Description
Students engage in a fast-paced nautical-themed activity while practicing taking ownership of their actions.
Supplies
- Chalk, tape, or rope
How to Play
- Prep work: Use the chalk, tape, or rope to make a 10-foot straight line somewhere in your space to represent the ship’s ‘plank.’
- Tell the students that they are aboard a ship and that you are the captain of the ship!
- Explain that there are rough waters today and that all shipmates must listen to the captain’s orders in order to get our ship safely to the harbor.
- Explain what each captain’s order means, provided below.
Captain’s orders:
- Man overboard: shipmates drop to the floor into the planking position
- Captain’s coming: shipmates stand at attention and salute the captain
- Starboard: shipmates run to the left side of the ship (room)
- Port: shipmates run to the right side of the ship (room)
- Scrub the deck: shipmates squat on the ground and ‘scrub’ the deck
- Climb the rigging: shipmates stand up and pretend to climb a rope with their hands
- Man the lifeboats: sit on the floor and pretend to row
- Land ahoy-stand on tiptoes and create binoculars with their hands
- When a shipmate messes up one of the orders, they walk the plank before returning to the ship.
- Once time is up, announce that the ship is docking in the harbor!
Activity Prompts for Reflection
- How did it feel when you had to walk the plank?
- What was a mistake you made during this activity?
- Would anyone like to share something they are proud of that they did during this activity?
- If you could do this activity again what would you do differently?
Other Ways to Play
- To make this easier, start off with only a few of the commands. Once the group understands those commands you can add in more.
- To make this more challenging call out the commands faster.
Additional Notes
- Play nautical music or provide captains hats to students to make this game more exciting!
- Use the SEL Activity Prompts to tie other SEL competencies to this activity.
