Category: Small Group

Catch-5


Grade level: 3-8
Equipment: Ball
Game Description: Catch-5 is a top notch team game! It’s definitely one of the better games out there to promote and enhance the passing skill, as well as other skills such as moving to open spaces, pivoting, and intercepting. Lots of action and lots of fun as players work together to score points by completing 5 passes before losing control of the ball or before the other team intercepts them. Highly recommended for use as part of a basketball or team handball unit, or as a stand-alone game for physical education class. Read More →

Card Suit Pickup


Grade level: 2-8
Equipment: Decks of cards
Game Description: This is a fitness building relay-style game for PE class, using decks of cards. There are 4 teams, each one representing either diamonds, spades, clubs, or hearts. Teams will try to collect cards of their own suit by hustling to their deck and grabbing a card, one player at a time. The first team to collect all of the cards of their suit wins. Play again and again until you can’t run anymore! Also switch up the movement style from running to an activity of choice – lunges anyone? Read More →

Triangle Tag


Grade level: 1-8
Equipment: None
Game Description: A unique type of tag game in which 3 players form a triangle facing inwards to eachother, joining hands or locking arms or shoulders. A fourth player will start outside of the triangle and attempt to tag the player on the opposite side of the triangle from him. Great game for shuffle stepping, changing of direction, teamwork, and that kind of thing. This game will work with pretty much any age level.

Steal The Bacon


Grade level: K-8
Equipment: Scarf, flag, or object
Game Description: Steal The Bacon is a classic game. Two teams face off with the goal of trying to earn points each round by stealing the bacon in the middle and bringing it back to their own team without getting tagged.  There is room for variation in this game as you see fit; perhaps add in some math equations where the answer to the problem is the number of the players who run! 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.

Fitness Ball Run


Grade level: 2-8
Equipment: Any type of ball
Game Description: Fitness Ball Run is a fitness warm-up type activity that’s simple to set-up and simple to do! Players start by forming a line. That line will jog throughout the playing area. While they jog, they pass a ball back from person to person, and when it gets to the last person in line, that person sprints up to the front with the ball, and becomes the new leader. The game continues like that for a certain amount of time.

Gaga Ball


Grade level: 3-8
Equipment: Soft bouncy ball, playing area
Game Description: Gaga Ball gets players inside a mini-arena and has them strike the ball at eachother below the knee, trying to eliminate each other from the ring. Once eliminated, players jump to the outside of the ring and wait there until the teacher yells out jailbreak or until a new round begins. Works on dodging, striking, and agility.