Bulldog Tag
I choose three students to wear yellow jerseys, 2 students to wear red, 10ish students to wear blue, and 10ish students to wear no jerseys (same number for blue and no jerseys). Students in the red are bulldogs who are trying to tag the cats wearing blue. Cats in blue want to stay away from the bulldogs in red while at the same time tagging the mice who are wearing no jerseys. Mice in no jerseys are trying to stay away from the cats in blue while at the same time trying to tag the cheese which is the yellow jerseys. Mice try to stay alive. If tagged the student must sit on the ground. To get back up the cheese needs to be tagged back up by another cheese or a bulldog (they like cheese). For mice to get back up another mouse has to tag them back up. Same deal for a cat, another cat must tag them back up. Bulldogs can't get tagged down, but must keep the cheese in the game.
Aerobic Bowling
Set out 15 rubber spots and 10 bowling pins on each side of the gym. Place the 10 bowling pins onto rubber spots so that there are 5 spots uncovered. Students are to roll or throw balls to try to knock down the other teams pins. If they knock down a pin they get to run across and grab the pin and bring it to their side. They place the pins on any open rubber spot. The goal is to fill all of your teams rubber spots with a pin. I allow guarding of pins, but don't allow students to surround their pin with their body and students must be standing up. I allow students to put pins back up if the other teams doesn't come over to grab it.
Beehive
Divide students into four equal teams. Each team is assigned a specific color jersey (red, blue, yellow, green) and has their own hive in a corner of the gym. (Hives are a mat set on its end.) All students start the game with one "stinger" (a flag football flag, juggling scarf, etc.) tucked into the side of their waistband. Extra stingers are placed in each hive.
At the teacher's signal, all bees leave their hive and try to take the flag of any bee not on their team. When a flag is pulled, that player takes the flag back to their have and drops it inside. For K-2, I have them hold their stolen stinger over their head which is a signal that their stinger may not be stolen while they are returning to their hive. For 3-6, their stinger may be stolen while returning to their hive.
If a players stinger is stolen, they may return to their hive to replace it and return to play. If a hive is out of stingers, I steal some from other hives so play is continuous.
Hives should be used to rest, replace stingers and drop stingers off.
Safety issues: All stingers must be long enough that when arms are held down by their side the stinger extends past their fingertips. Students may not physically grab onto another player to steal their stinger. Stingers may not be stolen if a player has fallen and is on the ground.
Snowball Fight
Build a wall across the gym using tumbling mats standing on end. Dump gator balls on each side of the gym. Build a box at the back side of each court of the game. Students are to throw over the wall (no dunking) while at the same time trying to catch the other teams throws. If a student is able to catch a throw they get to put that ball into the box at the back of their court (this acts like a point). I remind students that they want to be smart about where and how they are throwing so that it makes it difficult for the other team to make catches. This game can be played to see how many points are scored or you can declare that the team that catches the last ball is the winner, or both. It doesn't really matter as it is just for fun and to practice our throwing skills.
Oscar the Grouch
Build a box out of two large tumbling mats standing on their ends. Put two or three students inside the mat box (garbage can) to act as Oscar the Grouch. Oscars like to make a mess of the gym by throwing balls out of the garbage can. Put gator balls into the garbage can for the Oscars to throw out. Everyone else moves around the gym to pick up the garbage and to practice their underhand or overhand throws back into the can. I ask my students to challenge themselves by throwing further back. It is the students throwing from further away that get a chance to get into the garbage can when we switch.
Asteroid Ball
Divide the class into two teams on each side of the gym. You will need a bunch of nerf footballs and gator balls as well as a large cage ball or Omnikin Ball in the middle. Line the two teams up on a line on each side. Pick two students from each team to act as an astronaut for their team. Astronauts are in charge of getting all the smaller balls back to their teammates so that their team can throw them at the cage ball and make it roll to the other teams side. If they make it to the other side the team scores a point. Astronauts are not allowed to throw balls at the asteroid or touch the asteroid. Players on each side should have a line that they cannot cross unless they are an astronaut.
Partner Balancing
For the full 7-page pdf file of our partner balancing challenges to print, click here: Partner Balancing Challenges
Chinese Jump Rope (See Jumping Section for sequences)
Jump Rope Challenges (Tricks/Skills)
Long Rope (Entering and Exiting along with skills)
What Time is it Mr. Fox
This is a favorite of the youngsters. Each students gets a basketball and stands on the line at the far side of the gym. When quiet, students ask "What time is it Mr. Fox?" Mr Fox answers with a time and the students get that many dribbles in Mr. Fox's direction. If students take too many dribbles, aren't dribbling correctly, or loose control of their ball they much return to the starting line. Students continue to move across the gym until Mr. Fox responds with midnight. At midnight, student pick up their ball and run as fast as they can back to the starting line. If tagged by Mr. Fox they become a Fox's helper and can now tag whenever midnight is called.
Basketball Shooting Stars
Put together teams at each cone. Place polydots around each of the hoops. When the game begins students dribble their team ball to any hoop and choose a poly dot to shoot from. If they make it, they get to keep the poly dot and place it in front of their cone. Teams try to get as much dots as they can.
BASKETBALL BEEHIVE
Equipment: One flag (stinger) for each player; one basketball and cone per team; 2-3 additional flags to place under each team’s cone.
Set 10-12 cones around the perimeter of the gym. Divide students into teams of 2-3 and have them stand by a cone. Flags must be placed on their non-dominate side and hang farther than their fingertips when their arm is resting at their side.
When the music starts, the first person in line from each team begins dribbling around the court. The object of the game is to steal the stinger of another player. Players must be in control of their dribble when attempting to steal. If successful, they carry their ball and the stinger back to their cone. The ball is handed to the next person in line and the stinger is placed under their cone. The person who had their stinger stolen also carriestheir ball back to their cone. They give the ball to the next person and get a new stinger from under their cone. (This is the only time I let them “travel” during our basketball unit. It is the signal to the other players that their turn is over and they are returning to their cone.)
In addition, any student that steps out of bounds or loses their dribble in any way must also pick up their ball and give it to the next person in line.
If a team runs out of stingers, I take some from another team so that play is continuous.
Pin Soccer
This is essentially bottle cap soccer with a pin setup as a goal. Only the players on the field may knock down the pin. Sideline players can use feet and hands. If they pickup a ball they must roll it back into the game. When a pin is knocked down or time goes by then the middle players step out and the line rotates in. Two or three in the middle at a time.
Castle Ball Soccer
Split the class into four teams. Each team will build a castle made of hula hoops (see castle ball in throwing). Object of the game is to keep your castle built while knocking down the other teams castles. No goalies. No hands. Everyone must defend and kick with feet.
Make the Spare
Divide students into teams and assign each team a lane. Each student with have a “position” on the lane: bowler, spotter, pin setter, ball returner, on deck.
Choose a student to roll two foam dice across the gym floor. This determines which spare the class will be bowling for. Example: The player rolls a 5 and a 2. The 5 and 2 pins, along with the 7 pin (5+2=7) are set up.
Each bowler gets one attempt to knock down the spare before rotating. If a bowler is successful in knocking down the spare, their team raises their hand and gets my attention. I then yell, “Freeze!” to stop all bowlers and choose someone else to roll the dice for a new combination. (I try to make sure everyone has a chance to roll the dice.)
If a spare proves to be too challenging or takes too long, I freeze all lanes and choose someone to roll the dice again.
*Any time the total of the two dice is 11 (a 5 and a 6), only those two pins are set up for the spare.
*A roll that produces doubles means that all ten pins are set up. A strike must be rolled to generate a new combination for a spare.
One to Ten
Students at each lane compete agains the other lanes. Students start on level one. This has one pin out on the first spot. Each bowler is given one bowl. If they knock over the pin they move up to the next level where there will be two pins. The next bowler has to knock over both pins with one roll. If they don't knock over all the pins that are setup they set them back up for the next players roll. They can only move up to the next level if they knock over all of the levels pins with one roll. Keep going until one team makes it to ten pins and knocks them all over. Then I usually have that team try to get back down to one pin while everyone else continues.
Team Dice Challenge
Give each lane a frisbee with three dice (one that is a different color). Each bowler gets to role the three dice. The odd color dice (red) is the number of points that a person can score. The other two dice determine which pins need to get knocked down. Bowlers only get a single role to knock down the pins. If doubles are rolled then all ten pins are setup (for 2nd graders) or just one pin on the double number is set up (for K and 1st grade). For K and 1, I might have them roll 1 die to setup one bowling pin on a number. Sometimes I might add the second pin later into the period. I have each lane keep track of their score on my white board. We compete class versus class to see who gets the most points in a PE period.
Bottle Cap Hockey
Line up students and split them between two teams. Make large goals with cones. Place 3 students in goals and 3 students in the middle. Students in the middle get to move whereever they need to. Goalies have to stay on their line. Everyone else is on the sidelines. Sideline players may hit, pass, and score if a puck comes to them. They must stay on the line just like the goalies. Rotate in a circle everyone minute or two.
Hockey Golf “Gocking”
Directions: Divide the class up into groups of 3-5 students and line them up behind respective numbered cones. Each team get one puck and one bowling pin. Depending upon age group, set the cone 20-50 feet away from the teams cone on the other side of the gym. When the game begins the first person in line strikes the puck and attempts to knock the teams pin down. The second person in line runs out to where the puck stopped and attempts the second shot. This continues until the team is successful in knocking over the pin. The player who knocks over the pin is responsible for putting the pin back up and returning the puck to the first person in line. The team earns a point every time they knock over a pin.
Battleship Hockey
Create two teams on each side of the gym. Create two or three boxes on your gym floor (using painted lines or make your own with tape) for each team. Each team tries to protect their ships while trying to land hockey pucks on the other teams ships. If a ship gets 6 hockey pucks on it then it sinks. Play until a team loses all of their ships and start again. Feel free to increase the number of pucks to sink a ship. You might also add pins that allow a team to revive a ship after it has sunk. You could also decrease/increase the size of the ships. Could also play for a certain amount of time and try to get as many pucks on as they can. Place mats against the back walls so that pucks can't bounce off of the wall and onto the ship. This makes the pucks slow down a bit and the kids have to use touch with their hits.
Turkey Farmer
I pick 5 farmers to have jerseys…everyone else are turkeys. Turkeys start in their pen (the area between the end line and the wall on the other side of the gym). When the music starts turkeys try to run across to the feed pen (box with beanbags) to steal a piece of the farmers crops. If inside the box (called the field) they can't be tagged. They try to run back to the turkey pen with their bean bag and add it to their pile/another bucket. The farmers will try to tag them. If tagged the turkey has to go to the jail which I was calling the dinner plate. To get out of jail another turkey has to run across and connect with them. If they stay connected they have free backs to the turkey pen. Turkeys can only do one thing at a time- get food or save another turkey.
Baton Capture
This one is best played outdoors. Divide the class into two equal teams. Place 8 hula hoops on each side of the field in 2 rows of 4. Place a baton in each of the 4 furthest hula hoops on each side. Hula hoops are safe places to be. If a students gets into a hula hoop they can stay there as long as they need, but they can be guarded as long as they want as well. Students job is to try and steal all 4 of the other teams baton while keeping their 4 batons safe. They may only place one baton in each hula hoop. Students who are tagged on the wrong side of the middle line are frozen and must sit or kneel down where they were tagged. To get unfrozen a teammate must run and tag them. If they are freed, both players have free backs to their side of the field. These players must raise their hands or they are free to get tagged again. They may not visit any hula hoops or grab a baton on the way back to their side of the field. The first team to get a baton in each of their 8 hoops would be the winner.
Container Ball
Split the class into two teams. Place two mats on end in each corner to create a container. Lay out a flat mat in the other corner to act as a jail. Place balls in the middle of the gym. Students are trying to get as many (or a certain number) of balls in the other teams container as possible. Guarding the container and/or jail is allowed. Students can throw to the container from their side or they can move to the other teams side to attempt a shorter throw to the container. If tagged on the other teams side they are sent to the jail. To get out of jail the student must catch a ball from a teammate.
Pass the Things/Moving Day
In squad rows, place a hoop on one line and put 6-8 objects in the hoop. Students must pass the items using their feet or legs only! If the object hits the ground, it goes back to the front and start over with that object. (Frisbee, tennis ball, dot, bowling pin, cone, balls etc.). Woods way = When a player has the item in their posession they can not move their feet. They must hand off to another teammate and then move down the line to continue handing from classmates to classmate till they get to the other side. First time across is with hands. Second time across with feet only.
Castle Relay
If castle falls over you must touch the starting line and start over.
Level 1: Build castle on the middle line and sit down w/ team clapping
Level 2: Build castle, send two people through and sit down. No touching.
Level 3: Some as above but send three people through belly up.
Level 4: Blindfold someone, build castle, verbally direct them through, sit down
Level 5: Combine 2 teams, build a double decker castle
Team Juggling
Put students in team of more than 4 (can be as big as you want) and have them stand in a circle. Students start with a soft ball that is easy to catch. One students throws the ball to another student in their group. That student then throws it to another student and so on until everyone has thrown the ball to someone. Nobody should get the ball twice in one sequence. The last person to catch the ball would toss it to the person who started it. Sometimes it is best for students to call out names before making throws. Each student will now throw and catch to the same person. Run through the sequence a few times to ensure everyone knows who they will throw to and catch from. Add a second ball into the action. Students continue to throw in the same order. Continue adding balls as the groups continues being successful or make the group larger and start a new sequence.
Lacrosse Shooting Stars
Split the class into multiple teams in the gym. Each team will have one ball and one lacrosse stick. Set out lots of poly dots all over the floor and different distances to a basketball hoop. Students are to move to the poly dot and using the lacrosse stick throw the ball to the hoop. If the ball touches the backboard, rim, or net they get to take the spot back to their team. Make the different colors be worth varying amounts of points.
Oscar the Grouch
Build a box out of two large tumbling mats standing on their ends. Put two or three students inside the mat box (garbage can) to act as Oscar the Grouch. Oscars like to make a mess of the gym by throwing balls out of the garbage can. Put gator balls into the garbage can for the Oscars to throw out. Everyone else moves around the gym to pick up the garbage and to practice their underhand or overhand throws back into the can. I ask my students to challenge themselves by throwing further back. It is the students throwing from further away that get a chance to get into the garbage can when we switch.
Continuos Pin Lacrosse
Setup 15 poly dots on each side of the gym. Place 8 bowling pins on 8 of the dots. Separate the class into two teams. Students have to stay on their side of the court and throw the gator balls using the lacrosse stick. If they knock over a bowling pin then they get to retrieve that pin and place it on one of their empty poly dots. Their goal is to fill up all of their poly dots before the other team.
Newcomb
Modified volleyball with the ability to catch. Practice scoring, spots, rotation, faults, court coverage and using volleyball hits. Used a beachball to start.
Volleyball Zoo
Two teams with one on each side. 3 mats on each side with a handful of rubber animals on each mat. Students use serves, bumps, or sets to hit over the net and try to land it on the other teams mats. If successful they get to run across and grab an animal to add to their collection. One guard per mat can defend the mat.
Battleship Volleyball
Put two teams on different sides of the net. Put out 5 balls on each side. Unfold two mats on each side. The mats are acting as the battleships. Students are trying to use their volleyball hits to have a direct hit on a ship. If they do, I place a polydot to represent that the ship has been hit. When a ship has been hit 3 or 5 times then that ship is sunk. Students may defend their ships using bumps and sets (younger kids are also allowed to catch). Reminder kids to give themselves a self-toss for bumps and sets so that they aren't throwing over the net. I don't allow anyone to touch the ships. I keep this game to 10 balls as it is too hard to keep track of all the ships and hits when there are more balls flying around.
Badminton Battleship
Setup a set of nets going length-wise across the gym. Split the class into two teams with one on each side of the net. Setup three or four unfolded mats on each side of the net. Students are to use badminton rackets to hit birdies across the net using a badminton swing (underhand or overhand hitting ok). The object is to land the birdies on the other teams mats. I called these mats the ships and the idea was to get enough birdies on each mat to sink it. For younger classes I started with small numbers to sink a ship (2 or 3 birdies). For older groups I would go up to 6 or 7. Students are allowed to guard each ship and knock away any birdies flying toward a ship, but they cannot be touching a ship at any time. Students can only pickup birdies off the gym floor. All birdies on a ship must stay there until the ship has sunk. I usually throw a deck ring on a sunken ship so everyone knows that it is already out of the game. If a student hits or drops a birdie on their own ship they are allowed to pick it up and continue using it. To spread the kids out, I have also played this with kids assigned to a particular ship. When their ships is sunk then they can move over to help another team guard their ship.
Badminton Zoo
Setup four squares using multiple mats. Place an opened mat in each square. Dump out your badminton birdies and have each student with a racket. Place 4 rubber animals on each mat. Students are to hit the birdies over the nets to try to land them on the other teams zoo. If they land it in the zoo, then they get to move across and take an animal. Goal is to get as many animals for their zoo as possible.
Birdie in the Box
Create two teams and place two mats on end in the middle of the gym. Place buckets as extra containers to hit into if you want to spread out the defnse. (mats setup just like Oscar the Grouch). Have one team away from the box. They are trying to get birdies into the box by hitting them over the defense and into the box. The defensive team is placed around the box and is trying to defend the box without touching it. As the offensive team hits it toward the box the defensive team hits the birdies away. This game will be best if there is an defensive zone that the offense can't go into. Play for a few minutes and count the number of birdies in the box. Then switch jobs. You could setup two games to be played at the same time.
Sharks and Minnows
Have students sit down around the parachute and put their legs straight out in front of them and under the chute. Choose two or three students to act as lifeguards. Lifeguards walk around the outside of the parachute looking for people to save. Pick a shark or two to start under the parachute. Sharks job is to carefully pull students ankles to pull them under the parachute. When a student is being pulled under they are supposed to put their hands in the air and yell for help. Lifeguards are looking for this distress call and can run over and pull them out from under the chute. If the lifeguard grabs a hold of a student the shark must let go. If a student is pulled under the chute then they become a shark. When the parachute loses it's roundness because so many students have turned into sharks start a new round.
Pop Corn
This is a fan favorite for students of all ages. Pour out a large bag of soft balls onto the top of the parachute. Ask students to shake as hard as they can to fling the balls high into the air. When they struggle to get it very high ask them to work together, lifting at the same time and dropping the chute at the same time. This should allow the chute to fling the balls high into the air. My students love to hit the ceiling in the gym as well as take it outside to fling the balls high into the air. When the popcorn leaves the chute leave it on the ground until all the balls are gone. Choose one color of the chute to pick up the balls.
Scooter Pinball
Equipment: 20 bowling pins (10 for each team), 10 cones (5 on each side to mark the Goalie Box), jerseys for one team, scooters for all students except for the 3 goalies, 15-20 Softies, a bucket of bean bags and 2 hula hoops, one on each team's side.
Students are divided into 2 teams. A goalie zone is marked off by a line of cones about 10 feet from the end of the gym on both sides. The goalies will stand 10 pins up in the goalie zone. The goalies will not be on scooters and their job is to defend the pins in the goalie zone. All the rest of the players will be sitting on scooters and lined up on their half of the gym. 7-10 balls will be distributed to each team to hold until the music starts.
When the game begins, anyone without a ball can move on their scooter to any place they wish to go on the gym floor, but not in the goalie zone. Only the goalies are to be in the goalie zone.
The players with the ball cannot move on their scooters. Their only choices are to pass the ball to another teammate or to throw the ball at the other team’s pins. They cannot roll the ball to make forward progress. Once they throw or pass the ball they can move anywhere on their scooters.
If a player knocks the other team’s pin down by a throw, that player gets up from their scooter and goes to the bucket full of beanbags. If they knocked down 1 pin, they select one beanbag and place it in their team's hula hoop. They then return to their scooter and continue in the game. If a player knocks more than 1 pin down with the ball, they score as many points as pins that were knocked down. (2 pins = 2 beanbags, 3 pins = 3 beanbags, etc.)
Goalies are to continue to defend the pins and set the pins back up as they are knocked down. Goalies must stay in the goalie zone and are not allowed to score points for their team.
SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS (Allyn’s Version)
Equipment:
2 Yoga balls for the “Meatball” taggers (Adult size for 4-5, Smaller size for K-3)
3 long tagging noodles and a scooter for the “Evil Spaghetti” taggers
Scooters for all other students. They are the “Sauce”
Activity:
Three students are the “Evil Spaghetti” and sit on scooters with a long tagging noodle. Two other students control a Yoga ball as “Meatballs” and save the “Sauce.” The “Sauce” can save the “Meatballs” if they are tagged by the “Evil Spaghetti.”
The Sauce tries to stay away from the Evil Spaghetti. If tagged by the Evil Spaghetti, they sit on the ground with their scooter (wheels up) in front of them. They can be saved by the Meatballs, who are not on scooters and are pushing the Meatballs around the gym. Meatballs can also be tagged by the Evil Spaghetti and will sit on their Meatball to signify they have been tagged and are frozen. To get unfrozen, the Meatballs can be saved by the Sauce.
The Sauce saves the Meatballs and the Meatballs save the Sauce. Evil Spaghetti must allow the Sauce time to turn their scooter back over, sit on it, and start scooting before trying to tag them again. They must also let the Meatballs get off the yoga ball and start pushing before trying to tag them.
Switch all taggers after every song.
Notes:
All students must stay on their bottoms while scooting.
The Meatballs always have to have a hand on the ball at all times.
SCOOTER TAG
Equipment:
4 long tagging noodles and a scooter for the taggers
1 cone placed outside of the activity area
Scooters for all other students
Activity:
Three students volunteer to stand at the cone outside of the activity area. They do not have scooters. Taggers are placed, on scooters, in the middle of the activity area with their tagging stick. All other students are spread around the gym on scooters. When the music starts, taggers move around the gym and try to tag those on scooters that aren’t taggers. Tags must be below shoulders to be safe.
Students that are trying to avoid being tagged must be on their bottom, stomach, or always have at least one knee on their scooter.
If a student is tagged, they leave their scooter (wheels down) and form a line at the cone at the outside of the activity area. When they see that another student has been tagged and leaves their scooter, the first person in line runs out and claims that scooter. This moves fast!
Switch the taggers after every song. (I usually let the first 3 students standing at the cone be the next taggers.)