Groundhog Day

The following explanation of Groundhog day is from the web site groundhog.org:
"Groundhog Day, February 2nd, is a popular tradition in the United States. It is also a legend that traverses centuries, its origins clouded in the mists of time with ethnic cultures and animals awakening on specific dates. Myths such as this tie our present to the distant past when nature did, indeed, influence our lives. It is the day that the Groundhog comes out of his hole after a long winter sleep to look for his shadow. If he sees it, he regards it as an omen of six more weeks of bad weather and returns to his hole. If the day is cloudy and, hence, shadowless, he takes it as a sign of spring and stays above ground."

Equipment: Notepads or a chalkboard and/or any manipulative: one for each participant.

The Game:

• Begin the game in scatter formation with the students spread out throughout the play area.
• Select one to three students to come up front and hide their eyes. These are the guessers. The guessers should hide their eyes before partners are chosen. Make sure there are an even amount of students left in the play area.
• Before the next command, explain that in this game, each person will have many different partners. Therefore, it is extremely important to find a partner quickly. On the "go" signal, say: "How quickly can you find a partner?" Give the students a five count and then select partners for them. Tell them that one will be the groundhog and one will be the shadow. Give them 15 seconds to discuss these roles and how they will move. They have a choice of galloping, skipping, hopping, sliding, jogging. The groundhog may change the locomotor skill at any time. The shadow must copy the groundhog. The groundhog must change skills every ten to fifteen steps. Tell the shadows not to follow directly behind the groundhog, but to use their peripheral vision (discuss the meaning of this word and how it relates to athletics and life skills) to copy how the groundhog is moving as well as trying to change movements as soon as the groundhog does.
• After movement begins, the guessers open their eyes and attempt to pair up as many groundhogs and their shadows as they can in one to two minutes. They write the pairs' names on the chalkboard or a notepad. After the round is over, check for accuracy and then pick new guessers.

Variations:

1. Give each participant a piece of equipment to manipulate as they move throughout general space.
2. Choose one person to hide his or her eyes. Choose only one player to be the groundhog. The rest of the players are the shadows. See if the guesser can identify the groundhog. Allow three guesses and then choose a new guesser and groundhog.
3. Groundhog Tag: One partner is the groundhog and the other partner is the shadow. Partners decide which role to take. The shadow is "it" and attempts to catch the groundhog. The groundhog may change locomotor skills (only allow the locomotor skills from above) at any time and the shadow must follow that change immediately. Upon tagging the groundhog, the shadow spins around twice and switches roles. This game makes a good warm up activity.