Gym Game: Fruit Basket

As a TTOC, it is important to have some gym games in your 'bag of tricks' a variety of tag games and activities that require little (or no) equipment is best, just in case you don't have access to, or can't find certain equipment in the gym storage.



A student favourite I play is with them is 'fruit basket'

1. I have kids all line up on one side of the gym, with one or two people "it" in the middle.
2. I name them off with a fruit name (like numbering them off, but with fruit names not numbers)EX: apple, orange, watermelon, grape, apple, orange, watermelon, grape. (You can, of course, use any fruits you wish)
3. The "it" person(s) yell a fruit and all the kids named that fruit, must run to the otherside of the gym. The "it" person(s) may also yell "fruit basket" to have everyone run.
4. If the "it" person(s) tag a fruit, they now join them to be "it"

This game is great fun and you can change the fruits you use, or how many of each fruits there are and so on.

Yesterday, I TTOCd in a Montessori grade 4/5 class and learned their version of fruit basket which involved pinnies.

The game was essentially the same with a few exceptions:

1. All students had a pinnie that hung out of their pocket or belt like a "flag" Students chose red, yellow, green or blue pinnies (as that is what this school had in stock)
2. The "it" person yelled out a colour (or "fruit basket" for everyone to run) and the people would run across the gym
3. If the "it" person grabbed the pinnies/flags from the runner, the runner joined them to be "it"

What I liked about this was that it wasn't just "tag" but like "capture the flag" in that the "it" person(s) had to retrieve a runners flag/pinnie not just tag them. Of course, you had a few runners that rigged the pinnie/flag to be harder to get (or held it as they ran) but those incidents were quickly corrected.

Their teacher had obviously encountered this as well because the students informed me (after the gae of course) the class rules were 9" or more hanging, no holding, no tying, no cheating.