Parrot Analytics shows SpongeBob SquarePants as the most in demand 2019 kids’ cartoon. My Kindergarten students’ favorite game is based on the silly cartoon featuring a sponge and the SHAPE America kindergarten grade level outcome “Shares equipment and space with others. (S4.E4.K)”
What you will need:
- 3-4 sponges for taggers. I use a regular sponge and draw a face on them.
- Scooters for every student.
- Green paper circles (Plankton), enough for each student to have two pieces.
To get started:
- Choose 3-4 taggers and give them the sponges.
- All students seated on scooters.
- All non-taggers start game with two pieces of plankton.
Game Play:
- Taggers tag other children with the sponges.
- When tagged, children have to “pay” with a piece of plankton.
- When a player is out of plankton, he/she freezes like Patrick the Starfish (seated on scooter with arms and legs extended in a star position.)
- A player with
a piece of plankton may share it with a starfish to bring them back into play.
- If the player still has a piece of plankton, he/she can continue to play.
- If it is the player’s last piece of plankton, then he/she becomes a Starfish.
This game is great for teaching and practicing the concept of sharing and doing a kind deed. I often see my students giving their last piece of plankton to a friend, causing them to freeze like a starfish, then someone will come along and do the same for them. I close this activity with students sharing out how it made them feel when a classmate shared plankton with them.
I encourage you to try this easy to implement game. My students not only love the cartoon, but they also love the game. I like how the game provides students with an opportunity to be kind to their classmates, and using scooters slows the game of tag down and works on their leg strength.
I look forward to you posting some pictures or video of your students playing this game! I bet they are going to love it!
