Freeze (healthy heart) Tag

Everyone is crazy about tag games. One of the most popular is freeze tag. But in this game if you learn the 3-H's, you CAN'T GET FROZEN.

Objectives: To teach the students three heart healthy habits (the 3 H's) that will help them stay healthy for life, eat healthy foods, exercise everyday and never smoke.

Equipment: No equipment is needed other than a safe open area where students can run and tag.

Lesson Focus: Students are taught the three Heart Healthy Habits:

• Exercise every day
• Eat healthy foods and
• Never smoke

If we practice the 3-H's, you have a much better chance of avoiding heart disease, our nations number one killer.

In this game, EVERYONE IS "IT". Students are first given a "speed limit," run, skip, slide, etc. This is chosen by the teacher depending upon the size of your playing area and the developmental level of your class. I like to start out with power walking and work through the basic locomotor skills before the students are given the right to run outright.

The game begins when the music starts. When a student is tagged, they are frozen (couch potato). The student will stand with legs spread and hands out mimicking the couch potato flicking the channel changer. When another student crawls under their legs they are set free. If a student kneels down and loudly declares one of the three heart healthy habits, they can be temporarily safe from being tagged.

This is played for just a brief time to get the muscles warmed up while reinforcing Heart Healthy Habits for avoiding heart disease.

Hint: If two people tag each other at the same time, both are frozen. No tagging someone once they are crossing through someone's legs.

Don't forget the speed limit. Speeding tickets can be given to violators. Teachers can choose the penalty for speeding. For chronic speeding violators I let them know that the radar gun is WATCHING YOU.

Variations: After declaring one of the 3-H's, that student must free someone else before they can "knee down" again.

Ask the students to recite all three heart healthy habits when they kneel down. Instead of kneeling down, have students jog or do some other exercise in place.