Four corners safety game
Ready when: nothing, this is the first card.
What you are learning
The four big safety ideas of paddling: wear a lifejacket, respect cold water, never paddle alone (the buddy system), and dress for getting wet. An instructor will ask about them, and knowing them first makes the first session on the water calmer.
Words on this card Paddle, Lifejacket, Buddy system
- Paddle
- The paddle is what you hold; the blade is the flat end that goes in the water.
- Lifejacket
- A vest that keeps you floating. It must fit and be fastened.
- Buddy system
- Always paddling with someone who watches out for you, and you for them.
Set up
Four signs in four corners of a room: life jacket, cold water, buddy system, dress for paddling.
Weather: any weather
Show it first for the one teaching
- Stand in each corner and read its sign aloud.
- Say one sentence for each: "A lifejacket keeps you floating"; "Cold water makes you tired fast"; "Always paddle with someone"; "Wear clothes that keep you warm when wet".
- Read one example and walk to the corner it belongs to, saying why.
Your part while they practise
Read a scenario aloud and let the children go to the matching corner. Examples: "Someone falls in and floats easily without effort" (life jacket); "The water is so cold your hands go numb" (cold water); "Your friend wants to paddle out on their own" (buddy system); "You are wearing jeans and a cotton jumper" (dress for paddling).
Step by step
- Everyone starts in the middle of the room.
- You read a scenario.
- Everyone goes to the corner they think matches.
- One child explains the choice.
- 8 scenarios.
How much: 8 scenarios, before any water visit 8 min a session once a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Four corners
Everyone goes to the matching corner, and one child explains each choice.
Who plays: 3 or more; you read the scenarios.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- Everyone starts in the middle
- Read a scenario, then count to 5 aloud
- By 5 everyone must be standing in a corner
- Choose one child to explain why. 8 scenarios
- Fair play
- A younger child gets pictures on the signs.
- Points
- 1 point for the right corner; 1 more point to the explaining child for a right reason.
- Fouls
- No point
- Changing corner after the count of 5
- Running or pushing (walk fast instead)
- Winning
- The most points after 8 scenarios.
- 4 points for 1 star
- 6 points for 2 stars
- 8 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
Pictures on each sign.
Longer scenarios with two possible answers.
What you will see, and what to say
- the children run without thinking
Think first, then go
Picture the scene before choosing. - one child always follows the others
What do you think?
Ask them to choose first next time.
Self-check
The child names all four safety ideas without help.
Fitness for this
Warm up first: how to warm up, at workonfitness.com. For strength and stretching, its exercise library shows each exercise step by step, with an easier version.
This card trains safety knowledge.
awiseathlete.com/sports/canoe-kayak/canoe-kayak-b1