Drill 1:  Handing out taggers
Give the students several minutes to TAG and inspect the taggers. They will need time to get their "sillies" out.

Game 1:  Tagging Finesse
These exercises give the student a chance to experiment with and feel confident in their charge of the tagger.

Let’s see how fast you can TAG.

Can you TAG slowly? Softly? Loudly? Let’s all TAG at once. Let’s try a pattern. Ex. TAG…TAG…pause…TAG…TAG...pause

2. Everyone form a circle. The first person will click and then the next and the next without breaking the rhythm of the circle. Domino tagging.

Game 2: ON YOUR MARK – GET SET – GO!
Teach the students not to anticipate.

"Listen carefully, the TAG point is the word Go".

"On your mark…get set…go"!

Substitute the word go with… garage

Grape

Stop (gets a big laugh)

Gaga

So

Joe

Grow

…or any word that keeps them focusing to the end of the word. This game helps teach students not to anticipate, but to wait until the tag point is definitely there.

Game 3:   OPEN THE DOOR
This is great introductory game. The students must focus all of their attention on a small space and learn to coordinate their hand-eye-tagging skills.

" Focus on my hand. The TAG point is my hand open all the way".

Open your hand fully and allow them to tag the first few times. Now you can focus their attention on the muscles in the hand by alternating the fully opened hand (which should receive a TAG) with a partially opened hand (should not receive a TAG). This will teach the student to wait until the final desired target position (TAG Point).

Game 4:   ONE POTATO YES - TWO POTATO NO"
This is just a version of the previous game.

"You look for the instant I raise just one finger, then TAG. More than one finger, no TAG".

"The TAG point is 1 finger raised".

SEND THEM OFF TO PLAY!
Let them pair off and play these games in pairs or small groups.

Divide the students into groups of 2 or 3. Have them try

Tagging any of the above drills with just the kids in their group.

See if everyone in your group can TAG at the exact same time. Can you TAG at the same time just by looking at each other, by saying a silent "GO" with your eyes? Try to come up with your own rhythmic combinations. Each member of the group teaches the others a short rhythm.