What’s up Phys Ed Fam?
I’m sure many of you have already seen this game before. It’s a super-simple throwing activity, commonly called “Dirty Back Yard.” However, I like to call it the “Yard of the Month Competition” This is an awesome game for Kindergarten and First Graders, and since it’s so simple it is also good for a sub-plan.
The Setup
I normally use this game as the first lesson in my Throwing and Catching Unit.
Before we get into gameplay, I like to go over the cues with my students and have them warmup at some throwing stations which you can see an example of below:
As you can see the stations provide kids to warm up with plenty of practice time while focusing on the cues for throwing and catching.
After rotating through the stations I take half the stations and create one team and the other half will create the opposite team and then I explain the game.
You can see an example of how I explain it below:
This game is an activity that allows you to work on throwing skills with younger students.
In this game, you can focus on whatever throw you want or you can allow students to choose the throw they would like to work on. You can also modify the game to work on kicking skills, striking with paddles, or pretty much whatever skill you’d like to work on.
I normally focus on underhand throwing with my K-1st students and switch to overhand throwing as my focus for my 2nd graders.
This game is based on the same thing that happens in my neighborhood every month…
They have a competition to see who has the nicest looking yard and the house that has the nicest-looking yard gets a sign that says “yard of the month” in their yard (major cool points).
If you get yard of the month, you’re pretty much the BOSS in the neighborhood that month and walk around like…
Getting Yard of the month is no joke… and sometimes your neighbors can get sneaky and “misplace” their trash in your yard.
Game Breakdown…
There are two teams and two yards, with an invisible fence between them. Crossing the fence is trespassing, which is also illegal.
If you trespass into the other team’s yard, you have to go to jail (the bench), and sing the ABC song. When you get done with it, hopefully your brain is working again, and you stop doing things that are illegal.
When the game starts, you pick up the trash (balls) and throw it into the other team’s yard. The team with the most trash in their yard at the end of the game loses. I’m not worried about who wins and who loses, I just want to make sure my kids practice their throwing skills, BUT it is a great opportunity to practice being a good sport and congratulating the other team when they win 🙂
Pro tip:
Practice being a Good Sport BEFORE the game starts.
Talk to your kids about how to be Helpful and not Hurtful.
Ask each team what they’ll say if the other team wins?
Good game! Nice job! Way to go! Congrats!
Game Rules:
- Only pick up one piece of trash at a time.
- Don’t cross the fence and trespass in the other teams yard
- Only use the designated throw (no kicking)
- If you break a rule… you go to JAIL!
Last thing, when the music stops, everybody stops. No one throws any trash after the music stops.
I use my “trash meter” to count the trash in both yards, and the one with the least trash is the winner, winner, chicken dinner!
You can use any type of soft ball, but the one’s I’m using in the video are 7-8″ uncoated foam balls which aren’t super durable, but are really awesome for little kids because it is IMPOSSIBLE to get hurt when taking one to the face.
During the game I remind students to go to “Jail” if they break a rule (although some of them are honest and actually put themselves in jail)
In between rounds you can offer refinements and throwing tips as needed.
If my kids are playing multiple rounds, I usually give the losing team, who now has more trash in their yard than the winning team, a 10-second head start before I start the music and let the winning team play again.
If you have Gymnastics Mats or a Volleyball net you can string it or place the mats on their side to create an actual fence for the game, which is helpful for the younger students.
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Closing Questions for Reflection:
What did you do to help your team be successful?
What did you do to show good sportsmanship to your team and the opposing team during the game?
What are the cues for throwing and catching?
Free Lesson Plan Download:
You can check out the free download below if you want to have a hard copy of my lesson plan.
Hope it’s helpful!
For more details on How I teach Throwing and Catching Skills Check Out This Post
Some more of my favorite throwing and catching games are linked up below:
- Fire and Ice Tag
- A fun tag game with a throwing and catching element
- Monster Ball
- A fun target throwing game played with a cage ball or exercise ball
- Boom City
- A fun, high energy and cardio combative game that will reinforce throwing and catching skill
- Hula Hut Throwdown
- One of my favorite game creations from J.D. Hughes to work on throwing skills
The Throwing and Catching Resource Pack
If you’re looking for some more resources, I wanted to let you know about our Throwing and Catching Resource Pack, which is full of everything you need to teach an awesome unit of instruction around throwing and catching skills.
Check out a list of what’s included below:
- Sample Unit Plan
- 4 week throwing and catching unit plan with 50+ pages of awesome games, activities and lessons for your students. Each lesson can be easily aligned with any standards or grade level outcomes you would like to focus on, however we’ve included the most relevant Shape America Grade Level Outcomes in the unit plan.
- Note: this is based on once a week PE for 50 minutes so you might have to modify to fit your situation, but it will give you a good example and starting place.
- 4 week throwing and catching unit plan with 50+ pages of awesome games, activities and lessons for your students. Each lesson can be easily aligned with any standards or grade level outcomes you would like to focus on, however we’ve included the most relevant Shape America Grade Level Outcomes in the unit plan.
- Throwing and Catching Station Signs:
- Printable Station Activity Signs with great illustrations, directions and setup examples to make your next station activity day a huge success
- Throwing and Catching Cues Poster
- This is the same poser you see in the videos in the above post. You can put it up on a screen or print and put on your wall to provide your students with illustrations of correct throwing and catching form and remind them of the correct cue words for the skill
- Fair Games Lesson Resources: A fun lesson where you basically create a carnival in your teaching space and have students earning “tickets” by performing exercises in order to play each of the games
- Fair Games Lesson Plan, Fair Games Printable Station Signs, Explanation Video with examples of setup and how to play each game
- Bonus Resources:
- Holiday Themed Printable Throwing Targets , Easy Scorekeeper Cards, Team Number Cards
All members can login and download this resource inside of our members only resource library (info on the membership program here) or if you’re not a member, you can purchase it separately on Teachers Pay Teachers by clicking here.
Thanks for reading and I hope that gets you started teaching your students one of the most important skills they can learn – Throwing and Catching!
Claudia Perez says
You have a fabulous site. I am a P.E. teacher for 3rd-5th grade. Would love some more information gear towards that level. Thank you for your time.
Claudia
Marcus says
Hey Claudia,
All of our resources are designed for K – 5th. Check out the resources page linked below for more resources:
https://www.thepespecialist.com/home/
Hope this helps!