Fun activities for Physical Education
Having trouble keeping students engaged in activities? No worries, here’s a list of different gym activities that can be used in person in a gymnasium or at home via remote instruction!
Around the block - This activity is perfect for outdoors or indoor gymnasiums. This works by either dividing the room into sections or marking off a route going all around the room (like a board game) where each section or zone students have to do a different exercise. You can use masking tape or even chalk to mark off sections. Each section could have exercises like jumping jacks, jogging in place, squats, knee drivers, lunges etc.
Let kids become fitness instructors! - A great way to encourage kids to exercise and build healthy habits is to have them create their own mini workout! This works well as a mini project by having kids pick some of their favorite exercises and form a routine for them. It is a great way to gauge how much kids have learned during the year. You can even set guidelines like workouts can only be 10 minutes long, must have at least one exercise from the upper, lower, and core body exercises.
Follow the leader - The goal of the game is to have everyone in the circle copy a chosen leader’s movements. This works by gathering students into the circle and choosing one person to step out of the circle facing away from the group. Meanwhile the group will silently choose a leader. The leader will then choose an exercise or movement to do (the rest of the group must copy their movements) as the other student steps back into the middle of the circle and will try to guess who the leader is. Throughout the round the leader must be sneaky and switch up movements every now and then (the group must follow immediately) this goes on until the chosen student guesses correctly who the leader is. Then the whole process is repeated with new students. Best of all? This can be done online by ensuring everyone has their cameras on (if possible) and sending the chosen guesser into a breakout room while the group chooses a leader, then bringing the guesser back into the main room.
Obstacle courses - Challenge students to create their own obstacle courses at home using chairs (to crawl under), pillows, tape, chalk, etc. Have students formulate their own fitness course and demonstrate to the class! This can also work in person using cones to zigzag between, jump through hula hoops, play hopscotch by marking off squares with tape or chalk.
Use Playout! - You can never go wrong with a fun Playout deck! It’s perfect for online use by showing a card to students and having them do that exercise. You can even use different fun game variations to fit your lesson plan for the day!
We hope students enjoy these fun activities and that teachers feel inspired to make fitness fun!