Beginners  Be sure the hoop is of a manageable size for this activity. The arms must be able to reach the sides of the hoop and be held comfortable above the head.

Intermediate  The hoop should be able to drop cleanly down to the floor if the release of the hands is done at the same time.

Advanced  See if the children can do  a clean drop three times in a row.

Special Needs  Releasing the hoop with both hands may be challenging and understanding the importance of holding the hoop level above the body.

Have each child stand in the middle of their own hoop with their feet together.

Upon instruction, the children bend down, pick up their hoop by placing their hands on the inside of the hoop and lift it high above their heads.

Be sure the hands are resting on the inside of each side of the hoop and the hoop is held directly and level above the head.

Have the children straighten their hands so that the fingers are straight and pointing to the roof and the palms of the hands support the hoop equally on each side. The hoop should be level and straight.

The children release the hoops from their hands by clapping directly above their heads. The hoops drop down to the floor when they release and clap. The goal is for the hoop to not touch the body as it drops to the floor.

If the hoop is held at an angle or if the hands are incorrectly placed, the activity could be difficult to achieve.

Do this fun activity several times and keep an eye out for children who are struggling.

Be sure there is adequate space for each child when doing the activity.

Beginners  Teach the children how to do a gentle throw backwards. Remind the children who will catch to always have their arms ready for catching.

Intermediate  Once they have each successfully thrown the ball 5 times they can increase the distance between them.

Advanced  Challenge the children to increase the speed of the activity taking care to still be accurate with throwing and catching.

Special Needs  Follow the above given progressions and adjust the difficulty level accordingly.

Demonstrate to the children how to hold the ball when throwing it backwards over their head to their partner.

Place the children in pairs and have them standing opposite each other approximately three to four meters apart.

Have one line hold their balls and turn around so that their backs are towards their partners. The children stand with feet apart to help with balance. They throw the ball backwards over their head towards their partner who has to catch it.

The children who catch the ball then turn around and have their turn at throwing the ball over their head to their partner. The partner waits with their hands ready to catch the ball.

The aim is for the children to learn exactly how hard or how soft to throw the ball in order for it to reach their partner.

Have at least a meter of space between each pair.

Be sure there is nothing breakable in close proximity in case balls are thrown too hard.

Be sure the children wait for the instruction to throw so that random flying balls are not a danger to the children waiting to catch.

Beginners  If your children are too young to know about planets, have them pretend to be aeroplane sin the sky who must not crash into each other. Use a fairly large area to begin with and just have the children “fly” around without crashing into one another.

Intermediate  The children can spin around as well as move in and out to challenge their balance and body awareness.

Advanced  The planets can alternate spinning clockwise and counter-clockwise to increase the difficulty of the activity.

Special Needs  An achievable fun activity for able-bodied and physically challenged children.

Indicate the boundaries for the children to stay within during the activity.

Have the children find a space within the area and hold their hoop waist height around their body. The hoop is their safety barrier between them and the other planets.

Upon instruction the children pretend to be planets or aeroplanes circling in space and must move all around the area in different directions dodging in and out of one another.

Emphasize that the hoop is the outside of the planet and must not touch anyone or anything while orbiting in space.

Encourage slow movement, to begin with, and this can be increased as they become more accustomed to moving their planet around the area.

The children must not run during this activity. They should show controlled and deliberate movement to avoid contact with other children.

Beginners  For younger children being blindfolded may be a new and possibly scary experience, if preferred have the children crawl instead of walking to search for their partner.

Intermediate  Encourage the children to stop and listen instead and only then move in the direction of the sound.

Advanced  Challenge the children further by having the children who make the animal sounds occasionally move to a different place during the activity.

Special Needs  This is an achievable activity for all. If a child does not want to be blindfolded then they can be encouraged to keep their eyes closed instead and then walk around.

Place the children in pairs and give each pair the name of an animal. Decide on each sound for the given animal.

Place a blindfold on one child from each pair and have them stand to one side.

The other partners spread themselves out in a given area and start to make the sound of the animal they were given.

The blindfolded children try to find their partner by listening out for the matching animal sound and move towards the sound to locate their partner.

The children then swap roles.

Make sure that there are no obstacles that the children could trip over or bump into.

Emphasize that the children must walk slowly with their hands in front of them so that they do hurt each other if they accidently bump into one another.

Beginners  Have the children practice tossing the hoop in a forward direction over a tall cone or back of a chair instead of over a partner.

Intermediate  If the hoop toss is easily done standing one meter apart, increase the distance.

Advanced  Have a partner hoop toss challenge to see how many tosses out of ten do not touch the body.

Special Needs  A steady throw is needed in order to achieve the activity. Knowing at what point to release the hoop may be challenging.  The back of a chair can be used instead of throwing the hoop over person.

The children in pairs stand opposite each other one meter apart in two lines.

The children in one line hold their hoops underhand with arms fairly wide, as if they are holding a plate of food.

The children opposite stand still with arms at their sides and keeping still.

Upon instruction, the hoop is tossed in a forward direction over their partner in a controlled manner.

If thrown correctly, the hoop should not touch their partner as it falls to the ground.

The correct grip, direction and position of the hoop for the throw is very important.

This should be done from a close distance at first and then increase the distance as the children become more familiar with how to correctly throw the hoop.

After a few turns, the roles can be swapped.

If you feel throwing a hoop over another child is a little challenging then have the children toss the hoop over the back of a chair or over a tall cone as an alternative.

Encourage the children to stand very still and straight with feet together when the hoop is being tossed.

Beginners: The smaller the hoop the more achievable and manageable the activity will be. Help the children learn  how to use their fingers to spin and not the whole hand. Have them practice the spin and release before making it a challenge activity.

Intermediate: Have the children try to spin one way and then the other to generate more speed. It is important they understand how much space they need in order  to avoid bumping into others or spinning their hoop into someone else’s.

Advanced: Have the children use the other hand for spinning to see if they can spin just as well.

Special Needs: Start with a smaller hoop to gain self confidence and then move to a bigger hoop if needed, maybe count to see how high you count before the hoop stops still on the ground for integrated learning purposes.

Is best to have the children in a circle with at least one to two meters of space between them.

Demonstrate how to hold the hoop using the fingers and how the hoop needs to be held as far away form the body as possible when preparing to spin.

When instructed the children, all facing each other, must at the same time spin their hoop using the fingers and wrist to activate the spin.

Immediately after letting go of the hoop they must step back to give space for the hoop to spin.

All children watch the hoops carefully to see whose hoop is the last one to stop completely still, that person is then the winner.

Repeat the activity as many times as time allows and follow the teaching suggestion given for different levels to challenge the children further.

Be sure there is enough space between the children so they do not accidentally bump into each other.