Command game: traffic light
Ready when: Paddle grip and the forward stroke on land (b2) done.
What you are learning
The commands used on the water: go fast, go slow, stop, turn left, turn right. On the water you must react at once, so practise on land first. To stop, hold the blade still in the water; to turn, paddle on one side only.
Words on this card Paddle
- Paddle
- The paddle is what you hold; the blade is the flat end that goes in the water.
Set up
Sit on the floor in a line with a pretend paddle.
Weather: dry floor
Show it first for the one teaching
- Sit with the pretend paddle.
- Green: paddle fast. Amber: paddle slowly. Red: stop, the blade held still in the water.
- "Left": paddle on the right side only, so the boat turns left.
- "Right": paddle on the left side only, so the boat turns right.
Your part while they practise
Call green (paddle fast), amber (slowly), red (stop: the paddle blade held still in the water), then "left" and "right". At the start, do not go from green straight to red.
Step by step
- Sit in a line with pretend paddles.
- Answer each call at once.
- 10 calls a round.
How much: 10 calls, 4 rounds 6 min a session 2 days a week
Say one thing Pick one line from "What you will see" for today and say only that.
The game: Caller
A child becomes the caller and the others react.
Who plays: 3 or more, in a line; take turns as the caller.
How to play, turn by turn
- Turns
- The caller calls colours and directions
- The paddlers react at once
- 10 calls, then a new caller
- Fair play
- A younger child plays with only green and red.
- Points
- 1 point for each call answered right within a second.
- Fouls
- No point
- Moving before the call is finished
- Paddling on the wrong side for a turn
- Still paddling on red
- Winning
- The most points once everyone has been the caller.
- 5 points for 1 star
- 7 points for 2 stars
- 9 points for 3 stars
Easier or harder
Only green and red.
Add "back" (paddle backward).
What you will see, and what to say
- the child jumps to the wrong command
Wait, then listen
Hear the whole word first. - a slow reaction to stop
Red means stop
The blade goes still in the water at once.
Self-check
8 calls in a row answered correctly.
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 listening, speed control.
awiseathlete.com/sports/canoe-kayak/canoe-kayak-b3