they must go to the “brig.” Explain that the brig is
the jail on a ship. Show the
students where the brig is located.
- Have
the students stand inside the ship.
Explain to the students where the boundaries of the ship are. If they run outside of these boundaries,
they must go to the brig.
- Explain
the following commands and have the students practice them before starting
the game.
Commands:
- Roll Call: The crew must line up at the midline of the playing area, feet together, toes on the line, salute and say, “Aye-aye, captain!” The crew may not lower their salute until the captain salutes and says, “At ease.”
- Crow’s Nest: The players act as if they’re climbing up a ladder to the crow’s nest at the top of the main mast, an area at the highest point of the ship to lookout.
- Swab the Deck: Players act like they’re mopping the deck.
- Shark Attack: The captain becomes a shark and tries to tag the crew. Those who are tagged or run outside of the ship go to the brig. (I usually only tag 2 or 3 students.)
- Break Time: Everyone in the brig may come back to the ship. (Give this command frequently so the students can get back into the game.)
- Drop Anchor: The crew lies on their backs with legs up and acts like an anchor.
- Pirates: Crew closes one eye, puts up a hook finger, hobbles around like they have a peg leg, and say, “Aaargh!”
- Row to Shore: Crew gets in lines of three or four and sits down as if sitting in a rowboat. Players act as if they are rowing to safety while singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”
