Honeybee Safe Tag

Setting: Recess

Season: Spring

Activity Goal

Participants play a tag game at recess to engage in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and enhance their physical and mental health and wellness in a spring environment.

For participant safety, please review the contents of the Beyond the Walls: Safety Considerations page for information on Safety Standards, Spring Safety Considerations, and Outdoor Playing Areas and Surfaces.

How to Play

• Participants identify two spots away from each other in the playing area that represent two beehives (e.g., a tree, an existing line, a corner of the field).
• Participants designate one player as the ‘swatter’ and two players as the ‘queen bees’. Queen bees start in one of the two beehives.
• On a predetermined signal, the other participants (‘worker bees’) move about the playing area, avoiding being tagged by the swatter.
• Participants can avoid being tagged if they get to one of the hives before being tagged. Only one worker bee can be in a hive at one time. The swatter cannot guard the beehives or tag the queen bees.
• When a worker bee is tagged, they freeze in place until one of the queen bees touches them to free them. Both the worker bee and the queen bee must then run to one of the hives and perform five jumping jacks to revive themselves, before returning to the game. The swatter cannot tag the queen bee or the worker bee while they are returning to the beehive to be revived.
• Remind participants that a tag is a touch on the back, shoulder, or arm not a push, punch, or grab.
• Participants change roles frequently for equal participation.

Adaptations

Consider these tips to maximize the challenge and the fun for participants.

• Participants can increase the boundaries of the playing area for more participants to join in, or decrease the boundaries of the playing area to increase the difficulty of the game for the worker bees.
• Participants can add more ‘swatters’.
• Participants can alter the way they travel (e.g., lunging to the hive to simulate being injured).
• Participants can change the action that bees do to revive themselves (e.g., high knees, skipping on the spot).

Modifications

Consider these tips to maximize inclusion and fun for all participants.

• For participants with mobility challenges, provide them with an implement to use to tag others as the ‘swatter’.
• For participants who depend on accessible playing surfaces, play the game on a smooth surface, free of obstacles.
• Encourage participants to consider ways to slow down the movement so that all participants can be successful and engaged.