So I was asked to teach a 7 week after school program at a local middle school. A challenge indeed. Trying to teach 5th-7th grade kids who are more interested in going home than participating in a Tai Chi and Qigong class. The boys are generally very hyped up and just want to run and wrestle with each other.

Right before the third class one of the boys asked me what we were going to do and I responded that we were going to learn the Tai Chi 24 form. His response was “can we play Tai Chi tag?”. I asked him how would that work and he had no idea. He suggested that I come up with a way to play the game.

After spending a few days thinking of it I came up with this idea which they seemed to like. First they must spend at least half of the class learning the form and remembering what each form was called. The second half would be playing the game.

The person who is it will chase and tag someone. Within five seconds the person who is it must yell out one of the 24 forms and the person he/she tagged would have to perform the form within five seconds or then they become it. If the person who is it cannot think of a form in five seconds then he remains it. Each week more forms are added so that they have more forms to choose from. The game is played in a limited space so as not to prolong one person being it.

They enjoyed the game and now look forward to learning more of the Tai Chi form.

If you have any comments or thoughts I would love to hear from you.