Valentine Exercise Hunt

February is American Heart Month. Since Valentine's Day occurs in February, playing a heart healthy game helps encourage the students to learn about the heart. Before this game is played, brain storm with the students about what kinds of exercises and activities are aerobic and benefit the heart. These are the ones you should include in this game.

Equipment: 20 to 30 paper or cardboard hearts cut in half. 5 or more jump ropes and hoops. One poly spot or marker for each group of three or four students.

The Game:

• Write an exercise on each heart so that when each cut half of the heart is placed side by side it will make sense. For example, one half of the heart reads:" Jump ro" and the other half reads "pe 20 times." Another example might be "jog around th" and the other half reads "e gym 2 times." You can make duplicate exercises and/or activities or only one for each heart. Of course it will be easier to find the hearts if there are more than one.
• Cut these hearts in half. Place one-half face down in the center of the play area. Place the matching half face down in several piles around the outside or perimeter of the play area.
• Divide the class into groups of three or four students. Give each group a poly spot. The poly spots are placed on the outside and all around the center of the play area. Each group lines up behind their spot.
• On the go signal - use music if possible - the first student on each line runs to one of the outside half hearts and takes one. She then runs to the center and picks up a half heart. If it matches, she brings both halves back to her group, and the whole group does the exercise and keeps the heart. The next player on line gets a new half heart. If the half heart did not match, she leaves it face down in that same spot, does one jumping jack, runs back, and hands the original half heart to the next player. He runs out relay fashion to try to find the match.
• Play continues in this manner for a set amount of time. After time is up, see which team has the most complete matching hearts, or see how many matching hearts were found by the whole class. Place the hearts back, repeat, and try to beat the previous score.

Variations:

1. Use equipment. For example, the students can dribble a basketball or soccer ball while attempting to find the matching hearts.
2. Play as in the card game "Concentration." Instead of placing half of the hearts on the outside of the playing area, place them all on the inside, but divide the inside playing area down the middle. The first person turns over one half from each side of the playing area. If it is a match, he picks up both halves and as above, the whole group does the exercise. If no match, carefully replace the hearts in the same spot.