Recently, I wrote a post about my students favorite tag game Noodle Dance Tag. This week I want to tell you about a similar tag game that can take it to the next level and really get your students thinking about some strategy while they are playing. This is a fun game to introduce after your students have already played Noodle Dance Tag and a great way to increase the difficulty and the learning for your older students.
You can see a video of me teaching the game to my students below:
Breakdown of the Game Below:
Equipment for one class (24 students):
- 3 blue half noodles (icicle)
- 3 red yarn balls (fireball)
Level One:
3 ways to get frozen: Getting tagged by an icicle, falling down, going out of bounds
- If you are frozen you must do the fist pump dance moving side to side (just like Noodle Dance Tag)
- If you have a fireball you can not be frozen
- If you are frozen, someone can toss you a fireball and if you catch it you are unfrozen
- If the fireball is not caught when tossed, it must be re-tossed until it is caught successfully
Level Two:
- If the fireball is dropped it is dead and can not be picked up
Level Three:
- The fireball is no longer invincible and can be frozen by the ice. If frozen they can still be unfrozen by another fireball if they make a successful catch. They should then have 2 fireballs to toss to other players that are frozen.
As you can see, this game has 3 levels of play that will increase difficulty and strategic thinking for your students. You can modify and only play Level 1 with your younger students and add levels as you see fit with your older students. I use this game with all 3 levels with my 3rd – 5th graders and modify by only playing level 1 with my k-1st.
A Quick and Easy Tag Games Tip
This is a rule that I implement with almost every tag game that I got from Adam Metcalf at the National PE Institute during one of his sessions.
He simply said “taggers, before you tag anyone else, you have to come tag me first” 💡
It’s such an easy rule to implement, but it does a great job of giving the rest of the kids a few seconds to find some space away from the new taggers and also provides a quick connection between you and the taggers before the game starts.
Give it a try!
Strategy to discuss in between rounds:
In between rounds is a great time to have a class discussion on strategies for chasing and fleeing.
Especially after level 3, I like to see if my students can figure out that the best way to win as the Ice is to eliminate the first as quickly as possible.
Usually, it takes my students a few rounds to figure this out.
Game Variations:
- Allow students to make up their own dance.
- Hand out more noodles to designate more taggers
- Shorten the time limit or extend it
- Change the skill from throwing to a different skill (see below for some examples)
- If you have a screen – throw up some “Sample Dance Moves” by copying this dance moves slideshow to give students some ideas for what to do when they are frozen (Warning: They might get SUPER excited about this… proceed at your own risk)
The kids love this game and request it all the time.
It’s a great cardio game that allows kids to practice their throwing skills as well.
Modifying the Rules to focus on a different skill
Modifying a tag game like Noodle Dance Tag to bring in some specific skill practice can turn a fun game into a more purposeful warmup or instant activity and allow your kids to practice a skill they will be using during the rest of the lesson or unit that you’re teaching.
For example, if you’re in the middle of a Soccer Unit and working on footwork or soccer skills, you can change some of the rules of the game to allow students to get practice with some footwork skills. Check out the post below for a fun tag game using foot dribbling skills.
Or maybe you are in the middle of a Basketball Unit and want to give your kids a chance to warmup with a tag game and work on their dribbling skills at the same time?
Check out Dribble Noodle Tag for an Example of how you could do that below:
You could probably find a way to implement any sport/skill or unit by changing the task required to unfreeze students and make it a more purposeful warmup for your lesson.
Free Activity Guide
I have created a free download of the Game Sheet for your lesson plans which you can download below if you want.
Hope your kids love it!
As always, thanks for stopping by and have a great week.
Can the students with the fireball move around? Can they choose how close or far away to be from a frozen student, in order to toss the ball?
Yes and Yes
The students can move with the fire ball and they can toss the ball from any distance.
You could also change the rules so they can’t move with the fire ball and be a certain distance.
Hope this helps!
Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
You’re welcome Omar!
Glad you’re enjoying the resources!
hello, I would first like to thank you for all the content you make. I am currently in school to be a physical education teacher and your website is my favorite resource and has been a tremendous help. I had a question regarding your fire and ice tag activity. How long do your levels typically last? I was thinking about 5 minutes each but wanted to see your opinion. Thank you!!!!
Hey Joey!
Thanks for reaching out! Glad you’re enjoying the resources!
We usually play each fire and ice session for about two minutes. This allows us to switch out the taggers and give each student a chance to use the noodles.
Hope this helps!
Love the game! I was wondering if there is an easier version for the 4 years old ( Pre- K)?
Thank you very much
Hey Sonya,
You can just play with the Ice Noodle and students don’t have a chance to be unfrozen.
It’s what we do as a lead up to Fire and Ice.
Hope this helps!
Can’t wait to try these. I’ve done Fire and Ice but not like this. This way looks like much more fun! Thank you!
We love Fire and Ice Freeze tag. Adds strategies to the game! Let us know how it goes!
I tried to download but it just keeps spinning. Can you send me a copy of noodle dance tag and fire and ice tag?
Sorry about the issue. We tried the download and it work great for us. Maybe try on another browser? We will email a copy.
I am new to PE this year. In my big classes, I started nominating squad leaders. It has worked so well, I am using this technique in grades 1st-5th. My leaders help with transitions; for example when a class lines up after laps. The team leader helps quite their row by facing their classmates and stands quietly setting a good example. I have mini-meetings with squad leaders to share how they can help me. Each child will get the chance to lead by the end of the year. I wanted to share this classroom management technique that has helped me a lot.
That’s awesome! I’ve given some leadership to my 3-5th by allowing them to lead warmups – the kids LOVE having a leadership opportunity, what you’re describing sounds like it would be super motivating for kids – thanks for sharing.
I have found that my kids like to hold on to the fireball and not toss it because they know they can not be frozen,,,
So my rule is they can only hold onto the fireball for 10 seconds and then they have to find someone else that needs it.
Good stuff, make it work for you!
Love the games. I am an instructional PE coach for the Los Angeles Unified School District and am always in search of new and exciting lessons for students and teachers. Much thanks for sharing your ideas. I will stay in contact.
Sure thing – glad you found it helpful!
Kids got really into this one after first playing Noodle Dance Tag. A few things I added:
1. To encourage the dancing I told students they could get picked to tap out on Wow (Bonus Challenge) if they really rocked it in the dance department. This got most students doing the full fist pump and shuffle as well as unlocking some cool dance creativity in those students who just love to dance.
2. Level three sometimes ran too fast (fireballs getting tagged) so I added this strategic component: If a fireball is frozen they have two choices. They can either wait until another fireball unfreezes them or they can choose to toss their fireball to another frozen student. However, if they choose to toss their fireball and the receiving frozen student drops it then that fireball is out of play just like in level 2. So now the students have more things to think about – do they wait and hope to become unfrozen (play it safe) or do they risk it and toss their fireball to someone else….and hope they catch it!
Nice! I like that tweak to the game.
I love giving kids the freedom to make up their own dances, usually resulting in some combo of the dab and running man
Do you have a list for games you play with your 6th graders?
I teach 4K – 5th grade.
Hi Ben,
I’m in my first year of coaching PE and I just introduced the Noodle Dance Tag game to my students. My issue is I have a large number of kids in my class. Ranging from about 108 at my largest to about 85 at my smallest class. My question is what would you recommend on how to effectively organize this game with a large class number? I have anywhere from 4-6 classes at a time.
If kids can move safely you can just increase the amount of taggers. If it’s a safety concern you can split it up into 2 or 3 different games to break the numbers down a bit.
If you want to slow them down you could have kids on scooters (if you have enough) or balance a bean bag on their head while playing.
That class size is insanity…
Hey Ben,
This game looks great. How big of a space would you use for a 20-25 student class?
I usually just use my whole gym space, (an undersized basketball court) unless your area is really big I don’t think there’s a need to restrict the space – although that does make it easier for the taggers – just play around with it and see what works.
Thanks Ben! We played Noodle Dance Tag and Fire & Ice so far, and my kids loved it!
Great game idea! I love activities that have “levels of difficulty”…JD Hughes does a lot of that in his games…the only thing I changed was that each student had to shuffle in a hula hoop…which means they had to dance in the hoop when tagged…which also gave them a boundary to dance in…and this movement also slows them down so no one gets hurt…I have huge classes…and some of my tag activities need to be modified for safety reasons…thanks for “borrowing” the idea!
Cool Brian! I like that variation, thanks for sharing. J.D. is a big inspiration for me, love his stuff.
Hi Ben,
You said you wanted to hear about what our biggest challenges are for teaching. I’ve been reading all your resources and they have been a great help. I’m new to the PE scene(1and a half years) so I have been trying to take in as much as I can to learn about teaching Physical Education. I was an Elementary teacher for many years before teaching PE. A new Charter school was opening up in Asheville so I decided to apply for the position of PE teacher. I knew when I took it that it was going to be the biggest challenge in my career so far. The K-8th grade school was opening in a temporary space that had no gym only a parking lot that would be closed off for traffic during school hours. That space also had to be shared with 600 recess students at various times throughout the day. I knew it was a challenge from the very beginning. I love teaching the PE but often feel so discouraged with the space issues. When the weather is bad, I use the students classrooms to teach in but that can be very restricting. The school is working hard to find a permanent location, but meanwhile I struggle with a very bad space issue. I’m always looking for great ideas for teaching elementary students in a limited space. I will continue to follow you because you are an inspiration to PE teachers everywhere. Thanks for your resources
Sincerely
Wendy Kearns
Hey Wendy – Thanks for the comment and the kind words. Your situation is SUPER tough. Tons of possible distractions and having to depending on the weather is a serious challenge. My advice is try to focus on the positive and realize that you can’t hold yourself responsible for things out of your control – do the best you can with what you have and don’t try to compare your program with someone else who has an ideal teaching situation. Just keep experimenting, having fun and figuring out what works best and try to continue to improve on it. It sounds like your school is looking for a solution – so that’s a plus. You might want to check out the book “No Gym No Problem” if you haven’t yet. I don’t have it bc it doesn’t really apply to my situation, but it’s got some great reviews from other Phys Ed Teachers – http://amzn.to/1Vv3FRA
Thanks Ben. I will stay positive and keep checking your web site. Haven’t checked “no Gym No Problem” but I’ll do that. Thanks again
-Cheers
Wendy Kearns
I have small space issues as well…this Mr. Clark packet has helped tremendously…as well as all the Mike Spiller packets…his address is http://www.msgow.com….awesome resource for games….hope this helps…
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/No-GymNo-Problem-Activity-Guide-2243909
What age group do you play this with? I was thinking level 1 is good for k/1 and level 2-3 is good for 3-5.
Yeah, I usually play it like you said. It really just depends on the class and how much time we have. I have done level 2-3 with a good 2nd grade class before.