Some PE Hall of Shame Games...But why tag???

In 1992, there were 6 games in the official Physical Education Hall of Fame. Some of these games were dodgeball, duck duck goose, kickball, and musical chairs. Some of the new inductees to the 1994 Hall of Shame included “Red Rover”,  “Simon Says”, and tag. I agree that “Red Rover” and “Simon Says” are not appropriate for physical education settings. They do not incorporate enough physical activity and the kids are left standing around too much. I also believe that they do not involve enough cognitive aspects and thus they do not require much thinking. Tag is on the Hall of Shame list for a couple of different reasons. Although it does involve a good amount of physical activity, some tag games are elimination games which everyone knows is very bad in the physical education classroom. Another reason that tag games are on the Hall of Shame is because more often than not, the slower and less fit kids are always “it” or eliminated. Yet I have learned many different tag games that would be appropriate for kids to play in physical education classes. After all, tag is always a lot of fun!! For example, the tag game blob tag involves the entire class moving around the whole time. Students are not discouraged when they get tagged because they become part of the “blob” and thus have the new goal of tagging all their other classmates. Everyone had to be moving at all times which is beneficial. I think a very important job of each physical education teacher is to switch up who is “it” often. Another good tag game I have come across is “temple tag”. In this games there are about 3-5 “its”. When the “its” tag someone, the person who got tagged must stand with their legs apart and the palms of their hands touching about their head in the “temple position”. To be unfrozen from the “temple position” a classmate must crawl through the legs of someone who is in the temple position. This game involves the class always moving, except for the few brief moments a kid may be in the “temple position” before being untagged.

Tag games are a lot of fun and also provide great physical activity is the proper modifications are made!!!

Young Kids Playing a Game of Blob Tag