Safety and Enjoyment

‘Smash-Active’ has been designed to ensure that all students are able to take part in enjoyable physical activity of moderate to vigorous intensity. This guiding philosophy has underpinned the development of all activities, ensuring accessibility and enjoyment for all students, regardless of skill level or physical development. Of equal importance was ensuring that all activity sessions are easy to implement and run from the teacher’s perspective, regardless of experience levels co-ordinating indoor/outdoor activity.

Each ‘Smash Set’ contains two activities (front and reverse of each activity card) of fifteen minutes duration, ensuring maximum enjoyment and engagement for teachers and students on a daily basis. The first activity of each daily activity set requires little or no preparation, allowing you to get all students moving straight away. This will also provide you with opportunity to set up any required equipment for the second activity. The programs have been tailored for each age group in order to find the right balance between ‘learning’ new activities and keeping kids active, working with familiar movement routines. ’SMASH-ACTIVE’ is flexible enough for you to improvise according to your needs and the needs of your students.

To ensure the safety and enjoyment of all participants, please take the following information into consideration;

Safety:

• The playing surface should be flat and clear of any hazards, whether natural or manmade. Smash-Active activities have been designed for implementation on any grass or paved surface that would usually be used in a physical education context. All games require a playing area no bigger than 30m X 30m. In many cases, especially in the younger years, a smaller area than this will be suitable.
• Remind students before each session to maintain awareness of others whilst playing all games to ensure they avoid unnecessary collisions.
• Remind students before each session what constitutes safe and appropriate tagging during games.

Enjoyment:

• An enthusiastic and well-organised teacher will enhance student enjoyment of all ‘Smash-Active’ activities.
• Smash Sets are simple games that are open to a wide variety of adjustment. Frequent minor adjustments to the rules of the games, as well as rapid transitions between groups and teams, will enable all students to maintain their enjoyment and effort.
• Make light of funny situations that occur during Smash Sets, and get involved in activities where it is appropriate.
• Every class will find their favourite Smash Sets - give students the opportunity to revisit their preferred activities as often as you see fit.
• Most important of all though, will be that you have as much fun as possible with your students while running ‘Smash-Active’. After all, the key to the success of this program is making movement and activity fun for everyone.