This is one PE Game that I play every year in my Physical Education classes when kids come back to school from summer break. I originally learned about Hula Huts from one of my “pre-twitter Phys Ed mentors” – J.D. Hughes (@PE2theMax) at a workshop that he was leading in my area. Building hula huts is a great team-building activity to help your kids work on cooperation and communication at the beginning of the year.
The way that I play most of my games is by breaking them up into levels to “gamify” the lesson and make it more fun for kids. Students get excited to see what level they will be able to make it to before the time runs out. This is also a great way to play a game with different age and skill groups and make it age appropriate for everyone.
For example, I played this game with all of my PE classes this year 1st – 5th grades. However, only a few 5th grade classes made it all the way to Level 5. Most of my first grade classes only made it to level 2-3. That’s OK though, because students get excited about it the next year when they get to play the same game and hopefully get to challenge themselves by trying to complete a new level that they might not have seen before.
Most PE lessons can be broken up this way and I’ve found it’s a simple way to organize a lesson to increase student engagement and make it appropriate for different age levels.
You can check out a full video of my lesson with a 4th grade class below. They didn’t make it to level 5, but I included an example.
If you don’t have time to watch the video, the way I break down the levels for my kids is below. You can modify it however you’d like by requiring more students to go through, changing the way kids go through or adding any silly variation that you want – have fun!
Level 1 – build a hula hut on the middle line and sit down with your team
Level 2 – build a hula hut, send 2 people through and sit down
Level 3 – build a hula hut, send 2 people through belly facing up and sing ring around the rosie, then sit down
Level 4 – blindfold one person, build a hut, verbally direct them through the hut
Level 5 – partner all teams together (combine 2 teams into 1) and build a double decker hula hut … I’ve even heard rumors of 4 and 5 stack huts!
Level 6 – (idea from a Twitter friend) build huts on boards and transport to another location (or you could use a mat for transport like this example)
Also – another level idea from Twitter below
I’ve also done the transport level without the mat or board and just have students move it with their hands (see the twitter post below)
Working on cooperation & #teamwork with one of my favorite teambuilder activities – Hula Hut Relays – @pe2themax introduced them to me ages ago ??
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Teachable moments endless variations and great conversations galore with this activity
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#physed #pegeeks #pe #peteacher #elempe pic.twitter.com/2aHcfzeVVy— Ben Landers (@thepespecialist) September 4, 2018
If you don’t have J.D.’s book “No Standing Around In My Gym” – I can’t recommend it highly enough. I own all of his books and DVD’s which you can check out by heading over to JD’s Website PE2theMax.com if you’re interested in checking them out.
After you teach your kids how to build hula huts – you should play Hula Hut Throwdown (another game by J.D. Hughes) – it’s one of my kids all time favorite games to play. You can see a detailed explanation of the game in a video HERE – after you watch it you should probably just go ahead and buy the Game or Book for your library, it’s well worth it.
Side Note: We also use Hula Hut Relays as a station for our Field Day every year – kids love it, and parent/teachers love watching.
Thanks for stopping by and a big thanks to J.D. for introducing me to Hula Huts, if you have a favorite cooperative game that your students love – share it in the comments.
C McMaster says
After the first team has completed a level, and are sitting down clapping, do you stop the game there and set up for the next level? Or do you give time for other groups to complete the level? I have only tried level 1 but one group finished right away, and were sitting waiting a long time for the other groups to finish. So I am wondering how you organize it. Thank you
Marcus says
Hey!
Great question!
You have a choice. You can play the game competitively where you stop the game after the first team has completed the level. Or you can allow the teams to finish the level.
We usually put a timer on each level so the round doesn’t last a long time. Usually with the first level it’s about 1 minute long.
You can even have the timer be the goal. Students just have to complete the level with their team before the time is up. We do this sometimes so students do have to worry about what other teams are doing. They can focus on building the hula huts and using team work.
Hope this helps!
Mel says
Hello,
Do you have a pdf version of the complete lesson plan, the type that your principal asks you for during Evaluation:)
I was thinking of doing this activity for my upcoming evaluation and would appreciate a detailed plan if it is out there somewhere.
Marcus says
Hey Mel!
I can send you an example of what we do for a lesson plan.
Check your email!
Genive says
Can you recommend a team builder activity for kindergarten?
Thank you for all of your amazing resources and tips! Lifesaver!
Marcus says
Hey Genive,
Kindergarten students can play Hula Hut Relays. They will just need some modifications and help building. We like to give them practice time first before the relay so they can work on working together.
Cross the river is also a fun game they can work together on. I will link the blog post below:
https://www.thepespecialist.com/crosstheriver/
Pass the Frog
https://www.thepespecialist.com/passthefrog/
Playing with the Parachute is another way we practice teamwork with our Kindergarteners.
Hope this helps!
Stacey Schaefer says
I just played the Hula Hut relay. Level one two and three. They had so much fun! Thank you
Marcus says
So awesome Stacey!
Glad you’re enjoying the resources!
Dan Szymanski says
You do an awesome job presenting your craft. What program do you use for your graphics on cards, lessons, and unit plans?
Marcus Nellems says
Hey Dan,
Thanks for the kind words! For graphics, Ben uses canva.com to create them. It’s a very user-friendly site for graphic design. For lessons and unit plans, Microsoft word or google docs.
Hope this helps!
Kel says
Hi There,
Small thing…what size hoops are they? 90cm?
Cheers!
Ben Landers says
The hoops from the video are 24″ hoops, but if you’re using them for hula hooping I’d go for some 36″ hoops bc they are easier to hula hoop with.
Smaller hoops make it more challenging for Hula Huts and are also harder to hula hoop with.
Bigger hoops will make hula huts easier and also will be easier to hula hoop with.
C. H. says
Can your 5th graders fit through the huts built with 24″ hoops?? I have k-6th graders… but a tight budget so I can only get one size.
Marcus says
Hey CH!
Yes most of them can fit through the large hula huts! Especially if they build them the right way with large gaps.
If they have trouble fitting we allow them to let other team members through. They just need to be a good teammate and help their team be successful.
David Albert says
Such an awesome team building activity!
I’ve modified a few levels on this as well if anyone would like to try them.
Level 4 for me is transport (pick up) a single hula hut.
Level 5 for me is build a double decker with another team.
Level 6 for me is transport (pick up) a double decker.
My students couldn’t really do the blindfold because we teach two individual classes, different grade levels, in the gym with a curtain dividing the middle (not an ideal situation). The students couldn’t hear the directional call outs to be successful. I had to get a little creative.
Ben Landers says
Good stuff – glad you made it work for you. The transporting if a lot of fun – double decker transport has to be tough, thanks for sharing
jeff says
Ben, when you have a student on time out and they are messing around or lying down what do you do? The expectation is to sit criss cross however they are not. What next?
Ben Landers says
If it’s not disrupting the class I don’t really mind – if it’s a disruption I go talk to them once I get the class into activity
Hannah Sliger says
I just tried this with my 7th grade class, and knowing middle school, I figured they’d either love it or balk at it. They loved it! I added a point value for 1st-4th place and they kept a running tally of their score per level to up the competition. Great game, thanks for sharing!
Ben Landers says
Awesome – glad it worked for you!
Kathy says
This looks like a great team building activity.
I am new to PE teaching and wondering What size of hula hoops works best or grade one to four to make hula huts?
Ben Landers says
I normally use 24″ for hula huts, they are easier to build, but since their smaller it’s a little tougher for kids to get through them (which I like). You can use any size though – the older the kids get the quicker they build, but the harder it is for them to crawl through the huts
Leah says
We have some class sizes of about 50 kids. We do not have very many hula hoops. How many would you recommend we purchase for a class this size?
Ben Landers says
The max group size is ideally about 6 students, but you can do more – it will just decrease the activity and engagement.
so for 50 kids you’d want about 54 hoops total
Ja'far says
Hey Ben,
Great site and I’ve used it going on three years now. I appreciate you very much. I use two variations to the Hula Hut activity. Of course we know it takes 6 hoops to build the hut so what I do is put the hoops at a distance around a cone and line each crew up single file behind a starting line. Then on a signal, each student one at a time in relay race fashion gets a hoop and brings back to their respective crew to begin building the hut, whereas at that point the levels apply for completion. The other variation may work best for upper elementary, middle, and definitely High Schools. Here I color match the hoop with a crew, (i.e. crew 1 w/ blue hoops only). Then I scatter the hoops literally everywhere even hanging off a limb of a tree if outside (do before crews line up and colors are assigned). Crews will send a pair out at a time with one blindfolded (hoop retriever) and the other a guide to scavenge hunt for their hoop and return to build hut, whereas levels can then be applied for completion. ‘
Have an wonderful start to your year cause indeed we are teaching on.
Ben Landers says
I love the blindfold idea! It reminds me of a immunity challenge for my favorite show Survivor!
Ja'far says
Also I incorporated fitness and motor skills into the relay hoop retrieval aspect of the activity. I had students do walking lunges to get hoop and run back, run backwards both ways, skip, frog jump, karaoke….now that I think about it, the possibilities are numerous.
Christine Berube says
Do you wait until each team completes the level, or do you stop the activity after 1, 2, or 3 teams achieve that level?
Ben Landers says
When one team finishes I stop and have everyone sit down on the finish line and we discuss strategies/refinements
Dan Alvarez says
Do the other teams get a chance to do it correctly before moving onto the next level?? I ran this for the first time yesterday, knowing full well that we’d probably only have time for level one. The kids have experience building from playing hula hut throwdown, but this twist added a new element and they loved it. I waited until every team finished building, and it was great because the kids started cheering for the last team who was taking a bit longer. I then pointed out who did it correctly, because only a few teams built it on the correct line. With the other levels, I am not sure if I will let a few teams finish or stop it after one. I can see some students getting upset the didn’t get a chance to finish……. LOVE the activity so far – thanks!
Ben Landers says
It’s really up to you and you can do what you think is best for your students – but I stop the music about 10 seconds after the first team finishes and have all the other teams sit on the finish line. Then we discuss strategy etc as you can see in the video.
Either way has benefits – but I don’t like my kids sitting too long with nothing to do, and my students like the competitive element of it. We have a pretty heavy Good Sportsmanship culture, and I am a Pro Winners / Losers person so that’s why I do it that way. (my thoughts on winners and losers – https://youtu.be/oXzCUhWuU9U )
Dan Alvarez says
Thanks for the response! I agree with you 100 percent on winners and losers (thanks for that video as well). It was a slightly different issue of just not being able to finish, but if I explain it as the first to complete wins the round and everyone else stops, that will be just fine. I have the sportsmanship poster up and we recite the words as an oath as well. I would agree that if every team is given a chance, the teams who do win end up sitting for a long time while they wait for the last group.
Perfect tip, I am going to modify moving forward. I have been thankful for this membership EVERYDAY since joining, and you’ve gained a life long subscriber!
Ben Landers says
You just made my day Dan – Thanks for the feedback!
Kari says
My school doesn’t have very good hula hoops so I want to order some good ones to incorporate these games. Any clue as to what size the ones you use are? 24″, 30″, or 36″? Thanks so much for all the ideas, I love your website!!
Ben Landers says
If you can I would order the 36″ hoops. They are much easier for kids to hula hoop with and build bigger huts, which makes it easier to go through them.
brockj13 says
Are flat hoops better? Also, can you go down to Kindergarten with these relays?
Ben Landers says
I’ve never used flat hoops – so I can’t say. I don’t do relays with my Kinder students, but I teach them how to build them and let them try it as a station activity sometimes.
Bill Lentz says
Bench Ball: Grades- 1-12
Skills- TCC…Teamwork, Communication, and Cooperation, throwing, catching, and offensive/defensive concepts.
Equipment- 4-6 Folding mats, Gatorskin Balls 8-10 is a good start
Organization- 2 teams with one captain per team separated by the mid line, 2 mats folded and set end-to-end on each free-throw line (use 3 mats for large groups) to form an elevated “bench” (distance from mid-line can be adjusted for various grade/skill levels). To start,, each captain or the teacher selects one player from each team to be “on” the opposite bench in enemy territory.
Objective- To be the first team to get ALL their players to the opposite bench first!
Play: On signal, teams begin throwing or rolling their balls to their player on the opposite bench. If their bench player picks up a ball or catches a ball the player who threw it crosses over and joins the bench player who caught/picked up their ball on the bench. Players may play defense by blocking or catching the balls heading towards the bench and then using those balls to throw to their bench player (for higher skill levels/older kids create a “buffer zone” with cones so the defense can’t stand right in front of the bench to block). If a player steps off the bench they must return to their team’s side and earn their way back again (if that leaves no player on the bench the player returning can select someone to take their spot on the bench). If a bench player picks up/catches a ball and is not sure who threw it (teachable moment on watching where your throw goes!) have them call a player off their team to come to the bench.
Penalties- 60 secs. in the penalty box for stepping over the mid-line, stepping off the bench and not returning to your team, and stepping into the “buffer zone” when playing defense.
Our kids love this game and can get so good at TCC we actually time them to see how fast a team can get everyone to the bench then we start trying to break the record…or go with three teams and play tournament style (the third team can be working out waiting for their turn in the game winners stay in and challenge the next team up…have fun and enjoy a sure winner of a game with many levels!!…Ben thanks for all the great ideas!!
Ben Landers says
Wow – sounds awesome! Thanks for the ideas and great description, I will definitely try it out.