Grade level: 3-8
Equipment: 2 Flags, large playing area
Game Description: This has been the GAME OF THE YEAR at our school. LOTS of Fun, many skills and laughs have been had. Competition at its finest, and what a workout. It’s the standard version of Capture The Flag brought to physical education class! Find a large area (field, community center, playground, bushes, forest), make 2 teams, and get started. Teams spend a minute hiding their flag on their half of the area (no peeking). Once hidden, GO! The goal of the game is to capture the other teams flag before they capture yours and bring it across the middle line. Careful on the opponents side, because if you get tagged, you go to the jail for 2 mins. The tagger needs to tap the jail (a bench or something) and then they can resume play. No puppy-guarding the flag. Add in extra rules as you see fit, please watch the video for more specifics, I don’t have the time or the will to type everything out… just want to say thanks to Paul Grosskopf, a friend and colleague for setting all these things up for us this year (rules, mods, locations, flags, etc).
Category: Gr 3
The BEST Rock Paper Scissors Battle
Grade level: K-8
Equipment: Hula Hoops
Game Description: This game is amazing. Players have a super fun RPS battle that they won’t soon forget. 2 teams faceoff across from eachother. Place a bunch of hula hoops between teams in a line. 1 player from each team hops towards the other, and when they meet, they RPS. Loser must jump out and join the end of the line while the winner keeps advancing. Meanwhile the next player in line from the losing side jumps in and hops towards the opponent. It’s a bit hard to explain through text, so watch the video to see this awesome game in action!
Coin Collectors
Grade level: K-8
Equipment: Coins (example: pennies)
Game Description: Coin collectors can be played in the gym or adapted for outside, and used for any age group. It’s a super simple idea, give it a go as it should be lots of FUN! Start by having players line up at one end of the gym facing the wall (no peeking!). The teacher hides coins scattered throughout the gym floor. The teacher says ‘Go’ and students run to find a coin. When they find one, they stand on it and stay there. Once all the coins are found, the players who did not find one have to do 10 jumping jacks, or crunches, or pushups, etc (player or teacher can choose). Players then line up again, while teacher takes out one coin and re-hides the rest. Continue to take out one coin each round until there is only one coin remaining to be hidden. To determine how many coins to use: take the class size and cut it in half, and that is how many coins to start with (if 20 people in class, hide 10 coins). One final tip to make it easier to operate: have the students stay standing on the coin until you come and get it, so you don’t have to find them all on your own after the round is over. (Thanks to Jesse Edwards)
Bottle & Ball
Grade level: 3-8
Equipment: Plastic Bottle, cones, balls
Game Description: Bottle & Ball is a game idea that was sent from Iran. It’s a game to work on hand eye coordination, reacting, and catching. First, you will need to cut plastic drink bottles into halves (1 half for each player). Then players will line up along an edge holding their bottle in hand (alternatively they could use a bowl or small pail). The students stand 1 meter apart. The teacher or one of the students throws the balls from a distance of 5 to 6 meters, respectively from the number one student to the end and then from the end to the number one student. Anyone who can catch the ball with their bottle or shuttle (without the ball falling to the ground) can take a step forward. The first person to reach the final marking cone gets 1 point, then everyone returns to the starting point and the game starts again from the starting point. (Thanks Dr. Mehdi Dehghani)
Pool Noodle Relays
Grade level: K-8
Equipment: Pool Noodles, Cones
Game Description: A simple video explaining 5 fun ways to use pool noodles in a relay format. Quick, fun, ideas that involve teamwork, balance, and/or other! Could be used as a warm-up of sorts as well. May seem elementary, but it a go and you’re sure to be surprised how fun it actually is.
Camouflage
Grade level: K-6
Equipment: 5 large objects
Game Description: Camouflage is a unique game idea (thanks to Joe Defreitas for ANOTHER great idea) that can be played with a handful of players, or an entire large group! It’s an ‘enhanced’ game of hide-and-seek where players will hide behind one of 5 large objects (example crash mats or exercise equipment) and hope to not be found by the caller. The caller will probably be the teacher for the first round at least. The caller will sit in a position where he/she cannot see the players hiding behind the objects. The caller will count down from 10 to 1 while the players hide. At the end of the countdown, the caller will say a name (or names) as well as a number from 1 to 5 which correlates with the objects that were hidden behind. If the player is found, he/she is OUT (can still continue to play). Last one remaining after all the rounds is the winner.
Pace Setter
Grade level: 3-6
Equipment: Cones
Game Description: Another great game idea thanks to Joe Defreitas. This one is to help students practice pacing themselves (slow, mid, fast – walking, jogging, running) and for long distance. Set-up cones to form a large oval, enough cones 1 for each player, in a large area. Cones should be in a color sequence/pattern (example: red, green, yellow, blue, repeat). Every player must sit behind their own cone and remember which cone is theirs. The teacher or coach will have a stopwatch and tell the players they need to do 1 lap (up to you how many laps) in exactly 40 seconds. The winner is the player who got back around to their cone in the specified time that you said. So in order to be successful they will have to either walk, jog, or run.
Home Alone
Grade level: K-4
Equipment: Hula hoops, cones
Game Description: A great game to help with visual awareness, strategic play, attacking, and defense. Try out HOME ALONE. Basically goes like this: lay out 8 hoops in a playing area and choose 1 player to stand in each hoop. Give the players in the hoop a cone (or item of your choice) – the cone/item represents the key to their house. THEY MUST PROTECT THE KEY!! Everyone else who doesn’t have a key is a theif and they will try to take the key without getting tagged by the player in the hoop. If tagged then they try stealing from someone else, however, if successful, then they swap with the player in the hoop. Give it a go!!! (Thanks to Joe Defreitas)
Snow Pizza
Grade level: K-6
Equipment: Snow (or sand or concrete pad & chalk)
Game Description: Here’s a fun game to play in the fresh snow (thanks to a friend of mine Richard Turenne)! If you don’t have snow, try using sand or a cement pad and sidwalk chalk! First, players need to follow the leader (the teacher) who makes a pizza shape in the fresh snow by trailblazing a path. Throughout the process, stop and ask math questions related to fractions as you create a pizza shape (full, halves, quarters, etc). Once it’s created, time to PLAY! One player starts as a tagger in the middle of the pizza. The rest of the players start along the pizza crust. The tagger, known as the big bad pizza man or woman, will go and try to tag someone. EVERYONE MUST STAY ON THE LINES/PATHWAY. When someone gets caught, that player becomes the new tagger. Vary the size of your pizza circle depending on your numbers. ENJOY!
Act It Out
Grade level: 3-8
Equipment: None (exercise mats if desired)
Game Description: Simple and fun creative movement activity that can be played throughout most grade levels. PE plus a bit of drama (not your typical grade 7 drama that gives teachers a headache, but the other kind of drama). So simple: make some groups, find some space, and give each group a theme or an idea that they will have to act out using the best of their physical movements capabilities! Keep it informal and have a blast, or make it more formal and specific, create rubrics and things to include, etc – groups present to the class once finished! That’s the basic idea, please watch the video for a few more details!