Mat Games: 30+ Games with Soft-Floor and Gymnastics Mats for Physical Education

Floor mats and gymnastics mats take center stage in this collection, featuring classics and new mat games for physical education. After a run-up, learners can jump onto a floor mat and slide it across the hall. They can also surf on the raised mat, jump from island to island, or cross a lava field using only mats as aids. In addition to tag, relay, and throwing games, there are cooperative tasks such as "The Wall" on the wall bars and a challenge in which the group lies completely still on the mats.

What is included in the material

• Game descriptions for all games, each with duration, required equipment, procedure, usually several variations, and, where necessary, instructions such as the stop rule
• Setup diagrams for almost all games, showing how the mats, equipment, and players are arranged in the hall
• Table of contents organizing the games by floor mats, gymnastics mats, and floor and gymnastics mats, plus a short foreword

Tips for using the material

• As a competition: For mat sliding, mat pushing, and the mat conveyor belt, several teams can also compete against each other as a variation.
• Against the clock and for records: In the mat chill challenge, the group can try to beat its own record or that of the parallel class; in "The Wall," the time can be stopped and beaten on the second attempt.
• Discuss and reflect: In "The Wall," the group can be given time before the start and after failed attempts to discuss and reflect.
• Specify types of movement: In the mat track relay, the teacher can specify modes of movement such as bear crawl, frog jumps, or crab walk; additional commands can be added to "1, 2, 3, 4".
• Adjust the difficulty: When mat surfing, less courageous learners can sit or lie down; for the electric wire, the rope height can be adjusted to the age and group and increased after a success.

These competencies are promoted

• Cooperation when the group carries a floor mat together, balances on their feet, or crosses the wall bars
• Balance when standing on the shaken mat in the mat rodeo or surfing on the raised mat
• Basic gymnastics skills such as forward and backward rolls, cartwheels, and handstands in the mat edition of "1, 2, 3, 4"
• Reaction when everyone runs as quickly as possible to the appropriate mat at a command or color
• Throwing and catching in games such as mat ball, island ball, and panther ball

You can find more ideas in the dodgeball variations with mat dodgeball and panther ball, the brennball variations, the games with hoops, and the movement landscapes with setups made of mats and equipment.