Grade level: 3-8
Equipment: None
Game Description: Do you have brown hair? Do you have an older brother? Do you have a birthday in January? These types of questions can be asked in ‘The Question Game’, where students attempt to make it across to the other side without getting tagged. Players can only run if the question pertains to them. As more and more players get tagged, more and more become the tagger in the middle and it gets more difficult for the runners. Try it out and come up with your own questions. Read More →
Category: Outdoor
Hourglass Relay
Grade level: 3-8
Equipment: None
Game Description: Hourglass Relay is a continuous running and cardio-building activity that gets students moving in the shape of an hourglass. Depending on the group, you can adjust speed of the activity – slow, medium, fast. With a sports team, it might be a great sprinting activity. With a physical education class, it might be a great jogging activity or student choice for speed. Simple yet effective. Read More →
ABC Tag
Grade level: 1-3
Equipment: None
Game Description: One of the different versions of ABC tag, this one lets students think of words that start with a certain letter, and when they get tagged, they must say the word and/or spell the word out loud before they can get back into the game. Another popular version of ABC tag that you can try out as well goes something like this: students who are tagged try to turn their body into the shape of a letter. Try one or both of these versions of this game in your physical education class!
Planning A Field Day
Grade level: K-8
Equipment: Various
Game Description: Planning a Field Day and feeling a little bit overwhelmed? Take a look at this video for some tips and tricks to hopefully help lighten the load a little bit. Event ideas, things to think about, mapping out the locations in the field, point systems, etc are discussed. Make your field day a memorable one for everyone involved!
Balloons
Grade level: K-4
Equipment: Balloons
Game Description: Using balloons, students will practice a whole pile of basic movement skills. Each student gets a balloon and will perform a list of actions: things like standing in front, jumping over, picking it up, balancing on a finger, etc, etc. A great beginners PE or beginning of the year physical education game.
Blasterball
Grade level: 4-8
Equipment: Bases, baseball bat, ball
Game Description: Blasterball is a lead-up game to baseball, or a modified version of baseball for the PE class. The fielding team spreads out in the field, and the batting team takes turns batting. Once the ball is hit, the batter must round ALL THE BASES before the fielding team can successfully complete 5 passes. There’s no stopping at the bases, just go, go, go!
Banana Tag
Grade level: K-5
Equipment: None
Game Description: Such a simple tag game; kids go bananas, literally! As players get tagged, they must curve their bodies into the shape of a banana. Someone else will come along and ‘peel’ them so that they are free.
Man From Mars
Grade level: K-4
Equipment: None
Game Description: ‘Man from Mars can you take us to the stars?’ – Only if you’re wearing the color green! The Man from Mars tries to tag the runners who are wearing the colors he calls out. Each round he calls out a new color. Anyone tagged joins him in the middle to help. Another imaginative type of physical education game, tag-style. Read More →
Animals
Grade level: K-2
Equipment: None
Game Description: Such a simple warm-up game! Choose a theme – for example, the jungle. Then students can choose a jungle animal that they will pretend to be, perhaps a monkey or parrot, and spend a minute moving around like that animal, making the animal noises. After a minute, change the theme. For example, the arctic. Students will then choose an arctic animal like a penguin or seal and do the same thing.
Hoop Pass
Grade level: K-8
Equipment: Hula Hoop
Game Description: Team-building game. A group holds hands in a circle or line and passes a hula hoop from player to player without breaking the chain-link. Not as easy as it sounds! Time trials, team vs. team, or large group are all fun ways to play this game.