Cone Ranger (Assessment Activity Yr 3/4)

Children running and collecting cones

Develop endurance running skills with this fun game that also helps with numeracy skills.

Children standing in hoops surrounded by coloured cones
Set up

In the middle of a large playing space (the school oval is perfect for this one), place one hula hoop for each team (for a class of 30, set-up 8 hula-hoops). Ask the children to scatter the cones (50-70 cones is ideal) all over the oval, at varying distances away from the hula hoops. You can also set up all the hoops on one side of the oval, and scatter the cones all over the oval.

How to play
Step 1:
  • Assign each coloured cone a value e.g., blue = 1 point, red = 2 points etc.
  • Divide the children into teams of 3 or 4 and get each team to line up at their hula hoop
  • The aim of the game is to score the highest amount of points possible from collecting the coloured cones
Step 2:
  • When the educator calls "go" one child at a time from each group races to collect one cone at a time and bring it back to their group
  • The next team member then runs and collects a cone
  • The game finishes when all the cones have been collected
  • Each team needs to add up their point total to see who won 
Step 3:
  • Build on this by repeating the game with different conditions:
    • Set a time limit and the team with the highest score at the end of the time is the winner
    • You can only collect one specific colour of cones at a time, e.g., collect all the red cones before moving on to blue cones etc.
    • Have the highest scoring cones placed the furtherest distance away to encourage more running
    • Set a specific total of points that each team needs to collect e.g., 56 points and the game finishes when the first team reaches 56
    • Place beanbags under some cones which act as bonus points
Variations
Make it easier
  • Keep the cones all relatively close to the hoops
  • Have larger teams to allow more breaks
  • Introduce a time limit
Make it harder
  • Spread the cones over a lot greater distance
  • Add more cones
  • Have smaller teams or play individually
Activity information
Age: Year 1, Year 2, Year 3, Year 4, Year 5, Year 6
Participants: 6 +
Equipment: Cones, Hoops
Duration: 10 minutes
Skill focus
Explore these skills for teaching tips
Running
Skill teaching

After playing this game once, discuss the skills needed for endurance running such as setting a pace, body position and stride efficiency. Ask questions:

  • Did you find a good pace, or do you think you ran too fast or too slow at the start?
  • What did you notice about your breathing during the run?
  • Was there a moment when you wanted to stop? How did you keep going?
  • Did you encourage someone or get encouraged by someone during the run?
Physical literacy tips
  • Let the children decide the point value of different coloured cones
  • Let the children decide the target number of points for each team to collect
  • Make one child from each team worth double points, so whatever cones they collect are worth double