Basic Frisbee Skills Lesson Plan

This lesson introduces basic Frisbee skills to second and third grade students. The lesson takes place within the gymnasium. Having students begin throwing indoors prevents wild throws from flying a distance away from the class.

Grades: 2-3

Equipment: Foam Frisbees, one for each student; colored dots or targets; large parachute and music player.

Warm-Up Activity: begin class by performing fitness activities with the large parachute. The parachute encourages group cooperation, and is a fun way to have students complete fitness activities. Play music during the 30 second cardio activities to signal when the students should start and stop.

• Jog around in circle while holding parachute in the right hand.
• Place both hands on chute and hold at waist level. Complete 15 arm curls
• Skip around the circle while holding the parachute in the left hand.
• Sit with parachute on legs. Lie back on the floor with knees bent to perform curl ups while holding onto edge of parachute.
• Jump up and down while shaking the parachute.
• Sit on floor again with legs under chute. Scoot bottoms towards middle of chute with feet. Scoot back out to perimeter.

Have students leave the parachute on the floor as they stand up. Explain what the class will cover that day. Then ask them to retrieve a Frisbee and return to center of gym- while removing parachute from floor.

Throwing Instruction: to begin, have students to stand after placing Frisbee on floor in front of their feet while you instruct them on the throwing technique. Explain the backhand throw and have students practice it without releasing the disk:

• Place thumb on top, index finger on rim, and fingers underneath
• Stand sideways to target, curve arm back across body
• Step towards target and throw Frisbee sideways across body
• Snap the wrist on release (Pangrazi & Beighle, 2010).

Then, have them practice throwing the foam disks against a wall. They should attempt to keep the edges of the disk parallel to the ground (a tilt will curve the throw). They should try to throw with both hands. After some practice, ask them to try to hit pre-hung colored dots or targets placed about 3 feet off the ground (depending on height of student). Have them count to see how many times they can hit the target. Afterward, simply ask them how many targets they hit without any sense of competition between students. Let them know that Frisbees are a lot different from other thrown objects, so it will take time to develop skill. Congratulate everyone for hitting the target at least once (encourage those who did not).

Catching Instruction: the Sandwich Catch will be the easiest to perform and most often used by this age group. Instruct them that as the Frisbee approaches, they should have one hand facing down at chin level and the other hand facing up at stomach level. To catch it, they should sandwich the disk by catching it in both hands (Pangrazi & Beighle, 2010).

Practice this catch by first retrieving the disks from students. Have them line up and then stand a distance away from them with the Frisbees. Instruct them to try to catch the disk you throw to them and then they must try to throw it back to you. If a Frisbee is thrown wildly, they must retrieve it and place it next you while you throw to the next student. The students will return to the end of the line to wait for another turn. The line should move pretty steadily with little time for students to simply stand around. If not, only do this exercise a maximum to two times and move on to another activity.

Closing activity: if there is time, play a favorite game of the class, such as Freeze Tag. I have found that it is best to plan an activity totally different from the main skill taught- especially if that skill is challenging like Frisbee skills. If some students found the skills difficult, playing a fun, active game will leave them with a better impression of the class and have them better willing to participate in the lesson next time.

References

Pangrazi, R.P., Beighle, A. (2010). Dynamic physical education for elementary school children (16th ed.). New York: Benjamin Cummings.