Balance Resources Bundle

The Balances Resources Bundle combines three amazing gymnastics resources into one package at a reduced price (over 30% off)! Here is everything this bundle includes:

Individual Balances & Shapes Cards Set

The Balances & Shapes Set includes 32 individual balance cards featuring unique artwork and tons of standards-based information (which pairs perfectly with the new Movement Concept Cards). Each card features:

📛 The balance’s name.
👀 A visual representing the balance.
🔑 Three keys to success for performing the balance (with visual prompts).
📏 Base of support information (shape and number of contact points).
🔡 Body shape information.*
📶 Body level information.*

*For continuity, these use the same visuals as those found on the Movement Concept Cards.

The set also comes with the balances in two different formats:

The printable Balances & Shapes Overview Poster showcases all 32 balances (and their names) at once. This is perfect for students to use when designing their gymnastics sequences or just to have displayed in your gym!

The 32 printable Balances & Shapes Prompt Cards are smaller (4.25″x2.75″) versions of the Balances & Shapes Cards that feature only the balance name and visual. I made these to use in station or relay-style activities, but also for reflection based assessments such as compare/contrast assessments and/or grouping assessments.

Finally, the set also includes a link to one of my “P.E. Power Picks” video activities!

This 12-minute activity works by presenting two balance cards that students can choose from. Once they’ve made their choice, they have 10 seconds to perform the balance they selected for a teacher, partner, or friend. This whole process then repeats until every balance card* has been presented twice (so students get to try them all out). Here is an example of a “P.E. Power Picks” video in action (this is from the “Wacky Ways To Balance Challenge Cards” resource).

*For safety purposes, I removed the Handstand and Headstand balance cards from this activity.

I made this set to include multiple formats of each of its resources so that it was easy for you to use it either at school or in your distance learning teaching. The download includes:

Balances & Shapes Cards
– One-sided printable PDF (front of cards only)
– Two-sided printable PDF (front and back of cards)
– 32 individual PNG files (one per card)*

Balances & Shapes Poster
– One-side printable PDF

Balances & Shapes Prompt Cards
– One-sided printable PDF (front of cards only)
– Two-sided printable PDF (front and back of cards)
– 32 individual PNG files (one per card)*

Balances & Shapes “P.E. Power Picks” Video
– Link included in the download README file

Wacky Ways To Balance Challenge Cards

The Wacky Ways To Balance Cards includes 50 balance challenge cards to help your students explore and apply balance concepts in physical education class. Each card is available in both printer-friendly PDF form and virtual PE-friendly PNG form.

Each card presents a combination of four different elements:

#️⃣ Base of Support (Contact Points)
🔼 Body Shape (Wide, Narrow, Curly, Twisted)
📊 Level (Low, Medium, High)
🦶 Body Part (15 combinations of hands, feet, knees, elbows, head, and behind)

Also included in the download package is a link to the Wacky Ways To Balance P.E. Power Picks video! This video repeatedly provides students with a choice between two balance challenges. Students must quickly decide which challenge they want to try and then attempt to hold that balance for 10 seconds as they demonstrate it for a teacher or partner. Here is a preview of how the video is presented:

Balance Concept Cards

The Balance Concept Cards were designed to help my students understand the different movement concepts we explore as part of our gymnastics units.

There are four Balance Concept Cards** included in the download:

🔘 Centre of Gravity
🧱 Base of Support
📏 Body Alignment
⚡️ Muscular Tension

To help my students explore these different concepts, I also created a set of 16 Balance Exploration Prompts. Each card provides students with a prompt that will encourage them to try something different as they work to maintain their balance. By doing so, students get to dive deeper into their understanding of the different balance concepts we explored in class.

Also included in the download is the “Amazing Balance Acts” assessment tool that I designed to assess my grade three students’ levels of understanding of the four balance concepts. The tool is available in two file types:

1. A Pages document version* that has been designed to allow you to quickly customize the assessment tool to include a photo of your students’ balance performance (via Continuity Camera).
2. A Google Slides version that can also be customized with your students’ work.

You can see the “Amazing Balance Acts” assessment tool in action here:

*This version can only be opened on a Mac with Pages installed. Continuity Camera is only available on macOS Mojave (or later) and can only be used with an iOS device running iOS 12 (or later). Learn more about Continuity Camera on Apple’s website.

I hope that these three resources help you make gymnastics a meaningful part of your physical education curriculum! I would love to hear/see how you put them all into action in your lessons!

🥳 Happy Teaching!