fun archery activities for students in grades 3-4

[Holm-Made]

My physical education cohorts want me to teach them some fun activities they can do with their 3rd and 4th graders.  Our district has 8 elementary schools and we all teach the National Archery in Schools curriculum for 2 weeks.

Any ideas for us to try with our students.  We are looking for ways to make archery FUN.  In my classes the students shoot at balloons on the target faces and they love that.  What else do you have?  Chad

[Ian johnson]

there is a new target out that is made of a chalk like material for 22s, when hit, it explodes into a cloud of dust, an arrow at close range might have the same affect

[Jason Lester]

I'm a 4H archery instructor. We run the range fairly strict. But the kids respond well and it is safe. We do several things to have fun with. We end up going back to a couple though.


Balloons are always fun. 3-4th graders are old enough to have a little fun with. Stay close to the target untill they are ready to move back. Sometimes we tie helium balloons with a string to a nail on a board laying near the target. Instant moving target. Flu Flus are always fun too. We use hula hoops and see who gets closest.

With the ballons I have put up a small balloon (later in the year when the kids are getting better) and each kid decorates and puts up thier ballon (big compared to mine) They all start with the same amout of arrows when they pop thiers they stop and wait. Once everyone has popped teirs or ran out of arrows the ones with arrows remaining get a chance to try for the little ballon (size can be pretty small) The winner gets bragging rights for a while. The kids seemed to like this and we've done it several times.

[TexMex]

My daughter likes to shoot cd -you know the ones you get free in the mail.
I is a blast to watch'm blowup

[Benny Nganabbarru]

If you've got an oval, do some flight shooting. Make it a competition to land the arrows on or in or close to a target (some marker cones will do fine). The kids love watching arrows fly, trying to keep them in sight, and trying to predict where they'll land.

[knife river]

I'll pin a folded dollar bill to the target.  Occasionally I'll pin up a tightly folded five at 20 yards.  Sure inspires my kids to get a lot of arrows in the air.

[vermonster13]

Hang a gong and give them some rubber blunts. Ringing the gong sure makes for some smiles.

[beachbowhunter]

Water balloons really got my son to actually aim at that age!

[Holm-Made]

There are some good ideas here.  Keep them coming.  All the ideas will be shared with other instructors in my district and state wide.  Chad

[Minuteman]

If you have a building you can stand behind you can roll nerf soccer balls ( get the cheepies at stuff-mart) across in front of the line to simulate a running bunny . Gotta be behind something though them young-uns do get excited sometimes!
 My boys always wanna shoot in the field for distance they seem to like that the best.

[vermonster13]

Bernie's dinosaur targets are pretty popular.

[Holm-Made]

TTT

[Chris Surtees]

You can use sporting clays like the balloons. Just build a little frame with a couple of hanging holders and you have instant feedback for the kids.

Have them draw and color some pictures to use a targets.

If you can get a hold of some foam sheets help them make their own 2D targets to shoot at.

Stuffed animals work as well. My kids love to shoot them in the back yard. Easter bunnies do not last long around my house.

[slayer1]

Tic tak toe is a pretty cool game. You draw the grids on old sheets and hang them over the target. Makes for some good competition. The higher the skill level the smaller you make the grids!

[Shaun]

I have never outgrown the balloon thing. Always take a package to gatherings like Bradjam. Have noticed not may others seem to have outgrown it either. Clay pigeons will hang on a nail head on a target but. Stuffed toys from Good Will make great targets. Clout shoot into a hill or short grass (to make it easy to find the arrows) is fun.

Does your "archery in the schools" program use real bows? So many use the Mathews universal wheelies. Compton has support for real bow programs and may have more input of ideas too.

[702plmo]

This summer I took my son the the BighornOutdoors camp.   There was a guy there from the "Archery Game Cube"    This company make these large stickers that you put on your archery targets.  There was about 20 different stickers.   Each sticker is a different game.  
Some of the ganes were tick tac toe.   A big dart board,  counting games,  A pic og the globe,  card games and so on.    It was ahit with the kids @ camp and a hit with my son.