Games for Physical Education
BEANBAG TIC-TAC-TOE
(Tossing/Throwing accuracy/muscular endurance/body shapes)
- Make several tic-tac-toe boards using nine hoops of 2 or 3 different colors as the grids of each board.
- Place 10 beanbags (five of one color and five of a second color) at a starting line in front of each board.
- Position two groups of three students at each board.
- Assign each group a beanbag color.
- To add complexity, use polyspots.
Within each group, one student at a time throws a beanbag at the tic-tac-toe board. If the beanbag lands mostly or entirely inside a hoop, it counts as having marked that tic-tac-toe grid. If a beanbag lands outside all hoops, the student retrieves it and returns it to his or her team. The first team to complete tic-tac-toe wins one point. Have students play for 10 minutes and then rotate teams. To make beanbag tic-tac-toe more active, have each hoop color represent a particulat fitness activity. For example, if a beanbag lands in an orange hoop, the thrower might have to go to the exercise area and perform 10 jumping jacks before returning to tic-tac-toe. Another option is to have students perform an exercise - such as one push-up - before they throw.
Change the size of the target by using polyspots, or increase the distance from the starting like to the tic-tac-toe hoops.
To lower complexity, eliminate the beanbags, and have the students play human tic-tac-toe. Members of one team are Xs; members of the other team are Os. Students choose a hoop to sit in and form either an X (arms crossed over the head) or an O (arms forming a circle).
This activity provides an opportunity to discuss fitness components. Ask students if they know the difference between muscular strength and muscular endurance. Also ask them why muscular endurance and flexibility are important.
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FITNESS HOOPLA
(Locomotor skills/aerobic health/muscular endurance/flexibility)
- Copy and hang a fitness code chart in a prominent place. This code chart has exercises that match the codes.
- Scatter the hoops (one for each student) within the playing area.
- Mark each hoop with one of the fitness codes or write the codes on idex cards. Place the cards on the ground inside the hoops with the codes facing down.
- Have music on hand.
While music plays, students job around the perimeter to the music. When the music stops, each student finds a hoop to stand in and performs the exercise corresponding to that hoop's fitness code. Repeat the entire sequence several times.
Change the locomotor movements performed around the perimeter. For example, have students skip instead of jog, Add some choice cards, marked "?" to indicate that the students create their own exercises. Change the codes to include other exercises and longer exercising.
To lower intensity, remove the codes from the hoops. While the music plays, students move around the area. When the music is off, they find a hoop and perform one teacher-announced fitness code as a group.
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HOOP BATTLE
(Coordination/aerobic health, hula hooping)
- One student per hoop
- Students scattered in general space
At the teacher's signal, students hula hoop at the waist while trying to advance toward another student. Continuing to hoop, students try to use their hoop to knock off their opponents' hoops. Students may make contact with the opponent's hoop but not with the opponent's body. Students may leave the play area if their hand touches their hoop or the hoop touches the ground. While at the sideline, students may practice tricks or practice Hoop Battle with another student. Students remaining in the battle must continually hoop and challenge others.
Designate three battle areas to add up intensity. Insetad of moving to the sideline after being defeated in a bout, students move to the next battle area and continue the game.
To lower intensity, students play in pairs rather than a large group. They practice with the same partner. When students lose their hoop, they tell the winner what exercise to do.
Tell students that conflicts may arise in Hoop Battle and that yelling and fighting are poor ways to handle conflicts. Urge them to communicate with one another and to resolve all conflicts peacefully.
Ask students who are hoop-proficient to help less skilled students, especially after students leave the "battle area".
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HOOP IT UP
(Agility/tossing/reaction time, speed)
Have students do the following activities in pairs or small groups:
- Roll and run: Partners stand side by side. Partner 1 has the hoop and remains standing; partner 2 lies down in a tuck position. Partner 1 rolls the hoop while partner 2 rocks back and fortn once and then stands up and runs to catch the hoop before it falls.
-Moving target: Partner 1 holds the hoop on the right side of her or his body and moves the hoop up and down. Partner 2 tries to throw a beanbag or ball through the moving hoop.
- Hoop hop: Partner 1 places the hoop flat on the ground and slides it toward partner 2. Partner 2 tries to jump over the hoop or land inside it.
- Partner roll: Partners roll the hoop back and forth to each other.
- Human ring-toss: Partner 1 stands tall with hands clasped overhead. Partner 2 tosses the hoop, attempting to ring partner 1's clasped hands.
- One member of a group of three holds the hoop in front of his or her body and slowly moves down the activity area. The other two group members stand on either side of the hoop and toss and catch beanbags or balls back and forth through the hoop.
- In a small group of four or more, students place hoops on the ground so that they touch. The various hoop arrangements on the floor create different jumping patterns.
Ask students to create their own Hoop it up activities to show to the class.
Students perform hoop activities that promote spatial skills. For examplem they might place a hoop on the ground and then do all of the following stand outside it, stand inside it, hop around it, and jump inside it. Students can practice rolling the hoop to a partner.
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HOOP SCOOTING
(Chasing/dodging/fleeing/cooperation)
Hoops scattered around the play area
Scarves for added intensity
This is a walking tag game. Designate several players to be “It”. For easy identification, the taggers should wear pinnies, scarves, or flags. Students who are not taggers are safe when they are inside a hoop. Up to two players may be inside a hoop at any given time. A third player may try to enter the hoop, despite the two-player rule, but one player has to leave before he or she can enter. If three players are inside a hoop at the same time, any one of them may be tagged. When tagged, a player performs a reentry task such as jogging once around the perimeter. Frequently change taggers.
To add some intensity, change the reentry task. Students may practice one-on-one knee or toe tag for 1 minute before reentering the game. To play one-on-one tag, partners stand inside an imaginary square 4 feet on each side. Staying close to each other, they try to tag each other’s knees. Additionally each partner may wear a scarf tucked in at his or her waist and try to pull the scarf from his or her opponent. Have students reenter at your discretion.
To lower intensity, have fewer taggers. Allow only one student inside a hoop at a time. When a second student wants to enter a hoop, he or she must say, “Scoot, please”, and the other student must exit.
This game reinforces the importance of making responsible decisions, especially when one player has to leave the hoop. How will the students decide who leaves? Remind students that a responsible person plays fairly.
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MUSICAL HOOP EXCHANGE
(Locomotor skills/Basketball dribbling)
Set up two circles of hoops side by side in a musical chairs formation.
In each circle, the number of hoops should be one fewer than the number of players.
Place two hoops between the two circles
Have music on hand
To crank it up, use basketballs.
Play musical hoop exchange in the same way as musical chairs. While music plays, students, do a locomotor movement around the circle of hoops. When the music stops, students hurriedly step into a hoop and stretch. Students who find themselves without a hoop meet in the middle of the area between the two circles, exchange greetings, shake hands, and, for the next round, switch circles. For larger classes, use polyspots or mix hoops and poly spots.
Crank it up, by changing the exercises often. Ask students to dribble a basketball around the circumference and perform a basketball skill while they freeze within a hoop. Call out a color. All students standing in a hoop of that color must change places with students in another hoop before playing the next round.
To gear it down, students practice locomotor skills around the circle of hoops and non-locomotor skills while standing inside the hoops. Instead of changing places, students jog once around the circle of hoops before the next round.
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UP, DOWN, ALL AROUND
(Flexibility/cooperative warm-up or cool down)
One hula hoop for each group of three players
Two students in the group hold the hoop, and manipulate it as directed, while the third student performs the sequence called out by the teacher. Sequences are created from the following actions:
Up: Hoop held high. The third player goes under the hoop.
Down: Hoop held low to the ground. The third player leaps over the hoop or jumps in and out of it.
In: Hoop held vertically. The third player goes through the hoop.
Around: Hoop help waist high. The third player walks around the two players holding the hoop.
The teacher calls out, “Ready”, then a sequence (such as “up, down, down, around”), then “Go”. At “Go”, the third student performs the designated sequence. After each pattern, a different student becomes the performer.
To crank it up, students take turns creating their own hoop sequences. Have them share their ideas with the class. Challenge students to perform the sequence while they slowly move down from one end to the other.
To gear it down, each student in a group performs the same sequence before a new sequence is announced. Give one command at a time instead of an entire sequence. Add combinations as the children respond correctly to each command.
