Castle Crushers PE Throwing Activity

castle crushers pe activity

Castle Crushers is a game that takes the fun of a target throwing activity and combines it with team game elements and partner collaboration. The idea is to knock down the other team’s pins first. Altought it’s not a new concept, this version has some students on scooters in the roll of a ballista/catapult (throwers), their siege weapon controller partner (pushers and yarn ball ammo retrievers), and the pins up high on a stand (castle towers). I use music stands since they are readily available on my stage, but you could also use boxes, tables, chairs, etc.

Equipment Needed:

  • Large assortment of yarn balls or similar soft throwing objects
  • 5-10 bowling pins per team
  • Stands for each pin (or less if using tables as you could have 2-3 per)
  • 1 scooter per 2 students
  • Different color pinnies (or anything else to distinguish the 2 team targets)
  • Gym mats or other obstacles
  • Cones

Setup:

Put bowling pins on music stands with a colored jerseys, pinnies, or bands around the perimeter of the gym. It works best if the colors alternate so teams have to travel around each other. Set enough scooters out for every other student (if you have an odd number of students, one can either be your assistant or be allowed to scoot themselves). Spread the yarn balls around the play area. You should place a few structures (gym mats) around as movement obstacles for an extra challenge. Make sure the stands are close to the walls and secured with some weight if placed really high (I put cones on the bottom to ensure they don’t move).

Safety: If anyone physically touches a music stand with their body or scooter, that controller and seated partner both have to flip their scooter upside down and go to a penalty box for 1 minute.

castle crushers activity

How to Play Castle Crushers

Split the class into 2 teams (maybe red and yellow, depending on what you have to hang on pin stands), and then get students into partnerships within their teams. Have them rock/paper/scissor to see who starts on the scooter. They will switch roles every new round of play, so it doesn’t matter too much what their role is to start. Those on scooters start with 3 yarn balls, the rest stay on the ground.

On the start signal, the controllers push their partner ballista/catapult around to a target pin of the opposite color to knock it down with an overhand throw. The controllers have to retrieve the balls for their partners (the ballista student can’t get off the scooter at any time) while also getting them to the next target. The ballista/catapult only has to hold onto ammo and throw them at the pins.

The game ends when one team loses all their pins first (their castle towers are all broken). Have them switch places (grabbing 3 starting ammo), and reset the pins onto stands.

Optional: add a cone (or anything challenging to knock over) target in the middle. Once per game, the team that knocks it over can set up 1 pin that’s knocked down for their team.

White Board Rules for Students

castle crushers pe activity

Video of Casthle Crushers in Action

Activity Instruction Video

 


Mike Ginicola castle crushersAbout the Author:

Mke Ginicola is currently in his 19th year teaching Physical Education and Health at Nichols Elementary. He was recently the 2016 recipient of the CT PTA Teacher of the Year Award. He also won a CTAHPERD outstanding program award for flipped dance learning via his YouTube channel. He likes to travel and present on PE activities and current education trends. Mike currently teaches in Stratford, CT. He loves to innovate and use as much technology as possible. Follow Mike on Twitter @PhysEdDepot and also his P.E. YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/nicholswinterfest

More Great Blog Posts



Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *