PBS
Take It in Stride
One step at a time, pupils practice their measurement techniques as they analyze their stride length. They design their own procedures for measuring and relate their stride measurements to the distance traveled by making calculations.
Nemours KidsHealth
Screen Time: Grades 6-8
How much screen time is too much screen time? Even before COVID, tweens were spending hours watching TV, playing video games, and connecting with their friends by smartphone and computers. Two activities from Kids Health get young...
Nemours KidsHealth
Safe and Healthy Summer: Grades 6-8
The pull to sloth can be strong in the summer. The couch and the beach beckon, but the lazy days also provide the opportunity to practice healthy habits. Two activities urge tweens to try something new. First, they research healthy items...
Nemours KidsHealth
Fitness: Grades 6-8
Middle schoolers will get a kick out of a activity that asks them to first design a proposal for a kickboxing routine for Kickin' Kelly's new DVD. A second activity has them explaining the fitness routine they will follow to prepare to...
US Department of Veterans Affairs
Sample Flexibility Plan for Beginners
Boost flexibility with a set of stretches designed for beginners. Pictures and descriptions guide readers through a variety of stretches while standing, sitting, and lying on the floor.
S&S Worldwide
Fitness Challenge
Don't be a couch potato! Get up and moving with a February 2018 calendar that suggests daily exercises that will get your feet walking and your heart pumping. There's even a special challenge for Super Bowl Sunday.
PhysEdGames
Capture The Ball
Play this fun twist on capture the flag with your class! After setting up the equipment, divide the class into two equal teams, and choose one person to be a guard on each team. The guard is the only person on either team allowed to...
PhysEdGames
Team Ball Tag
Divvy the class into equal teams and give each team a set of the same colored pinnies. Have players spread out around the gym and give each player a ball. The object of the game is to tag another team player with the ball. When a player...
PhysEdGames
Keeper of the Castle
Set up four Hula Hoops in each corner of the gym that will be used as a base for each team. Use the center circle of the gym as the "castle" with a bunch of "treasure" in it. The treasure consists of a variety of pieces of equipment....
PhysEdGames
Fresher
Split the class in half. Set up two cones on opposite ends of the gym, using the gym lines as boundaries. These are the jails. The object of the game is to tag another player that is "older" (not in age) than another. The "fresher" a...
PhysEdGames
Everybody's It
Everyone is a tagger in this gym game. If a tagger tags someone else, then that person must sit down. The only way for that person to be back in the game is if the person that did the tagging is tagged by someone else.
PhysEdGames
Mat Tag
Choose two people to be taggers and give them each a dodgeball. Spread out the four mats in the shape of a diamond baseball on the gym floor. Assign an equal number of players to each mat. When signaled, runners run continuously to the...
PhysEdGames
Scooter Tag
Have the class spread out around the gym while seated on their scooters. Have a few individuals be the taggers signified by a different color scooter or wearing a penny. If classmates get tagged by a tagger, then they must spin around...
PhysEdGames
Secret Agent Tag
Have the whole class sit down on the floor with their eyes closed. Pick a few people to be the "bad guys," which are the taggers, and a few people to be the "secret agents," which are the freers, by tapping them once or twice on the...
PhysEdGames
Streets and Alleys
Assign one person as the cat and another person as a mouse. Have the rest of the class line up in equal rows and lines forming a 5x5 or 4x5 grid. Call out "streets" and the students forming rows hold hands and connect. Call out "alleys"...
PhysEdGames
Strikeball
Groups form a circle with each person's feet spread shoulder width apart and touching the person's next to them. Drop a ball in the middle of the circle. The object of the game is for players to keep the ball from leaving the circle...
PhysEdGames
Commandos
First create a starting line and ending line in the gym. After divvying up the class into equal teams, each team lines up in a straight row behind the starting point. Each player is lined up behind the other on their team. When you yell...
PhysEdGames
4-Side Warmup
Write four exercises on separate sheets of paper and hang them in the four corners of the gym. Include the name of the exercise and the number of reps for each. Assign class members to each corner. Instruct athletes to complete each...
PhysEdGames
Crows and Cranes
After separating the class into two teams—crows and cranes—each team lines up in the middle line of the gym with their backs facing each other. If the teacher yells out "cranes!" then all the cranes run to their side of the gym while the...
PhysEdGames
Mental Math Warm-Up
Use a simple warm-up that has pupils solving math equations to determine the number of reps for a certain exercise. Learners use mental math to solve basic equations. Next, they must do the same number reps of whatever exercise you...
PhysEdGames
Hit and Run
After partnering up each person, give the pair a ball. One person gets the ball first, while the other person runs around. The person with the ball tries to chase down their partner and hit them with the ball. Then, the roles reverse....
PhysEdGames
Line Math
Call out an equation and have team members walk, run, or jog to the answer in a line. Then, the next player in line goes. This non-competitive game is good for reinforcing math skills that have answers under 10.
PhysEdGames
Rock, Paper, Scissors Champs
The goal of the activity is for participants to win as many rounds of Rock Paper Scissors as they can. Pupils spread out across the gym and play rock paper scissors with random people. The player that loses must get behind the person who...
PhysEdGames
Steal the Ball
Put all the balls (same type of ball) in the middle of the basketball court. One person from each team must run to the center of the court and bring back the ball to their team's hula hoop. If using soccer balls, players must dribble;...