Superheroes Theme Week!

We had our best theme week of 2016 a couple weeks ago– Superhero Training Week! It was (by far) my favourite week because I have never seen our staff more engaged and totally “in it to win it”. We were hitting a bit of a mid-session slump and everyone turned it around by being insanely creative, engaged and motivated to try new things.

Instead of posting a pre-designed lesson plan, I put it in the hands of coaches to answer the superhero call themselves! Here is the sign we posted up outside the coaches room:

superhero-theme-rec-gym-pros-1

In order to earn superhero points, coaches had to complete missions from the list (see below) or they had to complete top secret missions that were written on notes hidden around the gym (click here for our secret mission list). Points were recorded on another poster at the end of each class.

Once a mission was complete, coaches recorded their points. At the end of the week, we tallied everything up and the staff with the 10 most points got their names drawn from a hat for a Starbucks gift certificate! Also – the day of the week with the most points (per capita) received a prize (which they are getting this weekend — pizza delivered during their shift)!

Also… at the end of each class, kids received a little half page certificate saying they were now “officially trained superheros”! Just a cute little touch.

Here were some of the other highlights from the week:

Coaches were inventing new games for EVERY CLASS they coached in a day – for some coaches, that meant 6 new warm up activities in one shift that they’d never done before! Such ingenuity!
No teeth-pulling. Coaches needed very little coaxing or motivating to jump on board!
CITs took initiative to lead more components of the program – and included the theme while they were at it!
Capes everywhere!!! (make from $1 plastic table clothes – different colours – cut to size!)
One coach had a secret mission to form a superhero gang with at least 3 other staff and then invent a theme song… she went above and beyond and secretly got every single coach in the gym to join in. Then surprised me with a choreographed chant. HILARIOUS! And amazing team building!
Kids loved it!!!! Not because they were doing the best gymnastics, but because the coaches were so enthusiastic! Energy is contagious!!

I unfortunately didn’t take enough photos, but here are some of the ideas I managed to capture (hover your mouse over each picture for caption/explanation):

: As kids go under the bridge, they needed to “rescue” one of the animals trapped underneath and bring them to the safety spot (the bin).

: Crawl through the fire!

: Fireman’s ladder – kids had to be dexterous to move quickly across to the other side!

: Through the villian’s trap! Skipping ropes tied across created a trap! The kids had to pass through to the other side without touching the rope!

: Spider Man’s web (photo taken at the end of the week, so it’s a bit destroyed). Kids climb up to the high bar, then swing with a bean bag between their feet – then they had to try and toss it onto Spiderman’s web!

: Our Tumbl Trak decor was city buildings so that kids could jump over them, just like superheroes! We also had cutouts of sound effects like BAM! POW! BOOM!