
Sharks and Minnows
Skills:
Physical: gross motor skill, lower limb coordination, agility
Cognitive: Visual processing, selective attention, sustained attention, divided attention
Social: Teamwork
Number of participants:
5 or more
Equipment:
none
Description:
- one child (shark) is in the center of the room
- others (minnows) are on one side of the wall and must run across the room
- if tagged, the child becomes a tagger (shark)
Adaptations for Wheelchair Users:
Children using wheelchairs can play by wheeling with the object in their lap.
Safety tip: Participants should pay attention when playing with a child in a wheelchair; child in wheelchair should also have sufficient wheelchair skill to be able to manouever the chair around other children
Modifications to make the activity easier:
Change the equipment: give child a pool noodle to increase reach to decrease physical demand
Change the environment: decrease the distance child has to run to decrease physical demand
Change the task: have child alternate between walking and running to decrease physical demand
Modifications to make the activity harder:
Change the environment: increase duration of the game to increase physical and cognitive demand
Change the task: have the child dribble a ball while running to increase physical and cognitive demand
Goal examples:
- The child is able to run without getting tagged, 3 out of 5 times
- I can run and tag my friends gently