Year 5 Gymnastics: counter balance and counter tension worksheet

“Pushing Still Together” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 5 PE unit “Gymnastics: counter balance and counter tension”, for children aged 9 to 10, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 16 to 18 of the year, 6 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Pushing Still Together

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 5 · PE · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can hold a counter balance still, with equal pushing and a long, stretched body.

A Look back2 min

1.
Put these warm-up steps in order. Get your legs moving before your arms. Write 1 to 4 in each box.
1. Stretch your legs and back gently
2. Walk to your clear space
3. Swing your arms in big circles
4. Jog gently on the spot
2.
Which level is the lowest? Circle one.
stand tallkneellie down
3.
Join each word to its meaning. Draw a line.
warm uplevelbalance
how high or low the body isholding a shape without movinggetting the body ready to move

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ola and her grown-up partner hold a counter balance. Watch how they find the still point together.

Watch me

Ola and her partner face each other and press palm to palm.

They both lean in and push with the same strength.

When the pushes match, they freeze and stretch their arms and spine long.

Now you

1.
Kit and his partner try three counter balances. Try 1: Kit pushes harder. Try 2: they push equally. Try 3: his partner stops pushing. Which try stays still? Circle one.
Try 1Try 2Try 3

C Your turn7 min

Work through these in order. Keep a clear space, a non-slip floor, and a grown-up watching.

1.
Put these steps for a counter balance in order. Write 1 to 4 in each box.
1. Freeze and stretch your arms and spine long.
2. Press palm to palm and lean in slowly.
3. Face your partner with a short gap between you.
4. Push evenly until you find the still point.
2.
Your partner starts to push harder than you. What is the best first move for you? Circle one.
Keep pushing evenly and tell your partnerStop pushing and step backPush much harder on one sideHold your breath and look up
3.
Join each coaching point to what it helps. Draw a line.
Equal pushingLong arms and spineSteady breathingCalm voice to partner
Partner knows what to expectBalance stays in the middleBody stays relaxed and stillShape looks stretched and clean
4.
With a grown-up timing you, hold your counter balance still. Do three tries. Colour one bar for each try, as long as you held still.

Say it out loud: What did you notice about how your balance felt on the third try compared with the first?

D Spot the mistake3 min

Noah says: “I hold my breath the whole time so I stay still.”

1.
What should Noah do instead? Write one sentence.

E Think deeper3 min

1.
Why does a counter balance break if one partner stops pushing? Use the words equal and steady in your answer.

How did it feel?

Think about your three tries. Which helped you stay still most: pushing steadily, breathing slowly, or your partner's voice? Tell your grown-up.

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Pushing Still Together · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. 1 Walk to your clear space · 2 Jog gently on the spot · 3 Swing your arms in big circles · 4 Stretch your legs and back gently If the stretch comes first, ask your child what the body needs before a hard move. Warm up the body first, then stretch gently.

2. lie down If your child circles stand tall, ask which body part is closest to the floor. The lowest level is the one nearest the floor.

3. warm up → getting the body ready to move; level → how high or low the body is; balance → holding a shape without moving

B

1. Try 2 If your child circles Try 1, ask what happens when one partner pushes harder. Equal pushing is what keeps the balance still.

C

1. 1 Face your partner with a short gap between you. · 2 Press palm to palm and lean in slowly. · 3 Push evenly until you find the still point. · 4 Freeze and stretch your arms and spine long. If the freeze comes before the push, ask your child how the balance could be still before it has been found. Find the still point first.

2. Keep pushing evenly and tell your partner

3. Equal pushing → Balance stays in the middle; Long arms and spine → Shape looks stretched and clean; Steady breathing → Body stays relaxed and still; Calm voice to partner → Partner knows what to expect

4. Look for: Three bars coloured in, one per try, each showing the seconds the child held still. If your child says they cannot time it, let the grown-up count out loud. Stop the hold at once if anyone feels pain or wobbles badly.

D

1. Look for: says to breathe slowly or steadily during the hold, not hold the breath If your child says Noah should hold his breath even longer, ask what the shoulders and arms do when breath is held. Then say steady breathing keeps the body still.

E

1. Look for: says both partners must push equally and steadily, so if one stops the balance is no longer equal and breaks

Words to use

Say“Which part of your body felt most stretched, and what helped you stay still?”

Instead of“Just push harder so it does not wobble.”

After the sheet

On a clear rug, with a grown-up watching, sit back to back. Push gently and equally until neither slides, freeze, and count to five.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

5 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Counter balance on a step(with a plan)
Flowing sequences on apparatus(with a plan)
Equal pull balances(with a plan)
Linking balances in sequence(with a plan)
Performing and giving feedback(with a plan)

Every Year 5 PE worksheet

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