Girls have a wide variety of sports to choose from as part of their physical education at school or other after school activities. At Guides, they have a chance to play sports in a non-competitive and friendly environment. Modified sports are a fun way to introduce the girls to new sports and to play old favorites in a new way. Since the modified sports are different than the “real” activity, all of the girls are likely to be unfamiliar with them, which put the girls at a level playing field. These games also build co-ordination required for sports and help the girls build confidence the next time they try a new sport.
Indoor Skating
For
Sparks,
Brownies or
Guides
Equipment: Cut pieces of fabric or felt in rectangles, that are slightly larger than the girls feet (about the size of eight and half by 11 inch paper works well); hard floor where the fabric will slide easily.
The girls take off their shoes (sock feet or barefoot) and stand with a piece of fabric under each foot. They can now mimic “skating” across the floor! You can use this to play a game of “skating tag”, or play music and have the girls “ice dance” around the floor then turn off the music to “freeze” in position, or play any relay game with “skates”. Many possibilities!
Indoor Broom Hockey
For
Brownies,
Guides or
Pathfinders
Equipment: Brooms for hockey sticks (girls can bring a broom from home), a tennis ball or plastic ball as your hockey puck, four plastic bottles or cones for the goal posts (set at either end of the room), masking tape to set boundaries for the “rink” and centre line.
Divide the group into two teams. The game works best if you can have at least three people on each team. You can start with a face-off at the centre line, then play like hockey or soccer. You can set a length of time (10 – 15 minutes) or play until each girl has had a chance to play.
Water Balloon Volleyball
For
Brownies,
Guides or
Pathfinders
Equipment: Small water balloons, beach towels (one per pair of girls), volleyball net or a rope to tie across as a net. Mark off the “volleyball court” with tape or bean bags. Best played outdoors where girls can get wet!
Girls stand in pairs holding the beach towel out between them. Have three to four pairs on each side of the net depending on the size of the space. The water balloon is placed on one towel and the girls use the towel to launch the ball over the net; the girls on the other side try to catch it on their beach towel. You can count points or not…it’s fun either way!
Frisbee Golf
For
Brownies,
Guides or
Pathfinders
Equipment: Baskets (at least three), cones or markers to set the “tee-off” spots, Frisbee (one per girl, or they can share). This game is best played outside or in a large gym.
Set up at least three holes (baskets) and tee-off spots before the game begins. Mark each tee-off spot with a cone or marker on the ground. Each basket should be at least several feet from the tee-off spot. Vary the distance between tee-off and basket for each one so the group can practice different throwing strengths.
Practice throwing the Frisbee at a few simple targets for the girls to learn how much force to use to reach their goal.
Divide your group into teams of two or three girls. Have each team start at a different hole and have one member of each team play at a time. Designate one girl from each team to keep track of the number of throws needed to get the disc into the basket. Have each starting team member throw the disc toward the basket from the tee-off area. Take turns throwing the Frisbee until everyone has gotten their Frisbee in the basket. Have the teams' scorekeepers record the number of throws. Rotate the teams between the holes until every team has played each one. Tally up the scores for each girl or each team at the end of the game; the player or team with the lowest score wins.
Adapted Badminton
For
Sparks,
Brownies,
Guides or
Pathfinders
Equipment: Easy modifications for a badminton racket and shuttle are a flyswatter and small balloon or even a feather. A net is optional.
Girls can play in pairs trying to keep the balloon or feather off the ground by hitting up in the air with their flyswatters. Or they can play a “real” game of badminton over a net, and count points.
Skipping
For
Sparks,
Brownies,
Guides or
Pathfinders
Equipment: Long or short skipping ropes
Girls of all ages love skipping and it’s a great aerobic activity too! Double Dutch is also fun for those talented skippers in the group!
For long rope skipping, try these songs:
Apples, peaches, pears and plums,
Jump out when your birthday comes,
Is it January, February...
(Girls jump out from the long rope when their birthday month is called)
High, low, medium, slow,
Jolly ol' pepper and away we go!
"High" - the skipping rope is a foot off the ground; "Low" - the skipper needs to bend down to skip; "Medium" - normal skipping; "Slow" - slow skipping; "Pepper" - really fast skipping.
Australian Baseball
For
Brownies,
Guides or
Pathfinders
Equipment: Rubber chicken or other “novelty” to use as a baseball
Divide the group into two teams. The first team stands in a single file line and the first person throws a rubber chicken as far away as possible. That person then runs around the team line as many times as possible with the team counting out loud with each completed circle. The other team runs after the rubber chicken. The first person to get the chicken stops and the line forms behind her. She passes the chicken over her head to the next team member and it gets passed all the way down the line to the last person. The last person runs up to the front of the line and yells “STOP”. The first team stops running and counts up their points (number of completed circles). The second team now throws the rubber chicken and it begins again. Play for nine innings!
Group activities to try
For
Sparks,
Brownies,
Guides or
Pathfinders
Invite a dance, yoga or aerobics instructor to a unit meeting to give the girls a chance to try out a new group exercise.
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