Set up your activity space with the cones and spots as boundaries. Prepare to introduce any equipment that is new to the children, and teach or review this vocabulary: boundary, cone, spot and Safe. Always show an item as you talk about it. Review the activities moving with the children as you show and tell them what they are to do. Even when it seems like what you are doing is very easy, remember it’s often all new for the children. As you use all the activities during the week or over several weeks, you will reinforce and solidify the concept of boundaries, which is important for all movement activities.

Place a Boundary card on each cone during the lesson to aid your visual learners.

Teach the safety rule: Play Safe. Explain that it is important to play and move safely so you don’t hurt yourself or anyone else. Safe traveling means you look where you are moving to, keeping your hands and body to yourself, and lookout for each other .  It means looking for spaces to move to where no one else is! Today you will help the children experience safe traveling inside the boundaries, traveling without touching anyone else, and traveling to spaces away from others to be where no one else is. Today’s lesson teaches children one way to be safe—staying inside the boundaries.

Safety
To the Children:

“These pieces of equipment (cones and vinyl spots) form/make the boundaries for our movement class.  A boundary marks and shows us where it is safe to work and play. Are you ready to move inside our boundaries?  Let’s try.”

“When I say go, move safely with me to the boundary over here.  (Choose the closest boundary line to begin with.) The boundary line is the limit, when you get to it, stop, even if I don’t say stop.  Ready? Go.”

Walk around the inside of the boundaries with the children, showing them the cones and spots.  Ask them to name the colors of the cones and spots and the name of the equipment. Every now and then, point out children to look at their feet, when they are inside the boundary; show the children the relationship of their feet to the boundary. Talk about inside and outside the boundary, consistently staying inside the boundaries.  Repeat until you have gone all the way around the boundaries. Be sure to point out that the boundaries each have a specific color. This will help you direct the students to a variety of boundaries in the next part of the lesson.

Ask the children to move safely to the boundary that you point to and describe by its color, across the activity area. Remind them that the boundary is the limit and when they get there, they are to stop without crossing it. “Ready? Go!” (Move with the children)

Use the children that stop inside the boundary as examples to show others what to do. Establish that whenever the children are inside the boundaries, it is a safe place to play.

Do this for every boundary, traveling to each of the six different colored boundaries.  Repeat this as many times as needed to ensure the children understand what it means to be inside the boundaries.  They will have fun. Keep the focus on safety reminding the children to travel safely, look where they are going and to stay in the boundaries.

The safety rules need to be experienced to be learned. Reinforce movement that is safe, in the moment, by pointing out children moving and playing safe, to the rest of the class.

Two examples are:

• Children traveling and stopping inside the boundaries.
• Children traveling to open spaces.

Encourage the students to spread across the boundary.  if you use the powerpoint slides, point out the children in the slide are far from each other, spread across the boundary.  

Connections

Holding up a color spot and naming the color is a good way to reinforce learning colors in the classroom. Collect things around the room that are the same color as a spot and place them on the spot.

Assessment Strategy

Use the boundary identification time to teach or reinforce color by asking the children to name the color as you lift up the cone or spot.  Listen for their answers to identify children who may need more directed practice.

The whole class follows me as we are traveling across from boundary to boundary.

Follow the Leader

Traveling through the room space, inside the boundaries, moving from boundary to boundary criss cross and zigzag around inside the boundaries.

Music: Following the leader from Peter Pan.

Show the children the word “Follow”.  Explain to the children that the word follow in our game means to travel where the leader travels.  You don’t have to travel the same way that the leader travels, but you need to follow the leader all around to the different boundaries.  Don’t encourage a line, encourage the children to follow you as you move around inside the boundaries. Explain to the children that you will be the leader and everyone is to follow you.  Travel around the space using different ways of traveling, complementing children who stay in the boundaries, and the children who are following you. Describe the things you pass, like the cones and the spots and colors. As you get close to a boundary, reinforce where the boundary is and that you are traveling inside the boundaries.

Change the way you travel, encouraging the children to follow you: slow, fast, low, high, walking, jogging, sliding, on your bottom, or like a crab. Describe the different traveling you see the children doing; to encourage the children to try various ways of traveling.

Choose leaders quickly.  Encourage them to choose a color quickly and then go!  

Assessment Strategy

Ask the leader to identify the boundary they are going to lead the class to.

Scaffolding  Strategy

After stopping the children a couple times to change leaders, when you are sure they understand when it’s time to follow a new leader, you can choose new leaders without stopping the movement.  Just announce who the new leader is and tell the children to begin following the new leader.

Stretch the legs with three stretches.  Begin teaching the children how to stretch properly and that we stretch because exercise actually causes our muscles to shrink!  We stretch them to keep them flexible so they aren’t sore and to prevent injuries. You can even teach your children the names of the muscles as you stretch.

Where else can you identify boundaries: on a playing field, on a game board, on the sidewalk and street, sitting at a table with others?

Lesson 1 Boundaries PowerPoint            

Lesson 1 Boundaries Video  

Boundary Sign PDF