Christmas Physical Education Activities

Children playing on the monkey bars can pretend to be reindeer on the roof.

Physical education is a mandatory part of a child's schooling. The American Heart Association is working with all 50 states and the federal government to increase the amount of physical education required in an attempt to reduce childhood obesity, which places added requirements on PE teachers at each level. Integrating entertaining activities revolving around the holiday seasons may help to engage students in standard sport instruction while fulfilling the association's physical requirements.

Stations

Create a gym full of stations for students to rotate through during the class period that all relate to the winter and holiday season. You can organize a relay station that requires students to grab a toy out of a sack representing Santa's sack of toys and relay it to another student. The second station can involve a bobsled theme and feature bobsleds that one partner pushes the other on through Christmas tree cone obstacles. Cones may be set up to create a reindeer ice-skating station in which students place washcloths under their hands and feet and pretend to skate through cotton-covered cones appearing as clouds.

Obstacle Course

Use the traditional story of Dr. Seuss's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" in your physical education activities. Designate three or four "grinches" within the class to play a tag-type game in which the other classmates attempt to gather pretend gifts, food items and decorations from around the playing area and bring them back to their home, which can be a safe-designated base. Set up an obstacle course for children that requires each child to gallop like reindeer, crawl down a chimney (which can be made in the form of a play tunnel), throw a few snowballs toward a target (for which foam balls can be used) and decorate a tree with a few nonbreakable ornaments.

Teamwork

In this activity, students must use teamwork when pulling a partner on a scooter to avoid collision. The instructor organizes green Christmas tree cones as Santa's sleigh landing strip and guides children in their play space so that they remain safe while conducting the activity. She should connect the rider and the puller with a red and white jump rope that replicates a candy cane. The children participate in race against other partner teams to retrieve plastic candy cane lawn decorations from around the gymnasium while pulling their partner on the scooters. Given a five-minute time limit, the partner team that retrieves the largest number of candy canes is the winner.

Accuracy Games

Purchase various supplies at the dollar or discount store, such as oversized stockings, plastic candy cane decorations and small decorative boxes. In teams, students attempt to toss various "presents" into a stocking held by another teammate. Existing physical education tools may be used as stocking stuffers, including bean bags and small foam balls. Each student in the group is given five attempts to toss the item and have it be caught by the other student, after which it is then the next person's turn. The team that accurately tosses and catches the most items is the winning group. Instruct the student catching presents to wear a helmet or hockey mask for safety.

References

• American Heart Association: Physical Education in Schools
• PE Central: Holiday Lesson Ideas
• Bits and Bytes: Holiday Activities/Christmas
• Vicki Blackwell: Classroom Christmas Learning Activities and Games for PE
• Hotchalk Lesson Plans Page: Winter Stations