How to Teach

Elementary
Gymnastics
A handbook for teachers

This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY.

How to Use This Handbook
This handbook is meant for any teacher, pre-service or in-service, who has little to no
experience teaching gymnastics. The handbook includes a 10-day unit plan and structure
for a daily class which can be modified and adapted to fit the needs of any class.
Additionally, the handbook includes rules, classroom management strategies, games and
activities with pictures, and ideas for assessment. The handbook is not meant to be
comprehensive, but rather a starting point for teachers.
Table of Contents
• Pre-teaching
• The What and Why of Gymnastics
• Unit Overview
• Day at-a-glance
• Safety Considerations
• Rules
• Class Management
• Warm-up and Cool-Down
• Landings
• Stations
• Assessment
• References
Pre-teaching
The What and Why of Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises

requiring balance, strength, flexibility, coordination, and endurance

Gymnastics can help us in everyday life

E.g., Slip on ice when walking outside E.g., Doing the splits to save a shot in
E.g., Learning to ride a bike (balance)
in the winter (coordination) hockey (flexibility)
 Unit Overview
Day 1: Day 2: Day 3: Station
• Equipment from the Lethbridge School Division Landings Landings 1
normally stays at the school for 10 teaching days.

• Pictured is a 10-day unit plan which can be

adjusted as needed. Day 4: Station Day 5: Station Day 6: Station
2 3 4
• For the first day, students should work on
landings on the mats before progressing to
landing from equipment the next day. Day 7: Station Day 8: Station Day 9: Station
5 6 7
• Prior to station days, students should be pre-
assigned groups and rotation schedule.
Day 10:
• Groups are assigned to one station a day and then
Mission
the next day, rotate to a different station. Impossible
• Students demonstrate their knowledge by
completing an obstacle course "mission
impossible" on the last day.
Day at-a-glance

For a 30 min class:

•Warm-up Game: 5 min

•Activity: 20 min
•Cool-down Game: 5 min
 • Mats should be placed on all designated landing
areas under and around equipment without
overlaps or gaps.
• Regularly check mats and equipment for wear and
tear.
General Safety • Ensure all Velcro mats are properly connected.
Considerations • Teachers should be aware of physical limitations of
students.
• Teachers should create an atmosphere of discipline
and control.
• Mat work should precede apparatus.
 • Spotting- the term used in gymnastics when one
person physically catches or guides another
person
• Teachers should not spot students- Why?
• Most teachers are not trained to do this
Safety • If you are spotting one student, you cannot
watch other students, creating a potentially
Considerations: dangerous situation

Spotting • Instead
• Provide more lead-up activities to a skill
• Disallow certain skills until students are
prepared
• Teach students to manage their own bodies
by teaching them to land efficiently and
practice landings in every class.
 • Every class, before students mount equipment,
have them check their station.
• Once they finish checking their station, they stand
Safety beside their equipment quietly.
• If a student finds an issue, they must raise their
When hand silently while standing beside the equipment
and a teacher will arrive to fix the issue.

Mounting • Teacher goes around double-checking equipment.

• Once teacher is satisfied, they can signal students
Equipment to mount the equipment.
• Keep the classroom quiet.
Rules for Students

1 2 3
Listen to the teacher Wear proper clothing Have fun!
• Be quiet • Wear shorts and a t-shirt • Do not do something
• Do not be silly or goof • Take off socks and shoes you are not comfortable
off • Keep hair tied back doing
• Take off jewerly
 • Sit the students down when you are addressing
them
• Position yourself so that there is a wall behind you
(thus you are the most interesting thing in their
field of view)
Class • Speak slowly, clearly, concisely but be animated
Management • Have an efficient 'stopping signal'
• Example: yell "look sharp" and students must
stop and hold their hands together over their
head
• Example: yell "hit the deck" and students drop
onto their stomachs
Warm-Up and Cool-
Down
Warm Up/Cool-Down
• Every lesson should be preceded by a warm-up
• Play games that warm-up/cool-down the class and
provides stretching of the joints
• Stretching at the beginning wastes time
• To incorporate stretching into daily activities:
• Do some stretching during rotations or at stations to reduce time
wasted in line-up.
• Do some stretching at a specific time after the class has warmed up
with games or as a cool-down.
Warm-Up game:
Snakes and
Frogs
• 1 or 2 players begin as
snakes that slither or roll
about
• The rest of the group hops
about as frogs
• Once tagged, the frogs
become snakes and the
catcher remains as a
snake
Warm-Up game:
Crabs and
Monkeys
• 2-3 chasers are monkeys
• The rest of the group are
crabs
• When caught, crabs turn
into monkeys and become
chasers. The monkey
turns into a crab
Warm-Up game:
Frozen Tag
Pike position

• 2-3 students start as the chasers

• Those who are tagged must freeze in a position pre-determined by teacher
• Example of frozen positions: front support, pike position with arms
behind on floor or arms sideways (challenge)
• Variations:
• Caught players hold position, caught players accumulate, eventually
all players are caught Front Support
• Frozen players can be set free if someone crawls underneath them
(front support) or if someone shakes their hand (pike position)
Warm-Up game:
Chain/Blob Tag
• 1-3 students begin as individual chasers while the rest of the group are
chased. When a chaser tags someone, they join hands and pursue others.
• When a 3rd person is caught, they also join hands and now have a chain of
3
• When a 4th person is caught, the chain breaks into 2 pairs which each
continue to chase others
• Make the game more vigorous by changing the way the group locomotes:
• Example: Spring on 2 feet, hop on 1 foot
Landings
Landing from
the Feet
• Start by landing softly in a standing
position
• Step 1: Decelerating using
foot/ankle joint
• Land on toes
• Then lower to balls of foot
• Then slowly lower the heels
• Step 2: Decelerating using knee
and hip joint
• Step 3: Lower the arms
Landing from the
Feet Pt. 2
Pike
• Practice landing on the feet forwards, Tuck
backwards, and sidewards
• Ensure students are landing quietly!
• Once students have mastered landings on the
feet, work on activities such as:
• Landing from a small height
• Landing after a shaped jump: straddle,
tuck, pike
• Landing after ½ turn
Straddle
Landing from the Hands
• Start from the knees and if students want a challenge,
they can progress to their feet.
• Decelerating using the hands and wrists
• First the fingers
• Then lower to the palm of the hand
• Then lower slowly to the heel of the hand
• Decelerating using elbows and shoulders
Landing Game: Follow
the leader
• Groups of 4 with 1 designated as the first leader.
• The leader proceeds to run to various elevated stations
and perform a different landing on the feet.
• The rest of the group follows and copies the same
landing.
• After a short time, another student in the group
becomes the leader.
• Repeat until everyone has been a leader.
Landing Game: Starburst
and Stick Landing

• In groups of 4, each group stands on an elevated

surface with all participants facing a different
direction.
• On signal, all students jump together in different
directions and perform the designated landing.
• Repeat several times before groups rotate to a
different elevated surface and repeat using a
different landing.
Stations
Station 1: Beams
Balances
• Practice landings on the feet: forwards, backwards,
and sidewards
• Cross supports
• Balances
• Travelling across the beam:
• Forwards, backwards, sidewards
• High kicks
• Tiptoe forwards and backwards
• Ice-cream scoops
• 2 foot or 1-foot jumps

Cross Supports

Balances
Station 2: Parallel Bars
• Stationary shapes: pike, tuck,
straddle
• Students cannot climb over top or
complete inversions (flips)
• Travelling across
• Inchworm forwards and backwards on
one bar
• Travelling forwards and backwards on
using both bars
Station 3:
Climber/Trestle
• Hanging basic shapes: tuck, straddle,
pike
• Travelling
• Travel across forwards hands on each
bar
• Travel across forwards with alternate
hand on bars
• Travel across forwards skipping a bar
• Travel across backwards
• travel across sideways left and right
• Travelling on top is not permitted*
Station 4: Parallel Bars,
Horizontal Bars and Climber
• Travelling across climber
• Travel across forwards hands on each bar
• Travel across forwards with alternate hand on bars
• Travel across forwards skipping a bar
• Travel across backwards
• travel across sideways left and right
• Stationary shapes: pike, tuck, straddle
• Travelling forwards and backwards on parallel bars
• Stationary front support
Stationary
front support
Sation 5: Students can work on creating a
Rhythmic mini routine with their group using
the ribbons provided.
Gymnastics
Station 6: Vault
• Landings on feet
• Forward
• From a shaped jump (star, tuck, pike, straddle)
Station 7: Floor
• For Younger Students:
• Banana rolls
• Working on landings
• For Older Students:
• Cooperative partner activities
• Counterbalances in pairs
• Cooperative locomotions in pairs

*The next 4 pages specify activities for

older students*
 4

Floor: Cooperative
Partner Activities

• Activity 1: One partner holding 3

other partner's ankles.
• Activity 2: Partner facing each other,
toes touching. Alternating shaking
right and left hand each sit up.
• Activity 3: One partner has feet on
other partner's knees. Both sit up at
the same time and clap hands 2
together.
• Activity 4: both partners sit up
together and reach between their
legs to shake hands.
Floor: Balances in Pairs
• Activity 1: Back-to-Back
• Partners start standing back-to-back with arms hooked
• Move feet away from each other and lean back
• Lean back against each other as you lower slowly to sit
• Hold for 10 seconds before standing
• Activity 2: Face-to-Face
• Partners start facing each other, hands joined by grasping each
other's wrists.
• With toes touching, lean backward until arms are straight.
• Both partners lean backward and slowly bend knees to sit on floor.
Floor: Cooperative
Locomotions in Pairs

• Activity 1: Crab walk in Pairs

• One partner starts in a crab walk position;
2nd partner takes crab walk. position and
puts their hands on 1st partner's ankles.
• Partners together forwards, backwards and
side-to-side.
• Activity 2: Tarantula in Pairs
• Partners sit back-to-back with their arms
linked
• Partners lean back against each other until
they are ½ standing.
• Partners walk together forwards, backwards
and side-to-side
Floor: Cross Supports in
3's
• Cross Support 1:
• 2 students are the bases.
• Bases are on their hands and knees.
• 1 student holds themself up by holding onto their
partners' shoulders.
• Cross Support 2:
• 2 students are the bases.
• Bases are both lying side-by-side facing up.
• 1 student olds themself up by holding on top of partner's
bent knee.
Assessment
Formative Assessment

Observation Self-assessment Peer-teaching

• Teacher should • Students can self- • During stations

position themself assess their skills and activities,
in the middle of with a checklist, students may peer
the gym to thumbs-up/down, teach allowing
observe or fist-to-five students to correct
everyone. each other's
movements.
Summative Assessments

Create • In group of 4-5, students create their

own gymnastics routine using various
your own types of equipment.
• On last day, each group presents, and
routine teacher assesses

• Create an obstacle course using all the

equipment
Mission • Play mission impossible songs
Impossible • Teacher observes and assesses students
• Good for younger students to
demonstrate their understanding
References

Russell, K. (2010) Gymnastics Foundations 3rd

Gymnastics Canada and Coaching Association
of Canada
Safety Guidelines for Physical Activity in
Alberta Schools