This is an activity that I did with my group of Pre-K to 5th grade elementary students in the Springfield Public Schools district in SW Missouri. I created “Putt the Rainbow” to help students get introduced to golf at a young age in a fun way. I like to use this activity after I have introduced safety and how to hold the golf club with the students. It is a great hand-eye coordination activity to practice accuracy and force while putting (manipulative skill) and also have the students work on color recognition, teamwork, and sportsmanship. I use this activity with my preschool students all the way up to 5th grade. With grades 3-5 you can add points to the colors and incorporate math into the lesson as well.

Equipment:

• Golf putter
• Fleece balls (or foam balls)
• 6 regular size polyspots (one for each color of the rainbow)
• 1 smaller polyspot
• 2 hula hoops (1 regular, 1 half)

For this activity, I had groups of 3 students, this will vary on class/gym size and the amount of equipment you have. Each group gets a putter, a golf ball, 6 regluar size polyspots (one for each color of the rainbow, if you do not have different color polys you can tape a piece of colored construction paper to a regular poly to represent the color), 1 smaller polyspot (can be regular size or subbed out with a marker on the floor made of floor tape), 1 hula hoop and 1 half hoop (cut a regular hoop in half).

Set Up

Set up each group the same way, make sure they are safely spaced apart. Start with the hula hoop closest to the wall, it is used as a safety zone so the kids know how far back to stand so they don’t get hit by the person golfing. Next is the mini polyspot, it is used so students know where to place the golf ball to tee off from. Then lay the polyspots in a line equally spaced apart in the same order as the rainbow. With the older students, you can make them further spaced apart. Place the half hoop just behind the red polypsot, it is used to stop the ball from rolling away.

Video:

⛳️ Putt the Rainbow 🌈 K-2 continuing to practice their putting accuracy with this cooperative and colorful activity! #spspe #golf #physed #elementarype #physicaleducation #iteachpe pic.twitter.com/GI36VKJSpT

— Danielle O'Neil (@CoachONeil2010) May 10, 2022

To play this activity, the first student will tee off at the mini polyspot while the others wait in the safety zone (big hula hoop). If the first person is able to putt the ball to the red poly spot and it stays on the inside of the half hoop, they get to set the putter down and then go move the half hoop to the next color. They retrieve the ball and give it to the next person in line. If a student putts to soft or too hard, they do not get to move the half hoop and just retrieve the ball and give it to the next person in line. If they make it all the way down, they can bring the half hoop back to red and start over.

All my students loved this activity. With the littles I did not make it a competition, that way they could focus on form and having fun with their teammates. With my 3-5, after a few practice rounds we made it a competition to see who could “slide down the rainbow” the fastest (make all putts first). You could also make this harder for your older kids by not using a half hoop or you could use hula hoops instead of polyspots. I also like to modify the balls with this activity. If I see that the students are struggling with hitting the golf balls too hard (mainly kindergarten/1st grade), then I will swap out the golf ball for a yarn ball.

About the Author – Danielle O’Neil

I am about to start my 8th year of teaching, 5th year in PE. I teach in the Springfield School District which is the largest in Missouri. My 4 years in PE I was at multiple schools. Meaning I had a “home” school with a cafeteria to use as a gym and then two other days I traveled to other schools to teach various PE classes. However, I am moving to a new building, Sherwood Elementary, this coming year where I will get to stay full time and have a gym all to myself! I love to capture my activities and share on Twitter/Instagram for others to use. I also have presented at multiple professional development sessions and conventions. I work with our local university to host student teachers and practicum students. I am also on the Marketing and Communications team for MOSHAPE. One of my biggest accomplishments so far is in 2021 I won MOSHAPE’s SW District Elementary PE Teacher of the Year. Twitter @CoachONeil2010