• 1 whistle
• 2 or 3 pennies for taggers

To give children an opportunity to increase their ability to move through general space without bumping into others (or things) or without falling to the ground.

It also teaches children how to safely flee from a tagger.

Observe each student throughout the different "games" to see if they consistently lose "3 fingers" or not. This is an easy way to see if students are able to move about the gym without bumping into anyone or anything and able to successfully dodge others.

All students start in their own personal space with three fingers (points) which they hold up. Select one or two students to be taggers; these students wear pennies. When the "go" signal is given, students attempt to keep from being tagged by the taggers while they are moving about the gym. If they fall down, they lose a point (finger). If they bump into someone, they lose a point (finger). If they get tagged, they lose a point (finger). If they lose all three points (fingers) within the game, they become helper trees. Helper trees are frozen on the spot, but can still move their arms (branches) to try to help the taggers.

If another student is touched by a helper tree, that student loses a point, so, as the game progresses, the difficulty increases and students must watch for the taggers AND they must also be aware of helper trees.

The students must be honest about when they fall or bump or are tagged and they are responsible for keeping up with this. As the students gain skill and knowledge, the use of strategies can be introduced, i.e., how can a tagger use the helper trees most effectively?

Each game lasts approximately 30 seconds to one minute at which time select new taggers and all students start again with three fingers.

For special needs children, have them start with five points, or have them be a helper tree.