By Craig Valency, MA, CSCS
If you remember playing twister as a kid you no doubt recall trying to get your body into crazy positions without falling over. Inevitably, you fell over, laughed and did it again.
Twister call outs uses a similar format, only you don’t need any game equipment or a rule book. Our goal with this game is get kids comfortable with their bodies in space, moving in various directions.
Much like the game Body Part Call Outs I spoke about in another post, this game will test and improve body awareness. The “twist,” however, is that now we are calling out body parts in relation to other body parts and the ground. So, rather than just, “touch your elbow, touch your knee…” we have “put your elbow on your knee.” Kids have to move in various planes, which adds a bit of directional awareness to the mix.
Kids also have a tough time distinguishing their left & right side, a skill known as “laterality,” so simply add in which limbs to use and the difficulty level goes way up. So now, the command becomes, “Put your left elbow on your right knee.”
Have fun with this one! You’ll be able to get the kids warmed up and ready for movement, exercise, sports, or games.
Twister call outs can also be used as a great movement break in the classroom or during TV commercials, as it gets the brain involved by moving in multiple planes and using specific, right or left, limbs, fingers, or sides of the body.
Let us know some of your most creative twister call outs and we’ll post a list of the craziest ones we find on our Facebook page.
Twister Call-outs
Age: 6+
Total time: 1-2 minutes
Equipment: None
Group size: Any
Set up: None necessary
Fitness component: Awareness/coordination
- Arrange children randomly in the space.
- Call out body part and an interaction with another body part. For example: “Touch your elbow to your knee.”
- Progress by adding laterality challenge (right or left).
Craig Valency, MA, CSCS, president and co-founder of SPIDERfit, has been a personal trainer for the last 11 years. He is currently working at Fitness Quest 10 in San Diego, an elite personal training and athletic conditioning facility. He specializes in youth strength and conditioning programs that promote physical literacy, injury prevention and optimal performance. Along with training youths from 6 to 18 years of age for general fitness, Craig has also worked with some of the top junior tennis players in the world. He has been a physical education consultant for the Stevens Point school district in Wisconsin for the last 3 years, helping revamp the district wide programming for the K-12 PE curriculum. Craig earned his bachelor degree from UCLA, and Masters Degree in Kinesiology from San Diego State University.
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