Category Archives: All Grades

Ball Skills Introduction

Date
Posted by
Comments0

Equipment and Setup:

  • For Grades K-2 Use playground balls
  • For Grades 3/4/5 Use basketballs
  • Students spread out in their personal space
  • Adjust this list to the level of your students
  • Teacher up front to lead activities

Teacher Leads –  Students Follow

  • Foot Dribble: Bounce ball up to self using foot
  • Hold ankle dribble: Dribble ball while holding one ankle and balancing on one foot.
  • Heel Slap Dribble: Dribble with one hand while slapping your heel with the other
  • Massage and Dribble: Can you rub the back of your neck and dribble a ball?
  • Bounce High: Bounce ball high while ball doesn’t go above hand
  • Bounce Low: Bounce as low as possible
  • Catch while you’re off the floor: Throw ball and catch while jumping
  • Catch as low as you can: Bounce ball and catch as close to the floor as possible
  • Butterfly Drill: Hold ball between legs – do scissors – ball stays between legs
  • Throw back to front: Hold ball in back with both hands and throw in front to catch
  • Throw front to back: Throw ball up and catch it behind your back
  • Throw, jump 360, catch: Throw ball up and make a complete turn and catch
  • Roller ball: Balance ball behind your neck, let the ball roll down your back, then catch ball at your lower back.
  • Floor slap: Throw ball on the floor – slap both hands on floor – then catch
  • Stand to Lying Down Dribble: High dribble, medium dribble, sit on the floor and keep dribbling, then lie down on your back and keep dribbling. Keep dribbling and slowly begin standing up.
  • Homer Simpson: Run in a circle while dribbling your ball in the same place.
  • Monkey Walk: Walk while moving the ball between your legs
  • Crossover Dribble: Dribble right -left- right -left.
  • Heads Up Dribble: Watch the teacher move a ball side-to-side and move accordinglyHold ball in back with both hands and throw in front to catch
  • Homer Simpson: Run in a circle while dribbling your ball on an exact spot on the floor. Then reverse directions. Can you do it while skipping? Skipping backwards?

Basketball/Playground Balls Game and Activity Links

Ball Skills Intro

Dribble Train

Rotating/Stationary Line Passing

Recycle the Basketballs

Polyspot Basketball

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Halloween Tag Games

Date
Posted by

Pumpkin Tag

Setup and Equipment:

  • Stuffed Halloween character work well instead of yarn balls.
  • Gym mat in front of each wall for a 3 second base.
  • In our gym we randomly choose one team, which is 4-6 people to be taggers

Guidelines:

  • Start up the Halloween music.
  • Taggers can toss or tag by tossing or tagging shoulders or below.
  • If a child is tagged, the child must freeze and sit down on the floor in a pumpkin shape (arm hugging his/her knees to the chest with one fist making a stem on his/her head).
  • In order to become “unfrozen,” any player that is not a “witch” must see the frozen pumpkin, and give their stem a fist bump to free them.

Zombie Tag: 
Music: Halloween Favorites  with the Simpson’s Halloween Special as transition music.

Setup and Equipment:

  • Stuffed Halloween characters or yarn balls to use as taggers.
  • One mat is set up in front of each wall – these are safe bases

Guidelines:

  • One team of 4-6 students is randomly chosen as “its” – they may throw (shoulders or below) or just tag players.
  • If they are tagged, they are turned into a zombie, they have to find another zombie. Walk like a zombie until you find another zombie, then make a bridge with their hands, then a 3rd zombie will walk under the bridge and all three of them will have “free walk backs to a mat.
  • Play continues for about two minutes while the Halloween music is played.
  • When the music stops, choose a new team of taggers.
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Football without footballs

Date
Posted by

Football Warmup: 

Equipment and Setup:

  • Equipment: Sheet of paper for each player. Crumple up a piece of paper into a ball to simulate a football.

Move around the gym

  • Throw and catch with same hand, then opposite hand
  • Tap up with the palm of your hand as many times as you can
  • Tap up with the back of your hand
  • Throw ball up and catch with both hands
  • Run and dodge  like a football player

Partner Warmup and Game

  • One partner is the center, the other is the quarterback
  • Hike the ball and the center goes out for a pass
  • After catching the ball from the quarterback – switch roles

Game Rules

  • Hike the ball – Quarterback throws the ball
  • When partner catches the ball, then try to tag them.
  • When the music stops, switch roles and continue
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Jack Frost Tag

Date
Posted by
Comments0

Setup and Equipment:

  •  K-2: Four stuffed animal taggers
  •  Four hula hoops for the Heat Meisters (Optional for primary grades)

Guidelines:

  • Students that are chosen as taggers (Jack Frost) may tag or throw the stuffed animal or ball.
  • When a student is tagged they are immediately frozen and they stand perfectly straight up and down
  • Students have one way to avoid being tagged. They can do three very slow jumping jacks to simulate a standing snow angel. After 3 seconds they must continue moving and trying not to be tagged by jack frost.
  • The three “heat meisters” carry a hula hoop which is the defroster for this game.
  • They must put the hoop over and down over the frozen player to defrost them.
  • The game continues for about 2 minutes, then new taggers and “heat meisters” are chosen.

 

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Parachute Activities

Date
Posted by
  • Lay the parachute out on the groundparachute
  • Each color team finds the panels of the parachute that matches their color teams: Red, Blue, Yellow, Green
  • Roll the parachute under their fingers and grip firmly. No need to use the handles. This will spread the kids out and give you a simple way to move groups of kids by saying, “Those of you holding a (chose a color) panel, go under the parachute and find a different panel”.

Ocean Waves:  Shake the chute

  • Grip: Roll the chute under your fingers for a firm grip.
  • Big Waves: Students make big waves by shaking the chute.
  • Add balls and try to bounce them off

Color Panel Run: (Color Panel style)

  • Grip: Roll the chute under your fingers for a firm grip.
  • Cue: Shoe tops, Lift up as high as you can, pull back…
  • Leader calls out one of the four colors and the people holding that panel run underneath to the other side and take a different panel of the same color.
  • Keep calling out colors until everyone completes a turn.

Dome (Igloo) 

  • Grip: Roll the chute under your fingers for a firm grip.
  • Cue: Shoe tops, Lift up as high as you can, pull back…
  • When the teacher sees that the chute is high and pulled back well:
  • Teacher says, “Go under and immediately sit inside the chute, while keeping the chute stretched out tight”.
  • Once inside, the teacher can let the class scoot forward and the chute will get taller.
  • Optional Panel color exchange: When the teacher calls out a color, people sitting on that color can get up in the middle and exchange places with other people with the same color.

Climb the Bubble (Color panel style)

  • Teacher says, “Shoe tops, 1,2,3, lift up as high as you can, pull back..
  • SNAP the parachute down
  • Put their knees on top on the outside of the chute (You should have a giant bubble in the middle).
  • Teacher calls color teams one at a time and says to “Climb the bubble!” All of the students from that color team crawl on top  of the chute until the bubble is deflated. Then they hurry back to the outside, so every color team has a turn.
  • You will have to inflate the parachute again each time.

Merry Go Round Color Panel Run: (Color Panel style)

  • Everyone hold the panels with your left hand on your color panel.
  • Start walking (skipping?) and stretch the chute out
  • Call out a color, ie. “RED”
  • When their color is called, they let go of the parachute and run forward (the same way the chute is moving) and step into the next available color panel.
  • Continue walking and calling out the four different color until everyone has had a chance to move.

Shark Attack Spark Style:

  • Class stands holding the parachute waist high. Make ocean waves by moving the parachute up and down.
  • Chose one panel color to be the sharks. They go under the chute and place their hands above their head to simulate a shark’s fin above the water.
  • Shark should slide step or do the grapevine near the rim of the parachute  for one lap before they begin swimming and moving back and forth and underneath the parachute. They should be cruising around and looking for ankles to bite.
  • On the teacher’s signal, “Bite” The sharks grab the ankles of someone who is standing  while holding the parachute.  The sharks take their place and the bitten people become sharks. Once you’ve been bitten you are immune from a being attacked by a shark until everyone has had a turn.
  • Continue until everyone has a turn being a shark.

 Traditional Shark Attack:

  • Class sits with legs underneath parachute.
  • One panel color will be the lifeguards. They will stay outside of the parachute and try save
  • students that get pulled under by the sharks.
  • Another panel color will be the sharks under the parachute. Give each shark a frisbee to
  • hold above their head under the chute.
  • When someone is pulled under the parachute by the shark, they will exchange the frisbee
  • to the new shark.
  • The “old shark” will replace the person they pulled under on the outside of the chute.

Additional Activities:

  • Picture Perfect: Start the same as igloo, but cover your head, so you can see everyone’s face while under the parachute.
  • Mushroom: Start the same as igloo, but this time everyone step forward and walk forward so the the parachute rises in the air.
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Balloons

Date
Posted by
Comments0

Balloons

Move around the gym with music and try these patterns of tapping your balloon into the air with various body parts.

  • Foot – Hand – Finger – Elbow
  • Knee – Head – Shoulder – Thumb

Pattern A

  • Hand – Foot – Foot
  • Shoulder – Hand – Hand
  • Head – Thumb – Thumb – Knee – Finger -Finger

Pattern B

  • Hand – Foot – Foot
  • Shoulder – Hand – Hand
  • Head – Thumb – Thumb
  • Knee – Finger – Finger

Pattern C

  • Head – Shoulder – Hand
  • Hand – Knee – Foot
  • Thumb – Elbow – Foot
  • Finger – Knee – Foot

Patterns Right/Left

  • Hand – Hand
  • Foot – Foot
  • Fingers – Fingers
  • Knee – Knee

Balloon Finger Balance

  • Try balancing a balloon on the end of your finger.
  • Have a competition to see who can do it for the longest.
  • The balloon must not be held, only balanced, and it must not be tapped.
  • The finger must be in direct contact with the balloon at all times.

Balloon Juggle

  • Each team (6-8 per team) is given one balloon each with two additional ones.
  • They are to try and keep all of the balloons in the air.
  • Even more balloons may be added to increase the challenge.

Balloon Juggle Memory Game

  • Each team (6-8 per team) decide on the order by calling out the name of someone in their group (it’s best if it is not passed to the person next to them)
  • Balloons may be added to increase the challenge.

Balloon Partner Volleyball

  • Inflate to medium or medium-low pressure, so the balloon “floats” only a bit but not too much.
  • Stand facing a partner across a line on the floor of the gym.
  • One person serves the balloon by throwing the balloon in the air and hitting it with an open hand across the line. Try to use volleyball techniques, such as the  pass, set, kill, or serve to hit the balloon back and forth across the line
  • If someone allows the balloon to touch the floor on their side, the person on the other side of the net scores a point.
  • Play first person to 5 points, and then start again.
  • You are allowed to touch the balloon more than once on your side.

Balloon Tennis Skills  (Use foam paddles or badminton rackets)

  • Each person in class has a paddle or racket and a balloon.  Start at your individual gym home space.
  • Can you?
    • Starting with the balloon in front of you, can you tap the balloon with an underhand motion without moving your feet. How many taps.
    • Now put the balloon above your head and try tapping the balloon straight up.
    • Forehand, backhand,

Balloon Tennis Game

  • Stand facing a partner across a line on the floor of the gym.
  • One person serves the balloon by throwing the balloon in the air and tapping it with the racket. Try to use tennis techniques, such as the  forehand, backhand, and serve.
  • If someone allows the balloon to touch the floor on their side, the person on the other side of the net scores a point.
  • Play first person to 5 points, and then start again.
  • You are allowed to touch the balloon more than once on your side.

Balloon Over/Under Relay

  • The object of this game is to get your team to the opposite end of the gym by passing a balloon.
  • Teams line up in relay team formation.
  • The balloon is passed overhead to the person in back of them.
  • That person now passes the balloon through their legs to the next person who leans down and picks it up then passes it overhead to the person standing in back of them.
  • When the last pass  is made that person runs to the front of the line and passes the balloon overhead and the pattern continues.
  • The team will eventually move their whole team to the opposite end of the gym.

Balloon Tap Race

  • Equipment : Balloon for each team,
  • Six teams lined up in shuttle relay style. Half of each team is lined up at one end of the gym and the other half at the the starting line at the opposite end of the gym.
  • Each half of each team decides on an order so everyone touches the balloon when tapping the ballon in the air, so everyone has an equal turn.

Partner Balloon Tap Race

  • Equipment : Balloon for each team
  • Six teams lined up in shuttle relay style. First two people on each team line up facing each other with one balloon between them. You may want to require the slide step while doing this.
  • Tap the balloon back and forth between each other until your feet cross the center line reach the center line. Then return back to your line by passing.
  • Pass the balloon to the next two people in line and the relay continues until everyone has had at least one turn. You could also  set a limit of two to five minutes and see how many turns they can get.
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Hands Down Four Square

Date
Posted by

Hands Down Four Square

  • Fingers always point down. No holding ball during play.
  • 4 square serves to 1 square. A good serve is bounced on the blacktop, then hit to the one square. If you win three times in square 4, go to the end on the line.
  • All line balls are good, so always play the ball. When a player is out, they must go to the end of the line and players move up to fill vacated square.
  • You are out when:
  • You hit the ball out of bounds
  • The ball hits twice in your square.
  • You touch the ball when it’s in the air.
  • Who’s out? The “judge” 1st person in line decides disputed calls.  
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Pajaggle

Date
Posted by
PajagglePajaggle Stacks 

Hold up a Pajaggle (large foam puzzle piece) and show the students that the outside piece is the ring. The inside piece is the insert. If there is a smaller insert, this is called a mini insert.Note: Use your hand when removing an insert from a ring

Activity: Team Pajaggle

Distribute a class set of Pajaggles (Large foam puzzle pieces with inserts) equally  to each of the six teams lined up in relay style. If your largest team is six players, then all teams will take six pajaggles. 

  • The object of the game is for your team to fill up all of your team’s pajaggle rings. Then see how fast the whole class can complete filling all of the rings for all of the teams.
  • Lay the six pajaggles next to your relay team.
  • Pull out the inserts and everyone walk to the center line, close your eyes and fling the insert as far as you can. 
  • Teams go back to their relay team.
  • On the teacher’s signal, the first person on each team runs to the inserts at the opposite end of the gym.
  • Pick up one insert and return to your relay team. Give the next person on your team a high five they continue looking for inserts that fit your rings.
  • If the insert fits, then you keep it. If the insert does not fit, hand it to the next person on your team, who will fling it after they get a high five for their turn.
  • They run back to their line and give a high five to the next person in line.
  • Continue until all of the pajaggle puzzles are solved.
  • How long does it take the whole class to get all of their puzzles solved?

Game: Chasers and Puzzlers (This event is timed)
Setup and Equipment

  • The class is divided in half.
  • One half of the class are the chasers and the other half is the puzzlers.
  • The puzzlers sit around the center circle in the gym.
  • The pajaggles are set up at one end of the gym with the inserts taken out.
  • The chasers line up their relay teams, so they can easily pass beside the puzzlers in the center of the gym.
  • On teacher’s signal, the chasers run one at a time to pick up one piece at a time and hand it off to the puzzlers.
  • The puzzlers will begin to put the pajaggles together in one giant puzzle.
  • Chasers continue running until all of the pieces are in the center of the gym.
  • Puzzlers continue until the giant puzzle is put together.
  • The teacher stops the time when everyone is sitting down and the puzzle is completed.

Links to Pajaggle Games:

 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email