PE games

[mom31257]

Our homeschool group is having a game day at a gym on Monday. Could anyone help me remember fun games we did in PE back in the "good old days"? I thinking of things like Red Rover that won't require much equipment. I know there are some basketballs there, but I don't know what else. This will be mostly elementary kids with some siblings older and younger.

 

Thanks so much!

[susie in tx]

We have a PE class and have done games day at the end of our year. We found that kids got hurt with Red Rover and many of the games that we did as children.

 

What are the age ranges of the children? We will often do relays. The kids will pick partners and then do wheelbarrow races (this makes some young developing girls uncomfortable), practice skipping, galloping, bear crawl, etc. You need some space but they have a blast.

 

Sharks and Minnows is fun. It seems that every age group loves this.

 

This last week, we separated the kids into age and gender groups. We had them do a plank and whomever stayed up the longest in proper position (their body needed to be like an ironing board, no bum up, no tummy or knees touching the floor), got a prize.

 

We did a hula hoop contest. That was fun. Again, we separated the kids into age groups and then the winners all competed against one another.

 

Sack races were fun, but we had to watch to make sure that nobody tripped. The best way we found was for each child to have his or her own sack rather than trying to do a 3 legged race.

 

I may think of more...

[Aubrey]

There's the infamous Dodgeball. I actually liked that one.

 

I LOVED capture the flag. Of coure, I love *anything* w/ covert ops, lol.

 

Some kind of bb thing called HORSE.

 

I can smell gym socks now, though, so I'm done. :lol:

[AndyJoy]

Neither of these are from the "good old days" but my PE students loved them.

 

3 Stooges (9+ kids): sort kids from shortest to tallest. Divide them into groups of three, splitting them up as evenly as possible. The tallest player in each group is Larry, next is Curly, smallest is Moe. Have all the kids stand in a circle, with groups together. When you yell "Moe", the smallest child from each group runs around the outside of the circle. While he is running, "Larry" and "Curly" make a bridge with their arms. When "Moe" returns, he runs through their bridge to the center of the circle and grabs an object off the floor. There should be one less object than teams. The team that doesn't get an object gets 1 point. The goal is to have the fewest points at the end. Continue until they're tired out!

 

I used bandannas or small towels, but you can use whatever you can find on hand--socks, baseball caps, etc. Make sure the objects are spread out so that there are no collisions. When I had an extra kid, I had him join a group of 3, and he and the other teammate with his name took turns. If you had 2 extra players, 1 could have 2 names. Or, you could change the names completely and make groups of 4! Other possible names are "Red, White, Blue", "Eeenie, Meenie, Minie, Moe," etc. Get creative!

 

Basketball Pass-n-Shoot (6+kids): Divide the kids into two teams, with players of similar skill opposite one another. Have them stand in two lines facing one another about 15 feet apart. They should be standing near the center of the gym, with the "alley" between them open to the hoop. Number the players, starting with the player furthest from the basket. Place 2 basketballs in the center. When you call a number, those 2 players run to the center and grab a ball. Then, they pass it to each player on their team (starting further away from the basket). You specify each round whether it should be a bounce pass or chest pass. After passing to each player, they dribble to the basket and try to make a shot. If they miss, they should continue shooting until one person makes it. No traveling allowed! Also, they may not kick or bump the other person's basketball out of the way. They are, however, allowed to switch balls by rebounding the other person's ball. The first player to make a shot earns a point for his team. Continue until each player has gone at least once.

 

The great thing about this game is that moms & dads on hand can play too, as they could be paired against another adult.

Edited January 23, 2009 by AndyJoy