Physical capture team-activity.
Capture team-activity with cards.
EQUIPMENT: giant chessboard – name cards and holders – coloured cones – cardboard squares (10x10 cm) in 5-6 different colours (4 cards for each colour)– soft toy (Rospo the Toad) – prize caps (plastic soft-drink bottle caps) - soft toy on a pedestal (Boletus the Gnome)
Main instructions for the children
The capturing team chooses a member to enter the castle.
The capturer enters the castle and indicates the starting room with a cone.
The player declares the direction of the capture path.
All the other teams enter the castle and position themselves where they think they cannot be captured.
After I check, those who are captured give a prize cap to the capturing team.
The capturer leaves the castle and a new capturer from the same team enters and the game is repeated.
The first two times you can move out of the capture path if you realize you can be captured, the next two times you cannot move to avoid capture.
The capturing team plays 4 times.
A new capturing team repeats the whole activity.
Activity details for the teacher
Divide the class into teams of 4 children.
Each team is given a safe with 20 prize caps.
One team becomes the capturing team, and they send a member onto the chessboard to mark the start square with a cone.
From this position the child on the chessboard declares the capture
direction.
All the other teams go onto the chessboard and position themselves where they can’t be captured.
Assist the children to position themselves.
Each child captured gives one prize cap to the capture team.
Each member of the capture team does the activity in turn.
The first two capturers give indications as to who can be captured without naming the child in question (e.g. I can capture two kids... I can capture a person with blue eyes). If one of the children realizes they can be captured, they can move to another square.
The last two do not indicate who can be captured and the children on the chessboard cannot change squares.
Each team takes their turn to be the capturers.
The team with the most prize caps at the end of the entire activity is the winner.
“… The king had a bitter enemy: a wicked duke who frequently invaded in an attempt to control the king’s realm and steal the castle’s treasure chests. The king was terribly worried that one day the duke would succeed in his evil plan, so he called his trusted wizard and commanded him to put a spell on the duke so that the king would be rid of him forever. The wizard consulted his huge book of spells and found the perfect one for the job. He transformed the duke into a giant toad whom he called Rospo! ... Rospo was appalled at what had happened and wanted revenge; he hid himself in the moat, from where he would use his long tongue to try and capture subjects who were walking to court.
Main instructions for the children
Once Rospo the Toad ‘enters’ a room, the capture path is called out and you enter the castle.
Put your coloured card down on the floor of a room where it cannot be captured.
When you hear STOP, leave the castle.
Do not place the cards on the paths on the edge of the castle.
Don’t put your card in a room that already has a card.
After I have checked if the captures were correct, go and get your card.
Be ready to go to a new position as instructed.
Activity details for the teacher
Divide the class into 4-5 teams depending on the number of children.
Give a coloured card to each player; each team has a different colour.
Throw the toad soft toy onto the chessboard so that it lands inside a square.
Announce the capture direction.
The children go onto the board and put their cards where they CAN’T BE CAPTURED.
Stop the children after they have had a sufficient amount of time to locate the correct squares.
All the children exit the chessboard, leaving behind the cards that they have placed.
Check along all the capture paths to see which cards have been captured.
If no cards from a team are captured, that team wins a prize cap from the capturing team, which is put in the team safe.
For every card captured the capturing team receives a prize cap.
A point is lost if a card is placed on any of the squares on the edge of the board or if two cards are put on the one square.
The team that has the most prize caps at the end of the activity is the winner.
NOTE: It is advised to give increasingly more complicated capture paths. The suggested sequence is as follows:
VERTICAL
HORIZONTAL
DIAGONAL (first an external square, then a central square) 4 VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL
VERTICAL AND DIAGONAL
HORIZONTAL AND DIAGONAL
VERTICAL-HORIZONTAL-DIAGONAL
VARIATION: Reduce the amount of time available to place the cards on the chessboard, especially if the children are making few errors.
CLOSING CHANT: “Rospo’s long tongue wants to capture me ... vert-ical-ly, hori-zont-ally or diag-on-ally! 1 - 2 -3 yeaaaaaah!”
With the continuation of the fairy tale, the child’s imagination is consolidated inside the game; the new guest is of interest to everyone and this renews and fosters involvement.
The introduction of this character, in particular for the smaller children, inserts a popular new element; notwithstanding that Rospo captures the children, he becomes a friend to be touched and cared for as if it was part of the group. Many children speak up so that rules are respected in order to give voice to mute Rospo. The throwing of Rospo onto the board, followed by the placement of the cards on the chessboard, creates a game activity that fosters the establishment of alliance relationships between the children, who have fun saving each other from the capturer, with the guiding principle of teamwork becoming evident.