Grade level: 4-8
Equipment: Exercise mats
Game Description: Vikings is a team-building teamwork game where vikings move their ship across the ocean. There are no paddles in this game; players must work together to move their ship (exercise mat), but they can’t touch any part of the ocean (floor).
- Place mats down on the floor on one side of the gym.
- Teams of 4 or 5 stand ontop of their mat (ship).
- On the signal, players work together to move their ship across the ocean to the land on the other side.
- The rule is, however, that nobody can touch the floor at any time, so they have to figure out a way to work together to get it to move.
- This can be a race, or non-competitive. See how long it takes all teams to reach the other side.
- As an add-on, place treasures (pieces of equipment) all throughout the floor for teams to collect. See which team can collect the most!
I’m just curious, since I have never played with my classes, how do students move the mat if they are on it? It sounds fun in theory, but I need to have some idea of how they get it to work. Thanks for your help and for this amazing website!
Part of the fun is for the kids to figure out how to get the mat moving while they’re standing on it (sometimes it can be funny watching the dynamics of certain groups figuring it out). Usually groups catch on fairly quickly and you’ll see the most successful groups work together doing a “jump-slide” type movement while all holding onto the edges – sometimes counting it out on every motion.
I have only done this by giving students two mats. They aren’t told how to use the two mats, but quickly realize, as a group they stay on the first mat and pick up the second. They toss the second mat down, all jump over, and continue.