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Description

Even paper fish can migrate across the room if they have the help of some energetic friends.

As on the Scout website:
https://www.scouts.org.uk/activities/flapping-fish/

Resources

Pens or pencils
Scrap paper
Scissors
Newspaper
About 10 minutes

Safety checklist
Use the Safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional coronavirus-related controls to think about may include: Set up a hand washing station that you can use throughout the session; Remind everyone to stand at least two metres away from each other in their teams; Make sure you’ve got enough newspaper so that players don’t need to share.

Safety: Scissors
Supervise young people appropriately when they’re using scissors. Store all sharp objects securely, out of the reach of young people

Safety: Active games
The game area should be free of hazards. Explain the rules of the game clearly and have a clear way to communicate that the game must stop when needed.

Instructions

Before you begin
- Create paper fish, by drawing outlines onto scrap paper and cutting them out. You could print out images of fish from the internet and use those, or encourage players to draw their own fish.
- Make sure your meeting place is clear of obstacles and trip hazards – remember that teams might not move in a neat, straight, line!


Play the game
1. Everyone should split into small teams. The person leading the game should give each team a paper fish and some newspaper. Make sure there's enough newspaper so that teams don't need to share and everyone can use their own in the game. You could ask someone from each team to decorate their fish with coloured pens and pencils. They could give them a name, too.

2. The teams should line up along one end of the meeting place. They should be evenly spaced.

3. The person leading the game should count down from three, then call out ‘Go!’

4. The first person in each team should flap their newspaper to make a wind. They should try to make sure the breeze catches the paper fish, moving it closer to the other end of the meeting place.

5. When the first person in each team reaches the other end of the meeting place they should turn around and flap their newspaper to move the fish back to the rest of their team.

6. When the first person in each team gets back to their team, the second person should repeat steps four and five. Teams should keep playing, taking it in turns to move the fish to the other end of the meeting place and back again.

7. The first team to have all of their players flap the fish to the other end of the meeting place and back is the winner.


Reflection
- This game was a chance for everyone to be active – people needed both will power and arm power to win! Everyone should get back into their teams and chat about how they moved the newspaper – did they flap it vertically (up and down), horizontally (from side to side), or a mix of both? Would anyone move differently if they played the game again?
- To finish the game, people also needed to work in teams. How did people support their teammates when it was their turn to flap the fish? Everyone in a team has different skills and talents – different people are good at different things, including different active games. Well done to everyone who worked together and encouraged their team to get to the finish line.


Change the level of challenge
Change the size of the playing area to change the challenge – you could make a ‘finish line’ halfway across the space, for example. You could let people carry their fish back to their team once they’ve flapped it to a finish line.
Why not hold a tournament where a few teams compete at once until you have an overall winner?

Tags

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Badge Links

• Teamwork - Challenge
• Teamwork - Helpful
• Teamwork - Lead
• Teamwork - Team game
• Teamwork - Team game