One thing you may or may not know about me, I am a big sports fan, especially baseball. I love the game, I love going to the ballpark, I love the atmosphere of competition, I love the comradery of being part of a team, I love it all! If like me, you enjoy baseball, you probably realize that we are right in the middle of Major League Baseball Playoffs, which means the World Series is starting tomorrow! (Go Yankees! assuming they are still in it!)
You are probably wondering why I’m talking about baseball on a blog for educators in the beauty and wellness industry. It’s a great question, so stick with me for a few minutes, even if you are not a baseball fan, I think you might have some fun with this one.
You see, I like bringing things that are happing in the world into our schools. When it is Super Bowl time, I think you should have a Super Bowl party at school. When it is time for the Kentucky Derby, make that Saturday Hat Day. On National Popcorn Day, bring popcorn into the school for some fun. National Popcorn Day is January 19th just in case you were wondering.
So, in honor of the start of the World Series, I say bring in a World Series game into your school with a Baseball Student Salon Challenge and Baseball Review for your classroom.
Let’s start in the classroom.
Baseball Review:
Materials Required:
- 4 Items (such as chairs) to represent Home Plate and 3 Bases
- Review Questions
Preparation:
- Set classroom up in shape of a baseball diamond. Home plate, 3 bases, and two dugouts.
- Create review questions. You may choose to create questions of all the same difficulty (a single) or you may choose to have questions of various difficulty (single, double, triple or home run).
- Determine how many innings you wish to play. An inning is where both teams have a chance to answer.
- Divide the class into 2 teams.
- Determine which team will bat (answer questions) first.
How to Play:
- The game is played like the game of baseball.
- There are two teams. Each team will take turns at “bat”.
- The team will choose a batting order (the order in which students will answer questions).
- The first person will come up to bat and the facilitator will ask the student a question.
- If answered incorrectly, that student will be out. When a player misses the question, allow the other team the opportunity to answer the question. If that player from the other team gets the answer correct, it will count as an additional out for the other team. This allows the possibility of getting two outs on one question.
- Once there are 3 outs on the team, the teams will switch sides and the other team will be up to bat.
- If answered correctly, that student will advance to first base.
- The next student will come up to bat and the facilitator will ask a question.
- If the student answers the question correctly, they will advance to first base, while the student on first base will advance to second base.
- If answered incorrectly, they are out and the first student stays on first base.
- Play will continue with the next student coming up to bat.
- As students advance around the bases, once they get back to home plate, they score a run.
- Keep track of student runs scored and outs on the marker board.
- The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins.
Variations:
- To increase the level of difficulty, rather than all questions being worth a single base hit, create various questions with a different degree of difficulty. Some questions are worth a single, some are worth a double (2 bases), some are worth a triple (3 bases) and some are worth a home run!
- Consider throwing in “curve ball” questions. A curve ball question would be a question from the previous lesson.
- Allow students to “steal” a question. Give the team at bat a certain amount of time (10 – 15 seconds). If they don’t provide an answer in the designated time frame, the other team may steal the question. If they get the answer correct, they score a run, even though they are not at bat.
Additional Fun:
- You can track the students’ individual performances.
- Number of Hits (questions answered correctly)
- Runs Scored (number of times that student crossed home plate)
- RBI’s (Runs Batted In): the number of runs that were scored due to the correct answer of the students at bat)
- Batting Average (number of correct answers in relation to how many questions attempted; For example, 3 correct answers / 4 answers attempted = 75% batting average)
You can also play Baseball in the student salon.
Baseball Student Salon Challenge
Materials Required:
- Poster Board with Baseball Diamond Drawn on.
- Scoreboard
Preparation:
- Divide the student salon into a minimum of 2 teams.
- Each team chooses a team name.
- Create a scoreboard with all the teams listed.
- Create a poster board with baseball diamond for each team.
- Each student should have a sticky note with their name on it, on their baseball diamond.
How to Play:
- The game is played like the game of baseball.
- There are at least two teams.
- Students will receive singles, doubles, triples and home runs based on their performance in the student salon.
- For Example:
- When a student performs a service on a client worth $10, they would get a single. They would go to their baseball diamond and move their name to first base.
- Another student sells two retail products to a client, that would be worth a double. They would go to their baseball diamond and move their name to second base. Any runners on the base in from of them would be advance the same number of bases until they cross home plate.
- Play will continue throughout the day. As student’s complete various requirements, they will continue to move their name around the baseball diamond.
- Each time one of their teammates cross home plate they score a run.
- Runs should be kept on the scoreboard throughout the day.
- The team with the most runs at the end of the day wins!
Determine ahead of time what a student must do in the student salon to receive a single, double, triple or home run.
Here are some examples:
A student would receive a Single if they:
- $5 to $15 service on 1 client
- 1 retail product sold
- Rebooked client
- Asked client for a referral
A student would receive a Double if they:
- $16 to $25 service for 1 client
- 2 retail products sold to 1 client
- Rebooked 2 clients in one day
- Upsold 1 client by $10
A student would receive a Triple if they:
- $26 – $50 service on 1 client
- 3 retail products sold to 1 client
- Upsold a client by $20
- Rebooked 3 clients in a day
A student would receive a Home Run if they:
- $60 or more service on 1 client
- 4 retail products sold to 1 client
- Upsold a client by $30
These are just a few examples. You can also tie it to areas that students need more practice in. For example, if they need more work on pedicures, you could make each pedicure worth a double. This will encourage the student to do more pedicures. If you look at the appointment books and it is a particularly slow day, you might have every walk in that a student brings into the student salon that day worth a triple. Just have fun with it.
These games basically follow the general rules of baseball. If you are not familiar with the game, ask one of your co-workers for help. I bet you have at least one baseball fan on your team!
Again, this is a fun thing to do as the World Series is beginning. You could also use it next spring on Opening Day (April) to celebrate the start of baseball season.
Play Ball!