Little J feels lucky when he wears a new pair of yellow undies. After Old Dog destroys them, he loses his confidence. Big Cuz saves the day with the remnants of the undies made into a sweat band, and Little J finds confidence to play the basketball game and win the day.

Engage - Pose questions about past and present objects, people, and places

Theme - GAMES

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, episode 1, ‘Lucky Undies’, engage students with the following activities to support their understanding of Little J’s sense of luck and superstition.

Poll students to find out if they play a sport, either for the school or for a club. List the different sports that students play. Ask students to rank the sports in order of participation.

Ask students if they are aware of the origins of their sports and to nominate which sports they think originated in Australia, e.g. Australian Rules Football, Surf Life Saving, Rugby Sevens, Indoor Cricket, etc. Review Wikipedia to build a more extensive list.

• Access Sports originating in Australia

Introduce students to traditional Aboriginal sports and/or Torres Strait Islander sports.

Suggested resources:

• Yulunga_ Traditional Indigenous Games
• Traditional Aboriginal games and activities
• Indigenous Australian Sports and Australian Sporting Innovations

Divide the class into teams and organise a competition playing a selection of games outlined in Yulunga.

Have students pose questions about the games they learn and play, such as:

• Why don’t non-Indigenous Australians play the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditional games?
• How are the Australians play the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditional games similar to, or different from, the games we play today?

List the traditional games that are like games played today.

Divide the class into smaller groups and ask each group to develop a report about one Aboriginal traditional game and/or Torres Strait Islander traditional game. The report should include the:

• title and origins and history of the game. Which group of Aboriginal people/s and/or Torres Strait Islander people/s were responsible for inventing the game?
• Aboriginal language names and/or Torres Strait Islander language names used for the equipment and the various skills
• objective of the game and the strategies on how to play and win the game.