K-12 CATCH and STACK PE Team Game or Classroom Brain Break

Catch and Stack PE Team Game – Get your elementary, middle school, and high school students excited about making gymnasium and classroom connections with this super fun K-12 CATCH and STACK PE Team Game or Classroom Brain Break Activity!

This game is ideal for both PE teachers and classroom teachers and can be easily adapted to use with students of all ages – kindergarten through 12th grade.

In the gym, it can be played as a warm-up or ongoing competition team game. Additionally, this Catch and Stack PE Team Game is an awesome activity to play at the end of a unit when assessing your students’ catching skills.

In the classroom, Catch and Stack serves as the perfect BRAIN BREAK activity. This movement game can also be used in any classroom to build teamwork and classroom community or when you need a quick 5-10 minute brain break from reading, writing, math or rigorous test-taking.

Students will absolutely love playing catch and stack with their classmates, building a giant tower of cups and cheering each other on.

Catch and Stack PE Team Game

FULL LESSON PLAN PDF

Catch and Stack - Whole Group PE or Classroom Game

READY, SET – LET’S PLAY!

EQUIPMENT NEEDED

To play this super fun Catch and Stack PE Team Game you are going to need just a few pieces of equipment including:

POLY SPOTS (One spot or dot for each student)
15-20 STACKABLE CUPS (Red Solo Cups Work Great)
MEDIUM-SIZED BALL
KIDS READY TO HAVE SOME SERIOUS FUN

EASY GAME SET-UP

First, lay the poly spots down in a circle in the middle of the gym or classroom. Have one student stand on each poly spot and place the stack of cups in the middle of the circle. Choose one student to give the ball to.

HOW TO PLAY – Catch and Stack PE Team Game

The student with the ball begins the game by throwing the ball to the person to his/her right. If he or she catches the ball successfully, they get to start the vertical cup tower in the middle of the circle.

The new class goal now becomes 2 catches in a row. After 2 consecutive catches, whoever caught the second catch gets to add a new cup to the tower in the middle. The game continues with 3 catches in a row before adding another cup, then, 4, 5, and so on. If at any time the tower collapses, the new goal starts back at 1.

Catch and Stack K12 PE Game or Classroom Brain Break

GAME TEACHING TIPS

TIP #1: Solo Cups work great and are inexpensive, however, feel free to use anything that stacks – large blocks, buckets, sand pails, etc.
TIP #2: Depending on the age of the students, you can easily make the circle bigger or smaller, increasing or decreasing the throwing distance between students. Sometimes I mix it up and use squishies or beanie babies instead of the ball. JUST HAVE FUN!!!
TIP #3: Once you teach this game to the whole class, it’s fun to break the class into smaller groups or teams and have stacking relays and competitions. I also like to do a “free stack” version where the kids can stack any design they want (pyramids, etc.) as long as they keep it balanced.
TIP #4: This is a great classroom brain break activity where you can keep track of your class’s score & have whole school competitions. Keep score by noting the number of cups that were stacked before the tower collapsed.

So, why not blast some “clean” and upbeat PE music and bring the excitement of this CATCH AND STACK PE TEAM GAME to your gymnasium TODAY!

GREAT NEWS! You can snag your very own PDF of CATCH AND STACK It’s also a very easy lesson plan to leave for a substitute teacher. Just print off, gather the equipment and you’re good to go. So much FUN!