Primary School Physical Education Games
Physical education is an essential part of any school's curriculum and provides a healthy outlet for children to release energy and get some exercise during the school day. There are several games that can be utilized in physical education classes that will keep children interested and engaged. It is important to remember a warm-up and a cool-down activity to cut down on the threat of injuries such as pulled or strained muscles.
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Beans
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A perfect warm-up activity, children begin by walking laps around the gym floor. The teacher then says a command and the children must carry out the appropriate action. For example, "jumping bean" would cause the students to jump up and down in place. "Runner bean" would cause the students to run in place. Several "bean" commands can be added at the teacher's discretion.
Red Light, Green Light
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The teacher gives a command of "green light" to get students to move briskly up and down the gym floor. The teacher then gives a command of "red light" to get the students to freeze in place. Students who fail to freeze are out until the game is over. The commands should be given at different intervals so the game remains unpredictable.
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Clock
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The class gathers in a large circle. The teacher selects four to five students to stand in the middle of the circle and when the whistle is blown, those students run and tag a student from the circle. The student who just got tagged has to run to another spot in the circle and tag someone else.
Hoop
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The teacher sets out four large plastic hoops with different colors. The children move around the hoops in whatever way the teacher chooses--have them skip, jog or crawl. The teacher closes his or her eyes and yells, "Hoop!" and the children must go to the hoop nearest them. With eyes still closes, the teacher chooses one of the colors and everybody standing around that hoop is out until the next game.
Fruit Basket
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This is a perfect transition game to end warm-up activities and begin the main activity of the day. A teacher divides his or her class into four groups in each corner of the room. The groups are assigned a name that correlates with a fruit, such as "apple" or "banana. The teacher then calls out the names of two of the teams, who must switch places. When the teacher says "fruit basket," the class runs to teacher and the rest of gym class can begin.
Train
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This game can be used as a cool-down activity once the main activity is finished. The teacher should allow the students to run around and then should say "freeze" to get everybody to stop. Once everybody has stopped, the teacher will pick one student to be "it". That student will then walk to another student and tag him or her. The tagged student will get in line behind the original student and this will continue until all the students are walking in a line or a train.
Stretching
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Stretching is a vital part of cooling down. Once the main activity and the cool-down activity are complete, the teacher should lead students in stretches in order to avoid injury.
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