Little J dreams of being an acrobat in a circus when he grows up. With the help of Jacko and B-Boy, he practises circus tricks in the backyard after school. Uncle Mick, a search and rescue officer, comes to school to talk about his work. Little J uses his circus skills to demonstrate a search and rescue procedure.

Explain - Create and participate in games with and without equipment

Theme - GAMES

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 3 ‘New Tricks’, engage students with the following activities to support their understanding about personal and social strengths, safety, search and rescue work.

As a class, watch a search and rescue clip from, Fireman Sam that involves teamwork to solve a rescue problem. Ask students to describe the teamwork needed to conduct these rescues.

Reinforce this message by writing TEAMWORK in capital letters on the IWB/board and adding other words associated with teamwork, e.g. cooperation, unity, fellowship, partnering, joint effort, etc. Have students suggest where else they experience teamwork, e.g. sport, committee membership, family, workplace staff, class groups, etc.

Organise the class to play the following games: ‘Cross the Stream’ game

As a class, play ‘Cross the Stream’ outside, in a gymnasium or in a hall.

• Divide the class into two or four groups of around eight to ten students each.
• Give each group two padded crash mats, approximately 2 x 1 metres each.
• Designate an area of approximately 10 metres wide as ‘the raging stream.’
• Each group must use the two crash mats to get everyone across the river safely, as quickly as possible.

Reflect on the teamwork skills required to make the crossing possible and list these skills on the board, e.g. communication, thinking skills, spatial reasoning, etc.

Play ‘Sheep and Shepherd’ outside, in a gymnasium or in a hall.

1. Select four students at a time to act as the ‘Shepherds’ and the rest of the class will be ’Sheep’.
2. All sheep must be blindfolded so that they cannot see anything.
3. Create four ‘pens’ for sheep to be rounded up into. These pens need to be open at one side, facing the main game area, like a horse shoe-shaped barrier. They could be made of anything like chairs, tables or something else that can create a small pen with one open side. Each pen is allocated to a different shepherd.
4. The sheep spread out evenly around the playing area, which should be cleared of obstacles.
5. Shepherds must identify the sheep they intend to herd into their pen by describing the sheep precisely, so that the blindfolded sheep knows they are talking to them. Then the shepherd must guide the blindfolded sheep into their pen using only verbal clues.
6. The shepherd with the most sheep penned within a certain time frame wins.
7. Swap roles so everyone get to be a shepherd.

Reflect on the skills required to perform this shepherding game, particularly, communication particularly, listening skills; coordination; and trust. Add these words to the definition of teamwork.

Access information on traditional Aboriginal games and/or Torres Strait Islander games from the Australian Sports Commission – Yulunga: Traditional Indigenous Games (PDF):

The following individual games require teamwork:

• Yulunga: inkanyi (other game)
• Yulunga: tjapu tjapu (ball game)
• Yulunga: pulyugge (ball game)
• Yulunga: koolchee (target game)

Divide students into groups of four and ask students to think about how they work together to play their favourite game. Invite the group to create their own game, including, the

1. play strategy
2. rules
3. equipment.

Have the group demonstrate their game to the class, and explain how teamwork is important in their game.