Summer Fun – A New Stacking Experience: The excitement for sport stacking really took off in the cold days of January. This was my second or third year for offering a stacking club for my 5th & 6th grade students during recess time. Somehow this year was different. The excitement and enthusiasm for stacking was evident when 65 students continually stayed in for recess.

We began with open practice time sharing the 10 sets of school cups and a few extra sets, students brought in from home. Immediately students requested order forms to get their own cups and before you knew it the gym was filled with a bright array of colors from 56 additional sets of cups. Soon small group competitions sprang up throughout the gym and organized team tournaments were held for the 3-6-3 and the cycle stack.

As the weeks passed and cold winter days turned to warm spring days the club ended so all students could return to outdoor recess. However the excitement of sport stacking lingered on in the mind of one fifth grade girl. Meredith shared her excitement with her mom and one thought led to another. Meredith’s mom was in charge of scheduling activities for a week of Girl Scout Day Camp. The theme for camp was "Under Construction" I was asked to teach sport stacking, because constructing little pyramids out of cups would fit right in with the theme and Meredith knew how much fun the girls would have doing this during activity time.

The next thing I knew, I was cutting 36 sheets of cardboard, so as to have a flat surface to learn sport stacking on the picnic tables and to use for relay races in the grassy field.

The day at Day Camp was fun experience as I had never taught stacking to 1st, 2nd or 3rd graders. They were awesome as they learned the 3 stack and the 6 stack and then ran relays up stacking 3 then 6 then 3 on the way down to the cone and then down stacking each group of cups on their way back to their teammates.

The older girls who were some of my students were excited to share sport stacking with their new camp friends. They demonstrated their skills including the cycle stack and had a great time challenging themselves to see if they were as fast as they had been during tournament time at school. I offered these girls a new challenge – Doubles. Each girl worked with a partner one using her left hand and one using her right hand. They laughed and giggled as they realized this was a new challenge yet to be mastered.

This new summer experience was truly rewarding for me. I surely have kept my sheets of cardboard and will keep sport stacking in mind as a year round activity, not just for winter, not just as a classroom activity and certainly not just for indoors. Stacking under the bright sunshine is a way cool thing to do.