Tuesday, 22 March, 2022 - 12:30
School’s back, so it’s time to get back into group activities.
As the kiddos head back into classrooms and reconnect with their community, teachers and educators are seeking new activities that can be run safely for large cohorts.
They are looking for new ideas to help the students make memories and mark milestones.
Embrace The Outdoors
More and more teachers and educators are turning to outdoor adventures for very large student activities.
Outdoor activities offer students are fun way to be more active. Better still, the great outdoors provides a safe environment for an event, guaranteeing an abundance of fresh air, and social distancing making it easier to abide by Covid Safe guidelines.
It is well understood that young people are more likely to get engaged when the activity is more ‘hands-on’ rather than simply staring at a whiteboard.
With outdoor activities, like a laser tag rental, teachers can engage big groups of 100 or 200 students at once. Or, if budget is tight, teachers can split the gang into smaller groups. Using a round-robin format staff can hire a set of 20 or 30 taggers and cycle through the group, so everyone gets a go.
Student groups often have so many structured activities, one that is non-linear can boost the kiddo’s enthusiasm. Giving them activities that enable them to explore their freedom in the forest is brilliant.
Embrace The Story
With outdoor laser tag, all games have a clear team objective. Laser tag games are designed around bonding and completing challenges together. The gear is all pre-set and easy to use. Activity leaders just turn the equipment on with a key, and start playing.
The games are intuitive, for example, for the game “team elimination” (https://lasertag.com.au/elimination-game) divide group into two teams. Each player gets 5 hit points on their tagger, when they have been tagged out, the students return to the base for a re-activation. The little medic box at the base brings the player back to life, and they run back into the game for a bit of ‘pay-back’. The team with the least number of re-activations wins!
Everyone participates and everyone contributes to achieving the game victory.
Another way to ensure the students get engaged is to give them backstory to the game. Giving the students a reason why they are playing helps them get involved.
For example, a popular game is called “Capture & Hold” (https://lasertag.com.au/capture-and-hold). For this, as well as renting a set of laser taggers, the teacher adds a “game box” hire. The game box is placed in the centre of wherever the students are playing, such as the top of a hill and it is the centre of the action.
"When the kids had a story-line, a background as to why they were trying to take this hill then they got really engaged,” said Mark McKinney, school camp educator.
With this game, when the red team tags the game box it flashes red. And when the blue team tags the game box it flashes blue. The computer inside the box times how long each team has control. The team who held the box the longest wins!
Embrace the Technology
Innovative teachers and educators want to select an activity that is meaningful to the participants.
Many kiddos are interested on how the infrared and digital radio technology work create to live-action gaming magic.
In fact, this laser tag technology can work indoors or outdoors, day or night.
Outdoor laser tag is a terrific real-life example of ICT.
The laser tag activity can relate to curriculum strands.
Kiddos are fascinated how the software program (tracks the scores, manages the sound effects, etc.) and how the hardware (the scope, and case and buttons, etc) work together.
This is active learning; with this activity the students are challenged in different ways.
Next Step: Plan!
The bigger the group, in general, the earlier teachers need to start planning.
“On the first day of school we’ve had teachers book in a rental for the last day of the year,” said Nicole Lander, Chief Fun Officer, Laser Tag in a Box.
So, if you have the job of planning a school activity for one class, the entire year level, or the whole school cohort, consider an outdoor adventure with a laser tag rental.
For more info about a laser tag rental for your school, visit https://lasertag.com.au/