physical education activities for kindergarten

20 Simple Ideas for Kindergarten P.E. with Minimal Equipment

Important: Always make sure you have enough space for these activities! Also, think about the level your pupils are at currently and if they can participate in the activity safely.

1. STAR JUMPS

Say ‘Arms out!’ and jump, landing with your arms and legs out like a star. Shout ‘Arms in!’ and jump, landing so you are stood up straight with your arms at you side. Do this with the class a few times, and then say they have 10 seconds to do as many star jumps as they can. After you’ve given them ten seconds, ask a few students how many they did. This makes things competitive, and you can now get all the children to try again and see how many star jumps they can get in another 10 second period. This time round they’ll start doing super-fast star jumps as if their lives depended on it. Very good exercise to wake up sleepy students! Oh, and don’t be surprised if the children go from saying they managed to do 10-12 star jumps in 10 seconds to eventually topping each other by telling you they did 100+! 2. FUNNY RUNNING

Have all the children sit against a wall or in a line. They then have to run to the opposite wall or another line in a certain specified way. You can tell them to run as tigers, as elephants, as birds or whatever else you can think of. As snakes is particularly good, as they then have to commando crawl across the gym. You can also have them walking backwards, walking like robots, walking sideways like a crab or dancing across Gangnam-style.

The main thing here is that they aren’t allowed to stand up and start moving until you count down ‘3, 2, 1, GO!’. You can have fun by not saying the right number and so making them do false starts. If I see any children who have started to stand up before I’ve counted down, then I’ll usually make everyone sit back down before starting the countdown again. The more you build up the anticipation of what they are about to do, the more they’ll jump wholeheartedly into doing it! 3. TEEPEE-PENCIL

All the children stand up and are free to walk around the gym. When you shout ‘teepee!’ they have to put both their hands together above their heads and then not move. If you shout ‘pencil!’ then they have to stand with their arms at their side.

Slowly build in more commands lesson by lesson. I also used ‘ball!’ where they had to curl up in a ball on the floor, and ‘tree!’ where the kids had to stand with their arms out like tree branches. If I shouted ‘bridge!’ then they would have to make an arch with their body, keeping their hands and feet on the floor. If you shout ‘fall!’ or maybe ‘starfish!’, then they have to flop flat on the ground.

Once the children have got the hang of the game, you could work in some commands which require them to make a shape with other children. For example, ‘super bridge!’ means they have to link arms with a classmate to make a big arch.

You can get the class to work up quite a sweat if you go back and forth between commands like ‘teepee’ and ‘starfish’, as they’ll be standing up then flinging themselves down again and again!

TIP: Why not save your voice and link each command to a number of blows of a whistle? 4. PAIRS

Choose one student or use a fellow teacher to demonstrate what you want the kids to do. Everyone has to find one other student to stand back-to-back with and then link arms with that other person.

You then shout ‘Change!’ and start counting down from 5. Within those 5 seconds, all the students have to find a new person to stand with and link arms. With younger children you don’t need to put any more rules in and they’ll be happy to run around screaming looking for someone to link arms with! 5. JUMP JUMP

All the students stand against one wall or sit on a line. The winner is the first person to touch the opposite wall or line. BUT they can only move towards the ‘winning’ wall in certain ways.

If you shout ‘1 jump!’, the students can take 1 jump towards the winning wall. If you shout ‘1 step!’, then they can take one big step towards the wall. You can vary up the number of steps or jumps they are allowed to take.

Every lesson I have a different word which acts as my ‘monster’ word. If I say the ‘monster’ word, then all the students have to run back and touch the wall where they started from originally to be ‘safe’. If I can tag any of the students before they reach the wall then they have been caught by the monster and are out of this round.

Any child that is caught taking more than the number of jumps or steps you said has to go back to the beginning and start over again. If you have students who are always edging forward or taking more jumps than they should, you can shout the monster word. Because they’ve taken additional steps, they’ll be nearer to the winning wall and closer to you and so more liable to being caught.

TIP: After a few rounds, train up one pupil to take over the ‘teacher’ role. 6. MONSTER

All the students sit down against one wall. They have to run across the gym and reach the other wall and then sit down. One or two students are chosen by the teacher to be ‘monsters’, and they stand up in the middle of the gym. The teacher says ‘go!’ and all the students try and run past the monsters and reach the other side. If a monster tags a student before they can reach the other side and sit down, then the student is eliminated from the game.

I find that if you let eliminated students become monsters too, you’ll quickly find half of your class trying to get caught on purpose as they want to be made into a monster! This kind of ruins the game. Also, if you have too many monsters in the middle then you can’t police things, and you’ll find that there are some students who don’t want to be made into monsters EVER, and who will therefore lie about being tagged unless you see it happen and enforce the rules.

With only having two or maybe three monsters in the middle, the teacher can act as a referee and call out any student they see getting tagged.

If you have them, you can give the monsters a foam stick or something similar to use to tag other students.

TIP: Again, keep things fast. You don’t want children eliminated for more than a few minutes before going back in. 7. RUNNING ELIMINATION

The class stand against one wall. You say ‘Ready, Go!’. The class have to run and touch the other wall before you blow your whistle. You can run this like a ‘beep test’ and gradually increase how quickly you whistle.

When I say ‘Ready, go!’ I point to the wall they have to run to. Sometimes, when the children are halfway across I’ll point at the other wall and say ‘Ready, go!’. This means all the pupils now have to stop running and quickly change direction to run back to the wall they just came from. It’s pretty fun if you do this a few times in a row! This is also a good way to keep slower children in the game for a few more rounds.

If a student doesn’t make it to the wall before you blow your whistle then they are eliminated. Keep doing this until you have a few pupils left, they are the winners. Ideally by the time you finish, the children who win should be drenched in sweat and barely able to catch their breath because they’ve been running so much! 8. ON YOUR MARKS

All the children stand against one wall. You say ‘On your marks!’ and they get into the first running position (on all fours). You say ‘Get set!’ and they lift their knees off the ground, ready to start running. You shout ‘Go!’ and they have to race to the other side of the gym and back. 9. SPRINT RACE

Have all the children sit along the side and choose two or three students. They stand in a line. Place a cone per student halfway across the gym and another one at the far end of the gym.

When you say go, they have to run to their nearest cone and then run back to where they started, then run past the cone to the far side of the gym to the second cone. They have to jump up and down five times (counting out loud) before running back to their starting position. 10. FETCH

Get 3 or 4 students up and have them stand in a line. Choose some different coloured balls, one for each student. You throw the balls and then the pupils have to run and grab their colour, then bring it back to you. First person to do this is the winner. This is particularly funny with very bouncy balls! 11. WALK WALK RUN

Best for very young children (2-3 years old). Have them stand at one side of the gym. Start walking to the other side of the gym saying ‘Walk, walk, walk’, then at a certain point shout ‘RUN!’, at which point everyone runs to the other side of the gym and touches the wall. Sounds very simple but they love it! 12. TOUCH SOMETHING GREEN

The teacher says ‘touch something…’ and then whatever they want. E.g. ‘Touch something blue, touch something green, touch something big’. 13. SPEED THROWING

The teacher gives one of two students a ball and stands them a short distance apart. The students then have one minute to make as many throws to each other as possible. If they drop the ball then that throw doesn’t count. Once they have set a target, choose another two students who are sitting nicely to come up and try and beat that score. If you have enough balls you can then have pupils pair up and all have a try at the same time. 14. HIGH FIVE CHALLENGE

For all pupils. They have 30 seconds to try and high five as many of their classmates as possible. 15. HOOP RUN

Another simple game for very young students. Scatter coloured hoops on the floor. You shout a colour and the children have to run and stand in the hoop that is the colour you shouted out. 16. 1,2,3!

Similar to the game above. Put together different numbers of blocks and place them round the gym. The students then have to run to the place that has the right number of blocks when you shout it out. E.g. you say ‘3!’ and they have to run and touch the stack of 3 blocks. There’s no need to do this as an elimination activity usually, as very young children will be quite happy doing this and just running around to the blocks. 17. RELAY RACE

Divide the class into a few teams and have them stand in a line. Each team gets one ball which they have to pass down the line. When the person at the back of the line gets the ball they run to the front and the process starts over. This continues until every member of a team has ran to the front (the person who was at the front at the beginning should now be at the front again). The first team to do this is the winner.

You can have them passing the ball over their heads or between their legs, or a mix of the two. With rowdier classes you can have them doing the relay while sitting down, which will keep them in a line and under control a bit more.

TIP: If you have an odd number of pupils left over, consider making these pupils your extra ‘referees’ for the round to make sure everyone follows the rules. 18. HOT OR COLD

One child is chosen to be the ‘searcher’. Without the searcher seeing, the teacher chooses another pupil who is the ‘magnet’. All of the pupils scatter and run around the gym until you tell them to freeze. They now all look at the searcher. The is the only person allowed to move and needs to walk up and tap the ‘magnet’ on the shoulder. To guide the searcher, the class can clap to help them: clapping slowly means ‘cold’ (you’re not close), then they can get louder and quicker as the searcher gets nearer to the ‘magnet’. When the searcher taps the magnet, everyone has a cheer! 19. RIVER JUMP

Put two sticks on the floor about half a metre apart. Tell the students this is a river, and they have to jump from one side to the other. Once they all do this you can move the sticks a little further apart. Have a few sets of sticks set out at different widths so that the children can move round and see which is the biggest river they can jump over.

Really young children (2-3) love this, though with you’ll find that to start off with they just do a little jump on the spot, then step over the sticks!

TIP: Choose some helpers from the class to stand at each ‘river’ and make sure the sticks are reset if they get knocked around. 20. SECRET SPY

Everyone closes their eyes and the teacher taps one pupil on the shoulder. That pupil is the ‘secret spy’ for this round.

The children have thirty seconds to run around and explore the gym, then when the teacher blows a whistle they can go to any corner they like and stand there. They look at the other children in the other corners of the gym as well as who is stood in their corner and try and remember who is where. The children are then given 30 more seconds to run around again but MUST all go back to the same corner they were in first time round. The only person who can’t do this is the pupil who was chosen as the ‘secret spy’. They MUST go to a different corner.

After the second round of running around, children raise their hand if they think they know who was the ‘secret spy’ this round. If they are right they win and you can start again. If they are wrong, you continue with another 30 second run around, and again the spy has to find a new corner to go to. How long can the spy remain undetected for?!?

44 Responses to 20 Simple Ideas for Kindergarten P.E. with Minimal Equipment

Thank you! It was really useful for me! 🙂

I find this very helpful! I’m gonna try four of them tomorrow! I’m sure my students are gonna love it. Thank you so much for sharing!

HI Naomi, nice to hear from you. New ideas go up on the blog twice a week so check back regularly for more activities!

This is extremely helpful! It is my first week teaching PE at an international school in China and I’m so nervous about teaching the youngest, pre-k and kindergarden. Thanks for these simple games!

Hi Marissa, Glad that you find them useful. I used some of those activities with students as young as 2. Just remember, make things silly and they’ll love it! Also, don’t bother trying to explain with words, just give them an example yourself and they’ll get the hang of things. Having the kids walk and then run from wall to wall could easily fill fifteen minutes of a lesson!

Many of these are PERFECT for my kindergarten class! Thank you so much!

Hi Lisa, happy to hear it!

These ideas helped me so much! Just got hired as support staff at an elementary school, and I needed ways to keep the kids from getting bored. Thanks!

Glad to hear you found the ideas useful, that’s what my blog is all about.

Wow these games are great.I can’t wait to go & teach my pupils tomorrow.Thank you very much.

You’ve got some great ideas here! My kindy class LOVE “Fetch!”

Hi Lisa, good to hear you’ve found the ideas useful! Sign up to follow my blog and get my newest ideas too.

Thanks so much for these ideas! I am working in a school with minimal equipment so these suggestions will really help. ?

Hi Hena, glad to hear they’ve been of use to you. Thanks for the comment.

Your ideas inspired me to think of bowling tag. The children would run from one wall to the other while one student tries to hit them by rolling a yoga ball across the floor. This is for K/1 grade for my homeschool co-op. Thanks for your help!

Glad you liked the ideas, and thanks for the comment!

Thank you for the ideas:) I am volunteering at my childs school where there is no gym teacher. I am not in any way a gym teacher but they don’t care as long as we are having fun! They get so excited to see me coming and they love when I incorporate different types of pranayama ( yoga breathing techniques). I taught yoga to adults so it is fun to see how the children love to get happy on breath too:) Your website is inspiring me to think outside the box of traditional gym class. Thanks again, next step is parachute games!

Hi Andrea, brilliant to hear you’re making the lessons fun! Thanks for the comment.

love your games, and have tried most of them with my P1/2 infant class in Scotland. Thank you for your great ideas 🙂

Thanks for the feedback, always glad to hear from someone who has used the games with their class!

Love your blog of games. Thanks so much. It’s always nice to get new ideas to plant in my garden of PE teaching.

Hi Maureen, I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. Always happy to hear from someone who uses the activities!

I was looking for something to entertain my three granddaughters at the wellness center gym.. several of them will be great fun!! Thanks to you!!

Hi Linda, great to hear the activities have proved useful!

wow this is great. My reception class will now have fun during the p.e lessons in kenya

Hi Lydia, glad to hear from you; you’re the first person I’ve heard from using my ideas in Africa!

Thank you so much for your wonderful ideas, I am using them in India 🙂

Hi Jessica, thanks for posting! India’s a new one, great news.

Thanks for posting this! I have been teaching kindergarten for about 10 years now. Never taught PE until this year. I was kind of short on ideas. This really helped. Thanks!

Have you ever tried……….

Caterpillar Races

All that is needed is a few balls. Students line up in groups of 4 or 5. The ball starts at the front of the group. Students pass the ball to the back. When the student in the back has the ball he runs to the front. Keep doing this until they get to the finish line.

Circle Game

Students hold hands and get in a circle. Give the students simple commands like…… big big big! (students make the circle bigger) small small small! (students make the circle smaller) sit down sit down! round and round! (students walk around in a circle holding hands) up up up, down down down! (holding hands students reach up and all the way down) spin spin spin! The list goes on.

Feel free to email me at ajarnron(at)yahoo.com. I have a few more PE games and activities. I would love to share more ideas that you could in turn share with everyone. Don’t really have time to start my own blog.

Thanks Again. Ron

Hi Ron, good to hear you found the ideas useful. I’ve emailed you about more ideas that I can stick on the blog. That circle game one sounds right up my street, good fun and simple to explain.

Reblogged this on Reshaping Thoughts .

Hello again from Thailand! At my current school we have a lot of moveable playground equipment. Slides and what not. I use these along with what ever I can find around the school, cones, small boxes, thick mats, etc. I use all of these things to create an obstacle course for the kids. I have them slide down the slide, jump over the boxes, zig-zag around the cones, roll on the mats, and crawl under a table, and balance on a bench. It works great! You can switch it up. The kids never get tired of doing it! Well they will get tired but never bored!

Another good one if you have a large TV or Projector that you can use. Check youtube for Yoga for kids. Tons of videos on their. The Students love it!

One more for today. I call it chair ball. You will need 2 baskets or boxes, lots of small plastics balls like you find in a ball room for kids. Most schools will have these. If not you can use just about anything really. Toys, blocks, etc. I usually do teams of boys vs. girls. It gets them really pumped up. One student from each team is on opposite sides with the basket standing on a chair. Pick 2-5 students from each team. Throw the objects in the middle. Students have to grab the objects one by one and put them in the baskets. Team with the most objects wins! Awesome!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this. I started a homeschool cooperative and have 18 kids coming tomorrow on our first day. It has been A LOT of work and I haven’t had a lot of time to plan for the last hour of co-op when we are in the gym. This post saved my life and your wonderful tips make me feel confident I can pull it off. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Thanks for the comment, really glad to hear that you found the ideas useful! Good luck with the kids!

Your suggestions have been so helpful to me!!! Thank you thank you thank you! I’m teaching a coop group of K-2 graders and I have lots of heart but no experience. So relieved and excited to give these a try. Your ideas are perfect because I have little to no money to spend on equipment. Your ideas give me time to figure out what I really would like to purchase if any. Guess I need a whistle!

Hey PEmom, Thanks for commenting. Glad to hear you liked the ideas!

I would love to add a game that I play with my kindergarten class at the beginning of the school year. It’s called Fire and Ice (hot and cold). I use blue pool noodles (cut in half) for tagging games so kids don’t have to get close to each other to tag– which results in falling down, tripping etc. I use small red gator balls, kitten balls or bean bags for the FIRE. We all start out walking because they will crash if they run. The blue ICE tags a student and they stand “frozen” with their hands out in front of them like a bowl. People with the red ball will run over and place the ball gently in their “bowl” to melt them. Then that person can say Thank You and go find their own person to thaw. This fosters an environment of teamwork, observation skills, kindness. I demonstrate with 3 kids and even have them shiver when they are frozen. The kids who are the FIRE take such pride in being a helper or rescuer! After about a minute, we switch the taggers. I tell them up front not everyone will get the chance to be a tagger (ICE) but it’s more important to rescue anyway so you will all the the RED ball. I use 3-4 blue noodles and 3-4 red balls. I did your Tee Pee pencil today– loved it!

Great Ideas and thanks so much for sharing

Im actually teaching in Taiwan and have been volunteered as the go-to PE teacher. Anyway I can add something to your Tee-Pee Pencil Game.

You can add some multi-child formations: 2 kids form a motorbike (by just holding hands), three kids make a rowboat (2 hold hands around the third – who is in the boat), 4 make a car and so on. This way if you do want to use it elimination style, you can call an even number formation say ‘Motorbike’ when there is an odd number of kids and vice versa . That way ensuring that you eliminate one child in each round.

I like the multi-child option! I’ll add it in soon.

Thanks, Michael

Thank you so much for sharing! The kids loved these activities.

Dodgeball with soft, round dog toys works well with 6/7 year olds.

Park Ranger – all kids have little cards – either snakes, birds, or cats and either red, yellow, green, or blue – to allow for larger class sizes. Two kids in the middle are Park Rangers. Teacher calls out gender, color, animal, class name, etc. – Call out everyone when numbers get small. Rangers tap children running across.

Monster Island – works best with kindergarten jungle gym, but it’s basically an obstacle course. Hot dog rolls, slither like a snake, hopscotch, backwards walk, through the jungle gym and down the slide, etc. Colored tape can map out the route. If you have a large mat, then it can be used as a lifeboat. Children would leap from the previous article to the mat. All kids have to stay on the mat until everyone has caught up. Teacher models how to go through. Children begin with the ominous warning monsters are coming and they have to traverse the route quickly. Chairs could be set in rows to mimic a spaceship or helicopter that would take them away from Monster Island.

These games seem really fun. Thank you so much….I would like to sign up with your blog to get more ideas.

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The best kinder pe games.

Kindergarteners are still developing important life skills. As a PE teacher, you have a unique opportunity to help your students develop gross motor skills and fine motor skills. However, planning a successful PE class can be stressful, especially when you're unsure what to expect. Here's what you need to know about planning kinder PE games.    

Establishing Appropriate Expectations for Kinder Kids 

The average kindergartener is five years old. Kindergarten classes are the first form of official schooling for most children, although some parents may choose to enroll their kids in preschool. A five-year-old child has not yet entered the more mature phases of childhood associated with advanced learning skills and may still struggle to move on from their toddler phase. Most five-year-old children have more self-control than a toddler and have the ability to successfully sit through a lesson from a teacher. However, they are still learning to control their emotions and are prone to emotional outbreaks. Five-year-old children may still cry about spilling their milk on the table or not getting the snack they wanted at lunchtime.  

The physical development of a five-year-old is vastly different from the teetering habits of a toddler. Most toddlers are still learning to walk and run and struggle with fine motor movements. A five-year-old child is learning to perfect their fine motor skills and can run and jump with better coordination. Some five-year-olds will begin losing their chubby cheeks and gain more muscle than fat. On this note, it's important to remember that all children grow and develop at different stages. Just because the average five-year-old child will begin losing their chubby cheeks doesn't mean that every child will develop at the same time. If your child seems to be behind the other children, do not remark on their developmental stage. Mentioning the child's differences can make the child develop deep-seated insecurities.  

Keeping in mind that each child is different and that you should regularly check with your local health provider to ensure that your child is healthy, here are typical health and growth milestones for kindergarteners: 

• Gaining four to five pounds 
• Growing two to three inches 
• Achieving 20/20 vision 

Additionally, most kindergarteners will achieve certain physical milestones that define locomotor skill. Mainly, kindergarteners will develop gross motor skills and fine motor skills. The typical milestones for five-year-old children are: 

• Gain better coordination in hopping, skipping, running, and jumping 
• Develop better balance 
• Gain ability to handle buttons and zippers 
• Gain ability to handle forks, knives, and spoons 
• Less dependent on parents   
• Stands on one foot for ten seconds 

The emotional development in a five-year-old child is also significant, though it might not be as obvious as the motor skills. Many five-year-old children are people pleasers and have a desire to be liked by the people around them. They are more likely to listen to their parents and complete tasks in exchange for praise and recognition. However, they are also still young children and are prone to extreme emotional outbursts. Tantrums are common in kindergarteners, and teachers should be ready to deal with emotional outbursts. Young children also learn to articulate themselves and their feelings (though this can sometimes be contradictory). Five-year-olds will also feel empathy for the people around them and might feel sad when they see someone else feeling sad. The common key emotional milestones are: 

• Separate from primary caregiver without feeling extreme anxiety 
• Play and share with other children 
• Attend to an adult-directed task for at least five minutes 
• Feel empathy for those around them 

Kinder kids will begin making social milestones. Five-year-old kids will begin initiating relationships with other children and make new friends. They will form relationships with those who are outside the immediate familial relationships. They will begin having independent relationships. However, some kids this age may begin bullying if the parents don't introduce bullying prevention. Additionally, kids who are being bullied will not know how to respond, meaning that parents should take an active role in their child's social life to ensure that they aren't being bullied by any of the other students. Teachers should also watch for signs of bullying in their classrooms and call out bullying before it becomes an issue in their classroom. The important social milestones are: 

• Desire to please family and friends 
• Desire to follow rules
• Desire to fit in with their friends 

Five-year-olds will begin making cognitive progress and learn the difference between "right" and "wrong." Although their understanding of right and wrong will not fully define until they are around eight years old, parents can expect their kindergarteners to know basic morality principles. They will expand their language and better understand ideas such as "something is on top of the box," compared to "something is next to the box." The most common cognitive milestones are: 

• Ability to count to ten 
• Expanded oral and vocal vocabulary 
• Enjoys singing, dancing, and playing 
• Enjoys playing alone with friends 
• Can tell what's real and what's pretend 

According to the  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , parents and teachers should be concerned if their five-year-old is exhibiting unusual behavior. Unusual behavior may be an early determiner for cognitive issues or the need for early professional counseling. Contact your local health provider if you see: 

• Doesn't show a wide range of emotions
• Shows extreme behavior (unusually fearful, aggressive, shy, or sad)
• Unusually withdrawn and not active
• Is easily distracted, has trouble focusing on one activity for more than 5 minutes
• Doesn't respond to people, or responds only superficially
• Can't tell what's real and what's make-believe
• Doesn't play a variety of games and activities
• Can't give first and last name
• Doesn't use plurals or past tense properly
• Doesn't talk about daily activities or experiences
• Doesn't draw pictures
• Can't brush teeth, wash and dry hands, or get undressed without help
• Loses skills they once had

Classroom teachers and physical education teachers should keep these important milestones in mind when creating lessons for their students. If a teacher tries to push their students further than reasonable, it could frustrate the kids and result in emotional outbursts. However, teachers should always push their students to help to develop future milestones.    

Kindergarten PE teachers have a unique ability to help their students form future milestones. The goal of kindergarten PE is to get the kids moving and enjoying themselves while they learn to love PE class. If a PE teacher can teach young kids to love exercise at an early age, the kids will have an easier time later in life. As a PE teacher, you help create the foundation of a healthy future for your students.  

PE teachers should not expect more than their students than the average milestone. If a child excels, be proud of the excelling student; however, do not tell the other children to act like the excelling student. Putting down other children can create insecurities that could follow them throughout the rest of their lives. Instead, PE teachers should focus on encouragement and help to make exercise as fun and entertaining as possible, ensuring that exercise becomes an important part of their lives. 

How to Have a Successful First Week

The first week of class for kindergarten PE teachers can often be the most difficult. Because kindergarteners are the youngest class that takes PE courses, teachers may have trouble navigating the new scene. During the first week, PE teachers should focus less on physical exercise and more on getting to know their students. The first week should include icebreakers,  get-to-know-you games for kindergarteners , and other activities that show your students' personalities and limitations.  

PE teachers should also focus on setting up their expectations for their students. This includes setting up assigned seating, clarifying gym rules, and establishing classroom behavior. For the first week, gym teachers should be very easy going and shouldn't push the rules too hard. Make it clear that you're both a teacher and a friend in order to encourage the students to trust and respect you. For some kindergarteners, kindergarten is their first exposure to a classroom. Studies have shown that 70 percent of four-year-olds attend preschool and 40 percent of three-year-olds attend preschool. This means that 30 percent of kids have no prior school exposure other than their kindergarten class. Because a child's background is not obvious, never assume that the kids should already know how a gym class should work.  

When exercising in the first week, make sure that all the exercises are focused on games that encourage creativity and friendship. Rather than making the five-year-old kids run and jump, focus more on low-impact activities. As the kids arrive at the gym, encourage them to participate in an instant activity like stretching. While stretching, allow the kids to talk to one another. When you call out "Home Base," have all the kids run to their assigned spot. This helps the kids to listen and socialize at the same time.  

Above all, remember that you're working with five-year-old children. Don't expect too much from them, and remember to be extremely patient. There will be many times where the kids don't listen or don't realize what you're asking of them. Work within reasonable expectations and never yell at them for doing something wrong. If you are having trouble with a child, talk to their parents rather than address it with the child. Your responsibility as a kindergarten PE teacher is to help the child love to exercise. If the child is yelled at or scolded in front of peers, it could cause the child to become withdrawn and upset during class, scaring their emotional growth. 

Top Ten Best Games for Kindergarten 

To make class fun and entertaining for young kids, PE teachers should encourage fun and exciting games. To help students get the most out of the experience, try introducing these ten activities to your class. Of course, monitor your students and use your personal discretion to determine which activities are right for your class. Here are ten activities that will make your students love coming to PE class. 

• Funny Running

One of the best games for kindergarten kids is Funny Running. Funny Running is an easy game to play that is similar to Simon Says but requires more exercise. To play, line up the students on one side of the gym and point out a destination (the other side of the gymnasium). Then, give the instruction to run. The first to make it to the other side of the gym wins. However, there's one important twist; they have to run in a specific way. The PE teacher calls out, "Run like a robot!" or "Run like a turtle!" and the kids must immediately change their run to act like that thing. You can also take out the competitive edge to the game so that no one wins when they reach the other side of the gym. Taking out the competitive edge helps the kids focus more on running as you specify rather than being the fastest.   

While playing Funny Running, make sure to point out kids who are doing well in their form. Rather than saying, "Good job!" compliment their form. Say, "Jessica's robot-run looks just like a robot!" Complementing the kids will help them to try harder and enjoy themselves better. They will feel proud of their effort. 

• Simon Says  

Simon Says is a great PE game for when you have limited space. Additionally, not every lesson plan should involve heavy activity. If every PE class exhausts the students, they might not enjoy it as much as you want them to. In order to encourage a balanced physical education, include games that aren't as physically demanding. Simon Says is the perfect game for an off-day that lets the kids rest from running, jumping, and playing since young kids might not understand their bodies' limitations yet.  

Here's  how to play Simon Says : 

"One person is designated Simon, and the others are the players. Standing in front of the group, Simon tells players what they must do. However, the players must only obey commands that begin with the words 'Simon Says.' If Simon says, 'Simon says touch your nose,' then players must touch their nose. But, if Simon simply says, 'jump,' without first saying 'Simon says,' players must not jump. Those that do jump are out." 

Simon Says helps the young kids to learn listening skills and pick up on small verbal cues. It's a great game that combines movement, listening, and intelligence. When one of the kids wins the game, you can keep playing by having them host the next round of Simon Says. 

The game Jump Jump is a combination between Simon Says and Funny Running. The game's goal is to get to the other side of the gymnasium as quickly as possible; however, the steps and movements are limited by the PE teacher. The PE teacher can shout, "One Jump!" and all the kinder kids take one jump towards the opposite wall. If a kid tries to do several jumps when you specified "one," they are out of the game (which helps to keep the young kids honest).  

There's a twist to the game that helps keep the kids from becoming too eager as they cross the gymnasium. If the PE teacher shouts, "Monster!" all the kids have to turn around and run back to the safe wall. If the PE teacher can tag any of the kids, they are out. This twist makes the game slightly more challenging because the kids want to make it to the winning wall, but every step takes them closer to the monster. 

The game called "Monster" has several different names. It is also called Sharks and Minnows, and Zombie Tag. For a kinder PE lesson, the name "Monster" is the most fitting. To play Monster, line up all the kids on one side of the gymnasium. Tell them that the goal is to make it to the opposite side and choose one kid to start as the monster. The monster will stand in the middle of the gym and wait. The PE teacher blows the whistle, and all the kids will run straight towards the monster. As the kids run by, the monster will try to tag as many people as possible (which can be harder than it sounds). After everyone who wasn't tagged makes it to the winning wall, the tagged kids become new monsters, joining the original monster in the middle of the gym. Then, the round starts again. With every round, the line of monsters increases until there are more monsters than kids. When the final person is tagged, the game is over. 

Monster is a fun game for kindergarten kids because it encourages them to run and have fun. It introduces them to the idea of running back and forth across the gym, but they don't realize that they are running. Monster is one of the best games to introduce physical exercise without overdoing it. 

• Simple Sports 

You can entertain young kids by getting out a variety of simple sports . In different areas of the gym, set up a variety of easy sports. Some great sport ideas for young kids are: 

• Hacky Sack. The game hacky sack only needs a few hacky sacks. The kids can practice throwing them back and forth or hitting them on their shoes and try to juggle them like a soccer ball.  
• 9 Square. 9 Square is a variation of four square but allows more kids to participate. The court can be modified to fit the scenario, making it a perfect game for kinder kids.  
• Tag. At the end of the day, tag is a classic game that you can always introduce to your kindergarten class. Most kids already have a concept of how to play tag and will be excited when you mentioned playing tag during class. 
•  Hula Hoop. Young kids love to hula hoop. Hula hoop helps young kids to develop essential motor skills and build muscle memory. It's a great physical activity for kinder PE. 
• Frisbee. Not all kinder-age kids will be able to play frisbee successfully. However, learning how to throw a frisbee at a young age can ensure that kids learn to build muscle memory that will help them later in life.   
• Jump Rope. Jump rope is an active way to get the kids running, jumping, and having fun with each other. 

When teaching how to play sports, your goal should be teaching each child a new skill. Sports in kindergarten shouldn't be competitive or difficult. PE teachers should focus on the needs and abilities of their students. If students are having problems with a game, don't force it. Instead, introduce an easier way to play. 

• Obstacle Course

Obstacle courses are a fun way to get the kids engaged in an activity. An obstacle course is when the kids have to navigate a series of obstacles to get to the other side. Here are some ideas for your obstacle course: 

• Crawl under or over a row of chairs.
• Jump into hula hoops that are set up in a line. 
• Walk on a balance beam. 
• Climb over a large bean bag. 
• Throw a beanbag into a basket. 
• Somersault from one point to another.  

Obstacle courses ensure that kids have fun and use their imagination. Obstacle courses are fun because you can repeat them several times and have them walk through the course in different ways. For example, you could tell them, "Run through the obstacle course like a mouse."

• Scavenger Hunt 

For an easy activity, set up a scavenger hunt during the PE class. Before class starts, place a bunch of items around the gymnasium. Then, write on a board which items the kids need to find. This reminds the kids of Easter egg hunts and ensures that they're engaged and running around the gym without realizing that they're engaging in quality physical education. Scavenger hunts are fairly easy to set up and are the perfect activity for keeping the students happy. 

• Sidewalk Chalk  

All kinder students love playing with chalk. Chalk can be used on sidewalks and easily washed off at the end of the day. As an easy off-day for the students, hand out buckets of chalk and lead them to an empty sidewalk within the school grounds. Then, have the kids have fun writing and drawing on the sidewalk, letting their imaginations run wild. Most kindergarten-age kids can draw on the sidewalk for hours.  

Drawing with chalk has a wide variety of  benefits for young kids : 

• While playing with sidewalk chalk, kids develop color recognition, sorting, and matching skills. 
• Playing with sidewalk chalk can be one of your child's first experiences with coloring and writing.
• By allowing them to color and create their own designs with sidewalk chalk, they begin to love art and appreciate its importance. 

Introduce chalk drawing to your PE class to help them learn important skills. Sidewalk chalk gets the kids out into the air and out of the gymnasium. 

• Secret Spy 

Secret Spy involves physical activity and memory, which helps the kids to practice remembering details about the room that they are in. Learning this skill can help them later in life. Here's how to play Secret Spy. First, secretly choose one child to be the secret spy. Then, have all the kids run to a corner of the room. After everyone is in a corner, tell the kids to turn around and look at the other corners of the room. The kids should try and remember who is in the other corners of the room. After 30 seconds, the PE teacher blows the whistle, and the kids need to leave their corner and run to the middle of the room. After another 30 seconds of running around, they all return back to their original corner, except for the secret spy. The secret spy chooses a new corner of the room (and is the only one to change positions). The rest of the kids have to try and guess who left their corner. If they can't remember, you play another round. The secret spy tries to stay undetected for as long as possible.  

Secret Spy is a fun game for kids of all ages; however, it's the perfect PE activity for kinder kids because it teaches them locomotor skills while also helping them to practice their spatial awareness. 

• Playground Activity

A physical education teacher should make sure that their students are having fun. Rather than organizing an activity, let the kids have supervised activity on the playground. The kids will get plenty of exercise running around and playing on the equipment, even if it's not an organized activity. PE teachers don't have to organize every activity; sometimes, the best activity for a kindergartner is just to play with their friends in a way that helps them to build muscular endurance. Letting the kids simply enjoy playing on the playground will encourage the kindergarteners to form healthy habits and learn better fitness habits. 

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28 Best PE Games With Absolutely No Equipment

P.E. lessons can be a bit daunting at times. All that equipment to organize and worry about. Yuck!

Then there are the safety aspects to consider. Eek!

The good news is, there are plenty of simple P.E. games that you can use with no equipment!

The Ultimate List of PE Games With No Equipment

Whether you need ideas for Kindergarten PE games, or PE games for preschool this list will spark the creativity you need for gym class or at home!

I’ve been teaching in early education for the best part of 20 years now, and in that time I’ve come up with a full armory of the very best PE games WITH NO EQUIPMENT! Woop!

Table of Contents

That’s right! Just a group of children are enough to create many games and have plenty of fun.

All you need are a good space and plenty of energy, so let’s go!

1. Stop And Go Bubbles

Practice drawing a great big pretend bubble with your finger in the air.

Reach up as high as you can and reach down as low as you can. Really reach all the way around you.

If you can reach and touch anyone else with our moving your feet you are too close to move away and make sure you are in your own space.

Stretch out in your bubble to make sure you can’t touch anyone else’s just in case you should burst their bubble.

Ask the children to move like a bubble and float around the space. How freeing and mindful this bit is!

When you tell them to stop, make sure their bubble is in a good space so that no one can burst it.

2.Extra Sensory Perception (ESP)

This is a brilliant pairs game, that is good as a warm-up or as a fun game on it’s own!.

What you do is invent three movements and demonstrate them to the group.

Once you’ve played it a couple of times, the kids can come up with their own ideas.

Three examples of moves could be:

• Doing star jumps
• Doing Jazz hands
• Jumping a 360 spin on the spot

Then everyone gets a partner.

The true challenge now is to activate your ESP, which (as pretty much all kids seem to know), is your Extra-Sensory Perception. Simply put, this is the ability to read your partner’s mind (which is very exciting).

Everyone displays one of the three moves at the same time. You want to do the move that you think your partner will do.

Do the same move? Woo woo! You activated your ESP.

Different move? Just try again.

Keep going for a few goes, before changing partners to see if your ESP works better or worse on other people.

As well as being a great PE activity, I often use this as a circle time game in class. This is one of the favorite games from my book 101 Circle Time Games…That Actually Work!

This book contains all the very best mindfulness circle games, active circle games, math games, literacy circle games, and so much more! You can check out the book here.

3. Foxes And Hares

Once the children have got a good understanding of space, and they can stop and start on your command, there are lots of fun PE games you can introduce.

Foxes and hares is a classic chase game .

Aim of the game: To catch all the hares of course!

About a fifth of the children should be foxes. So if you are playing with 10 children, 2 children can be foxes. 

The hares move around the space by hopping. To hop, they should move both feet together and then put two hands together on the floor, just like a rabbit or a hare moves in bunny hops.

The foxes also move on four legs (hands and feet) but they should be quicker as they are less restricted.

To catch a hare, simply touch them (gently, please! No fox attacks).

When all the Hares are caught by the foxes, the game is over and you start a new game with a new group of foxes.

4. Trains and Tunnels

This is a similar version to the game above. There are always loads of train enthusiasts among pretty much any age of children, so this game is always a winner.

Choose a few children to be the trains. 

Explain that the rest of the children are tunnels. They should make a tunnel by putting both their hands and feet on the floor and arching their back as high as they can to make a high tunnel with their body. 

The trains should run around the space until you shout Whoo Whoo.

At the sound of the train whistle, they should crawl through as many of the tunnels as they can. 

When a train has been through a tunnel, the tunnel is released and becomes a train. 

Keep playing until all the tunnels are trains. 

This is a fun game for pairs.

One child is the leader, the other is their shadow.

Explain how your shadow does exactly what you do. It follows you everywhere, and your movements are identical.

As the leaders move around the space, the shadow follows and copies exactly what they do.

Encourage the children to use different levels of movement.

• Roll on the floor
• Move on your hands and knees
• Move on one or two feet

Encourage them to use different speeds of movement

• Move slowly and gracefully
• Move quickly and craftily

Encourage them to use different balances

• Balance on one foot
• Balance on all fours
• Balance on two feet and one hand

Remember to swap over so that both children have a chance to be the leader. 

6. Good Toes Naughty Toes

This is another simple listening game requiring no equipment and it can be played as an indoor and outdoor game.

There are two instructions that the children are going to listen out for. Those are:

Good toes – They should stand completely still with their feet together

Naughty toes – They should dance around wildly using the space and not bumping into anyone else. (Music can be used if you want to)

This game is all about freedom and expression!

7. Noisy Running!

This is possibly my all-time favorite mindful PE game.

This is best done outside in a large space.

The idea is that the children are going to move and make noises at the same time. The volume of the sound they make will be directly linked to how fast they move.

Start by all humming very faintly, and walking really slowly.

Then try a fast walk, and raise the volume of the sound coming out of everyone’s mouth.

Then try light jogging, with a medium noise – aaaaahh – coming from everyone’s mouth, about the volume of talking.

Keep getting faster and increasing the volume! When you are running at full pelt, you will also be yelling as loud as possible – AHHHHH!

I like to do this activity in a structured way to introduce it and mix up the speeds/volumes for a while.

But then, for a couple of minutes, let the children ‘freestyle’. They choose their speeds and volumes and race around.

This activity is all about mindfulness , and experiencing a sense of freedom and liberation from inhibitions!

8. Floating!

Another mindful PE activity here.

Get the children to stand in a space and close their eyes. Then you are going to help them to visualize that they are transforming into something that floats or flies!

It could be:

Let’s imagine we start with the balloon.

Tell the children to visualize they are slowly changing into a balloon. Their skin is becoming colored rubber. And now someone is blowing them up, and they are getting lighter and lighter, and larger and larger.

Then, tell them they are fully inflated.

The children open their eyes, and now they are going to imagine they are floating like balloons around the space!

Off they go – billowing and wafting in the breeze.

After a couple of minutes, you can try transforming into feathers or eagles.

9.  Be The Teacher

This is a good way for children to start to think about the quality of their movements in PE class.

Work in pairs again. One child should be the teacher. 

Explain that as the teacher, they have to help their pupil make the best quality moves and shapes that they possibly can.

It depends on what kind of moves you are working on, but I like to do this with gym moves.

Try moves like:

• Forward roll
• 360 jump rotation

Ask one child to demonstrate the move, and the other child should help them to make it perfect.

Encourage the children to be kind and helpful. For example, they might say things like:

Tuck your head in a bit more.

Can you straighten your legs even more?

Can you reach up taller?

Ask them to use lots of praise if they spot some good quality movements and make sure they tell their partner what they are doing well.

Don’t forget to swap so that everyone has a go at being the teacher.

10. Make A Shape

Put the children in groups of 4 or 5 and give them the challenge of working as a team to make a shape.

Explain that they can work on the floor, lying down or standing up, as long as the shape is clear.

Begin with the basic shapes of:

circle, triangle, square rectangle

Build up to more difficult shapes like:

stars, hexagons, ovals, rhombus, or octagon

11. Body Letters And Numbers

You can extend this from shapes to letters of the alphabet or numbers.

Simply ask the children to make a letter by working together to get into the shape. This is a good activity for team building as they will have to work together and everybody is needed. 

12. Dance Like No-One’s Watching

Dancing is good for you for so many reasons. It’s a workout for the whole body, it encourages you to keep a beat and keep in time with music, and most of all, it’s fun.

It’s good for the soul, so put some happy upbeat music on and encourage some free dancing.

Clap your hands, wiggle your hips, wave your arms. Have fun!!

13.  Heart Monitors

It’s important for children to know that exercising makes changes to our bodies so that they aren’t frightened by the changes and they understand what is happening to them. 

This is a nice activity to explain those changes so that the children understand that it is perfectly normal.

Count down one minute of any kind of high-intensity exercise, for example:

• Fast running on the spot with high knees 
• Tuck jumps with both feet together
• Pretending to skip on the spot as fast as you can
• Burpees (lay down then jump up)

Really encourage the children to put lots of effort in here.

When the minute is up, encourage the children to put their hands on their hearts and feel it beating.

If they’ve put enough effort in, it should be pounding. Ask them to feel their forehead – it should be at least warm, if not hot and sweaty. 

Notice how fast their breathing is when they stop. They should be out of puff.

With older children, you could ask them to take their own pulse before and after exercising and see how much their pulse rate has increased. 

14. Eight Dance!

This is a great dancing game for kids of all ages.

Put some pumping music on to get everyone going!

Then pick some kind of action or dance move, and everyone does it eight times to the music while also counting at the same time – ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8!’

So, you might do eight star-jumps while counting. Or eight big marches on the spot.

Then shout out a new action, and start that, keeping the counting going throughout.

Some other good dances/actions could be:

• Arms up arms down
• Punch the air with one arm, then the other
• Arms wide, arms across your body
• Walking in place

For the older ones, the emphasis is on the movement. But for younger kids, this is also a great rote counting activity.

15. Animal Copy Cat

One child will be the leader in this game. This is the ‘cat’ that the others will try to copy.

The leader is going to pretend to move like an animal. Everyone else will copy!

For example, they might move like a monkey. They will stoop low, and swing their arms like a monkey. Everyone copies!

After a while, the leader will change the animal. They might pretend to be an elephant!

The trick is for everyone to watch for the transition and try to copy.

The leader can mix things up as quickly or slowly as they like.

16. Animal Freeze!

This is a variation of the animal copycat game above with a bit of music added.

Once again, have a leader that is going to pretend to be different animals that the others copy.

Put on some music, and the kids move around like the animal that the leader is demonstrating.

The adult will pause the music at any given moment. The children must then freeze in their best animal pose! It’s a bit like musical statues at this point. Anyone that moves could be out! (Or you can just play the non-competitive version where everyone gets to carry on each time).

17. Transformers

Wow – transformers are one of the most exciting things on the planet for many kids.

And this game really taps into this enthusiasm.

The kids are all now shape-shifting transformers. They can transform in the blink of an eye into many different types of vehicles, and move around the space like them.

Some good vehicles to try include:

• Train – with ‘chugging’ arms and lots of tooting!
• Helicopter – arms as rotas spinning over your head
• Racing cars – running around as fast as possible!
• Plane – Lots of swooping and soaring
• Monster trucks – Be as big and wide as you can

18. Mr Men/Little Miss Game

The idea of this is that the kids pretend to be some of the characters out of the Mr. Men and Little Miss books.

Some good ones to try include:

Mr. Grumpy – stamp around the room with your angriest face

Mr. Tall – Stretch up and walk as tall as you can

Mr. Bump – Go round bumping into walls and imaginary objects (though not other people)

Little Miss Tiny – Curl up like a tiny weeny ball

Lots of modeling of movements work well for this game – both from the adult and skillful children.

19. Child-Friendly Yoga

I find yoga is most effective with children when they can readily understand that the pose they are doing is mimicking something.

Some great poses that mimic things that children know are:

Household Yoga

In this, the kids mimic everyday actions in the house. It could be sweeping the floor, or washing the pots.

Lie on your front, with your hands flat on the floor next to your face.

Push upwards until your arms are straight, your chest is off the floor, and your back is arched.

This stretches the back and abdomen.

Giraffe Pose

Stand with one foot in front of the other.

Reach up high with both hands (this being the giraffe’s neck.) Then slowly bend down, and touch your leading foot with both hands.

Then slowly return to the original position.

Turtle Pose

Lie on your back. Pull your knees into your chest so that you form a ball shape. Slowly rock backward and forwards.

Your curved back forms the turtle’s ‘shell’.

20. Bean Game

This is one of those all-time classics that I thought I should include on this list.

The children pretend to be types of beans, each of which has its own separate movement.

Model two or three bean movements to start off with, have a practice, and then all play the game. Add more bean movements when the children get more confident.

The adult simply calls out a bean name, and the children move in that way.

The beans and associate movements are:

Sprouting bean  – Walk around on your tip-toes, with your arms stretched as high above you as possible

Baked bean  – Sit down on the floor

Broad bean  – Try to be as wide as possible! Walk around like this

Beans on toast  – Lie down on the floor

Chilli bean  – Shiver! This is a ‘pun’ on the word ‘chilli/chilly’ (obviously!)

Jelly bean  – Wibble and wobble!

Runner bean  – Run around like crazy

French bean  – Say, ‘Bonjour!

When you’ve played a few times, a child could potentially become the leader of this game.

21. Action Stories

This is a really good way of combining storytelling, listening, and action!

The adult makes up a story, and the children act it out.

After you’ve done it a few times, a confident child might well be able to lead this.

You want to have lots of active characters in the story, such as stamping giants, witches on broomsticks, unicorns galloping, and all that kind of thing.

As well as that, it’s good to have lots of action, such as terrible storms blowing, landslides, sinking sand, and all the rest of it.

The kids act all of these things out.

A sample start of a story might go:

‘One day the giant went stamping off through the forest. A terrible wind began to blow. The trees were swaying from side to side. Suddenly a unicorn came galloping into the forest to save the giant…’

I’m sure you get the picture!

22. Traffic Lights

Here’s another absolute classic of the repertoire!

In this, the children will pretend to be cars, and the adult gives different verbal instructions that the cars respond to.

The easiest way to play the game is to have three simple instructions that correspond to the colors of a traffic light:

Green  – Go! Jog around the space

Red  – Stop still

Yellow  – Walk on the spot, ready to go

Start easy, but you can always add more elements to the game when they are ready. Some other verbal cues include:

Honk the horn  – A noisy one, this! Go round tooting!

Roundabout  – Jog around in a narrow circle

Parking Lot (or car-park)  – Lie down on the floor

Freeway  – Run as fast as you can

23. Fox and Chickens

This is a variation of a basic tag game .

The idea is to mix up the game by incorporating a theme that the children are interested in.

So, you could have a fox catching chicken by tagging them. Or one of the following:

• A shark catching fishes
• A bird catching worms
• Or a witch catching children

Anything you think the children will respond to is fine.

24. HIIT Session

Here is a simple idea, that is great for fitness for all ages.

You have a structured sequence of activities that you perform together. Spend about thirty seconds on each movement, with a fifteen-second break.

Some simple moves include:

• Reach up, reach down
• Jumping like a frog
• Jumping in place
• Reach to one side, reach to other

For older or more skillful children, you can try some of these:

You can do one round of the activities or even two or three reps!

25. Simon Says Active Version

Of course, you all know the basic idea of Simon Says .

But it works really well in PE sessions if you make the moves super-active!

So, rather than ‘Simon says touch your nose’ kind of instructions, you want to think more along the lines of ‘Simon says crawl like snakes across the floor!’

Some other good examples might be:

‘Simon says wade through the muddy swamp.’

‘Simon says climb the rope ladder.’

‘Simon says run like a cheetah on all fours!’

26. Captain’s Coming

This is another game that is donkey’s old, but children love it generation after generation.

All the kids pretend to be on a boat. The adult gives orders to the ‘crew’.

These include:

Scrub the deck  – Get on hands and knees and start scrubbing the floor!

Swim to shore  – Use a powerful front crawl to move around the space

Into the hammock  – Lie down on the floor

Lift the cannonballs  – Lift up those super heavy cannonballs, and load them into the cannon!

Row the boat  – Row!

Captain’s coming  – Salute!

27.Melting Moments

This is a visualization and mindfulness game that is great as a warm-down.

The children are going to be imagining that they are something that melts. For example, they could be:

-A chocolate bar

-An ice-cube

Let’s imagine we go for ‘snowman’. Tell the children to stand in a space and then close their eyes.

Tell them to imagine that they are transforming into a snowman. They can feel their freezing cold body, their carrot nose, and coal for their eyes.

But now the hot sun has come out. You can feel the warmth on your face!

Feel how the snow is melting your body. Water is starting to drip down the snowman.

Imagine you are shrinking! You are getting lower to the ground! And finally, you are a steaming puddle lying on the floor.

(Ask the children to lie down and imagine this!)

28. Figures Of Eight

This is a good game to use as a warm-down.

The basic idea is that the kids stand in a space, and they are going to form a large figure 8 in the air with different parts of their bodies.

Start with their finger, but then move on to using their:

Warming Up And Cooling Down

To warm-up before PE Class or a fun activity at home, I like to play some music with a good steady beat and perform some repetitive actions for the children to copy. I make sure I warm up my arms, shoulders, feet, legs, hips, and neck. 

To cool down after PE games, try some nice long stretches for all the different body parts. I always like to finish a cool-down with some big deep breaths. Scoop up some air, stretch up and hold it above your head and then blow it away as you release your arms back down to your sides. 

Not Just Good For Physical Learning

One of the biggest benefits of daily physical activity is that children’s behavior improves as well as their overall confidence and independence. Check out this study on tracking of physical activity into into adulhood for more information on the benefits of PE Games .

Now that’s something worth trying for.

Good luck if you try out any of these fun PE games!

PHYSEDGAMES

…click a category above for great p.e. games, category: k, guardians of the galaxy.

Grade level: K-8 Equipment: Cones, Foam balls, Math/Word Cards Game Description: Another true winner of a game (awesome idea thanks to David Isenberg). This one is cross-curricular, or also AKA literacy/numeracy. A little bit of pre-game work needs to be done here, but not much. You need to make some cards out of paper. These could be math problems, word or vowel cards, geography, science, etc, depending what you want to accomplish. You’ll make 50-100 of these cards and place them down on the floor. Then you’ll make relay teams, and teams will try to collect the cards and place them in the right category on the answer sign. There will be guardians who are assigned to try to protect the cards though…it’s a super fun, non-stop action and learning game all in one!

Free The Prisoners!

Grade level: K-4 Equipment: Cones, Foam balls Game Description: A fantastic throwing and catching (as well as other skills) game idea! Prisoners, Soldiers, Dragons, a castle… players are going to love this game. Not much equipment is needed (Thanks Daniele Penna for this game idea)

Grade level: K-4 Equipment: Special Object (ex. trophy, stuffy, Olympic torch) Game Description: Far Away is a super easy and effective game to explore spatial awareness. Players will move around and try to be FAR AWAY from others, teaching safety in numbers and moving to open spaces. (Thanks James Barton for this game idea)

Mr Wolf Dice Roll

Grade level: K-3 Equipment: 1 Foam Dice Game Description: Another Mr. Wolf type game (modification by Deric Hafer). Good for reaction time, running (or other movement skills) and following directions/commands. Use it in combination with the original or as a stand-alone game!

Freedom Catch

Grade level: K-6 Equipment: Cones, foam balls Game Description: New favourite activity! Tagging, throwing, catching, strategy all jam-packed into one awesome game from Jennifer Holub. Really fun, a must try, especially if you’re looking for a game for large groups (50 players +).

School Mascot Tag

Grade level: K-8 Equipment: None Game Description: This is a very simple and very fun PE game. It’s a running wave game, students try to avoid the catchers. Use your school team name or mascot to boost school morale! (Thanks to Graham Bodnar)

Crazyball Pin-Knock

Grade level: K-8 Equipment: Pins, Throwing Objects (crazier the better) Game Description: Put down your pins, and get throwing! Super fun, different ways to play for all grades.

Birds in a Nest

Grade level: K-4 Equipment: Hula hoops Game Description: This is a great 3-part progression that has basically 3 games in 1. It’s one of my favourites especially with Kindergartens. Gets players moving around and communicating/strategizing in different ways.

Pizza Party

Grade level: K-2 Equipment: Hula hoops, bean bags Game Description: Get the students moving and making pizzas in this classic pizza relay game.

Cleanies vs Messies

Grade level: K-3 Equipment: Cones, Soccerballs (for soccer variations) Game Description: 5 different ways to play this updated version of Knockemdowners. It really is a classic game, students really move, and practice a variety of skills in fun variations which can be used in any primary PE class or football (soccer) program!

Gym Games for Kindergarten

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Gym games for kindergarten physical education (PE) classes should mix fun with basic motor skills. The Society of Health and Physical Educators , or SHAPE America, has set national P.E. standards for each grade level to help you identify which skills need to be included in your gym games for kindergarten.

Indoor Gym Games for Kindergarten

Indoor PE games for five- and-six-year-olds typically require a large open space like a gymnasium and standard kids' gym equipment such as bean bags, hula hoops, a variety of balls, cones, and music.

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Bean Bag Hoopscotch

Gym games that use bean bags are great for this age group because if a child accidentally gets hit with a bean bag, it won't hurt much. This simple game is played like Hopscotch and focuses on the skills of hopping and maintaining momentary stillness in various positions.

• Set up a station with four bean bags and four hula hoops in a circular pattern, each with a position written on a piece of paper placed in them like one-leg stand, squat, downward dog, and crab.
• Set up a separate station that has one bean bag and is a Hopscotch course, or Hoopscotch course, using hula hoops that is at least 7-10 hoops long.
• On a turn, a student goes to the position station and tosses each bean bag until it lands inside a hoop. The order of the positions they land on is the order they use for the Hoopscotch course.
• The student then goes to the Hoopscotch course and tosses the bean bag. The hoop it lands in is how far they have to go.
• The student hops into the first hoop, lands, then strikes their first position and holds it for a count of five.
• The child continues hopping to hoops and holding positions until they reach the bean bag hoop.
• You can set up three of these stations and have kids race against each other or keep track of who goes the farthest correctly in the Hoopscotch course.

Drop, Catch, Throw Tag

The gym teacher and kids will work together to try keeping everyone in this unique game of tag rather than trying to get others out. Kids will practice dropping a ball, catching it before it bounces twice, and throwing it.

• To start, kids should run around the gym like they would in a game of tag while the teacher holds the ball.
• When the teacher yells out "tag," all kids stop and look at her.
• The teacher throws the ball to a student who must drop the ball and catch it before it bounces twice.
• The player throws the ball back to the teacher and the game continues until everyone has had a turn.
• Any child who does not catch or throw the ball properly is out of the game.

Musical Basketball Dribble

Kids will learn to dribble a basketball with one hand in this basketball activity for kids that resembles Musical Chairs. You'll need a basketball for each student and something to play music on.

• Have kids spread out around the gym so they have at least two arm lengths of space between them.
• Start the music and have kids start dribbling.
• When you stop the music, kids must immediately stop dribbling and sit on their ball where they stand.
• If a child has lost control of the ball when the music stops, they can't chase it down.
• Any child who can't/doesn't sit on their ball when the music stops is out.
• The last child left in the game is the winner.

Balloon Name Drop

Students will learn each other's names and how to volley a lightweight object upward in this easy game. You'll need one balloon to play.

• The teacher starts with the ball in the center of the gym while the kids run around him in a clockwise motion.
• The teacher demonstrates how to volley the balloon upward as high as he can while calling out the name of one student.
• That student runs to the center and catches the balloon before it hits the ground.
• The student then repeats the teacher's actions.
• Game play continues until the balloon hits the ground, then it starts over with the teacher in the center.
• As a class, see if you can get each person to volley the balloon once without it ever touching the ground.

Outdoor Gym Games for Kindergarten

Games for children to play outdoors in kindergarten feature large physical movements and throwing or kicking balls because the open space makes them safer games . Look for ways to utilize your natural surroundings or stationary outdoor equipment in gym games.

Over the Line Relay Race

Kindergartners learn how to throw overhand with their opposite foot forward in this simple relay race . You'll need a small ball for each teams, a starting line, a finish line, and five long ropes or a set of five jump ropes for each team. Set the lines and ropes horizontally in line with about ten feet between each rope. Split the class into teams of four.

• The first player on each team starts at the starting line, runs to Line 1 and throws the ball overhand to Player 2 (who is on Line 2) with their opposite foot forward and over Line 1.
• Player 2 runs to Line 3, then throws the ball overhand to Player 3 (who is on Line 4) with their opposite foot forward over Line 3.
• Player 3 runs to Line 5, throws the ball overhand to Player 4 (who is at the finish line) with their opposite foot forward over Line 5.
• Player 4 catches the ball and crosses the finish line.
• Any team member who does not throw the ball properly and within a foot of their next teammate, has to go back to where they started and try again.

Backwards Kickball

Make a standard game of kickball more fun when you play in reverse. Kids learn to kick a stationary ball with the inside of their foot in this wacky game. Set up a standard kickball field with home base, first base, second base, third base, and a pitcher's mound. Split the kids into two equal teams.

• The pitcher is actually the kicker in this game.
• The pitcher sets the ball down and kicks it toward home plate then runs to third base.
• Kids on the kicking team wait behind home plate as they normally would, but step up to the pitcher's mound on their turn to kick.
• Play with all the same rules as kickball only runners go from third base, to second base, to third base, then home to score a run.

Capture the Jump Rope

Set up a simple game of Capture the Flag where each team has a jump rope to protect rather than a flag. This game works best when you have several smaller teams and helps kids learn to jump rope. Each team tries to steal the jump ropes from all the other teams while keeping their own jump rope safe. Each team's jump rope should be within easy reach of others and not held by a team member. If a child steals another team's jump rope, they jump rope back to their "base" where their team's rope is being kept and jump rope using the opponent's rope for the remainder of the game at the base. The team who captures the most other jump ropes while keeping their own safe wins.

Kindergarten Gym Games With No Equipment

When you've got a limited budget or don't want to drag out a bunch of gym equipment, gym games for kindergarteners that don't use any equipment come in handy. These games can be played indoors or outdoors and make it easy for you to utilize your entire gym period without wasting time setting up or getting out supplies.

Red Rover Roll Over

Kids practice the gym standard of rolling sideways in narrow body positions in this take on the classic playground game Red Rover.

• Separate the group into two teams and have them stand in horizontal lines facing each other with about ten feet between them.
• On a turn one team calls out "Red Rover let (insert student name from opposite team) roll over."
• The student they name has to roll sideways from their position until they can reach out and touch one member of the opposite team.
• While the player is rolling, the team who called her counts down from 20 to 0.
• If the player touches an opposing team member before the count of zero, they join that team.
• The team with the most players at the end wins.

Simon Says Secret Dance Tag

Using locomotor skills in response to creative dancing led by the teacher can be a tough standard to incorporate. This fun mash-up of Simon Says and Tag will get the whole class grooving.

• Choose about 10 different dance moves to use in the game.
• Pick one student to be "It" and whisper one of these dance moves to them.
• Play a game of Simon Says using these dance moves as your directives.
• When you say "Simon says" to do the secret dance move you whispered to "It," they get to start trying to tag other kids until you state the next Simon directive.
• Any kids who get tagged also become "It" and you tell them all in secret what the next secret dance move is.

Follow the Pattern

Get ready for wild and crazy kids in this energetic game that incorporates balance activities with moving in patterns. Kids run around the space like they would for tag as the teacher calls out directives every few minutes. Each directive should include what type of movement to use and what pattern to use it in. For example, you might say "Hopping zig-zag!" and kids would have to hop in a zig-zag pattern around the room. If a child does the wrong movement or the wrong pattern, he is out. The last child in the game is the winner. Other actions and patterns to use include:

• Jumping and landing on two feet
• Jumping and landing on one foot
• Hopping on one foot
• Circle pattern
• Straight line forward
• Straight line backward

Get Kids Active in Gym

While gym class is meant to be fun and a place where kids can let off some of their energy, they are also supposed to be learning and practicing important skills to maintain physical health. Kindergarten physical education games and movement games can include competitive and non-competitive activities that feature a variety of physical skills and get kids excited about physical activity.