Discover 5 Of The Best Physical Education Games For Kids

Are you after some more fun physical education games that you can use with your kindergarten or second-grade students?

Physical education games are so much fun, and I’ve found that they’re an excellent way to start the school day. I set aside the first 20 minutes of the day for early morning fitness on at least three days in the week, where we play fun pe games.

Physical education activities are an excellent way to energize your students and get them ready for learning for the day.

5 fun physical education games

Here are five fun physical education games that your students will love.

Islands

You will need 6-10 hoops for this pe game.

Instructions

• Create several “islands” using hoops scattered on the ground.
• Students must jog around the islands without touching them.
• When the teacher calls the signal ‘Islands,’ the students must get onto an island before the teacher counts to five.
• Students need to share their island with others.
• Students who do not fit into one of the hoops are out of the game.
• Remove one hoop after each count of 5 until 1 island of survivors remains.
• Variation – Instead of getting students to run get them to hop, skip, jump or crawl.

Traffic lights

For this game, you will need one hoop for each student.

Instructions

• Students drive their car by holding a hoop around their waist.
• When the teacher calls out ‘Green’ the cars may go at a fast pace.
• On ‘Yellow’ cars must drive slowly.
• On ‘Red’ cars must stop and drop the hoop to the ground.
• The last student/s to drop their hoop to the ground is out of the game.
• Call out the colors at random to try and trick the drivers.
• Variation – Have two students sharing a hoop.

Dead bugs

You do not need any special equipment for this physical education game, just space for students to run.

Instructions

• The teacher calls ‘here,’ ‘there,’ ‘where’ or ‘dead bugs’ at random.
• On ‘here’ students run and try to stomp the teacher’s toe (never let them close enough).
• On ‘there’ students run in the direction the teacher is pointing or to a marked boundary line such as the edge of the oval or tennis court.
• On ‘where’ students jog on the spot.
• On ‘dead bugs’ students lie on their backs and wave arms and legs in the air like a dead bug.
• Variation – Instead of running students can hop, skip, jump or crawl.

Stuck in the mud

You do not need any special equipment for this physical education game, just space for students to run.

Instructions

• Define an area and choose 3-4 students to be taggers.
• The rest of the group stays within the defined area and tries to avoid being tagged.
• Once tagged, a person must freeze with their legs apart – stuck in the mud.
• A person can only be ‘unstuck’ by someone who is running free.
• They must bend down and without getting tagged touch both the person’s shoes to free them.
• Change taggers regularly.
• Variation – Run in pairs with hands joined at all times – taggers too!

Don’t get caught

You will need a parachute for this pe game.

Instructions

• Students are given a number from 1-5.
• They lift the chute to waist height and on the command “raise the chute” everyone lifts the chute above their heads.
• The teacher calls a number, eg ‘3!’.
• All the ‘3’s have to change places with another ‘3’ on the opposite side of the chute before the chute is lowered to the ground.
• Students must be reminded of the safety aspect and the need to avoid collisions.
• Variation – Call individual students 1-2 at a time.

More fun physical education games and activities

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning some new fun pe games. And if you’re after even more ideas, then check out my Physical Education Lesson Plans.

You’ll get 35 physical education lesson plans that will last the whole year. Each P.E. lesson is on a separate card to make it easy to take with you no matter where you’re located.

Take a look at some of the excellent feedback for this resource

“This is such a handy pack to have! I love that the lessons are in detail so I know exactly what equipment I need and how to carry out the lesson. Thanks Melinda for another terrific resource.”

“A wonderful resource, easy to follow and great fun for the kids!!! Thank you!”

“I’ve always had trouble figuring out what to do for PE class. This is great. Thank you.”

“Nice and thorough. I am excited to use this with my elementary aged students for p.e.!”

“Thank you so much for this. I am still using this, years after the original purchase. Thank you.”

“Thank you! This will simplify my P.E. planning tremendously!”

Click here to grab your copy of the physical education lesson plans.