Creating Educational Athletic Games for Children for Soft Contained Play Centers

Abstract

Creating an educational athletic game for children for soft contained play centers including identifying a life skill to be taught by playing the game; identifying one or more aspects of the life skill; identifying physical activities capable of being carried out in a soft contained play center demonstrating the aspects of the life skills; selecting a theme for the game; and creating rules for the game wherein the rules favor exhibiting by the children the physical activities demonstrating the aspects of the life skills.

1 . A method for creating an educational athletic game for children for soft contained play centers, the method comprising:
 identifying a life skill to be taught by playing the game;   identifying one or more aspects of the life skill;   identifying physical activities capable of being carried out in a soft contained play center demonstrating the aspects of the life skill;   selecting a theme for the game; and   creating rules for the game wherein the rules favor exhibiting by the children the physical activities demonstrating the aspects of the life skills.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the life skill to be taught comprises teamwork. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising creating a story incorporating the selected theme that illustrates the rules for the game. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising determining an optimum number of teams to play the game. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein identifying physical activities capable of being carried out in a soft contained play center demonstrating the aspects of the life skills further comprises identifying physical activities capable of being executed outside one or more inflatables in a soft contained play center. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein identifying physical activities capable of being carried out in a soft contained play center demonstrating the aspects of the life skills further comprises identifying physical activities capable of being executed on one or more inflatables in a soft contained play center. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein selecting a theme for the game further comprises identifying characters having at least one characteristic that corresponds with the identified physical activities. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the characters comprise animals having at least one characteristic that corresponds with the identified physical activities. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the selected theme comprises a geographic theme. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein:
 identifying one or more aspects of the life skill further comprises identifying a primary aspect of the life skill;   identifying physical activities capable of being carried out in a soft contained play center demonstrating the aspects of the life skills further comprises identifying physical activities demonstrating the primary aspect; and   creating rules for the game wherein the rules favor exhibiting by the children the physical activities demonstrating the aspects of the life skills further comprises creating rules that most favor the physical activities demonstrating the primary aspect.   
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein:
 identifying one or more aspects of the life skill further comprises identifying one or more secondary aspect of the life skill;   identifying physical activities capable of being carried out in a soft contained play center demonstrating the aspects of the life skills further comprises identifying physical activities demonstrating the one or more secondary aspects; and   creating rules for the game wherein the rules favor exhibiting by the children the physical activities demonstrating the aspects of the life skills further comprises creating rules that most favor the physical activities demonstrating a primary aspect, but still reward physical activities demonstrating the one or more secondary aspects.   
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein:
 identifying one or more aspects of the life skill further comprises identifying one or more tertiary aspect of the life skill;   identifying physical activities capable of being carried out in a soft contained play center demonstrating the aspects of the life skills further comprises identifying physical activities demonstrating the one or more tertiary aspects; and   creating rules for the game wherein the rules favor exhibiting by the children the physical activities demonstrating the aspects of the life skills further comprises creating rules that most favor the physical activities demonstrating a primary aspect and a secondary aspect, but still reward physical activities demonstrating the one or more tertiary aspects.   
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein identifying one or more aspects of the life skill further comprises selecting one or more life skills from a life skill curriculum. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein creating rules for the game wherein the rules favor exhibiting by the children the physical activities demonstrating the aspects of the life skills further comprises identifying a award and associating the award with exhibiting by the children the physical activities demonstrating the aspects of the life skills 
   
   
       15 . A soft contained play center, the soft contained play center comprising:
 one or more inflatable play areas; and   a award redemption facility;   the soft contained play center configured for life skill education through playing an athletic game created by:
 identifying a life skill to be taught by playing the game; 
 identifying one or more aspects of the life skill; 
 identifying physical activities capable of being carried out in a soft contained play center demonstrating the aspects of the life skills; 
 selecting a theme for the game; and 
 creating rules for the game wherein the rules favor exhibiting by the children the physical activities demonstrating the aspects of the life skills.