Any good horror movie (or lesson plan) deserves a sequel! BTW, here is a link to part one.
I did the Zombie Fitness lesson this past Friday with my middle school students. They were surprised and amused by the challenge of trying to stand up with only some of their appendages available. It was like a more intense version of Twister. I even had six students with enough coordination, balance, and strength to go from lying down to standing, only using one leg! Very impressive.
Once we were done with the exercise, we typically still had about ten minutes left in the class, so I quickly created Zombie Fitness Part II. It is a tag-based game that will have your students testing their Zombie evading skills. Plus, it was a hit with my oldest students, who sometimes are the hardest to please. So, if you are doing Halloween-based games tomorrow, check out this lesson plan. I'm sure your students will love it.
Zombie Tag
Introduction:
Have your students test their Zombie evasion skills in this Walking Dead like tag game!
Materials:
· This game is best played in a gym. You want a combination of lots of running room in a confined space.
· A hula-hoop for every student
· One dodgeball
Minimum Number of Students Needed: More the better!
Prior Knowledge: A love of Halloween!
Presentation
· Start with one student standing in the middle of the gym. They are the zombie survivor, and their job is to not get tagged by a Zombie player for as long as possible. They should be armed with one dodgeball.
· Have all the other students outside the volleyball court lines. They all should have a hula-hoop. They are the Zombie players.
· The Zombie players chase the survivor and try and tag them. However, as they chase, they must drag the hula-hoop on the ground with one foot. This will slow them down and give them the appearance of a zombie-like limp.
o The students are not allowed to hold the hoop, lift it, or move other than dragging it with a foot. Of course, they will ask a million ways to go faster, but they should only be able to drag it. However, some can be pretty fast, even dragging it!
· If the Zombie player loses their hoop, they must immediately retrieve it. A tag made without a hoop does not count.
· When the instructor says go, the Zombies are released, and try and tag the survivor. The survivor is allowed to run anywhere they need to to avoid getting tagged. However, they almost always get caught in a corner eventually.
· To help the survivor, they have one dodgeball. If they throw and hit a zombie with the dodgeball, that player must fall over. Afterward, they sit up like in Zombie fitness part one and continue the chase. The dodgeball only stuns a zombie player.
· The survivor can pick up the dodgeball after throwing it and use it again. Unfortunately, the ball is often thrown but rolls away and can't be retrieved safely. Sometimes the survivor is fortunate and throws the ball, which ricochets off a zombie, back to them to use again.
· However, if a zombie catches the ball, they are not stunned, and the survivor loses their only means of slowing them down.
· Time how long it takes for the survivor to get tagged, and then switch the survivor player. Play as many rounds as you can.
· If your students want benchmarks for their performance:
o 0-10 seconds: Ok
o 10-20 seconds: Good
o 20-30 seconds: Great
o 30-40 seconds: Incredible
o 40-50 seconds: Amazing
o 50 seconds or more: Elite
Aims:
Direct: For the students to enjoy Halloween with their friends!
Indirect:
Listening to directions
Problem-solving
Patience
Physical skills practiced:
· Running for evasion
Control Of Error:
Whether the student is tagged.
Points of Interest: The students can't help but think of movies or TV shows where someone is trying to survive the Zombie apocalypse. Now they get their chance!
Age: All ages; however, better for older students if your younger ones get scared.