Speed Stacking In Physical Education

The Speed Stacking / Cup Stacking Unit in physical education is one of my absolute favorites!

Top 5 Reasons I LOVE Speed Stacking...

You can teach it ANYWHERE. We all have to share the gym space from time to time. These cup stacking activities are perfect for PE in the classroom & indoor recess.
ALL students can be successful no matter their abilities. These activities can be modified to fit all students needs. This is also a great PE option for students who are medically excused from PE.
Once you have all of the materials I've provided in my TeachersPayTeachers storefront, you can reuse them for years to come!
This unit can be as long or short as you'd like it to be.
Students can have the opportunity to work independently at their own pace, or compete against a parter or timer. By the end of this unit, they will all feel confident and successful.

Let's get started with setup!

Make sure to have all of your materials set out to save time. I like to have a designed space for the cups. As you can see in the photo above, all of the cups are on a mat. You can use mats, poly spots, on stair steppers, or even inside hula hoops. This is key to keeping the gym organized and not having cups & kids all over the place or too close together.

Warm Up? YES PLEASE!

Here are some recommendations for fun warm-up activities to get some of their energy out so they are focused when you're teaching them about the stacks!

Youtube: Shapes & Stacks , Speedstacks activity!

Youtube: Cardio Cup Stacking Challenge!

Relay Races: Use different locomotor movements to get to the stack of cups, create a stack & race back.

Here's the best way I've found to teach the stacks!

Start with a motivational video. Cup stacking might sound boring to some of the kids in your school. Once they see that it's a competitive sport, they'll be fired up and ready to compete!

I only teach one stack per lesson. This gives them time to practice the stack and do an activity. The following class, we review the stack they've already learned and then I teach them a new one.

When teaching a new stack I first play the video, then I stand in front of the class and demo it VERY slowly. After they watch it, I have them do it with me one step at a time. After that I play the looping gif video on my "practice" slide and they can do it at the pace that suits them best. As they practice, I work my way around the gym to critique and give help where needed.

Here's a list of the best videos I've found...

I play the "Stacker" (Trailer) from the sport stacking documentary which can be found on Youtube! This quick 1.5 minute video gets them totally hyped to start stacking.
For my first lesson, I show them the 3-3-3 tutorial. Search Youtube: Episode 2 - Learn The 3-3-3 Stack
For lesson 2 search: Episode 3 - Learn The 3-6-3 Stack
For lesson 3 search: Episode 4 - Learn The Cycle Stack pt 1
I cannot link these videos due to copyright laws - but you should add them to a simple slideshow for your students or download my slideshow HERE. Where i've turned the stacks into GIFs which replay & loop so that the can keep looking up and following along when needed!

Speed Stacking Activities:

Activities can be edited to fit various grades and abilities!

1. "Speed Stacking"

After teaching the students how to perform all of the stacks in the correct sequence, challenge students to flip a card and create the stack shown. They can do this independently, or timed. They can also flip the cards and compete against a partner to see who can build the stack first. You can also show the card to the entire class and as an assessment, see who can build it within a certain amount of time. (Due to the complexity of performing the correct sequence to stack these cups, I primarily do this with my older students approx. 3rd grade and up).

2. "Challenge Cards"

Challenge cards are fun for all ages! These are not original “Speed Stacking” formations. They are just fun stacks to create.Because of this, they can build them any way they’d like. There is no correct sequence to stacking the cups.Students can sit in groups, or independently and flip a card. They can build with no time constraint, or they can time a partner. They can also flip a card and compete against other players to see who can build the stack first. Once all challenges are complete you can pick a new partner and begin again!

3. "Roll The Dice"

Students sit in groups of 6. Each player gets a player card. (If you have less than 6 players, give a student more than 1 player card so all 6 age given out). The person who built the fastest each round gets to roll the dice. Player rolls and whatever number the dice lands on is the player who gets to chose the stack from the “Roll the Dice poster”. They call out a number (1-16) so everyone can study the stack for a moment. All players must put two hands on the ground or table on the sides of their 12 stack to begin. The player who chose the stack says “Ready, Set, Go” and they all race to see who can build their stack the fastest. Once everyone has built it, The player who finished first gets to roll the next round. (I highly recommend having multiple “Roll the Dice posters” printed so all students can see the stacks and they don’t have to waste time passing it around).

*Take a look at my Instagram to see more details about this unit!

*Get your own copy of these activities & my Powerpoint Presentation by clicking HERE.

I hope you enjoyed this post!

-Cait :)