Gilles-Sweet Third Grade Students Tee Up Learning Through Mini-Golf

Third graders at Gilles-Sweet Elementary recently created mini-golf courses that gave younger students a chance to putt their way through some hands-on fun.

This mini-golf project combined engineering, creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving into an exciting and challenging two-week experience. The project was a first for third-grade students and their teachers.

“I was looking for something for the kids to have a fun, hands-on activity, where they were doing the work as a group,” Gilles-Sweet Third Grade Teacher Samantha Smith said. 

Students first researched miniature golf course designs and explored the science behind them - including angles, probability, and course layout.  

Each course had to meet a specific set of requirements. Course designs needed to be one foot wide, four feet long, and include at least three obstacles. Along the way, students practiced measuring, planning, and revising their work.

“I thought putt-putt was amazing and it was fun to plan and build our course,” Brayden L. said. “I also loved the other courses. The kindergarteners look really happy, and I thought they loved it. It was super fun.”

“They had to think of a theme for their course and then the obstacles that went around it,” Smith explained. “They problem-solved that, and they had a little engineering notebook that they created with the problems and the planning portion of it. They drew their plan and had to label everything, so they knew where things were going.”

Using cardboard, paper towel rolls, string, and other donated “maker space” materials, students transformed simple supplies into imaginative golf holes themed around farms, animals, television shows, and more. 

Some courses featured doglegs and ramps, while others included carefully placed bumpers designed to keep golf balls from rolling off course.

“We talked about making it a little bit more challenging, or try to make it a little more fun for the kids to play,” Smith said. “You don't want to be bored when you go play putt-putt.” 

Smith said some of the most valuable lessons in the classroom are building collaboration, communication, and teamwork skills.

“Those are skills that you need to have as an adult,” Smith said. “Practicing it as an eight year old can be hard, but they are really important soft skills to have. Those are the soft skills that aren’t a curriculum piece, but they are the skills that they have to have to function in the world.”

“Doing the putt-putt course was fun and a little hard because you had to work with a team,” student Grace G. explained. “When you work with a team, they may not agree, and you will also not agree with everything.”

The final piece of the project came when kindergarten students visited the third grade classrooms to play the courses. For Smith, a former kindergarten teacher, bringing younger and older students together became one of the most rewarding parts of the experience.

 

“The kids had the best time together, and they loved seeing those little ones come up,” she said. “We have a lot of siblings, so that was really great. The siblings could play together, and they got to share their classroom with their siblings.”

As kindergarten students celebrated hole-in-ones and navigated the homemade fairways, the third graders stepped into leadership roles as mentors and guides.

“I think reaching out [to the Kindergarten students] gives them the opportunity to see, it's not scary up here,” Smith said. “These big kids aren't scary. They are there to help you and encourage you along the way.”

“Making the putt-putt holes was not easy, but it was fun,” student Alex S. said. “Having all the kindergarteners play was really cool. Overall, the project was really fun.”

“I thought putt-putt was amazing and it was fun to plan and build our course,” Brayden L. said. “I also loved the other courses. The kindergarteners look really happy, and I thought they loved it. It was super fun.”

“Our kindergarten students had such a wonderful time visiting the third grade classroom and trying out the mini-golf courses they designed and created,” Kindergarten Teacher Keri Laughlin said.  “The experience was a great opportunity for collaboration between the two classrooms, and my students learned the importance of teamwork, creativity, and encouraging one another while having fun together.”

For Smith, the project was about much more than miniature golf. It was about creating memorable learning experiences that help students build skills both inside and outside the classroom.

“When you see them being able to talk and collaborate and problem solve and be creative and expressive, it is rewarding,” Smith said. “And then getting to see those little kindergartners getting to come up here to  see the big kids, and see all the great things that they're going to be doing too, is always fun.”