Ayla Avilez

LEI 4724
Activity: Sports Movement
Source: Dr. Weissman- Professor of the Expressive Arts as Therapeutic Modalities Lab
Equipment Needed: N/A
Activity Description: This game is like charades; except it is not timed, and individuals work in
groups to plan a way to act out the sport they chose. In order to work in groups there must be at
least 6 or more participants.
1. Have a list of sports activities such as soccer, football, baseball, basketball, volleyball,
etc.
2. After saying a sport, allow 3-5 participants pick the sport of their choosing.
a. The participants can only pick one sport.
3. Once you have read through all the sports, tell the individuals to plan for ten minutes.
a. The participants should go over the movements of the game
b. You should tell them to move freely according to the structure of the game
4. Each group should perform their skit on the sports they chose. This performance must
also be mute
5. The other groups should be able to guess what sport the group is acting out and make
comments regarding the actions made.
Leadership Considerations: The leader should go around to each group and make sure they
remain on task and make sure each participant is providing input for the skit. As a safety
consideration make sure that individuals are not throwing themselves on the floor, pushing or
hitting another participant to show what a foul is. This activity can be processed by asking the
following questions: How did each group make decisions for acting out the sport? What were
some differences among the group members? What would you do differently?
Adaptations:
When working with participants with Alzheimers, activities play an important role in quality of
life. Depending on the severity of the disease, a participant may struggle remembering their role
and might need to immediately draw a component of the sport to demonstrate to the other
participants. Therefore, the participants who chose to work in a group should come up with a
story that can be shown through pictures that the other groups will have to guess. The goal is to
help individuals express themselves, because as the disease progresses their ability to express
themselves verbally declines. On the other hand when working with participants with a complete
Spinal Cord Injury who require the use of a wheelchair, the goal of this activity may be to
educate individuals of inclusive sports. The sports will then be power soccer, wheelchair
basketball, wheelchair racing, wheelchair tennis, etc. When working with children with a spinal
cord injury, having them first act as messengers carrying messages through an imaginary nervous
system can help them understand what is happening in their body.