Cops and Robbers

Learning Outcomes

Enhanced physical fitness through running, hiding, and other physical activities in the game.
Improved coordination and motor skills through actions like dodging, running, and seeking cover.
Developed agility and speed in navigating the playing area during the game.
Learned about teamwork, sportsmanship, and cooperation from playing with peers.

Description Of Activity

The hula hoops should be placed all over the gym or the grounds outdoors. Try to avoid putting them too close together.
Divide the bean bags up equally and place them inside the hula hoops on the ground.
The class should be divided into two separate teams. Try to keep the class at an even number for each team. If you cannot then, put the extra person on the team of the robbers. One team will be the cops the other team will be the robbers.

Cops and robbers for kids can be played either inside or outside. If the game is played inside the gym, have the first half stand in the middle of the gym together as a group. This team will be the robbers.

The other team should be throughout the entire gym and not kept as a group. These will be the cops.

The point of the game is for the robbers to run around the gym and not get tagged by the cops who will be chasing them diligently.

The robbers have to run and grab as many bean bags, which would be considered the loot, and bring it back to the home base safely without getting caught by the cops.

If the robber runs to the hula hoop and has the bean bag in hand, as long as they stand inside to hula hoop they are considered safe and cannot be taken out the game.

One robber at a time at the hula hoop is all that can stay inside. If the robber can make it to the safe zone with the so-called loot, which is the bean bag, then they just simply drop the bean bag down and take off again to grab some more bean bags.

If the cop tags the robber that means he or she is caught them has been considered arrested by them and the robber has to sit down wherever they were tagged and remain in place if there is no bean bag in hand.

However, if they have a bean bag then they must go back and place it in the hula hoop first, then go back and sit down where they were tagged by the cop.

The game ends once all the robbers have been caught and sitting down. Sometimes the game goes a little longer than expected if there are faster robbers than cops, then the game can be timed since gym class only last an hour.

Sometimes the player calls it quits once all the bean bags have been taken out of the hula hoops which would probably mean the bank goes bankrupt.

If the bean bags are gone and all in the safe zone, the robbers win the game. If all of the robbers are sitting down, then that means they have all been arrested and the cops win the game.

Once either of these happens then the proper thing to do is have the cops and robbers switch places and play the game again. This allows each team to play both sides of the game.

Variations

Increase the number of cops and items to steal to make it hard.

Reduce the number of cops, and the items to steal.

Equipment/Material Required

7 – 9 hula hoops
Bean bags
Traffic cones to mark the safe zones