My students love kickball, and many of your students do as well. If that is the case, let’s take advantage of their love for the game and learn how blood moves through the circulatory system (specifically the heart and lungs). The students will follow the path of blood as it travels through the heart, then to the lungs, back to the heart, and then to the body. Next, blood travels to the right atrium, the right ventricle, and the lungs to exchange gases. Next, blood goes to the left atrium, then the left ventricle, and is pumped to the rest of the body. This kickball variation will have many more bases than traditional kickball, demanding aggressive but intelligent base running. I bet your students will like this variation of traditional kickball so much that they may prefer to play this version to the original!

Materials: 

·      A kickball or soccer ball

·      Hula hoops for bases

o two blue hula hoops for the right atrium and ventricle

§  The blue represents less oxygenated blood

o two red hula hoops for the left atrium and ventricle

§  The red represents more oxygenated blood

o   2 (any color will do) hula hoops to be the lungs and body

·      If being played outside

o   An extra hula-hoop to be the pitcher’s mound

§  This hoop will need to be its own color

·      Lots of rubber disc dots to show the path for the runners

Minimum Number of Students Needed: While this game could be played with as few as six students, having more students makes this game much more fun and challenging.

Age: Lower and Upper Elementary