Equipment:
- Enough mats (tumbling mats, yoga mats…etc.), so that each team has 2 mats.
Description:
- Split students into teams of 4 or 5, based on age and/or number of available mats.
- Have teams line up behind one another and place their 2 mats in front of the first person in their line.
- The object of the game is to be the first team to arrive safely at the other end of the gym.
- You ARE NOT allowed to touch the gym floor with any body part.
- In order to cross the gym, your team must figure out how to most effectively and efficiently get all members from one mat to another all the way across the gym.
- Team members are allowed to slide mats, toss mats, push or pull mats BUT CAN NOT TOUCH THE GYM FLOOR!
- If any member of the team touches the gym floor with any body part, said team member must run and touch all four walls in the gym before returning to his/her team’s mat. While this person is touching the four gym walls, NO MEMBER of the team can move at all. The team can resume crossing the gym once the running team member has touched all four walls AND has both feet back on one of the team’s two mats.
- The winning team is the first team to have everyone step off of the mat, and passed the predetermined end-line, safely.
- You can change it up by making teams larger or smaller and/or giving teams more or fewer mats.
Mat Attack
How are the children supposed to push or pull the mats if they can’t touch the floor? Thank you
Hi Liza,
The kids typically all move onto one mat, and then one person (or more), reaches from that mat to pick up the one they have just left behind. Then, they lift or drag this mat and set it in front of the mat they are standing on, and then everyone moves to this mat and then repeats the process. There are bunch of different ways to do it, but this way seems to be the most common. Thanks for the comment and I hope that this helps your kids play the game!