Valentine’s Day Climbing Wall Activities

Changing climbing activities with the seasons or for holidays helps to bring variety to the climbing experience. Here are some great ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day and we think climbers will enjoy these activities that help to reinforce the value of friendship, teamwork, kindness and gratitude.

Valentine’s Day Scavenger Hunt

Climbers are challenged to find items related to Valentine’s Day on the climbing wall!

Grade Level: K and up

Materials:

A variety of small toys/items related to Valentine’s Day (or photos of them): hearts, red objects, pink objects, printed out words (friendship, kindness, trust, heart, flowers, sweet, candy, happy valentine’s day, etc).
Hang a sign above the climbing wall “Climbers Rock!” or “XX Students Rock” (optional).
Hang several signs (see example) at the end of the climbing wall for climbers to write or draw one thing they found during their climb.
Pencils

Advance Prep: Place items on hand holds and/or tape photos on the climbing wall. There should be several per panel, high and low. Hang sign(s) and have pencils available.

Activity:

Before they climb, let climbers know that there are many Valentine’s Day items/words “hiding” on the climbing wall. Challenge them to find as many as possible. Have them look, but not touch or remove them. For older children, you can challenge them to find a specific number of things. For example, “Try to find the 5 hidden hearts.” Once the climb is completed, have climbers write or draw one thing that they found and climb again to find more items/words.

National Standards: 1,2,3,4 & 5

Grade-Level Outcomes:

Non-locomotor (S1.E7, S1.E8, S1.E10)
Movement concepts (S2.E1, S2.E2)
Engages in physical activity (S3.E2, S3.M3, S3.M4, S3.M5)
Personal responsibility (S4.E1, S4.E2, S4.M1, S4.M2)
Rules & etiquette (S4.E5, S4.M5, S4.M6)
Safety (S4.E6, S4.M7)
Challenge (S5.E2, S5.M3)

Boy tossing ball to girl on a climbing wall by Everlast Climbing

One Hand Catch-N-Climb

A simple game of catch gets more interesting when one person is on the climbing wall!

Grade Level: 3 and up

Materials: Balls (one per climbing panel, preferably red or pink)

Advance Prep: Give balls to non-climbers

Activity:

This activity is a fun way to add some tossing and catching challenges to the climbing experience and helps to develop teamwork. It involves climbers and non-climbers. The number of participants depends on the size of the climbing wall. Ideally, the activity includes one climber and one non-climber per 4-foot wide climbing panel. Therefore, if you have a 20′-wide traverse wall, this activity engages at least 10 participants. A steady stream of climbers on and off the wall increases this number.

Position non-climbers at the edge of the mats, approximately one every 4 feet. They will be tossing the ball to climbers as they climb by. Climbers line up at one end of the climbing wall and start climbing one at a time. When they get to a position where they are across from a tosser, they should stop climbing, turn and catch the ball and toss back. The toss can be overhand or underhand.

Variations:

This can be a partner activity using just one panel section.
Try balls of different shapes and sizes.
Have participants keep a mental count of how many successful catches they have and work to improve.

Teaching Tip: Since climbers are periodically stopping to catch and throw, be sure they know that they may need to adjust their climbing speed based on what’s happening with the climber ahead of them. Climbers should try to keep the spacing of one climber on each climbing panel.

National Standards: 1,2,3,4 & 5

Grade-Level Outcomes:

Nonlocomotor (S1.E7, S1.E8, S1.E10)
Manipulative (S1.E13, S1.E26)
Movement concepts (S2.E1, S2.E2)
Engages in physical activity (S3.E2, S3.M3, S3.M4, S3.M5)
Personal responsibility (S4.E1, S4.E2, S4.M1, S4.M2)
Working with others (S4.E4, S4.M4, S4.M5)
Rules & etiquette (S4.E5, S4.M5, S4.M6)
Safety (S4.E6, S4.M7)
Challenge (S5.E2, S5.M3)

heart journal

Valentine’s Day Climbing Reflection

Get your climbers reflecting after the climbing experience.

After climbers complete a climbing game or activity, have them either write or discuss the experience using one of the following prompts which fit the theme of the day: