When I create my integrated classroom PE games, I purposely design them so there is little to no down time for any student. I want as many students participating as much as possible. When our students are studying a culture, we tend to play a popular (indigenous) sport from them. Sometimes the rules of the sport are not conducive for having a lot of people play at once. There can be a lot of waiting for a turn, which is boring for the students. However, it is important to play the sports of a culture because it gives us a window to their societal values and how they address their fundamental needs. So what to do?

Instead of diving right into the sport and playing one large game, we can look at the individual skills of the sport and create mini-games. These mini-games help the students practice sport specific skills, they increase overall participation, and the students get more exercise, which results in them having more fun. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of mini-games over playing the big game.

Enhanced Participation

When the students are playing a big game like baseball, soccer, etc., do you notice there are always some students who are standing and watching the action, but not participating at all? They may be standing in a small group talking to each other, and not playing in the game. If the ball comes to them, they quickly get rid of it, and resume their conversations. Obviously, this is less than ideal.

The reason they can get away with not participating is because their lack of participation does not affect the team. If there are two or three high-skilled players, they will be happy to do the brunt of the work because they get to play more. They see the cluster of students talking, figure they are not really participating, which in their mind, means they can be ignored and they are just going to focus on the teammates who are playing. While they are not necessarily wrong, they cannot become better teammates by ignoring half of their team. Some ball-hogs are glad to do all the work. It goes without saying that the huddled talking players are not being good teammates either.

Now, if we are playing a smaller mini-game with three people per group, there is nowhere to hide. With this few players in the game, if one person is not participating, it is very obvious, and typically the other two players will encourage this person to get their act together and play. They are much more inclined to work with a student who is not participating, rather than just ignore them. If the mini-game requires the participation from everyone within the group to succeed at the objective, this incentive really enhances teamwork and communication.

Better Skill Building

My lower elementary classes are studying Illinois and Chicago, so we played lacrosse because it was the favorite sport of the Great Lakes Native American tribes (Chicago is a Native American word after all). I don’t have lacrosse sticks (yet), so we have these ball scoops that resemble something like a jai alai stick, but with plastic webbing that looks like the head of a lacrosse stick. If I were put a goal on each end of the gym, make two teams and say, “Let’s play lacrosse,” it would have been utter chaos, and very little fun for the majority of the class. Only a couple students have had any experience with actual lacrosse, so most of the students would have been struggling with very basic skills of the game. Because they would have had difficulty scooping the ball, passing to teammate, or even catching the ball thrown to them, they would have virtually zero chance of having fun. If they cannot successfully participate in the game, they will probably stand around and talk to some friends. Sound familiar? Even worse, a student really wants to play and is trying hard to no avail, and the mounting frustration is so intense they would permanently write off lacrosse as a “dumb sport.”

If only these students had had an opportunity to get acquainted with the necessary skills to play the game effectively. Instead of going straight to the game, the first week we played a toss and catch game that resembles a classic water balloon toss. They get hundreds of repetitions throwing and catching, building familiarity with the equipment as well. The next week, I would begin the lesson by asking the students, “how many times did we drop the ball last week?” They would say a ton, so my response was we needed to practice scooping the ball off the ground. We then played a group racing game that required the students to scoop the ball off the ground and get it to me as fast as they could. The week after that, we had a continuous shooting game that gave every student the opportunity to shoot the ball at a goal many times that PE period. The week after that, we played a Monkey-in-the-Middle style game that resembled week one, but now there is a defender, so there is added pressure to the pass and catch, and we are getting practice as a defender. By building the skills over time, the students progressively get better, which means they are all equipped to play lacrosse for the last week. However, I still will not play one huge game, but four mini-games, which means each student gets many more touches of the ball, and put all their skills to the test. Lots of basketball coaches praise three-on-three basketball as the best thing to teach young players how to play effective team basketball. I agree, which means we lots of mini-game over one big game whenever possible.

More Exercise

One of the tough things about sports like softball and baseball is there can be a lot of standing around for most players. I do love the sport, but from an exercise perspective, it can be very limiting. When we do play ancestor sports of baseball, as well as the sport itself, we had several of mini-game practice. The mini-games have more physical activity and exercise, and they are building skills too. If we had played a month of baseball, they would have had far less exercise. For example, we played a mini-game called “running bases,” which simultaneously works on throwing and catching, as well as effective base running. Within the course of a 45-minute PE period, any given threw and caught the ball a hundred times. Compare that to a baseball game where an outfielder might get one opportunity for a catch and throw. Running bases also has players sprinting back and forth trying to evade a tag. If someone doesn’t get a hit in the game, they do not get any experience base running.

Appropriate Skill Level Matching

Students get frustrated when there is someone who is light years ahead of them skill-wise. This student is scoring at will, they can’t be stopped, and it is not fun to play with them. Similarly, a high skilled player grows bored of crushing the competition. I know there is value in having highly skilled players play with lesser skilled players, but that only works when they are working together towards an objective that requires their interaction. If the objective of the game is to score a goal or make a shot, passing to the lesser skilled student probably doesn’t help them with the objective. In their mind, it’s better to get a guaranteed shot with high skilled players than to risk it by passing to a lower skilled player. I don’t want to ignore that sometimes we have highly skilled players who are generous and conscientious, and will work with lesser skilled players, even if it means they are putting their team’s performance in jeopardy to do so. They effectively understand that building relationships is better for the long term than the short-term goal of winning a game (which is high level sportsmanship).

We know that people enjoy games the most when they play with people who are similarly skilled. When competition between similar skill level athletes is close, they have a better chance of getting to the “flow zone,” which will create the best results and be the most fun. Being in the flow zone enhances skill building, there will be more exercise because they will be working harder, they will participate more, and they will have more fun. Here is a chart of the flow zone.

Enhanced opportunities for competition

A feature of most of my mini-games is that the small groups are not competing directly against each other; they are competing against a record. This takes so much of the stress away from the teacher who has been plagued with negative behaviors associated with competition. Everyone is working for the same purpose, so they are not fighting over the rules, or who is winning. Instead, they are focused on their own task, and are cheering for the others to be successful as well. Lower skilled students can admire higher skilled students without envy or jealousy, and high skilled students genuinely will be cheering on the lower skilled students.

By having the students working towards a common goal and objective, they are experiencing all the benefits of competition with far fewer downsides. I can’t tell you how many times I have had a whole class erupt in a cheer once they are told they beat the record. Students who typically don’t put too much stock in their sports performance will throw their hands up in victory and yell at the top of their lungs. Even when their record is broken, they won’t be heartbroken because they’re at least a day removed from the game. Their feelings are not as strong, and they will be able to handle a defeat in a more mature and appropriate way. They may even compliment the team that broke their record (but vow to win the next time).

The (Potential) Downsides

If you are going to run a bunch of mini-games versus one large game, you will need a lot more equipment. For some games, the extra cost is inconsequential, and for other games, it may be virtually impossible to equip all your students. If your PE program is on a tight budget, or you don’t have a PE budget at all (because you are a classroom teacher teaching PE), money and storage space are the major constraints to utilizing mini-games and enjoying all of its benefits.

The other downside is that the chance of injury will increase. This is a function of more people participating and playing. The more people play, the higher the chance they might get hurt in the process. If everyone is standing around and not moving, no one will get hurt, but that is not physical education. If the space is limited, properly section off areas with cones to prevent collisions. Teaching mini-games requires one to be well organized, and constantly on the move watching the different groups play. It will be tiring, but so much more fun and effective.

Next week I will add the updated lesson plan for lacrosse so you can see how I use mini-games to teach the big game.