The PlayBox is a set of resources by England Touch, powered by Boing, designed to facilitate learning through play.
In the PlayBox you will find a few helpful tips, resources and 6 PlayGames to enrich your learners experience. There are two parts to the PlayBox. In part 1 we will help you explore the power of play and the learning benefits it can unlock. Part 2 will introduce you to the SUPER 6 SKILLS PlayGames to use in your world! We hope you enjoy exploring the PlayBox and feel the Power of Play! |
Create a space roughly the size of a tennis court. Place an area at each end, this is a base. Place two circles inside the learning space with cones or a hula hoop. These are the mines. Fill the mines with rugby balls, at least 1 ball per learner. This is the gold. Split the group into 2 even teams and start each team within their base. To start the game, instruct both teams to try and take the gold from the mines back to their base. A player can make a touch to an opposing player if they are carrying the ball. When touched, the player must touch the gold on the floor where they are, and then return to their base before starting again. Once all the gold has been collected, each team can try to raid the other teams base and steal their gold and return it to their own base. |
Level 2 Assign roles to the learners. Make half the learners protectors and half the learners raiders. The protectors must stop the other teams raiders from stealing the gold from their base by trying to make a touch. The raiders must navigate around the protectors to steal the gold and return it to their base. Level 3 Create a third team who will act as mercenaries. Their job is to disrupt both teams. The mercenaries must try and take the gold away from the base of either team and return it to the mines. If they are touched, they must return to the mines before starting again. You can decide whether the mercenaries can try and make a touch to the other players or not! |
Create a star shaped space roughly 15m in length. Place two concentric circles in the middle of the star with a 1m channel between each circle, this is the atmosphere. Place 6 rugby ball on top of cones inside the inner circle, these are the planets. Place the rest of the balls - at least 1 per learner - at the tip of each part of the star, these are the meteors. Split the group into two teams, one team is the shooting stars and the other team are the planet protectors. Ensure that there are 2 shooting stars for every 1 planet protector. The shooting stars start at the tips of the stars, the planet protectors start within the channel between the two circles. To start the game, the shooting stars must take a meteor and approach the planets. The learner must try and knock the planets off the cones. The planet protectors must try to deflect the meteors from hitting the planets. The planet protectors must not leave the atmosphere. |
Level 2 Use throw down spots or hula hoops and place them around the atmosphere. The planet protectors can move using the spots to jump out the atmosphere to try and make a touch. If the shooting stars are touched, they must place their meteor on the floor and return back to the tip of the star. Level 3 Release the planet protectors from the atmosphere. They can now try and chase down the shooting stars. If a shooting star is now touched, they must change role and become an exploding star. The exploding stars must stay in one place with at least one point of contact with the floor. The shooting stars must now try and evade being touched by the stars as well. |
Set up two concentric squares in the middle of your learning space. The outer square should be about the width of a tennis court in size. Place all the balls around the outside of the square, these are the cannon balls. In the middle of the smaller square, place a box, a bag, or anything that can be used as a target for the cannon balls. Split the group into two even teams, one team must start in between the two concentric squares. The other team must split themselves evenly between the inside of the inner square, and outside the outer square. To start the game, the team outside the outer square must try and throw the balls to their teammates inside the inner square. If the learners catch the ball without dropping it, they can place it into the bag or box to score a point. If the ball is dropped, it must be thrown back outside the square. The team between the two squares must try to intercept the balls as they are passed by the other team. If a catch is made, they can throw the ball back outside the square. |
Level 2 Increase the size of the gap between the two squares to challenge the teams passing the ball. Challenge the learners in the channel to make a catch, rather than just trying to block. If they make a clean catch, they can eliminate that ball from the game. Level 3 Place a time clock for the team passing the balls. Challenge the team passing the ball to get as many balls into the bag or box in 90 seconds. |
Set up a large triangle in the middle of your learning space, approximately the size of half a netball court. Place 6 cones in each corner of the triangle. Split the learners into 4 equal teams. Three of the teams will start in the corners of the triangles, these are the base builders. The fourth team will start in the middle, these are the disruptors. Scatter the rugby balls around the triangle randomly. Ensure you have at least 18 rugby balls. To start the game, the base builders must move around the space and try and return a ball to their square of cones. To move the balls back, each member of the team must perform a pass to get the ball back to the corner, before placing on top of one of the cones. The learners can not move when holding the ball, and must pass it to teammates to progress the ball. The team of disruptors can try to intercept the passes, and if successful place the ball back into the middle of the triangle. |
Level 2 Allow all players in the game to intercept the passes of other teams. Give the disruptors their own base in the middle of the triangle that they can also try to build. Level 3 Allow the learners to move whilst in possession of the ball, however, if they are tagged whilst moving that ball must be dropped. Allow teams to make a steal from another team’s base. You can reduce the number of balls allowed within the game to encourage this. |
Set up a large rectangle, and create 4 equal sized channels across the width of the space using throw done spots or lines. Place the balls in four piles at one end of the rectangle. Split the group into two even teams, and ask the learners to pair themselves up within their own teams. One team of pairs must start at the end of the rectangle with the rugby balls. The other team place themselves equally within the channels. To start the game, each pair at the end of the rectangle must try and get all of their balls to the other side of the rectangle, one at a time. The learners in the channels must try to prevent them by making a touch on the learner carrying the ball at that moment. If touched, the ball carrier must perform a roll-ball to be collected by their partner to try and drive into the next channel. If the roll-ball is intercepted by one of the defenders in the channel then the ball is discarded and the pair must return to the start. |
Level 2 Decrease the width of the space to increase the chance of attacker-defender interactions. Challenge the learners to get across the space having had to perform the least number of roll-balls possible. Level 3 Reduce the number of channels, increasing the number of defenders within a given channel. Assign the learners in the channels specific roles, either as taggers or collectors. Taggers must try to initiate a touch and the collectors must try to intercept the roll balls. |
Set up a large square in the middle of your learning space. Place a small square on each side of the space and fill this with rugby balls, these are the chicken coops. Inside the square, place a small circle in the centre. Split the learners into two even teams. Place one group of learners into the circle in the middle these are the farmers. Place the second group of learners around the space in front of the small squares full of the rugby balls, these are the chickens. To start the game, the farmers must try to steal the eggs from the chicken coops, without getting touched by the chickens, and return them to their base. The farmers can be touched when approaching the chicken coop, and whilst carrying a ball back to their base, but not when they are in the chicken coop. If touched, the ball must be dropped where it is and the farmer return back to the base before starting again. The chickens can return the ball back to the chicken coop. |