activities for kindergarten physical education

28 Best PE Games With Absolutely No Equipment

P.E. lessons can be a bit daunting at times. All that equipment to organize and worry about. Yuck!

Then there are the safety aspects to consider. Eek!

The good news is, there are plenty of simple P.E. games that you can use with no equipment!

The Ultimate List of PE Games With No Equipment

Whether you need ideas for Kindergarten PE games, or PE games for preschool this list will spark the creativity you need for gym class or at home!

I’ve been teaching in early education for the best part of 20 years now, and in that time I’ve come up with a full armory of the very best PE games WITH NO EQUIPMENT! Woop!

Table of Contents

That’s right! Just a group of children are enough to create many games and have plenty of fun.

All you need are a good space and plenty of energy, so let’s go!

1. Stop And Go Bubbles

Practice drawing a great big pretend bubble with your finger in the air.

Reach up as high as you can and reach down as low as you can. Really reach all the way around you.

If you can reach and touch anyone else with our moving your feet you are too close to move away and make sure you are in your own space.

Stretch out in your bubble to make sure you can’t touch anyone else’s just in case you should burst their bubble.

Ask the children to move like a bubble and float around the space. How freeing and mindful this bit is!

When you tell them to stop, make sure their bubble is in a good space so that no one can burst it.

2.Extra Sensory Perception (ESP)

This is a brilliant pairs game, that is good as a warm-up or as a fun game on it’s own!.

What you do is invent three movements and demonstrate them to the group.

Once you’ve played it a couple of times, the kids can come up with their own ideas.

Three examples of moves could be:

• Doing star jumps
• Doing Jazz hands
• Jumping a 360 spin on the spot

Then everyone gets a partner.

The true challenge now is to activate your ESP, which (as pretty much all kids seem to know), is your Extra-Sensory Perception. Simply put, this is the ability to read your partner’s mind (which is very exciting).

Everyone displays one of the three moves at the same time. You want to do the move that you think your partner will do.

Do the same move? Woo woo! You activated your ESP.

Different move? Just try again.

Keep going for a few goes, before changing partners to see if your ESP works better or worse on other people.

As well as being a great PE activity, I often use this as a circle time game in class. This is one of the favorite games from my book 101 Circle Time Games…That Actually Work!

This book contains all the very best mindfulness circle games, active circle games, math games, literacy circle games, and so much more! You can check out the book here.

3. Foxes And Hares

Once the children have got a good understanding of space, and they can stop and start on your command, there are lots of fun PE games you can introduce.

Foxes and hares is a classic chase game .

Aim of the game: To catch all the hares of course!

About a fifth of the children should be foxes. So if you are playing with 10 children, 2 children can be foxes. 

The hares move around the space by hopping. To hop, they should move both feet together and then put two hands together on the floor, just like a rabbit or a hare moves in bunny hops.

The foxes also move on four legs (hands and feet) but they should be quicker as they are less restricted.

To catch a hare, simply touch them (gently, please! No fox attacks).

When all the Hares are caught by the foxes, the game is over and you start a new game with a new group of foxes.

4. Trains and Tunnels

This is a similar version to the game above. There are always loads of train enthusiasts among pretty much any age of children, so this game is always a winner.

Choose a few children to be the trains. 

Explain that the rest of the children are tunnels. They should make a tunnel by putting both their hands and feet on the floor and arching their back as high as they can to make a high tunnel with their body. 

The trains should run around the space until you shout Whoo Whoo.

At the sound of the train whistle, they should crawl through as many of the tunnels as they can. 

When a train has been through a tunnel, the tunnel is released and becomes a train. 

Keep playing until all the tunnels are trains. 

This is a fun game for pairs.

One child is the leader, the other is their shadow.

Explain how your shadow does exactly what you do. It follows you everywhere, and your movements are identical.

As the leaders move around the space, the shadow follows and copies exactly what they do.

Encourage the children to use different levels of movement.

• Roll on the floor
• Move on your hands and knees
• Move on one or two feet

Encourage them to use different speeds of movement

• Move slowly and gracefully
• Move quickly and craftily

Encourage them to use different balances

• Balance on one foot
• Balance on all fours
• Balance on two feet and one hand

Remember to swap over so that both children have a chance to be the leader. 

6. Good Toes Naughty Toes

This is another simple listening game requiring no equipment and it can be played as an indoor and outdoor game.

There are two instructions that the children are going to listen out for. Those are:

Good toes – They should stand completely still with their feet together

Naughty toes – They should dance around wildly using the space and not bumping into anyone else. (Music can be used if you want to)

This game is all about freedom and expression!

7. Noisy Running!

This is possibly my all-time favorite mindful PE game.

This is best done outside in a large space.

The idea is that the children are going to move and make noises at the same time. The volume of the sound they make will be directly linked to how fast they move.

Start by all humming very faintly, and walking really slowly.

Then try a fast walk, and raise the volume of the sound coming out of everyone’s mouth.

Then try light jogging, with a medium noise – aaaaahh – coming from everyone’s mouth, about the volume of talking.

Keep getting faster and increasing the volume! When you are running at full pelt, you will also be yelling as loud as possible – AHHHHH!

I like to do this activity in a structured way to introduce it and mix up the speeds/volumes for a while.

But then, for a couple of minutes, let the children ‘freestyle’. They choose their speeds and volumes and race around.

This activity is all about mindfulness , and experiencing a sense of freedom and liberation from inhibitions!

8. Floating!

Another mindful PE activity here.

Get the children to stand in a space and close their eyes. Then you are going to help them to visualize that they are transforming into something that floats or flies!

It could be:

Let’s imagine we start with the balloon.

Tell the children to visualize they are slowly changing into a balloon. Their skin is becoming colored rubber. And now someone is blowing them up, and they are getting lighter and lighter, and larger and larger.

Then, tell them they are fully inflated.

The children open their eyes, and now they are going to imagine they are floating like balloons around the space!

Off they go – billowing and wafting in the breeze.

After a couple of minutes, you can try transforming into feathers or eagles.

9.  Be The Teacher

This is a good way for children to start to think about the quality of their movements in PE class.

Work in pairs again. One child should be the teacher. 

Explain that as the teacher, they have to help their pupil make the best quality moves and shapes that they possibly can.

It depends on what kind of moves you are working on, but I like to do this with gym moves.

Try moves like:

• Forward roll
• 360 jump rotation

Ask one child to demonstrate the move, and the other child should help them to make it perfect.

Encourage the children to be kind and helpful. For example, they might say things like:

Tuck your head in a bit more.

Can you straighten your legs even more?

Can you reach up taller?

Ask them to use lots of praise if they spot some good quality movements and make sure they tell their partner what they are doing well.

Don’t forget to swap so that everyone has a go at being the teacher.

10. Make A Shape

Put the children in groups of 4 or 5 and give them the challenge of working as a team to make a shape.

Explain that they can work on the floor, lying down or standing up, as long as the shape is clear.

Begin with the basic shapes of:

circle, triangle, square rectangle

Build up to more difficult shapes like:

stars, hexagons, ovals, rhombus, or octagon

11. Body Letters And Numbers

You can extend this from shapes to letters of the alphabet or numbers.

Simply ask the children to make a letter by working together to get into the shape. This is a good activity for team building as they will have to work together and everybody is needed. 

12. Dance Like No-One’s Watching

Dancing is good for you for so many reasons. It’s a workout for the whole body, it encourages you to keep a beat and keep in time with music, and most of all, it’s fun.

It’s good for the soul, so put some happy upbeat music on and encourage some free dancing.

Clap your hands, wiggle your hips, wave your arms. Have fun!!

13.  Heart Monitors

It’s important for children to know that exercising makes changes to our bodies so that they aren’t frightened by the changes and they understand what is happening to them. 

This is a nice activity to explain those changes so that the children understand that it is perfectly normal.

Count down one minute of any kind of high-intensity exercise, for example:

• Fast running on the spot with high knees 
• Tuck jumps with both feet together
• Pretending to skip on the spot as fast as you can
• Burpees (lay down then jump up)

Really encourage the children to put lots of effort in here.

When the minute is up, encourage the children to put their hands on their hearts and feel it beating.

If they’ve put enough effort in, it should be pounding. Ask them to feel their forehead – it should be at least warm, if not hot and sweaty. 

Notice how fast their breathing is when they stop. They should be out of puff.

With older children, you could ask them to take their own pulse before and after exercising and see how much their pulse rate has increased. 

14. Eight Dance!

This is a great dancing game for kids of all ages.

Put some pumping music on to get everyone going!

Then pick some kind of action or dance move, and everyone does it eight times to the music while also counting at the same time – ‘1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8!’

So, you might do eight star-jumps while counting. Or eight big marches on the spot.

Then shout out a new action, and start that, keeping the counting going throughout.

Some other good dances/actions could be:

• Arms up arms down
• Punch the air with one arm, then the other
• Arms wide, arms across your body
• Walking in place

For the older ones, the emphasis is on the movement. But for younger kids, this is also a great rote counting activity.

15. Animal Copy Cat

One child will be the leader in this game. This is the ‘cat’ that the others will try to copy.

The leader is going to pretend to move like an animal. Everyone else will copy!

For example, they might move like a monkey. They will stoop low, and swing their arms like a monkey. Everyone copies!

After a while, the leader will change the animal. They might pretend to be an elephant!

The trick is for everyone to watch for the transition and try to copy.

The leader can mix things up as quickly or slowly as they like.

16. Animal Freeze!

This is a variation of the animal copycat game above with a bit of music added.

Once again, have a leader that is going to pretend to be different animals that the others copy.

Put on some music, and the kids move around like the animal that the leader is demonstrating.

The adult will pause the music at any given moment. The children must then freeze in their best animal pose! It’s a bit like musical statues at this point. Anyone that moves could be out! (Or you can just play the non-competitive version where everyone gets to carry on each time).

17. Transformers

Wow – transformers are one of the most exciting things on the planet for many kids.

And this game really taps into this enthusiasm.

The kids are all now shape-shifting transformers. They can transform in the blink of an eye into many different types of vehicles, and move around the space like them.

Some good vehicles to try include:

• Train – with ‘chugging’ arms and lots of tooting!
• Helicopter – arms as rotas spinning over your head
• Racing cars – running around as fast as possible!
• Plane – Lots of swooping and soaring
• Monster trucks – Be as big and wide as you can

18. Mr Men/Little Miss Game

The idea of this is that the kids pretend to be some of the characters out of the Mr. Men and Little Miss books.

Some good ones to try include:

Mr. Grumpy – stamp around the room with your angriest face

Mr. Tall – Stretch up and walk as tall as you can

Mr. Bump – Go round bumping into walls and imaginary objects (though not other people)

Little Miss Tiny – Curl up like a tiny weeny ball

Lots of modeling of movements work well for this game – both from the adult and skillful children.

19. Child-Friendly Yoga

I find yoga is most effective with children when they can readily understand that the pose they are doing is mimicking something.

Some great poses that mimic things that children know are:

Household Yoga

In this, the kids mimic everyday actions in the house. It could be sweeping the floor, or washing the pots.

Lie on your front, with your hands flat on the floor next to your face.

Push upwards until your arms are straight, your chest is off the floor, and your back is arched.

This stretches the back and abdomen.

Giraffe Pose

Stand with one foot in front of the other.

Reach up high with both hands (this being the giraffe’s neck.) Then slowly bend down, and touch your leading foot with both hands.

Then slowly return to the original position.

Turtle Pose

Lie on your back. Pull your knees into your chest so that you form a ball shape. Slowly rock backward and forwards.

Your curved back forms the turtle’s ‘shell’.

20. Bean Game

This is one of those all-time classics that I thought I should include on this list.

The children pretend to be types of beans, each of which has its own separate movement.

Model two or three bean movements to start off with, have a practice, and then all play the game. Add more bean movements when the children get more confident.

The adult simply calls out a bean name, and the children move in that way.

The beans and associate movements are:

Sprouting bean  – Walk around on your tip-toes, with your arms stretched as high above you as possible

Baked bean  – Sit down on the floor

Broad bean  – Try to be as wide as possible! Walk around like this

Beans on toast  – Lie down on the floor

Chilli bean  – Shiver! This is a ‘pun’ on the word ‘chilli/chilly’ (obviously!)

Jelly bean  – Wibble and wobble!

Runner bean  – Run around like crazy

French bean  – Say, ‘Bonjour!

When you’ve played a few times, a child could potentially become the leader of this game.

21. Action Stories

This is a really good way of combining storytelling, listening, and action!

The adult makes up a story, and the children act it out.

After you’ve done it a few times, a confident child might well be able to lead this.

You want to have lots of active characters in the story, such as stamping giants, witches on broomsticks, unicorns galloping, and all that kind of thing.

As well as that, it’s good to have lots of action, such as terrible storms blowing, landslides, sinking sand, and all the rest of it.

The kids act all of these things out.

A sample start of a story might go:

‘One day the giant went stamping off through the forest. A terrible wind began to blow. The trees were swaying from side to side. Suddenly a unicorn came galloping into the forest to save the giant…’

I’m sure you get the picture!

22. Traffic Lights

Here’s another absolute classic of the repertoire!

In this, the children will pretend to be cars, and the adult gives different verbal instructions that the cars respond to.

The easiest way to play the game is to have three simple instructions that correspond to the colors of a traffic light:

Green  – Go! Jog around the space

Red  – Stop still

Yellow  – Walk on the spot, ready to go

Start easy, but you can always add more elements to the game when they are ready. Some other verbal cues include:

Honk the horn  – A noisy one, this! Go round tooting!

Roundabout  – Jog around in a narrow circle

Parking Lot (or car-park)  – Lie down on the floor

Freeway  – Run as fast as you can

23. Fox and Chickens

This is a variation of a basic tag game .

The idea is to mix up the game by incorporating a theme that the children are interested in.

So, you could have a fox catching chicken by tagging them. Or one of the following:

• A shark catching fishes
• A bird catching worms
• Or a witch catching children

Anything you think the children will respond to is fine.

24. HIIT Session

Here is a simple idea, that is great for fitness for all ages.

You have a structured sequence of activities that you perform together. Spend about thirty seconds on each movement, with a fifteen-second break.

Some simple moves include:

• Reach up, reach down
• Jumping like a frog
• Jumping in place
• Reach to one side, reach to other

For older or more skillful children, you can try some of these:

You can do one round of the activities or even two or three reps!

25. Simon Says Active Version

Of course, you all know the basic idea of Simon Says .

But it works really well in PE sessions if you make the moves super-active!

So, rather than ‘Simon says touch your nose’ kind of instructions, you want to think more along the lines of ‘Simon says crawl like snakes across the floor!’

Some other good examples might be:

‘Simon says wade through the muddy swamp.’

‘Simon says climb the rope ladder.’

‘Simon says run like a cheetah on all fours!’

26. Captain’s Coming

This is another game that is donkey’s old, but children love it generation after generation.

All the kids pretend to be on a boat. The adult gives orders to the ‘crew’.

These include:

Scrub the deck  – Get on hands and knees and start scrubbing the floor!

Swim to shore  – Use a powerful front crawl to move around the space

Into the hammock  – Lie down on the floor

Lift the cannonballs  – Lift up those super heavy cannonballs, and load them into the cannon!

Row the boat  – Row!

Captain’s coming  – Salute!

27.Melting Moments

This is a visualization and mindfulness game that is great as a warm-down.

The children are going to be imagining that they are something that melts. For example, they could be:

-A chocolate bar

-An ice-cube

Let’s imagine we go for ‘snowman’. Tell the children to stand in a space and then close their eyes.

Tell them to imagine that they are transforming into a snowman. They can feel their freezing cold body, their carrot nose, and coal for their eyes.

But now the hot sun has come out. You can feel the warmth on your face!

Feel how the snow is melting your body. Water is starting to drip down the snowman.

Imagine you are shrinking! You are getting lower to the ground! And finally, you are a steaming puddle lying on the floor.

(Ask the children to lie down and imagine this!)

28. Figures Of Eight

This is a good game to use as a warm-down.

The basic idea is that the kids stand in a space, and they are going to form a large figure 8 in the air with different parts of their bodies.

Start with their finger, but then move on to using their:

Warming Up And Cooling Down

To warm-up before PE Class or a fun activity at home, I like to play some music with a good steady beat and perform some repetitive actions for the children to copy. I make sure I warm up my arms, shoulders, feet, legs, hips, and neck. 

To cool down after PE games, try some nice long stretches for all the different body parts. I always like to finish a cool-down with some big deep breaths. Scoop up some air, stretch up and hold it above your head and then blow it away as you release your arms back down to your sides. 

Not Just Good For Physical Learning

One of the biggest benefits of daily physical activity is that children’s behavior improves as well as their overall confidence and independence. Check out this study on tracking of physical activity into into adulhood for more information on the benefits of PE Games .

Now that’s something worth trying for.

Good luck if you try out any of these fun PE games!

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The PE Specialist

Awesome Resources for Physical Education Teachers

How to Teach Kindergarten in PE

How to Teach Kindergarten PE ( Link to Podcast Episode )

Podcast below: ( itunes ), youtube show below:.

Resources/Links

Rules and procedures.

• Ease into activities, be aware of nervousness or fear
• Teacher is Talking What are We Doing?
• Have something to say what should you do?
• Hands and Feet Too…?
• Discover and practice personal space and moving within boundary lines.  I usually start with just simple move with the music and freeze when the music stops and then once they’ve got that we play an imagination and movement game that I call “I See” (video below)

• I usually wait until about the 3rd or 4th lesson to give my Home Base Spots in Kindy.  You can also see in the video below How I Teach My Kids their Home Base Spots through working on Open Space and Stopping Signal during PE class

• Read “ Gym Teacher from the Black Lagoon ”
• Have patience with Kindergarten students
• Take pictures of each student in the class to help remember names, (students come to PE with name tags on) so the next time they come I have faces with names. Can also share with other teachers to help them learn names.
• Music is on you are free to go, music is off you can not go
• Strike 1 is a warning
• Strike 2 refocus area
• Strike 3 refocus area/note home to parent
• Overview of Ben’s PE Rules and Expectations

Instagram Live Question: How many K students do you have in a class? Do you Team Teaching?

• Ben – 20-25 students we have teamed taught in the past but now just single classes. 2 groups a day of 5K or 4K for 25 minutes

• Marcus – 23 – 24 students double classes everyday for 50 minutes (around 50 kids at a time normally)
• “When the teacher is talking you should be…Listening”
• “If you have something to say what should you do?… Raise your hand”
• “Keep your hands and feet too?…Yourself”
• Additional for Marcus’s school “Point to where you go if you need help with your shoes” Students point to designated area for help with shoes
• Team Teaching advantages – one teacher can teach the students while the other teacher is dealing with the issues (crying, injuries, no shoes, etc…)

Example of our Big 3 Rules Review in the video below (from COVID times as you can tell from the mask)

Kindergarten Mindset

• Put yourself in the students perspective, they have only been running for a couple of years yet alone trying to follow rules and procedures.  Patience is key.
• Do not get upset with yourself or them if they make a mistake.
• Do not take it personal.  They are learning everyday like we are. Being able to teach with another teacher gives me a chance to have one on one conversations with students if they do make a mistake.
• Play to learn mindset.  Kindergarten students are not ready for lots of progression tasks.  Giving them practice time with less structure by exposing them to content helps to keep students on task and allows them to be creative and explore skills and equipment.

Instagram live Question: Do you have any tips to learning all the names? Home Base Spots

• We take pictures of the students, at the beginning of the year, when they have name tags on.
• Making connections with the names helps to build relationship with students. (Siblings, roster sheet)

Mindset con’t

• Kindergarten students fears may seem silly to you but to them it’s a big deal.  Forcing students to do something they do not want to do or getting frustrated with them when they do not want to do something in PE class can have lasting effects on them.  Offer different options for those students.

Instagram Live Question: Starting my second year, how do you switch things up from year to year?

• Vertical Alignment helps to switch things up students.  What I do in Kindergarten will look different in first grade.  Hopefully as you get to learn your students you can progress the content as they get older.
• Because we see our students once a week, proficiency is difficult for us to achieve in four lessons.  So we typically teach the same content and progress the difficulty as the students get older in order to build the confidence for students to practice outside of class.
• Ben discuss the 4-Square progress as an example of vertical alignment.

Recommended Format for Kindergarten – Stations

• Stations for Kindergarten are a great way to take the content you’re teaching and break it down for easy learning.
• Stations are a great way to get student acclimated to the gym and sharing equipment.

Instagram Live Question: Stopping Signal

• Set up, play, clean up, point to next station, move (Here are some tips for teaching with Station Activities)
• Stations on one activity multiple different ways
• Stations with different activities in each station
• Breaking down content area (Basketball) into stations
• Gives practice time to each student, gets them ready for other activities i.e. Field Day , and allows for teacher feedback to students. You become the facilitator.

Instagram Live Question: Do you typically take attendance or get right into instant activity?

• Ben – I have a roster but do not have assigned seats with Kindergarten so I just check with the teacher to see who is here and if they’re absent I mark it down on my roster sheet.
• Marcus – Beginning of the year to help learn names we go down the roster call students name and have them tell us something about themselves (favorite food, color, dog or cat)

Timeline for Average Lesson

• Students come in and sit down on the line.  We review the three rules. (Refer above)
• We do walking (short lines)/ jogging (long lines) as a warm up.  After a while, we will switch up the locomotors on the line. PVC hurdles .  Can also set up cones and make a track around the gym for warmup.
• Students then come to the middle and we discuss the stations. The rotation is the same every time we just switch out the activities.

Instagram Live Question: How do you split the class up?

• With a single class we split them up by their name and sending them to a station.  With double classes, we usually split them up by gender and home room to a station.
• Team Shake (link), counting off 1-2-3-4, have students choose a station, colored wristband (Link to Amazon)

Practice Losing Before a Game

Anytime I do a competitive activity with my Kindergarten students (and any other classes that struggle with sportsmanship) I always give them a chance to “Practice Losing” before we play the game so my expectations are clear and it’s on the front of their minds before we start

Lesson Ideas and Activities

• Ability to move around in personal and open space while practicing locomotor skills. “I See” (Find link or video)
• “ Listen and Move ” Greg and Steve
• Call it Macaroni
• Hokey Pokey
• Freeze Dance
• Chicken Dance
• Place a beanbag on their head to keep them in control and slow down

Instagram Live Question: How do you close your class?

• Real quick and simple as they leave review the cues of the activity.

Have Fun and Teach On!

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• Awesome Music for PE Class
• How to Teach Gymnastics (Unit Plan)
• 25 Exercise Posters
• The PE Poster Tour
• How to Teach Jumprope (Unit Plan)
• How to Plan an Awesome Field Day

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20 Simple Ideas for Kindergarten P.E. with Minimal Equipment

Important: Always make sure you have enough space for these activities! Also, think about the level your pupils are at currently and if they can participate in the activity safely.

1. STAR JUMPS

Say ‘Arms out!’ and jump, landing with your arms and legs out like a star. Shout ‘Arms in!’ and jump, landing so you are stood up straight with your arms at you side. Do this with the class a few times, and then say they have 10 seconds to do as many star jumps as they can. After you’ve given them ten seconds, ask a few students how many they did. This makes things competitive, and you can now get all the children to try again and see how many star jumps they can get in another 10 second period. This time round they’ll start doing super-fast star jumps as if their lives depended on it. Very good exercise to wake up sleepy students! Oh, and don’t be surprised if the children go from saying they managed to do 10-12 star jumps in 10 seconds to eventually topping each other by telling you they did 100+! 2. FUNNY RUNNING

Have all the children sit against a wall or in a line. They then have to run to the opposite wall or another line in a certain specified way. You can tell them to run as tigers, as elephants, as birds or whatever else you can think of. As snakes is particularly good, as they then have to commando crawl across the gym. You can also have them walking backwards, walking like robots, walking sideways like a crab or dancing across Gangnam-style.

The main thing here is that they aren’t allowed to stand up and start moving until you count down ‘3, 2, 1, GO!’. You can have fun by not saying the right number and so making them do false starts. If I see any children who have started to stand up before I’ve counted down, then I’ll usually make everyone sit back down before starting the countdown again. The more you build up the anticipation of what they are about to do, the more they’ll jump wholeheartedly into doing it! 3. TEEPEE-PENCIL

All the children stand up and are free to walk around the gym. When you shout ‘teepee!’ they have to put both their hands together above their heads and then not move. If you shout ‘pencil!’ then they have to stand with their arms at their side.

Slowly build in more commands lesson by lesson. I also used ‘ball!’ where they had to curl up in a ball on the floor, and ‘tree!’ where the kids had to stand with their arms out like tree branches. If I shouted ‘bridge!’ then they would have to make an arch with their body, keeping their hands and feet on the floor. If you shout ‘fall!’ or maybe ‘starfish!’, then they have to flop flat on the ground.

Once the children have got the hang of the game, you could work in some commands which require them to make a shape with other children. For example, ‘super bridge!’ means they have to link arms with a classmate to make a big arch.

You can get the class to work up quite a sweat if you go back and forth between commands like ‘teepee’ and ‘starfish’, as they’ll be standing up then flinging themselves down again and again!

TIP: Why not save your voice and link each command to a number of blows of a whistle? 4. PAIRS

Choose one student or use a fellow teacher to demonstrate what you want the kids to do. Everyone has to find one other student to stand back-to-back with and then link arms with that other person.

You then shout ‘Change!’ and start counting down from 5. Within those 5 seconds, all the students have to find a new person to stand with and link arms. With younger children you don’t need to put any more rules in and they’ll be happy to run around screaming looking for someone to link arms with! 5. JUMP JUMP

All the students stand against one wall or sit on a line. The winner is the first person to touch the opposite wall or line. BUT they can only move towards the ‘winning’ wall in certain ways.

If you shout ‘1 jump!’, the students can take 1 jump towards the winning wall. If you shout ‘1 step!’, then they can take one big step towards the wall. You can vary up the number of steps or jumps they are allowed to take.

Every lesson I have a different word which acts as my ‘monster’ word. If I say the ‘monster’ word, then all the students have to run back and touch the wall where they started from originally to be ‘safe’. If I can tag any of the students before they reach the wall then they have been caught by the monster and are out of this round.

Any child that is caught taking more than the number of jumps or steps you said has to go back to the beginning and start over again. If you have students who are always edging forward or taking more jumps than they should, you can shout the monster word. Because they’ve taken additional steps, they’ll be nearer to the winning wall and closer to you and so more liable to being caught.

TIP: After a few rounds, train up one pupil to take over the ‘teacher’ role. 6. MONSTER

All the students sit down against one wall. They have to run across the gym and reach the other wall and then sit down. One or two students are chosen by the teacher to be ‘monsters’, and they stand up in the middle of the gym. The teacher says ‘go!’ and all the students try and run past the monsters and reach the other side. If a monster tags a student before they can reach the other side and sit down, then the student is eliminated from the game.

I find that if you let eliminated students become monsters too, you’ll quickly find half of your class trying to get caught on purpose as they want to be made into a monster! This kind of ruins the game. Also, if you have too many monsters in the middle then you can’t police things, and you’ll find that there are some students who don’t want to be made into monsters EVER, and who will therefore lie about being tagged unless you see it happen and enforce the rules.

With only having two or maybe three monsters in the middle, the teacher can act as a referee and call out any student they see getting tagged.

If you have them, you can give the monsters a foam stick or something similar to use to tag other students.

TIP: Again, keep things fast. You don’t want children eliminated for more than a few minutes before going back in. 7. RUNNING ELIMINATION

The class stand against one wall. You say ‘Ready, Go!’. The class have to run and touch the other wall before you blow your whistle. You can run this like a ‘beep test’ and gradually increase how quickly you whistle.

When I say ‘Ready, go!’ I point to the wall they have to run to. Sometimes, when the children are halfway across I’ll point at the other wall and say ‘Ready, go!’. This means all the pupils now have to stop running and quickly change direction to run back to the wall they just came from. It’s pretty fun if you do this a few times in a row! This is also a good way to keep slower children in the game for a few more rounds.

If a student doesn’t make it to the wall before you blow your whistle then they are eliminated. Keep doing this until you have a few pupils left, they are the winners. Ideally by the time you finish, the children who win should be drenched in sweat and barely able to catch their breath because they’ve been running so much! 8. ON YOUR MARKS

All the children stand against one wall. You say ‘On your marks!’ and they get into the first running position (on all fours). You say ‘Get set!’ and they lift their knees off the ground, ready to start running. You shout ‘Go!’ and they have to race to the other side of the gym and back. 9. SPRINT RACE

Have all the children sit along the side and choose two or three students. They stand in a line. Place a cone per student halfway across the gym and another one at the far end of the gym.

When you say go, they have to run to their nearest cone and then run back to where they started, then run past the cone to the far side of the gym to the second cone. They have to jump up and down five times (counting out loud) before running back to their starting position. 10. FETCH

Get 3 or 4 students up and have them stand in a line. Choose some different coloured balls, one for each student. You throw the balls and then the pupils have to run and grab their colour, then bring it back to you. First person to do this is the winner. This is particularly funny with very bouncy balls! 11. WALK WALK RUN

Best for very young children (2-3 years old). Have them stand at one side of the gym. Start walking to the other side of the gym saying ‘Walk, walk, walk’, then at a certain point shout ‘RUN!’, at which point everyone runs to the other side of the gym and touches the wall. Sounds very simple but they love it! 12. TOUCH SOMETHING GREEN

The teacher says ‘touch something…’ and then whatever they want. E.g. ‘Touch something blue, touch something green, touch something big’. 13. SPEED THROWING

The teacher gives one of two students a ball and stands them a short distance apart. The students then have one minute to make as many throws to each other as possible. If they drop the ball then that throw doesn’t count. Once they have set a target, choose another two students who are sitting nicely to come up and try and beat that score. If you have enough balls you can then have pupils pair up and all have a try at the same time. 14. HIGH FIVE CHALLENGE

For all pupils. They have 30 seconds to try and high five as many of their classmates as possible. 15. HOOP RUN

Another simple game for very young students. Scatter coloured hoops on the floor. You shout a colour and the children have to run and stand in the hoop that is the colour you shouted out. 16. 1,2,3!

Similar to the game above. Put together different numbers of blocks and place them round the gym. The students then have to run to the place that has the right number of blocks when you shout it out. E.g. you say ‘3!’ and they have to run and touch the stack of 3 blocks. There’s no need to do this as an elimination activity usually, as very young children will be quite happy doing this and just running around to the blocks. 17. RELAY RACE

Divide the class into a few teams and have them stand in a line. Each team gets one ball which they have to pass down the line. When the person at the back of the line gets the ball they run to the front and the process starts over. This continues until every member of a team has ran to the front (the person who was at the front at the beginning should now be at the front again). The first team to do this is the winner.

You can have them passing the ball over their heads or between their legs, or a mix of the two. With rowdier classes you can have them doing the relay while sitting down, which will keep them in a line and under control a bit more.

TIP: If you have an odd number of pupils left over, consider making these pupils your extra ‘referees’ for the round to make sure everyone follows the rules. 18. HOT OR COLD

One child is chosen to be the ‘searcher’. Without the searcher seeing, the teacher chooses another pupil who is the ‘magnet’. All of the pupils scatter and run around the gym until you tell them to freeze. They now all look at the searcher. The is the only person allowed to move and needs to walk up and tap the ‘magnet’ on the shoulder. To guide the searcher, the class can clap to help them: clapping slowly means ‘cold’ (you’re not close), then they can get louder and quicker as the searcher gets nearer to the ‘magnet’. When the searcher taps the magnet, everyone has a cheer! 19. RIVER JUMP

Put two sticks on the floor about half a metre apart. Tell the students this is a river, and they have to jump from one side to the other. Once they all do this you can move the sticks a little further apart. Have a few sets of sticks set out at different widths so that the children can move round and see which is the biggest river they can jump over.

Really young children (2-3) love this, though with you’ll find that to start off with they just do a little jump on the spot, then step over the sticks!

TIP: Choose some helpers from the class to stand at each ‘river’ and make sure the sticks are reset if they get knocked around. 20. SECRET SPY

Everyone closes their eyes and the teacher taps one pupil on the shoulder. That pupil is the ‘secret spy’ for this round.

The children have thirty seconds to run around and explore the gym, then when the teacher blows a whistle they can go to any corner they like and stand there. They look at the other children in the other corners of the gym as well as who is stood in their corner and try and remember who is where. The children are then given 30 more seconds to run around again but MUST all go back to the same corner they were in first time round. The only person who can’t do this is the pupil who was chosen as the ‘secret spy’. They MUST go to a different corner.

After the second round of running around, children raise their hand if they think they know who was the ‘secret spy’ this round. If they are right they win and you can start again. If they are wrong, you continue with another 30 second run around, and again the spy has to find a new corner to go to. How long can the spy remain undetected for?!?

44 Responses to 20 Simple Ideas for Kindergarten P.E. with Minimal Equipment

Thank you! It was really useful for me! 🙂

I find this very helpful! I’m gonna try four of them tomorrow! I’m sure my students are gonna love it. Thank you so much for sharing!

HI Naomi, nice to hear from you. New ideas go up on the blog twice a week so check back regularly for more activities!

This is extremely helpful! It is my first week teaching PE at an international school in China and I’m so nervous about teaching the youngest, pre-k and kindergarden. Thanks for these simple games!

Hi Marissa, Glad that you find them useful. I used some of those activities with students as young as 2. Just remember, make things silly and they’ll love it! Also, don’t bother trying to explain with words, just give them an example yourself and they’ll get the hang of things. Having the kids walk and then run from wall to wall could easily fill fifteen minutes of a lesson!

Many of these are PERFECT for my kindergarten class! Thank you so much!

Hi Lisa, happy to hear it!

These ideas helped me so much! Just got hired as support staff at an elementary school, and I needed ways to keep the kids from getting bored. Thanks!

Glad to hear you found the ideas useful, that’s what my blog is all about.

Wow these games are great.I can’t wait to go & teach my pupils tomorrow.Thank you very much.

You’ve got some great ideas here! My kindy class LOVE “Fetch!”

Hi Lisa, good to hear you’ve found the ideas useful! Sign up to follow my blog and get my newest ideas too.

Thanks so much for these ideas! I am working in a school with minimal equipment so these suggestions will really help. ?

Hi Hena, glad to hear they’ve been of use to you. Thanks for the comment.

Your ideas inspired me to think of bowling tag. The children would run from one wall to the other while one student tries to hit them by rolling a yoga ball across the floor. This is for K/1 grade for my homeschool co-op. Thanks for your help!

Glad you liked the ideas, and thanks for the comment!

Thank you for the ideas:) I am volunteering at my childs school where there is no gym teacher. I am not in any way a gym teacher but they don’t care as long as we are having fun! They get so excited to see me coming and they love when I incorporate different types of pranayama ( yoga breathing techniques). I taught yoga to adults so it is fun to see how the children love to get happy on breath too:) Your website is inspiring me to think outside the box of traditional gym class. Thanks again, next step is parachute games!

Hi Andrea, brilliant to hear you’re making the lessons fun! Thanks for the comment.

love your games, and have tried most of them with my P1/2 infant class in Scotland. Thank you for your great ideas 🙂

Thanks for the feedback, always glad to hear from someone who has used the games with their class!

Love your blog of games. Thanks so much. It’s always nice to get new ideas to plant in my garden of PE teaching.

Hi Maureen, I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment. Always happy to hear from someone who uses the activities!

I was looking for something to entertain my three granddaughters at the wellness center gym.. several of them will be great fun!! Thanks to you!!

Hi Linda, great to hear the activities have proved useful!

wow this is great. My reception class will now have fun during the p.e lessons in kenya

Hi Lydia, glad to hear from you; you’re the first person I’ve heard from using my ideas in Africa!

Thank you so much for your wonderful ideas, I am using them in India 🙂

Hi Jessica, thanks for posting! India’s a new one, great news.

Thanks for posting this! I have been teaching kindergarten for about 10 years now. Never taught PE until this year. I was kind of short on ideas. This really helped. Thanks!

Have you ever tried……….

Caterpillar Races

All that is needed is a few balls. Students line up in groups of 4 or 5. The ball starts at the front of the group. Students pass the ball to the back. When the student in the back has the ball he runs to the front. Keep doing this until they get to the finish line.

Circle Game

Students hold hands and get in a circle. Give the students simple commands like…… big big big! (students make the circle bigger) small small small! (students make the circle smaller) sit down sit down! round and round! (students walk around in a circle holding hands) up up up, down down down! (holding hands students reach up and all the way down) spin spin spin! The list goes on.

Feel free to email me at ajarnron(at)yahoo.com. I have a few more PE games and activities. I would love to share more ideas that you could in turn share with everyone. Don’t really have time to start my own blog.

Thanks Again. Ron

Hi Ron, good to hear you found the ideas useful. I’ve emailed you about more ideas that I can stick on the blog. That circle game one sounds right up my street, good fun and simple to explain.

Reblogged this on Reshaping Thoughts .

Hello again from Thailand! At my current school we have a lot of moveable playground equipment. Slides and what not. I use these along with what ever I can find around the school, cones, small boxes, thick mats, etc. I use all of these things to create an obstacle course for the kids. I have them slide down the slide, jump over the boxes, zig-zag around the cones, roll on the mats, and crawl under a table, and balance on a bench. It works great! You can switch it up. The kids never get tired of doing it! Well they will get tired but never bored!

Another good one if you have a large TV or Projector that you can use. Check youtube for Yoga for kids. Tons of videos on their. The Students love it!

One more for today. I call it chair ball. You will need 2 baskets or boxes, lots of small plastics balls like you find in a ball room for kids. Most schools will have these. If not you can use just about anything really. Toys, blocks, etc. I usually do teams of boys vs. girls. It gets them really pumped up. One student from each team is on opposite sides with the basket standing on a chair. Pick 2-5 students from each team. Throw the objects in the middle. Students have to grab the objects one by one and put them in the baskets. Team with the most objects wins! Awesome!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this. I started a homeschool cooperative and have 18 kids coming tomorrow on our first day. It has been A LOT of work and I haven’t had a lot of time to plan for the last hour of co-op when we are in the gym. This post saved my life and your wonderful tips make me feel confident I can pull it off. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

Thanks for the comment, really glad to hear that you found the ideas useful! Good luck with the kids!

Your suggestions have been so helpful to me!!! Thank you thank you thank you! I’m teaching a coop group of K-2 graders and I have lots of heart but no experience. So relieved and excited to give these a try. Your ideas are perfect because I have little to no money to spend on equipment. Your ideas give me time to figure out what I really would like to purchase if any. Guess I need a whistle!

Hey PEmom, Thanks for commenting. Glad to hear you liked the ideas!

I would love to add a game that I play with my kindergarten class at the beginning of the school year. It’s called Fire and Ice (hot and cold). I use blue pool noodles (cut in half) for tagging games so kids don’t have to get close to each other to tag– which results in falling down, tripping etc. I use small red gator balls, kitten balls or bean bags for the FIRE. We all start out walking because they will crash if they run. The blue ICE tags a student and they stand “frozen” with their hands out in front of them like a bowl. People with the red ball will run over and place the ball gently in their “bowl” to melt them. Then that person can say Thank You and go find their own person to thaw. This fosters an environment of teamwork, observation skills, kindness. I demonstrate with 3 kids and even have them shiver when they are frozen. The kids who are the FIRE take such pride in being a helper or rescuer! After about a minute, we switch the taggers. I tell them up front not everyone will get the chance to be a tagger (ICE) but it’s more important to rescue anyway so you will all the the RED ball. I use 3-4 blue noodles and 3-4 red balls. I did your Tee Pee pencil today– loved it!

Great Ideas and thanks so much for sharing

Im actually teaching in Taiwan and have been volunteered as the go-to PE teacher. Anyway I can add something to your Tee-Pee Pencil Game.

You can add some multi-child formations: 2 kids form a motorbike (by just holding hands), three kids make a rowboat (2 hold hands around the third – who is in the boat), 4 make a car and so on. This way if you do want to use it elimination style, you can call an even number formation say ‘Motorbike’ when there is an odd number of kids and vice versa . That way ensuring that you eliminate one child in each round.

I like the multi-child option! I’ll add it in soon.

Thanks, Michael

Thank you so much for sharing! The kids loved these activities.

Dodgeball with soft, round dog toys works well with 6/7 year olds.

Park Ranger – all kids have little cards – either snakes, birds, or cats and either red, yellow, green, or blue – to allow for larger class sizes. Two kids in the middle are Park Rangers. Teacher calls out gender, color, animal, class name, etc. – Call out everyone when numbers get small. Rangers tap children running across.

Monster Island – works best with kindergarten jungle gym, but it’s basically an obstacle course. Hot dog rolls, slither like a snake, hopscotch, backwards walk, through the jungle gym and down the slide, etc. Colored tape can map out the route. If you have a large mat, then it can be used as a lifeboat. Children would leap from the previous article to the mat. All kids have to stay on the mat until everyone has caught up. Teacher models how to go through. Children begin with the ominous warning monsters are coming and they have to traverse the route quickly. Chairs could be set in rows to mimic a spaceship or helicopter that would take them away from Monster Island.

These games seem really fun. Thank you so much….I would like to sign up with your blog to get more ideas.

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50 Fun PE Games Your Students Will Love

by Sara Ipatenco

Kids naturally love PE because it’s a time to be active and play fun games. An essential part of the school day, PE teaches kids the life skill of getting regular exercise. While playing the same old games over and over again can get a bit boring, incorporating a wide variety of games into your lesson plans helps keep PE fun and engaging. With a few PE staples, such as foam balls, hula hoops, and bean bags, your students will be having fun in no time! Here are 50 PE games to get you started.

1. Blob tag

Choose one child to be “it.” As that child tags other children, they link arms or hold hands to create a “blob.” The game continues until the blob has tagged everyone in the game.

2. Chain tag

This is kind of like blob tag, but instead of forming a blob, students must link arms to form a chain.

3. Bean bag balance

Give each student a bean bag. Ask the students to balance their bean bags on various parts of their body, such as their foot or knee. See how long the students can balance before they move off their bean bag falls. Give increasingly hard challenges as you go, such as on the shoulder or the thumb.

4. Clap and catch

Arrange your class into a large circle. Give one player the ball and have them get ready to toss it. Players must clap before they catch the ball. If a student doesn’t clap or drop the ball, they are out.

5. Animal races

Line your PE class up at one end of the gym or playing field for this game. Call out an animal, such as a cheetah or a frog, and students have to race to the other end, running like that animal.

This is another racing game that starts with lining your students up on one end of the playing field. Every time you yell, “jump,” students jump as far as they can. Repeat until the winning player reaches the end of the field or until the whole class finishes.

7. Bridge tag

This game starts as regular tag, but each time a student is tagged he must kneel and form a bridge. Players can rejoin the game when another player crawls under their bridge, which frees them.

8. Crab soccer

This game follows the rules of traditional soccer, but players crab walk instead of regular running.

9. Step back

Put your class into teams of two. Have them stand about three feet apart and roll a hula hoop to each other. Once the other person catches the hula hoop, they must take a large step backward and continue playing. As they get further apart, the game gets more challenging.

10. Freeze tag

This is another tag game that starts out like traditional tag. However, once a student is tagged, they are “frozen” until another player tags them. They can then rejoin the game. The last player to be frozen gets to be “it” on the next round.

11. Parachute change

Arrange your students around a large parachute. Call out things like colors the students are wearing or birthday months. Any player who fits the category you call out has to run under the parachute and switch places with someone else.

12. Parachute volleyball

Have your students arrange themselves around a parachute. One half of the parachute is team A while the other half is team B. Put a beach ball in the middle of the parachute. The objective is to launch the ball off the parachute and over the heads of the opposing team, which scores one point.

13. Banana tag

Spread your students around the play area and choose two kids to be “it.” They are the monkeys. When they tag another student, he turns into a banana and must put both arms straight up above his head. Other players can free the “bananas” by peeling them, which means they pull down one arm and then the other arm.

14. Teacher island

This PE game includes the teacher! Stand on a stool and have a bunch of cones or balls handy. Start throwing them toward the students, who are spread out around you. If a student fails to make a catch, he is out. Play continues until only one student is left.

15. Throw archery

Set up five jump ropes at various distances from where your students will stand. Give them bean bags and have them try to get them past the different jump ropes. The further away the jump rope, the more points the student gets. For example, getting the bean bag past the first jump rope is worth ten points while getting it past the last jump rope is worth fifty points.

16. Crazy moves

Set out several mats around the play area. Start calling out numbers and that number of kids need to find a mat and stand on it together as fast as they can. Any student who doesn’t find a mat is out.

17. Rob the nest

Set up the game by putting a hula hoop (nest) in each corner of the play area and ten or more basketballs in the middle of the play area. Divide the class into 4 teams, one at each hula hoop. Students take turns getting a basketball and dribbling it to their hoop. Any time you blow the whistle, students can steal basketballs from other nests. The winner of each round is the one with the most basketballs when you blow the whistle a second time.

18. Tic-Tac-Throw

Set up nine hula hoops in a 3×3 grid, like a tic-tac-toe board. Make enough grids so you can divide your class into teams of two. Give the teams two different colors of bean bags. The students will throw the bean bags into the hula hoops trying to get three in a row.

19. Bounce into buckets

Set up enough buckets in the middle of the play area that there is one for each group of two kids. At each bucket, have one student on each side. The kids take turns trying to bounce balls into the buckets. Make it more challenging by having the students back up further from the bucket as they go.

20. Backward soccer

Play this game just like you would regular soccer but turn the soccer goals around backward.

21. Speed ball

This PE game combines basketball and soccer. Divide your students into two teams and give them a rubber ball to play with. Play starts with students passing the ball to other players on their team. There is no bounce passing in this game. If the ball hits the floor, the game switches to soccer.

22. Pool noodle archery

Have one student hold up a hula hoop while another child tries to launch pool noodles through the hoop. Once a student gets a noodle through, the players switch places.

23. Kangaroos and Crocs

Divide your class into two teams – one team will be kangaroos and the other team will be crocs. Have the teams line up back-to-back in the middle of the play area. Call out one of the animals. That team will try to make it to the end of the play area without getting tagged by the other team. Anyone tagged sits down and is out. Play continues with additional rounds.

24. Noodle hockey

Play a traditional PE game of court hockey but use pool noodles and a small plastic ball instead of hockey sticks and a puck.

25. Continuity ball

Have your students spread out in the play area. Give them one beach ball and challenge them to keep it from hitting the ground. Gradually add more beach balls until you have several going at the same time.

26. Birds on a branch

Set up two balance beams and split the class into two teams. Have the teams line up on the balance beams and call out directions, such as “stand on one foot” or “put your arms above your head.” If a student falls off the beam, he is out. The winning team is the one who keeps the most “birds” on their branch.

27. Shark zone

Set up mats, hula hoops, and other PE equipment around the gym. Use items that students can stand on or inside of. These are shark-free zones. Identify one or two students as sharks. When you say go, players will run around the gym standing on mats or inside hula hoops to stay away from the sharks. If a student fails to get to a safe area before being tagged, they are out.

28. Cats and mice

Give each student a scarf – one color for cats and one color for mice. Have them tuck the scarves into their back pockets or waistband as tails. Cats will chase mice and mice will chase cats. If the opposite team catches a tail, they keep it. The winning team is the one who steals all the tails first.

29. Tunnels and trains

Choose two students to start out as trains. The rest of the students put their hands and feet on the floor creating a tunnel with their bodies. The trains must crawl through the tunnels. When a train goes through the tunnel, that student joins the tunnel at the front and the next student at the back of the tunnel turns into a train. Play continues until all students have become trains.

30. Noisy running

Explain to students that you will be playing music and the louder the music gets the faster they need to run around the play area. As you turn down the volume, they will slow their running.

31. Freeze dance

Play some upbeat dance music and encourage students to free dance. When you stop the music, they must freeze. Any student who doesn’t freeze is out.

32. Eight dance

Choose one student to start the game. Turn on some upbeat music and have the student demonstrate any move they want, such as jumping or spinning in circles. The rest of the students must copy the move eight times. Let all the children have a turn to be the instructor.

33. British bulldogs

Choose one student to be the bulldog. He stands in the middle of the play area. The rest of the players try to get past the bulldog without getting tagged.

34. Body part tag

This game is played like traditional tag except that whatever body part gets tagged cannot be used anymore. If a student gets tagged on the arm, they cannot use their arm anymore. If he gets tagged on the leg, he has to hop on the other leg.

35. Crab Kickball

This game is played just like traditional kickball except that students must walk and play in the crab walk position.

36. Broom hockey

This is a PE game played like regular hockey except students use brooms instead of hockey sticks.

37. Hop in a hoop

Lay out several hula hoops in the play area. Have students run around the hoops while you play music. When you stop the music, students must hop into a hula hoop – one student per hoop. Students who don’t have a hoop are out.

38. Hot potato

Arrange your students in a circle and give them a small ball. They will pass the ball around the circle until you blow the whistle. The student holding the ball when the whistle blows is out.

39. Scooter tag

This PE game is played just like traditional tag except students must play by sitting on and moving around on scooters.

40. Bucketball

This game is played just like regular basketball except students use a bucket instead of the usual basketball hoop.

Break your class into small teams of 5 or 6 players. Give one student from each group a jump rope. That student will spin the jump rope on the ground while the other members of the group jump over it. If the “snake” touches a student, they are out.

42. Shipwreck or Captain Says

This is a game that puts a twist on the traditional “Simon Says.” Line your students up and start calling out commands that have to do with ships and pirates, such as “swab the deck” or “walk the plank.” Instead of saying “Simon says,” you’ll say, “Captain says.”

43. Hula hoop tag

This is another version of traditional tag. Students follow the same rules as regular tag, but they must spin a hula hoop while they run around.

44. Museum guard

This game is like freeze tag. Students will tiptoe silently around the play area pretending to sneak around a museum. When you call out “museum guard” they must freeze. Students who don’t freeze are out.

45. Mirror, Mirror

Divide your class into teams of two. Have them stand facing each other. One person does a move, and the other students must copy the move. Continue playing, encouraging students to make the movements harder and more complicated.

46. Backward tag

Play this game just like regular tag except students can only walk or run backward during play.

47. Alligators in the swamp

Choose several students to be alligators and have them lay on their stomachs in the middle of the play area. Spread them out so there are several feet between each alligator. The rest of the class starts on one end of the play area and has to try to get past the alligators. If an alligator tags them, they are out.

48. Sleeping baby

Students run around the play area until they hear the teacher yell, “sleeping baby.” At this point, all the kids drop to the floor and pretend to be sleeping. The last student to “fall asleep” is out.

49. Garbage tag

Wad up a bunch of pieces of paper to be the garbage. Choose one student to be “it.” That person starts to throw the garbage at the other players. Any player hit with a piece of garbage is out.

50. Lighthouse and ships

Place several obstacles around the gym, such as cones or mats. Students will close their eyes and pretend to be ships trying to get to the lighthouse. If they run into one of the obstacles, their ship is sunk and they are out.

PE class is about to get so much more fun for your students! Any of these games are sure to make PE their favorite class of the day.

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The Best Kinder PE Games

Kindergarteners are still developing important life skills. As a PE teacher, you have a unique opportunity to help your students develop gross motor skills and fine motor skills. However, planning a successful PE class can be stressful, especially when you're unsure what to expect. Here's what you need to know about planning kinder PE games.    

Establishing Appropriate Expectations for Kinder Kids 

The average kindergartener is five years old. Kindergarten classes are the first form of official schooling for most children, although some parents may choose to enroll their kids in preschool. A five-year-old child has not yet entered the more mature phases of childhood associated with advanced learning skills and may still struggle to move on from their toddler phase. Most five-year-old children have more self-control than a toddler and have the ability to successfully sit through a lesson from a teacher. However, they are still learning to control their emotions and are prone to emotional outbreaks. Five-year-old children may still cry about spilling their milk on the table or not getting the snack they wanted at lunchtime.  

The physical development of a five-year-old is vastly different from the teetering habits of a toddler. Most toddlers are still learning to walk and run and struggle with fine motor movements. A five-year-old child is learning to perfect their fine motor skills and can run and jump with better coordination. Some five-year-olds will begin losing their chubby cheeks and gain more muscle than fat. On this note, it's important to remember that all children grow and develop at different stages. Just because the average five-year-old child will begin losing their chubby cheeks doesn't mean that every child will develop at the same time. If your child seems to be behind the other children, do not remark on their developmental stage. Mentioning the child's differences can make the child develop deep-seated insecurities.  

Keeping in mind that each child is different and that you should regularly check with your local health provider to ensure that your child is healthy, here are typical health and growth milestones for kindergarteners: 

• Gaining four to five pounds 
• Growing two to three inches 
• Achieving 20/20 vision 

Additionally, most kindergarteners will achieve certain physical milestones that define locomotor skill. Mainly, kindergarteners will develop gross motor skills and fine motor skills. The typical milestones for five-year-old children are: 

• Gain better coordination in hopping, skipping, running, and jumping 
• Develop better balance 
• Gain ability to handle buttons and zippers 
• Gain ability to handle forks, knives, and spoons 
• Less dependent on parents   
• Stands on one foot for ten seconds 

The emotional development in a five-year-old child is also significant, though it might not be as obvious as the motor skills. Many five-year-old children are people pleasers and have a desire to be liked by the people around them. They are more likely to listen to their parents and complete tasks in exchange for praise and recognition. However, they are also still young children and are prone to extreme emotional outbursts. Tantrums are common in kindergarteners, and teachers should be ready to deal with emotional outbursts. Young children also learn to articulate themselves and their feelings (though this can sometimes be contradictory). Five-year-olds will also feel empathy for the people around them and might feel sad when they see someone else feeling sad. The common key emotional milestones are: 

• Separate from primary caregiver without feeling extreme anxiety 
• Play and share with other children 
• Attend to an adult-directed task for at least five minutes 
• Feel empathy for those around them 

Kinder kids will begin making social milestones. Five-year-old kids will begin initiating relationships with other children and make new friends. They will form relationships with those who are outside the immediate familial relationships. They will begin having independent relationships. However, some kids this age may begin bullying if the parents don't introduce bullying prevention. Additionally, kids who are being bullied will not know how to respond, meaning that parents should take an active role in their child's social life to ensure that they aren't being bullied by any of the other students. Teachers should also watch for signs of bullying in their classrooms and call out bullying before it becomes an issue in their classroom. The important social milestones are: 

• Desire to please family and friends 
• Desire to follow rules
• Desire to fit in with their friends 

Five-year-olds will begin making cognitive progress and learn the difference between "right" and "wrong." Although their understanding of right and wrong will not fully define until they are around eight years old, parents can expect their kindergarteners to know basic morality principles. They will expand their language and better understand ideas such as "something is on top of the box," compared to "something is next to the box." The most common cognitive milestones are: 

• Ability to count to ten 
• Expanded oral and vocal vocabulary 
• Enjoys singing, dancing, and playing 
• Enjoys playing alone with friends 
• Can tell what's real and what's pretend 

According to the  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , parents and teachers should be concerned if their five-year-old is exhibiting unusual behavior. Unusual behavior may be an early determiner for cognitive issues or the need for early professional counseling. Contact your local health provider if you see: 

• Doesn't show a wide range of emotions
• Shows extreme behavior (unusually fearful, aggressive, shy, or sad)
• Unusually withdrawn and not active
• Is easily distracted, has trouble focusing on one activity for more than 5 minutes
• Doesn't respond to people, or responds only superficially
• Can't tell what's real and what's make-believe
• Doesn't play a variety of games and activities
• Can't give first and last name
• Doesn't use plurals or past tense properly
• Doesn't talk about daily activities or experiences
• Doesn't draw pictures
• Can't brush teeth, wash and dry hands, or get undressed without help
• Loses skills they once had

Classroom teachers and physical education teachers should keep these important milestones in mind when creating lessons for their students. If a teacher tries to push their students further than reasonable, it could frustrate the kids and result in emotional outbursts. However, teachers should always push their students to help to develop future milestones.    

Kindergarten PE teachers have a unique ability to help their students form future milestones. The goal of kindergarten PE is to get the kids moving and enjoying themselves while they learn to love PE class. If a PE teacher can teach young kids to love exercise at an early age, the kids will have an easier time later in life. As a PE teacher, you help create the foundation of a healthy future for your students.  

PE teachers should not expect more than their students than the average milestone. If a child excels, be proud of the excelling student; however, do not tell the other children to act like the excelling student. Putting down other children can create insecurities that could follow them throughout the rest of their lives. Instead, PE teachers should focus on encouragement and help to make exercise as fun and entertaining as possible, ensuring that exercise becomes an important part of their lives. 

How to Have a Successful First Week

The first week of class for kindergarten PE teachers can often be the most difficult. Because kindergarteners are the youngest class that takes PE courses, teachers may have trouble navigating the new scene. During the first week, PE teachers should focus less on physical exercise and more on getting to know their students. The first week should include icebreakers,  get-to-know-you games for kindergarteners , and other activities that show your students' personalities and limitations.  

PE teachers should also focus on setting up their expectations for their students. This includes setting up assigned seating, clarifying gym rules, and establishing classroom behavior. For the first week, gym teachers should be very easy going and shouldn't push the rules too hard. Make it clear that you're both a teacher and a friend in order to encourage the students to trust and respect you. For some kindergarteners, kindergarten is their first exposure to a classroom. Studies have shown that 70 percent of four-year-olds attend preschool and 40 percent of three-year-olds attend preschool. This means that 30 percent of kids have no prior school exposure other than their kindergarten class. Because a child's background is not obvious, never assume that the kids should already know how a gym class should work.  

When exercising in the first week, make sure that all the exercises are focused on games that encourage creativity and friendship. Rather than making the five-year-old kids run and jump, focus more on low-impact activities. As the kids arrive at the gym, encourage them to participate in an instant activity like stretching. While stretching, allow the kids to talk to one another. When you call out "Home Base," have all the kids run to their assigned spot. This helps the kids to listen and socialize at the same time.  

Above all, remember that you're working with five-year-old children. Don't expect too much from them, and remember to be extremely patient. There will be many times where the kids don't listen or don't realize what you're asking of them. Work within reasonable expectations and never yell at them for doing something wrong. If you are having trouble with a child, talk to their parents rather than address it with the child. Your responsibility as a kindergarten PE teacher is to help the child love to exercise. If the child is yelled at or scolded in front of peers, it could cause the child to become withdrawn and upset during class, scaring their emotional growth. 

Top Ten Best Games for Kindergarten 

To make class fun and entertaining for young kids, PE teachers should encourage fun and exciting games. To help students get the most out of the experience, try introducing these ten activities to your class. Of course, monitor your students and use your personal discretion to determine which activities are right for your class. Here are ten activities that will make your students love coming to PE class. 

• Funny Running

One of the best games for kindergarten kids is Funny Running. Funny Running is an easy game to play that is similar to Simon Says but requires more exercise. To play, line up the students on one side of the gym and point out a destination (the other side of the gymnasium). Then, give the instruction to run. The first to make it to the other side of the gym wins. However, there's one important twist; they have to run in a specific way. The PE teacher calls out, "Run like a robot!" or "Run like a turtle!" and the kids must immediately change their run to act like that thing. You can also take out the competitive edge to the game so that no one wins when they reach the other side of the gym. Taking out the competitive edge helps the kids focus more on running as you specify rather than being the fastest.   

While playing Funny Running, make sure to point out kids who are doing well in their form. Rather than saying, "Good job!" compliment their form. Say, "Jessica's robot-run looks just like a robot!" Complementing the kids will help them to try harder and enjoy themselves better. They will feel proud of their effort. 

• Simon Says  

Simon Says is a great PE game for when you have limited space. Additionally, not every lesson plan should involve heavy activity. If every PE class exhausts the students, they might not enjoy it as much as you want them to. In order to encourage a balanced physical education, include games that aren't as physically demanding. Simon Says is the perfect game for an off-day that lets the kids rest from running, jumping, and playing since young kids might not understand their bodies' limitations yet.  

Here's  how to play Simon Says : 

"One person is designated Simon, and the others are the players. Standing in front of the group, Simon tells players what they must do. However, the players must only obey commands that begin with the words 'Simon Says.' If Simon says, 'Simon says touch your nose,' then players must touch their nose. But, if Simon simply says, 'jump,' without first saying 'Simon says,' players must not jump. Those that do jump are out." 

Simon Says helps the young kids to learn listening skills and pick up on small verbal cues. It's a great game that combines movement, listening, and intelligence. When one of the kids wins the game, you can keep playing by having them host the next round of Simon Says. 

The game Jump Jump is a combination between Simon Says and Funny Running. The game's goal is to get to the other side of the gymnasium as quickly as possible; however, the steps and movements are limited by the PE teacher. The PE teacher can shout, "One Jump!" and all the kinder kids take one jump towards the opposite wall. If a kid tries to do several jumps when you specified "one," they are out of the game (which helps to keep the young kids honest).  

There's a twist to the game that helps keep the kids from becoming too eager as they cross the gymnasium. If the PE teacher shouts, "Monster!" all the kids have to turn around and run back to the safe wall. If the PE teacher can tag any of the kids, they are out. This twist makes the game slightly more challenging because the kids want to make it to the winning wall, but every step takes them closer to the monster. 

The game called "Monster" has several different names. It is also called Sharks and Minnows, and Zombie Tag. For a kinder PE lesson, the name "Monster" is the most fitting. To play Monster, line up all the kids on one side of the gymnasium. Tell them that the goal is to make it to the opposite side and choose one kid to start as the monster. The monster will stand in the middle of the gym and wait. The PE teacher blows the whistle, and all the kids will run straight towards the monster. As the kids run by, the monster will try to tag as many people as possible (which can be harder than it sounds). After everyone who wasn't tagged makes it to the winning wall, the tagged kids become new monsters, joining the original monster in the middle of the gym. Then, the round starts again. With every round, the line of monsters increases until there are more monsters than kids. When the final person is tagged, the game is over. 

Monster is a fun game for kindergarten kids because it encourages them to run and have fun. It introduces them to the idea of running back and forth across the gym, but they don't realize that they are running. Monster is one of the best games to introduce physical exercise without overdoing it. 

• Simple Sports 

You can entertain young kids by getting out a variety of simple sports . In different areas of the gym, set up a variety of easy sports. Some great sport ideas for young kids are: 

• Hacky Sack. The game hacky sack only needs a few hacky sacks. The kids can practice throwing them back and forth or hitting them on their shoes and try to juggle them like a soccer ball.  
• 9 Square. 9 Square is a variation of four square but allows more kids to participate. The court can be modified to fit the scenario, making it a perfect game for kinder kids.  
• Tag. At the end of the day, tag is a classic game that you can always introduce to your kindergarten class. Most kids already have a concept of how to play tag and will be excited when you mentioned playing tag during class. 
•  Hula Hoop. Young kids love to hula hoop. Hula hoop helps young kids to develop essential motor skills and build muscle memory. It's a great physical activity for kinder PE. 
• Frisbee. Not all kinder-age kids will be able to play frisbee successfully. However, learning how to throw a frisbee at a young age can ensure that kids learn to build muscle memory that will help them later in life.   
• Jump Rope. Jump rope is an active way to get the kids running, jumping, and having fun with each other. 

When teaching how to play sports, your goal should be teaching each child a new skill. Sports in kindergarten shouldn't be competitive or difficult. PE teachers should focus on the needs and abilities of their students. If students are having problems with a game, don't force it. Instead, introduce an easier way to play. 

• Obstacle Course

Obstacle courses are a fun way to get the kids engaged in an activity. An obstacle course is when the kids have to navigate a series of obstacles to get to the other side. Here are some ideas for your obstacle course: 

• Crawl under or over a row of chairs.
• Jump into hula hoops that are set up in a line. 
• Walk on a balance beam. 
• Climb over a large bean bag. 
• Throw a beanbag into a basket. 
• Somersault from one point to another.  

Obstacle courses ensure that kids have fun and use their imagination. Obstacle courses are fun because you can repeat them several times and have them walk through the course in different ways. For example, you could tell them, "Run through the obstacle course like a mouse."

• Scavenger Hunt 

For an easy activity, set up a scavenger hunt during the PE class. Before class starts, place a bunch of items around the gymnasium. Then, write on a board which items the kids need to find. This reminds the kids of Easter egg hunts and ensures that they're engaged and running around the gym without realizing that they're engaging in quality physical education. Scavenger hunts are fairly easy to set up and are the perfect activity for keeping the students happy. 

• Sidewalk Chalk  

All kinder students love playing with chalk. Chalk can be used on sidewalks and easily washed off at the end of the day. As an easy off-day for the students, hand out buckets of chalk and lead them to an empty sidewalk within the school grounds. Then, have the kids have fun writing and drawing on the sidewalk, letting their imaginations run wild. Most kindergarten-age kids can draw on the sidewalk for hours.  

Drawing with chalk has a wide variety of  benefits for young kids : 

• While playing with sidewalk chalk, kids develop color recognition, sorting, and matching skills. 
• Playing with sidewalk chalk can be one of your child's first experiences with coloring and writing.
• By allowing them to color and create their own designs with sidewalk chalk, they begin to love art and appreciate its importance. 

Introduce chalk drawing to your PE class to help them learn important skills. Sidewalk chalk gets the kids out into the air and out of the gymnasium. 

• Secret Spy 

Secret Spy involves physical activity and memory, which helps the kids to practice remembering details about the room that they are in. Learning this skill can help them later in life. Here's how to play Secret Spy. First, secretly choose one child to be the secret spy. Then, have all the kids run to a corner of the room. After everyone is in a corner, tell the kids to turn around and look at the other corners of the room. The kids should try and remember who is in the other corners of the room. After 30 seconds, the PE teacher blows the whistle, and the kids need to leave their corner and run to the middle of the room. After another 30 seconds of running around, they all return back to their original corner, except for the secret spy. The secret spy chooses a new corner of the room (and is the only one to change positions). The rest of the kids have to try and guess who left their corner. If they can't remember, you play another round. The secret spy tries to stay undetected for as long as possible.  

Secret Spy is a fun game for kids of all ages; however, it's the perfect PE activity for kinder kids because it teaches them locomotor skills while also helping them to practice their spatial awareness. 

• Playground Activity

A physical education teacher should make sure that their students are having fun. Rather than organizing an activity, let the kids have supervised activity on the playground. The kids will get plenty of exercise running around and playing on the equipment, even if it's not an organized activity. PE teachers don't have to organize every activity; sometimes, the best activity for a kindergartner is just to play with their friends in a way that helps them to build muscular endurance. Letting the kids simply enjoy playing on the playground will encourage the kindergarteners to form healthy habits and learn better fitness habits. 

Ian Boggess

About the author.

Ian has been with Castle Sports for the last 4 years. He loves designing games for fitness and activity that get the whole group involved.

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Fun Kindergarten PE Games With No Equipment

Kindergarten PE games play a crucial role in a young student’s physical development journey.  Fundamental movement skills (including running, jumping, balancing, throwing and catching) should be the focus of kindergarten PE .  These skills are best developed between the ages of 3 and 8 and form the basis for both PE enjoyment and leading life-long healthy lifestyles. 

The equipment you need for PE lessons will vary depending on the focus –  gymnastics , for example, will look very different to an outdoor  soccer lesson .

But what if there’s no equipment available?

Kindergarten PE games with no equipment

The ever-changing nature of school timetables means that we often find ourselves teaching kindergarten PE when we weren’t expecting to.  Or, the PE store key is missing and we’ve been left to deliver a PE lesson with no equipment. 

But don’t panic! We’ve got your back – with our Top 5 kindergarten PE games with no equipment.  All you need is space and plenty of energy!

1. The Atom Game

This activity, found in our  quick games  is always a popular warm up activity.  Ask the students to move around an area – keep changing the way they move – walking, jogging, skipping and so on.  After about half a minute call out a number.  Students must get into groups of that number as quickly as possible.  Any children not in a group, or the last to form a group, must perform a fun forfeit such, as star jumps. 

2. Truck and Trailer

Children work in pairs, with one being the truck and the other being the trailer.  The truck leads the trailer around the area, and the trailer must follow, keeping as close as they can to the truck.  Encourage the leader to move in different directions, changing speed and type of movement. 

On the signal ‘change’ the children swap roles and the trailer now becomes the truck and leads their trailer around. 

3. DVD player

Tell your kindergarten students to imagine they are inside a giant TV, and you have the remote control.  The buttons you press for your TV determines what actions the children perform.  These button actions can be introduced one by one, depending on your class ability…

• Play – children walk/jog inside the ‘TV’.
• Pause – children must freeze, like a statue.
• Rewind – children move backwards.
• Fast Forward – children move quickly, taking little quick forward steps.
• Stop – children lay down on the floor.
• Mute – children must move around in silence.

4. Chain Tag

An exciting teamwork tag game, where one child starts as the tagger.  The children move around the area, and if the tagger tags someone, they must make a link (hold hands) and become taggers together.  Each time a child is tagged, they join the chain. 

For safety, after six students are in a chain, ask the next child tagged to start a new chain.  The last un-tagged child is the winner and becomes the start tagger for the next round.

5. Grasshoppers

This is one of our favorite activities, and always popular in kindergarten PE!  ‘Grasshoppers’ uses lots of imagination and fundamental movement skills!

Ask children to pretend they are grasshoppers, as if they are moving (jumping) around in the grass.  Call out different commands and the children must complete the command with an action…

• ‘Side to Side’ – jump side to side with feet together.
• ‘Over the Stone’ – jump up high as if jumping over a stone.
• ‘Lost Grasshoppers’ – hop once in all directions – forward, backward, left and right. 
• ‘Slow Motion’ – hop as slow as possible.
• ‘Snake’ – jump as fast as they can to get away from the snakes.
• ‘Grasshoppers’ – continue jumping around the area.

We hope these fun kindergarten PE games help as a ‘back-up’ for those times when you have no choice for delivering a kindergarten PE lesson with no equipment available. 

As always, if we can help with kindergarten PE lesson planning, or ideas for any Phys Ed activities,  just shout ! 

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• ‘Lost Grasshoppers’ – hop once in all directions - forward, backward, left and right. 

PE challenges for kindergartners, 1st, and 2nd graders

by: Jessica Kelmon | Updated: May 5, 2024

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Encourage your child to try one of these physical challenges before they sit down to work quietly and as a break between tasks that take concentration. Little kids will have fun doing these challenges — and they’ll find it easier to focus after they’ve got their wiggles out. In addition to being kid-friendly, exercises for kids are great for your child’s brain development .

20 great exercises for kids

The 5 ways to walk challenge, the jumping jacks challenge, the sprint-walk-skip-hop challenge, dance along and pop the corn, great big moose, clap stomp jump, be a butterfly and try yoga, play freeze dance, boom chicka boom, head, shoulders, knees, and toes, poppin’ bubbles, balancing act, do the gummy bear, starfish jumps, the windmill, jumping jelly beans, scissor kicks.

Check out these exercises for kids in third through fifth grade , too.

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18 Fun PE Games Needing No Equipment

Learning some fun PE games that don’t need equipment can be very useful for busy PE teachers, parents and child care professionals.  

They can help you provide the children you are caring for with fun activities that improve their fitness – without the need to pull out a cupboard full of equipment.  

PE games that don’t need equipment are also useful as impromptu activities at BBQs, parties, and trips away.   In this guide, I will be sharing 18 of the best PE games needing no equipment.

#1 –  Red Rover

This classic game is a lot of fun and easy to learn. In Red Rover, the participants are split into two teams of equal size that form two lines opposite each other. The members of each team will hold hands.

Each team will choose a player from the opposing team, saying “Red Rover Red Rover, send Peter over” to nominate Peter.  

Peter then has to let go of his team mates hands and attempt to run through the other team’s line, breaking their hold on each other.  

If he manages to do so, he will choose a player from the opposing team to join his team’s line.  

If Peter fails to break through the line, he will be forced to join the opposition team’s line.

The teams will alternate turns with the winner being the team that ends up with all of the players. Because all players will end up on the winning team, there are no losers in this game.

#2 – Captain’s Orders

Captain’s Orders is the perfect choice for a competitive group of kids who want to outdo each other.  

It can really test your student’s endurance levels and improve their fitness.   The game begins with one person being nominated to be the “Captain”. They must give out commands to the crew (the rest of the PE class).  

The Captain is limited to a set of commands, which you can alter if you have specific fitness objectives for the class to reach.   You could use a mixture of fun commands and physically demanding ones, like:

• Captain’s coming The crew must salute the captain and stand at attention
• Run to starboard/port The crew must run to the left (port) or right (starboard) sides of the room and touch the wall.
• Scrub the deck The crew must do 10 pushups
• Man the lifeboats The crew will perform 10 sit-ups while moving their arms like oars

You could have the crew members stand at attention after completing each task, which will make the more competitive students attempt to beat each other.   After a few minutes, change captains so a few children get a chance to be in command.

#3 – Relay running races

Running relay races are one of the simplest PE games needing no equipment.   Take the class outside and divide them into groups of 3 or 4 people each.  

Have them run 100 to 200 metres each before moving on to the next person in the relay.  

The mix-it-up relay race is fun variation of a normal relay running race.   In a mix-it-up race, each person in a relay team will perform a different action.  

The first person may have to skip, the second may have to run backwards, the third can run normally, and the fourth can hop.   This makes the race more exciting and enjoyable to watch.

#4 – Cops and Robbers (Team tag game)

There are many fun variations of tag that are useful for PE classes.   In “ Cops and Robbers ”, the PE class is divided into two teams — the cop team and the robber team.   The cops will pursue the robbers to tag them.  

Once a robber is tagged, they must go to a section of the playing area that has been nominated as the “jail”.

Robbers who have not been tagged can release their team mates by sneaking into the jail and tagging them.  

The game is complete when the cops have managed to round up all of the robbers.   Playing this game in an outdoor area with plenty of places to hide can make it even more enjoyable.  

#5 – Wheelbarrow races

This activity is very challenging and a lot of fun.   It’s best suited for fit students with decent upper body strength.   Split the group up into teams of two people that will stand on one side of the gymnasium.  

Each team will have one person go into plank position while the other grabs them by the ankles.    

When you say “Go” the person in plank position will go into pushup position while the person holding their ankles lifts them — forming a wheelbarrow .  

They will attempt to walk the wheelbarrow to the other side of the room.   Once there, they will touch the wall and switch roles before racing back.   The first team back to the starting point wins.

#6 – Duck Duck Goose

Duck Dusk Goose is a wonderful PE game for younger children.   The rules are simple and they will get plenty of exercise. Start by having the children sit in a circle facing the middle.  

Nominate one person as “it”.   They will walk around the circle touching each person on the shoulder and saying if they are a duck or a goose. If the person is nominated as being a duck, they remain seated.  

However, when someone is nominated as being a Goose, they must get up and chase “it” around the circle and tag them before they make it to the empty spot where the Goose was sitting.

#7 – Headstand/handstand practice

There are many advantages to teaching basic gymnastic techniques in the classroom. Headstands and handstands are a particularly useful gymnastic skill that can be practiced indoors on carpet or outdoors on grass.

Begin by teaching students correct headstand form — from getting into a correct starting position to eventually lifting their legs and completing the move.  

Once they understand the basics and know how to perform a headstand safely, have them split into pairs for practice.  

One student in each pair should be a “spotter” who helps the other student with their form and holds their legs. After they they have performed a few headstands have them switch roles.  

Move onto the handstands next, with groups of three (one person practicing and two to hold their legs).   If you are performing this activity outdoors, use trees to prevent students from overbalancing.  

#8 – High Jump Competition

This simple game is a great way for kids to have some fun while testing their athleticism.  

Have the children split into groups of two and stand next to a brick wall.   Have them jump as high as they can, touching the highest brick they can reach with their hand.   Each child gets 3 jumps.  

The highest jumper in each pair gets to go through to the next group, were they are paired off again and will get another three jumps.  

Eventually, you will discover who the highest jumper in the group is. You could also have a standing long jump competition to see who can jump the furthest.

#9 – British Bulldogs

British Bulldogs is a classic version of tag and one of the most popular equipment-free PE games.This game is also commonly known as “Bullrush” and “Cats and Mice”.

The game starts with all of the players at one end of a playing area.   A basketball court works well for small groups, while half a soccer or football field is better for larger groups.  

One player is selected to be “it”.   They will wait in the middle of the playing area.

When you say go, the children will attempt to run from one side of the playing area to the other without being tagged. If they are tagged, they will join the “It’ player in the centre of the playing area.

#10 – Simon Says

This is another classic game that young children love. It is easy to incorporate it into a PE class and everyone will know the rules.  

Start by either choosing a player to be “Simon” or by nominating yourself to play this role (usually better as you can then choose appropriate PE activities).

The students must follow the directives given by “Simon” as long as he starts each one with “Simon says…”.  

If a student accidentally carries out a directive that does not start with “Simon says…” they are out of the game.

You could mix up fun directives like “Simon says bark like a dog” with “Simon says, do 5 pushups” to get the PE component into the game.

The winner of the game is the last person who has successfully followed all of Simon’s orders. They get to become the next “Simon”.

#11 – Gymnastic Talent Show

Have the students split into groups of 3-4 children each and ask them to devise a short gymnastic routine that shows off their skills.  

Encourage them to do their best, but remind them to only perform stunts they are comfortable with.  

During the next 10 minutes, walk between the groups and help them plan their routines, suggesting gymnastic feats appropriate for their skill levels.   Remind them that they can help each other perform their rolls, handstands, and jumps.  

After the 10 minutes has expired, have the groups perform their routines for each other.  

#12 – Leap Frog Race

This fun PE game can be enjoyed by children of all ages.   Have your students split into groups of 2 (ideally, about the same height). Each group must race over a course that is 50 yards in length.  

However, they will have to cover the course by leap frogging each other!   If some kids have trouble jumping over their partner, let to do a couple of jump squats next to their partner instead.

To make the race more challenging, you could include “exercise pit stops” along the way.  

At each exercise pit stop, the children will have to perform a certain number of exercises. This could be star jumps, pushups, burpees, or whatever exercise you think the children would benefit from.

#13 – Light The Dynamite

This is a very challenging fitness game shared by Games Fitness .   The class is split into any number of teams that are the same size, with a minimum of 4 players per team.  

If a team doesn’t have the same number of players, you may have to alter how many repetitions of exercise they perform to keep the game fair.

Have each team sit lengthwise in a straight line, about one arms length from the next person in their team. So, if you have 5 teams, you should have five lines of people.  

You will give players in specific positions a designation of “fuse” or “dynamite” for each round.   For example, you might say players 1 and 2 in each group are fuses, followed by one dynamite player, one more fuse player, and a final dynamite player.  

There can be any number of fuse and dynamite players in each row.

The game starts with all players in a plank position.   When you say   “Light the dynamite!“, the first player is activated.

If they are a fuse player, they will immediately flip over and do 10 sit-ups then tag the next player in the line to activate them. The fuse player will hold a V-hold position after doing their sit-ups – which means they are an activated fuse.  

If the next player is a fuse, they will do their sit-ups also. However, if the next player is a dynamite player, all of the dynamite players in the team must jump up and do 20 burpees.

The first team to finish their chain of fuses and dynamite is the winner.

You can alter the types of exercises used and the number of repetitions for each exercise to make the game harder or easier.

#14 – I Spy, Fitness Version

I, Spy is a favourite game of children everywhere. One person will identify a physical object that is visible nearby and everyone else will have to guess what it is, using a series of questions.  

This   game combines I, Spy with 20 Questions to provide the kids in your PE class with an excellent workout.

Start by spotting an object in the area, like a basketball ring.   Going around the class, each student can ask one question about the item you are thinking of, or guess what it is.

If the answer to their question is “No” or their object guess is incorrect, the entire class must perform an exercise.

The number of repetitions they must perform increases every time they get the answer wrong.   So, the game might go like this:

PE Teacher: I’ve identified an object, your turn to guess – starting with Pete.

Pete: Is it an animal?

PE Teacher: No!   Do 3 pushups everyone.   Next question please Sam.

Sam: Is it alive?

PE Teacher: No!   Do 5 pushups everyone. Next question please Rebecca.

Rebecca: Is it made of wood?

PE Teacher: Yes!   It is partially made from wood.   Next question please Mark.

Mark: Is it a basketball ring?

PE Teacher: Well done.

#15 – Plankerpillar

This is a challenging game that will test the fitness of students and force them to work as a team.  

Divide the class into teams of at least 5 people each.   Have each team line up alongside each other in separate rows and nominate a finish line for the race.

When you say “Go”, all players will go into plank position except for the player furthest away from the finish line.  

They will move to the front of their team (closest to the finish line) and enter into plank position. Once they have started to plank, they will yell “go!” and the next player will move from the rear to the front.  

This is repeated until the group reaches the finish line.   As the effects of being in plank position begin to kick in, the team’s players will be yelling at everyone to hurry up!

#16 – Funny Running

This is a super fun PE game that young children will love. The objective of funny running is to get from one side of the gymnasium to the other while running like an animal.  

You can choose a different animal for each pass, including monkeys, snakes, horses, and kangaroos.  

You can also have the kids run across the gymnasium while performing a funny dance like the Floss Dance or teach them some disco moves .   Put some catch music on and they will have the time of their lives as they exercise!

#17 – Jump!

Jump is another simple game that is ideal for young children’s PE classes.   Have the kids line up against one wall of the gymnasium or on a boundary line of the sporting field.  

Then, simply yell out “1 Jump” and the kids can take   the biggest jump forward they can do from a standing start.   You can vary this by change the number of jumps you allow each time and sometimes throwing in “Steps”.

#18 – Elimination Running  

This exhausting game will help you discover which kids are the fastest in the class.

Have your students line up against a wall of the gymnasium.   When you say “Ready, Go!”, they will run to the other wall.   If you say “Ready, Go!” again while they are running towards the wall, they must turn back and reach the wall that they came from.  

If you blow your whistle, any student who hasn’t reached the wall will be eliminated.   Eventually, you will only have a small number of children left in the group.

I hope you found 18 Fun PE Games Needing No Equipment . Bookmark our website for more fun PE activities for kids .

A father to three young boys with a passion of homeschooling. I am always seeking new ways to help them learn, grow, and have fun. I have a passion for traveling with the family and exposing our kids to new experiences and life lessons.

Gym Games for Kindergarten

Michele is a writer who has been published both locally and internationally.

Learn about our Editorial Policy .

Gym games for kindergarten physical education (PE) classes should mix fun with basic motor skills. The Society of Health and Physical Educators , or SHAPE America, has set national P.E. standards for each grade level to help you identify which skills need to be included in your gym games for kindergarten.

Indoor Gym Games for Kindergarten

Indoor PE games for five- and-six-year-olds typically require a large open space like a gymnasium and standard kids' gym equipment such as bean bags, hula hoops, a variety of balls, cones, and music.

• 24 Fun & Inclusive PE Games High Schoolers Love
• 24 Fall Games & Activities for Kids That Are Perfect for Outdoor Fun

Bean Bag Hoopscotch

Gym games that use bean bags are great for this age group because if a child accidentally gets hit with a bean bag, it won't hurt much. This simple game is played like Hopscotch and focuses on the skills of hopping and maintaining momentary stillness in various positions.

• Set up a station with four bean bags and four hula hoops in a circular pattern, each with a position written on a piece of paper placed in them like one-leg stand, squat, downward dog, and crab.
• Set up a separate station that has one bean bag and is a Hopscotch course, or Hoopscotch course, using hula hoops that is at least 7-10 hoops long.
• On a turn, a student goes to the position station and tosses each bean bag until it lands inside a hoop. The order of the positions they land on is the order they use for the Hoopscotch course.
• The student then goes to the Hoopscotch course and tosses the bean bag. The hoop it lands in is how far they have to go.
• The student hops into the first hoop, lands, then strikes their first position and holds it for a count of five.
• The child continues hopping to hoops and holding positions until they reach the bean bag hoop.
• You can set up three of these stations and have kids race against each other or keep track of who goes the farthest correctly in the Hoopscotch course.

Drop, Catch, Throw Tag

The gym teacher and kids will work together to try keeping everyone in this unique game of tag rather than trying to get others out. Kids will practice dropping a ball, catching it before it bounces twice, and throwing it.

• To start, kids should run around the gym like they would in a game of tag while the teacher holds the ball.
• When the teacher yells out "tag," all kids stop and look at her.
• The teacher throws the ball to a student who must drop the ball and catch it before it bounces twice.
• The player throws the ball back to the teacher and the game continues until everyone has had a turn.
• Any child who does not catch or throw the ball properly is out of the game.

Musical Basketball Dribble

Kids will learn to dribble a basketball with one hand in this basketball activity for kids that resembles Musical Chairs. You'll need a basketball for each student and something to play music on.

• Have kids spread out around the gym so they have at least two arm lengths of space between them.
• Start the music and have kids start dribbling.
• When you stop the music, kids must immediately stop dribbling and sit on their ball where they stand.
• If a child has lost control of the ball when the music stops, they can't chase it down.
• Any child who can't/doesn't sit on their ball when the music stops is out.
• The last child left in the game is the winner.

Balloon Name Drop

Students will learn each other's names and how to volley a lightweight object upward in this easy game. You'll need one balloon to play.

• The teacher starts with the ball in the center of the gym while the kids run around him in a clockwise motion.
• The teacher demonstrates how to volley the balloon upward as high as he can while calling out the name of one student.
• That student runs to the center and catches the balloon before it hits the ground.
• The student then repeats the teacher's actions.
• Game play continues until the balloon hits the ground, then it starts over with the teacher in the center.
• As a class, see if you can get each person to volley the balloon once without it ever touching the ground.

Outdoor Gym Games for Kindergarten

Games for children to play outdoors in kindergarten feature large physical movements and throwing or kicking balls because the open space makes them safer games . Look for ways to utilize your natural surroundings or stationary outdoor equipment in gym games.

Over the Line Relay Race

Kindergartners learn how to throw overhand with their opposite foot forward in this simple relay race . You'll need a small ball for each teams, a starting line, a finish line, and five long ropes or a set of five jump ropes for each team. Set the lines and ropes horizontally in line with about ten feet between each rope. Split the class into teams of four.

• The first player on each team starts at the starting line, runs to Line 1 and throws the ball overhand to Player 2 (who is on Line 2) with their opposite foot forward and over Line 1.
• Player 2 runs to Line 3, then throws the ball overhand to Player 3 (who is on Line 4) with their opposite foot forward over Line 3.
• Player 3 runs to Line 5, throws the ball overhand to Player 4 (who is at the finish line) with their opposite foot forward over Line 5.
• Player 4 catches the ball and crosses the finish line.
• Any team member who does not throw the ball properly and within a foot of their next teammate, has to go back to where they started and try again.

Backwards Kickball

Make a standard game of kickball more fun when you play in reverse. Kids learn to kick a stationary ball with the inside of their foot in this wacky game. Set up a standard kickball field with home base, first base, second base, third base, and a pitcher's mound. Split the kids into two equal teams.

• The pitcher is actually the kicker in this game.
• The pitcher sets the ball down and kicks it toward home plate then runs to third base.
• Kids on the kicking team wait behind home plate as they normally would, but step up to the pitcher's mound on their turn to kick.
• Play with all the same rules as kickball only runners go from third base, to second base, to third base, then home to score a run.

Capture the Jump Rope

Set up a simple game of Capture the Flag where each team has a jump rope to protect rather than a flag. This game works best when you have several smaller teams and helps kids learn to jump rope. Each team tries to steal the jump ropes from all the other teams while keeping their own jump rope safe. Each team's jump rope should be within easy reach of others and not held by a team member. If a child steals another team's jump rope, they jump rope back to their "base" where their team's rope is being kept and jump rope using the opponent's rope for the remainder of the game at the base. The team who captures the most other jump ropes while keeping their own safe wins.

Kindergarten Gym Games With No Equipment

When you've got a limited budget or don't want to drag out a bunch of gym equipment, gym games for kindergarteners that don't use any equipment come in handy. These games can be played indoors or outdoors and make it easy for you to utilize your entire gym period without wasting time setting up or getting out supplies.

Red Rover Roll Over

Kids practice the gym standard of rolling sideways in narrow body positions in this take on the classic playground game Red Rover.

• Separate the group into two teams and have them stand in horizontal lines facing each other with about ten feet between them.
• On a turn one team calls out "Red Rover let (insert student name from opposite team) roll over."
• The student they name has to roll sideways from their position until they can reach out and touch one member of the opposite team.
• While the player is rolling, the team who called her counts down from 20 to 0.
• If the player touches an opposing team member before the count of zero, they join that team.
• The team with the most players at the end wins.

Simon Says Secret Dance Tag

Using locomotor skills in response to creative dancing led by the teacher can be a tough standard to incorporate. This fun mash-up of Simon Says and Tag will get the whole class grooving.

• Choose about 10 different dance moves to use in the game.
• Pick one student to be "It" and whisper one of these dance moves to them.
• Play a game of Simon Says using these dance moves as your directives.
• When you say "Simon says" to do the secret dance move you whispered to "It," they get to start trying to tag other kids until you state the next Simon directive.
• Any kids who get tagged also become "It" and you tell them all in secret what the next secret dance move is.

Follow the Pattern

Get ready for wild and crazy kids in this energetic game that incorporates balance activities with moving in patterns. Kids run around the space like they would for tag as the teacher calls out directives every few minutes. Each directive should include what type of movement to use and what pattern to use it in. For example, you might say "Hopping zig-zag!" and kids would have to hop in a zig-zag pattern around the room. If a child does the wrong movement or the wrong pattern, he is out. The last child in the game is the winner. Other actions and patterns to use include:

• Jumping and landing on two feet
• Jumping and landing on one foot
• Hopping on one foot
• Circle pattern
• Straight line forward
• Straight line backward

Get Kids Active in Gym

While gym class is meant to be fun and a place where kids can let off some of their energy, they are also supposed to be learning and practicing important skills to maintain physical health. Kindergarten physical education games and movement games can include competitive and non-competitive activities that feature a variety of physical skills and get kids excited about physical activity.

Kindergarten

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Hopscotch and Making Recess Better!

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Animal warm-up

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Warm-up dance for Christmastime

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Using stations/centers/rotations in PE class

A popular day in my PE class is when we do “PE centers” (or rotation

Kindergarten and spatial awareness

One of my main objectives with my kindergarten classes is to teach them spatial

Fire and Ice Tag game

My first and second graders love tag games.  This is a fun spin on frozen tag.

Scoops and Balls

scoops and balls This post has permanently been moved here.

“UNO” warm-up game

I pulled out an old set of “UNO” cards this week and used them for a

“Frozen” tag

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Free Lesson Plans

Spark sample lesson plans, the following pages include a collection of free spark physical education and physical activity lesson plans. if you’re searching for lesson plans based on inclusive, fun pe-pa games or innovative new ideas, click on one of the links below..

Snakes and Lizards Lesson Plan

Field Day Activity

Centipede Pass

Manipulatives Lesson

Partner Hoop Rolling

Parachute Switcheroo Lesson Plan

Catching and Throwing

Catching and Throwing Circuit Lesson Plan

Skill Cards

Skill Cards (Spanish)

Back to School

Back to School (Spanish)

Social and Emotional Learning

Kindness Definition Card and Lesson

Fitness Circuits

Body Composition Circuit Lesson Plan

Mirror, Mirror Lesson Plan

Performance Rubric Assessment

Choice Count (Pedometer Activity)

Cross the Pond

3-Catch Basketball Lesson Plan

SEL Definition and T-Chart Card

Flying Disc

Durango Boot

Zone and Player-to-Player Defenses

Radio Control

Mini Soccer

Soccer Student Self-Assessments

Track and Field

Sprints and Jumps Circuit

Skill Cards (English & Spanish)

Task Cards (Spanish)

Cooperatives

Spartan Adventure Race 201

Spartan Adventure Race 101

Group Fitness

Yoga Basic Training Lesson Plan

Yoga Content Cards

Yoga Content Cards (Spanish)

Basic Training Peer Checklist

Basic Training Peer Checklist (Spanish)

SFI Certification Tracking Sheet

iGames Lesson

iStrike/Field

Boulder Runner

I Got Your Back Lesson Plan

Practice Plan

Practice Plan (Spanish)

Fitness Fun

Fun and Fitness Circuit Lesson Plan

Fitness Station Cards

Fitness Station Cards (Spanish)

Fun Station Cards

Fun Station Cards (Spanish)

Great Games

Balanced Breakfast

Flying Disc Group Challenge Lesson Plan

Task Card (Spanish)

Building Blocks

Starting and Stopping Lesson Plan

Family Fun Activities

Family Fun Activities (Spanish)

Beanbag Bonanza

Station Play Lesson Plan

Station Cards

Have a Ball

Bounce and Catch

Recess Activities

Social studies.

Social Studies Fitness Relay

State Lists

State Lists (Spanish)

Fitness Relay State Cards

STEM Fitness Training

STEM Fitness Training Cards (English & Spanish)

Me Activities

ME: INSIDE (K-2)

ME: OUTSIDE (3-5)

We Activities

WE: INSIDE (3-5)

WE: OUTSIDE (K-2)

3 Activities

3: INSIDE (3-5)

3: OUTSIDE (K-2)

Sample Resources

Group Juggling

Object Control Skills-Underhand Throwing

What Your PE Student with Autism Spectrum Disorder Wishes You Knew

Football Unit Inclusion Strategies 3-6

SPARK Holiday Lesson

Hearty Hoopla

Stop the Grinch!

Zombie Graveyard

Build a Turkey

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Lesson Plan Sections

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• Science (1)

P.E. Lessons

Physical education prepares children for an active and healthy life while improving self discipline and reducing stress. This section includes PE lessons from kindergarten through high school spanning different skill levels and objectives. Lessons are categorized by grade for easy retrieval. These lessons were created by real teachers working in schools across the United States. The section will continue to grow as more teachers like you share your lesson plans. We encourage you! Share your lessons plans Teacher.org, contact us .

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P.e. environmental lesson plans, food chain tag.

Students will learn a brief background about energy transfer between the sun, producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers. ½ of the students are primary consumers (plants) and ¼ of the students are primary consumers (rabbits) and ¼ of the students are secondary consumers (hawks).

P.E. P.E. Lesson Plans

Aces and exercise.

Using a deck of playing cards, the students will pick the number of reps for various exercises.  

And Freeze!

Students will practice listening skills and basic physical concepts as required in physical education class. Students will also work on balance and coordination.

Animal Laps

Combining information about the speed of animals, the students will run laps in the gym or outdoors.

Basketball Relay

Students will practice teamwork, dribbling, and shooting a basketball.

Bear Hunt Obstacle Course

This plan will combine reading with balance and coordination skills to allow students to navigate a simple obstacle course.

Boom Over Movement Game

Students will play a game in which they need to change direction quickly. Students are to pretend that they are on a sailboat that is in the middle of a storm. They will have to run and change direction based on verbal commands and duck quickly to avoid being hit by the imaginary boom.

Butterfly Stretches

This lesson is designed to help students learn the importance and reasons for exercise through multiple activities and discussions.

Coordination Course

This plan will allow students to practice coordination while staying physical.

Multi-Ball Basketball

The student will participate in a game of basketball using various sizes of available balls.

Music Movement

The students will move to the music based on its beat, words, tune, and other variables.

On Top of Spaghetti

Pe immigration.

The students will research games and activities from other countries to share during a PE class.

Pass It Off

This lesson will allow students to practice passing, dribbling, and bouncing skills using basketballs

Plate Aerobics

Students will practice basic aerobics moves while trying to stay positioned on paper plates, this aids in coordination.

Race to the Answer

This lesson will allow students to practice teamwork, basic math skills, and get exercise through a relay race. Note: Problems/difficulty level can be altered by grade

Ride ‘Em Cowboy/girl

This lesson will allow students to practice gross motor skills.  

Students will practice listening skills and basic physical concepts as required in physical education class.

Ski to the Finish Line

This plan will allow students to practice coordination while staying physical. Students will demonstrate moving straight, backwards, and in a zig-zag pattern.

The New PE Class

The students will create a PE activity to share and demonstrate to peers.

This lesson will allow students to practice teamwork and trust building, as well as working on directionality for younger students.

What Time is it FOX?

The students play a game where they practice different movements including jumping, galloping, skipping, running, jogging, leaping, and walking. Based on National Physical Education Standards, students should have been learning these skills for the last 4 years.

P.E. Science Lesson Plans

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30 Best Energetic PE and Gym Games for Kids

1.  Bean Bag Balance

2.  bean bag toss, 3.  balloon drop, 4.  animal jumping tracks , 5.  animal yoga , 6.  drop, catch, throw and tag, 7.  simon says, 8.  hopscotch , 9.  move it or lose it, 10.  red rover rollover.

Phone screens shrinks your kids’ daily physical activity requirements, which may hurt their physical motor skill development. However, recess and gym games for kids are a great stimulus to develop their motor ability. A great idea would be to engage them with age-appropriate yet fun games. If you are looking for such exciting games for your gym class, here are 30 games that will make your job easier.

List of 30 Best Gym Games for Kids

With different types of games available in the market, we have classified our list in categories to help you to find the best PE games for kids:

Exciting Gym Games For Kindergartners

Preschoolers are full of energy and excitement, and physical activity boosts this trait. Physical exercises also improve their balance, reflex, flexibility and other motor skills crucial for their holistic development. Here are some amazing gym activities and workouts for kids to boost their fitness as well as their overall well-being:

SplashLearn: Most Comprehensive Learning Program for PreK-5

SplashLearn inspires lifelong curiosity with its game-based PreK-5 learning program loved by over 40 million children. With over 4,000 fun games and activities, it’s the perfect balance of learning and play for your little one.

A good game to start with, it’s all about challenging the little ones to balance the bean bag on different parts of their body. Ask kids to walk or crawl with balancing bean bags on the shoulders, between the knees, on the back, etc.

This game will enhance their fine motor development as it involves walking, running, hopping, and maintaining momentary stillness- all by striking the right balance.  

  Tip : Get creative! Engage with them by visualizing funny scenarios, like asking them to imagine the bean bag as an egg that will fall and crack if the balance goes off.

This is another game where bean bag just serves the purpose. Bean bags are easy to grip and cause no injury even in accidental hits. To play the game, you can draw the targets on the floor and have kids throw the bean bags into targets. This will develop their accuracy, throwing and coordination skills. 

Tip: To make the game livelier, you can put down hula hoops or baskets instead of drawing targets manually. 

Volleying the balloon up high for as long and not letting it drop is the essence of the game. Allow kids to use their hands to keep the balloon off the ground, as this will enhance their flexibility and striking abilities.

Tip: As an add-on in the game, a teacher can ask students to call out a fellow student’s name while volleying up the balloon. This way, students can learn each other’s names and coordinate.

For little ones, this outdoor game can prove to be engaging. The idea is to draw different colored tracks and ask the kids to jump by chanting the color names. This game will foster color recognition and gross motor skills in kids. 

Tips: Do not use more than four colors for preschool kids otherwise they will feel burnout switching colors and will /eventually lose interest.

It’s time to get some yoga poses for kids to get them moving. For this game, you can use cards with animal yoga poses on them. Simply ask the kids to pull out a card from the deck and imitate the yoga pose shown on the card. Playing such games regularly can improve their overall flexibility. 

Tip: You can make the game more interesting by playing it in groups with half the class strength. Make a group of four students each and assign a card to them. Let the other half of the class decide on the best performers!

Preschool years are the best when it comes to firming the hand grip of kids. You can play this Drop and Catch game in groups but with a twist. Ask the kid in the middle to tag another kid and throw the ball to him while the latter will have to catch the ball before it bounces twice. This is a fun ball game for kids .

Tip: If the ball is too challenging to catch for kids, use a balloon.

Wanna know how to get your students hooked to giggles on Wednesdays? Well, Simone says ‘play’! Simon Says is one of the best games to achieve fun and physical movement at the same time. You can use all the exercises to get the kids moving such as touching toes, side bends to touch the ground, hopping forward and backward, flamingo legs, jumping in one place, etc.

Tip : To add a more exciting touch to the game, you can incorporate dance songs for kids and get them grooving.

Gym Class Games for Lower Elementary Kids

Gym games for kids are a fun way to make your classroom fun along with encouraging kids to stay fit. Here are some of the most exciting gym class activities for lower elementary kids:

Hopscotch is a classic, loved game among children and adults alike. It not only contributes to developing gross motor skills, but also coordination and numeracy skills. Draw numbers from 1 to 10 with some boxes and you are good to go! 

Tip: Bring a fun twist in the game by making new rules such as ‘low feet jump to 10’, ‘hope like a frog as you count’, etc.   

Incorporating movement in the classroom routine using visual cues card can do wonders for the overall development of kids. You can make a set of visual cue cards and mention different actions on them such as jumping high, marching around, running in place, etc. Have your kids pull out a card and mimic the action. This will help improve their gross motor skills, receptive language, and motor imitations.

Tip : Attach the visual cards to popsicle sticks to make them easy to carry and increase their mean life.

Every so often, schools have either limited budgets or are unable to get supplies when needed. In such cases, gym games for kids that can be played without any equipment come to the rescue and RRRO is one of them. Teachers should challenge the students to roll sideways from their position until they reach the finish line and touch one member of another team. It’s a great game for pleasant weather days and gives good exercise to little ones. 

Tip: The bigger the team, the better the game.

11.  Shark and Minnows

This one is another great game that doesn’t require any equipment or setup but will surely bring up some cute giggles. It’s a tag game where one student i.e., the shark chases the rest of the students i.e., minnows. Consequently, every tagged student becomes a shark until there is a single minnow left- the winner of the game. 

Tip: Don’t forget to set some ground rules else the kids may run hither and thither, eventually increasing the risk of getting hurt.

12.  Beach Ball Blanket Toss

Make groups of four and ask kids to hold all four corners each of a big cloth or bedsheet. Throw a beach ball on the blanket and watch the excitement of the other kids as they try to catch the bouncing ball. In all, a good game to build grip and patience.

Tip: Instead of using a big cotton cloth piece, you can use a quilt as it will give a good bounce, adding more thrill to the game.

13.  See if You Can

Activity card games are a brilliant educational resource to teach kids, be it academics or movement skills. You can use such cards conveniently to teach kids about body composition and get them on a moving spree. The cards have instructions that go around movements like jumping, skipping, sprinting, balancing, leaping, etc. 

Tip: Challenge kids to attempt 3 activities each within a set time.

14.  Make an 8

This game will prove to be an excellent physical activity for teachers, let alone students. All you have to do is arrange for two tall cones and place them 3-4 meters apart. Now ask your students to face forward and move side-to-side in and out of the cone making a figure 8.

Tip: Once the students form an 8, ask them to repeat the activity while holding a basketball.

15.  Catch the Cones 

Teachers can stand on a box with 10 colored cones in her hand while the students stand all around the box. The game begins when the teacher throws the cones in the air all around and the students will have to catch the cones before they hit the ground. The student with a maximum number of cones at the end will be the winner. Playing this game repeatedly will enhance the catching and coordination skills of the students.

Tip: You can add a fun element to the game by giving points for different colored cones. 

16.  Obstacle Course 

This is a fun indoor game for kids , Obstacle Course improves agility, balance, and coordination in young kids. Place obstacles such as hula hoops, chairs, or ropes on the floor and ask kids to move swiftly as they dodge them.

Fun PE Games for Upper Elementary Kids  

Physical activity games for kids are crucial for their growth. Let’s have a look at some fun PE activities for upper elementary kids!

17.  Egg and Spoon 

You cannot deny playing this ultimate hand-eye coordination game in your childhood. Simply give your students a spoon and ask them to balance the egg as they move from one point to another. The one who reaches the finishing line first wins the game. 

Tip: Dancing or singing while balancing the egg on the spoon will make it all the more challenging and fun. 

18.  Follow the Pattern 

Get set for an energetic and entertaining game that encompasses balancing activities with moving in patterns. The teacher will give calls throughout the game that will have instructions about the movement such as jumping and landing on two feet, galloping, hopping on one foot, etc. The students who follow all the patterns without fail will win the game.

Tip: You can level up the game by giving out calls every 20 seconds.

19.  Tail Tag

Students aged 9-12 years can be taught skills such as teamwork, healthy competition, strategy, and other physical skills through such games. As the name suggests, Tail Tag is all about grabbing as many tails as possible. Here tails are nothing but a piece of cloth that will be tied to a belt. Students have to grab and collect these tails as they chase each other.

Tip: Do not tuck or tie the cloth too tightly for kids as unmindful grabbing might lead to subtle hurt.

20.  Bounce the Bucket 

Another game that will surely make a PE class exciting! You will require 8 cones, 3 buckets, and 4 balls. Arrange the cones on the sidelines and buckets in the middle, and Tada! your setup is ready. The students will have to bounce the ball on the ground once and then throw it into the bucket from a distance. Bounce the Bucket will help motor skill-building in upper elementary kids. 

Tip: Use a basketball for a great bounce!

21.  Jump the Noodle 

In this game of two, you will just need a foam noodle. The idea is to jump over the noodle without touching it as the other player swipes it left, right and center. A pair that can finish 10 jumps each without any interruption receives the prize.

Tip: Allow the students to pair up themselves with their choice as it will help them coordinate and play.

22.  Rob the Nest

All the basketball lovers, assemble! The students will love the thrill and competition that this game offers. A large square is to be made using 4 hoops with many basketballs in the middle. Each team member will come forth and dribble the basketballs from the middle to their team’s spot. Once no ball remains in the ball, know that it’s time to run around and steal the balls from each other.

Tip: Make 4 teams with no more than 2 players to avoid complexity and confusion.

23.  Cat’s Corner 

Similar to dodgeball, the throwers in the game are cats who try to hit the runners i.e., mice using the ball. If the mouse gets hit by the ball before landing in the corner safe space, he is considered out.

Tip: To keep the game interesting, there must be an equal number of cats and mice.

24.  Shadow Tag

Tag games are a great way to engage the students . They aid in the development of skills like gross motor, endurance, and social and cognitive skills. Unlike other tag games, here students have to tag a runner’s shadow. A perfect time to play this game is during mid-day.

Tip: Set a rule where the player has to call out ‘SHADOW’ as soon as they hit a runner’s shadow, else they’ll be out of the game.

Top Gym Games for Middle Schoolers

PE games that incorporate empathy and teamwork are very important for middle schoolers ranging between fifth grade and eighth grade. Here are some of our favorites: 

25.  Backward Soccer 

Where are all the soccer lovers? This game is soccer but with a backward twist. Players are not allowed to use their feet to advance the ball; their hands are the action weapons now. They must use only their hands to shoot, pass or dribble. Even goalies will only be allowed to use their hands in defense. 

Tip:   Keep a guide ready in case the students get all mixed up with the rules.

26.  Yoga Cards

Yoga is a good option for middle schoolers. Keep some yoga cards ready for your next PE class and ask them to hold each yoga pose for not less than 10 seconds.

Tip: If some students repel the idea of yoga, don’t worry. They will surely appreciate how relaxed they feel after some meditation treat. You can also show them some meditation videos for added engagement.

27.  Noodle Archery 

This is a classic archery game but with some fun modifications. Hang one hula hoop or have someone hold for you at some distance. Set up three lines at a different distance from the hula hoop which will act as the shooting positions. Ask each student to throw the pool into the hoop once from each line. 

Tip: Assign points to each line- highest to the farthest line and lowest to the closest one. This will make the game more competitive. 

28.  Relay Race 

Relays are the real ‘old is gold’. This game has been there for ages and never fails to excite the players and spectators. Relay Race not only enhances the natural competitive side of children but also encourages the development of gross motor, teamwork, and empathy skills. One high-five between players and you know it’s time to take over the race.

Tip: The tip here is that there is no need for any tip. The game in itself is sufficient to keep you on your toes.

29.  Pole Weave 

This is a great exercise to do twice or thrice a week. Place three straight poles and three crossed poles diagonally on the ground. To win the game, students will have to jump over the cross poles and sprint to weave in and out of the straight poles without touching any of them. 

Tip : You can make the game more challenging by asking students to jump over the crossed poles and back at least 3 times.

30.  Speed Ball

A mix of basketball and soccer, this is a challenging brain game for kids . It is played in two groups where both teams have access to a basketball net and goals each on their side. A team player passes the ball in the air like a basketball, but if it falls on the ground, the game switches to soccer. It’s all hands now!

Tip: Keep negative marking when the ball falls on the ground to make the game competitive.

Let’s Make Fitness Fun for Kids!

PE classes can be very fulfilling if the games are both exciting and physically challenging at the same time. Instead of forcing them for boring squats and push-ups, you can engage them in such games. Motivation is necessary but how it is conveyed also plays a central role. And, it’s all up to PE teachers to how tactfully they face this challenge. Moreover, the list of the gym games for kids is not exhaustive. There’s always room for tailoring a game to your student’s needs and skill requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How can i motivate students to be physically active.

It’s a challenging task, but you do not need to worry! Apart from engaging them in group gym games for kids, you can allow them to groove to some dance and music, with activities like Zumba and Dance Aerobics. However, you must be vigilant about the kind of music being played on the speakers. A smart move would be to decide student-friendly music playlist well in advance. Secondly, you must highlight the difference between being a fitness freak and being physically active.

How often can I let students play these games?

It depends on the schedule of PE classes provided by the school authorities. For preschool kids, the gym games for kids could be played once every day. However, for upper elementary and middle schoolers, twice or thrice a week would be enough.

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Best P.E. Apps and Online Resources to Keep Your Students Moving

Let’s get physical.

Research proves that exercise improves children’s focus and energy levels , and the CDC recommends that children and adolescents ages 6 to 17 years do 60 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity daily. With so many PE apps, videos, and online resources available, it’s easier than ever to incorporate P.E. into your daily learning plan. This list will have you and your students sweating in no time!

PE Streaming and Online Videos

Dancing is one of the easiest ways to get your body moving … and grooving. As kids follow the moves on this YouTube-based dance challenge, they won’t even realize they’re getting in a great cardio workout. Plus Just Dance features all their fave musical artists.

Cosmic Kids Yoga

Stretch, bend and get movin’ with the Cosmic Kids Yoga YouTube channel, where you’ll find 10-20 minute guided yoga workouts for preschool to elementary school-aged kids. Kids will love striking poses in outer space, underwater, on the farm, and more! You can also stream episodes on Amazon Prime Video .

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The Body Coach

The Body Coach is a popular YouTube channel that features free, easy-to-follow, at-home workouts for everyone, including kids. Get fit no matter your fitness level with these active, engaging 5-8 minute videos.

The Kids Coach

A place for fitness, workouts, and wellness … just for kids. Need a simple way to get your kids moving? Simply choose the age category, press play, and stream to any device. Find over 100 sessions categorized by age group.

Coach Josh Kids Fitness

Preschoolers can practice balance and coordination while also practicing everything from colors to numbers to the ABCs in Coach Josh’s fun workout show, streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.

Kids’ HIIT Workout

This 30-minute-long exercise YouTube video is the perfect excuse to get moving along with your kids. HIIT, or high-intensity interval training, is a workout that combines intense bursts of exercise and short, active recovery periods. Think marching, jumping jacks, and squats. No equipment needed! Just put on a pair of athletic shoes and press play.

Simply Soccer: Soccer Drills You Can Do Indoors

Simply soccer’s seven-minute YouTube video shows you how to work on some fancy footwork skills from the comfort of home.

Karate for Kids

Who wants to be a ninja? Join Abbey Manser on her YouTube channel to learn basic karate skills for kids.

Kidz Bop Dance Along

Dance to the beat of rated-G versions of popular songs like Thank U, Next , Señorita, and Old Town Road .

Tumbletots at Home

Tiny tots up to 7 years old will enjoy guided movement classes with a focus on play with UK-based Tumbletots at Home . Weekly, 25-minute exercise sessions can be easily accessed on three platforms: Facebook , IGTV , and YouTube .

Dad and fitness trainer Joe Wicks hosts 30-minute PE workouts for kids on Body Coach TV YouTube channel . Wicks encourages parents to join in on the fitness fun, so throw on your workout gear and get ready to work out alongside your kids, moms and dads!

Get fit with a little monkey business! Moovlee is an animated monkey that leads 4-10 minutes workout videos for kids ages 3-5. With a focus on meditation, yoga, and cardio, Moovlee will get your kids moving.

5 a Day Fitness

Sometimes five minutes of moving and shaking are all it takes to energize and refocus. 5 a Day Fitness ’ high-energy, low-impact, fun fitness videos make it easy to squeeze a workout or two or three into busy days. Check out their French and Spanish language fitness videos for kids to practice language skills and get your heart pumping.

Daniella Ballerina

Dance along with Daniella! Her online dance studio introduces little ones to the world of ballet through classes centered on classic poses like Arabesque and Pas de Chat .

JamTimeDanceTV

Tweens and tweens won’t even realize they’re working out as they dance to the beat of JamTimeDanceTV’s hip hop tutorials. Moonwalk, step touch, and glide to classic hip hop tracks.

Nike Training Club

This app features free 15-, 30-, and 45-minute workouts designed by expert Nike trainers and will be a great fit for the sport-playing middle or high schooler looking to keep in tip-top shape at home.

I Am Love: Kids’ Yogaverse

As your kids strike each of the thirteen yoga poses and breathing techniques featured in this yoga-focused app, they’ll gain flexibility and strength. They’ll also be more centered and calm thanks to soothing music.

GoNoodle Kids

Teachers love to use the Go Noodle Kids app to get kids moving in the classroom. Interactive videos combine movement with mindfulness, helping kids center themselves for learning. The modules are short, making GoNoodle ideal for kids that need a quick energy boost through exercise.

Sworkit Kids App

Sworkit Kids fitness app

The Sworkit Kids app makes it easy to create and tailor workouts that fit your kid’s age, ability, and fitness level. Kids can count on building strength and agility as they’re guided by the app through an interval-style workout that mixes targeted exercises with fun challenges, making exercise feel more like a game than a must-do.

7-Minute Workout for Kids App

Research suggests that high-intensity interval training can provide many of the same benefits as longer workouts minus the time commitment. These seven-minute workouts are easy fitness fits for busy days.

Wuf Shanti Yoga Fun Machine

Wuf Shanti is a lovable dog that teaches kids yoga poses with songs, videos along with a heavy dose of words of encouragement. Wuff’s motivational motto, “Think well to be well,” fits this app’s focus on positive thinking.

Online PE Lesson Plans

Gopher sport.

Gopher, the go-to source for P.E. teachers, has gathered useful blog articles and two at-home lesson plan options for any parents looking to add education to their home learning curriculum: SPARKhome features free, wellness-focused K-12 PE lesson plans (3 weeks of materials for K-2, 3-6, middle school and high school). Dynamic PE ASAP has free lesson plans with both in-home and backyard activities that will get kids active STAT.

Carone Learning

For students, Carone Learning offers cFitness Academy, an accredited online school specializing in health and fitness for students.

Sanford fit

Looking for movement ideas for the classroom? Sanford  fit  has hundreds of free resources—like brain breaks , lessons, and videos—to help kids make healthy choices inside and outside of the classroom.

Shape America

Free PE activity ideas, classroom resources, and physical activity calendars are available for download!

Plus, check out 10 ways to encourage fitness and healthy living in tweens and teens .

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10 Benefits of Physical Activity for Students

In his 2013 book , Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain , Dr. John J. Ratey, associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, says that exercise improves learning on three levels:

"First, it optimizes your mind-set to improve alertness, attention, and motivation; second, it prepares and encourages nerve cells to bind to one another - the cellular basis for logging new information; third, it spurs the development of new nerve cells from stem cells in the hippocampus."

Mark Hendry, Head of Sport at La Côte International School, says of La Cote International School’s PE programme:

“Physical Education at LCIS isn’t just about improving performance and strengthening our bodies, it’s also about fortifying the mind, sculpting character, expanding opportunities, nurturing discipline and of course, having a great deal of fun along the way.”

We’ve put together ten benefits that exercise can bring to our students at La Côte International School. Read on to find out what they are, and for further words about exercise and the variety of indoor and outdoors sporting activities offered at LCIS.

10 Benefits of Physical Activity

1. You feel great

When you exercise, your body releases chemicals called endorphins.

Among other effects, these trigger a sense of positivity. The feeling that follows a run or workout is often described as "euphoric." Known as a "runner's high" this can be accompanied by a positive and energising outlook.

2. You think better

Exercise boosts your memory and thinking skills - both directly and indirectly.

It stimulates physiological changes such as reductions in insulin resistance and inflammation. It encourages production of chemicals that affect the growth of new blood vessels in the brain along with the abundance, survival, and overall health of new brain cells.

3. Fewer sick days

Moderate-intensity exercise can stimulate cellular immunity by increasing the circulation of immune cells in your body. This helps your body better prepare for a future infection by detecting it earlier.

Moderate to vigorous activity for up to sixty minutes every day is optimal for immune-boosting benefits.

4. Lessens anxiety

Endorphins trigger a positive feeling in the body, like that of morphine.

“Getting your heart rate up changes brain chemistry, increasing the availability of important anti-anxiety neurochemicals... A simple bike ride, dance class, or even a brisk walk can be a powerful tool for those suffering from chronic anxiety.” John J Ratey MD.

5. You sleep better

Those lovely endorphins we talk about in point one act as sedatives. Research has shown that physical activity can be as effective as prescription sleep meds. Exercising outside in natural light helps your body’s sleep-wake cycle too.

6. Develops teamwork

Skills like leadership, hard work, communication, conflict resolution, self-discipline, and accountability are also necessary for a group to work together successfully. Playing in a sports team, even if the sport itself is not a passion, teaches fantastic, transferable teamworking skills for life.

7. Recipe for a longer, healthier life

“It can reduce your risk of major illnesses, such as coronary heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and cancer and lower your risk of early death by up to 30%.

“It's free, easy to take, has an immediate effect and you don't need a GP to get some. Its name? Exercise.” NHS, UK

8. Builds self-confidence

Joining in a team, taking part, trying your best, doing something you find hard, doing it well – all these improve self-confidence. And when we are feeling confident, we do better at life.

9. Improves energy levels

Exertion triggers the production of more mitochondria inside your muscle cells. Mitochondria are known as the powerhouses of cells because they create fuel out of glucose from your food and oxygen from the air you breathe. More mitochondria = more energy. Combine that with great sleep and you’ll feel amazing.

10. It’s fun

Joining in a wide range of sports and exercise activities gives students the chance to find things they really enjoy. Finding exercising fun is key in adopting good exercise habits for life.

Sports at LCIS

“Our Physical Education programme lays the foundation for a healthy body, a confident spirit and an inquisitive mind,” says Mark Hendry. “Our students are challenged physically and mentally to achieve the very best they can in a range of practical and theoretical sessions.”

During the winter months, LCIS pupils benefit from a unique ski experience in the mountains. In the warmer months they benefit from our idyllic setting looking at the French Alps. Younger pupils are introduced to a range of practical activities, developing fundamental transferable skills. As pupils progress through the school, they become more inquisitive about how the body works, adapts and changes to suit different sports.

Throughout the school pupils have access to a huge number of sports activities both as part of curriculum and in a wider school context with extracurricular activities, competitive teams, and Inter-House competitions.

Fostering a sense of adventure, exploration, fun and capability around sports helps our students feel motivated to move, and means they benefit from all the positive aspects that exercise offers, for life.

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• Published: 02 July 2024

Study on the relationship and related factors between physical fitness and health behavior of preschool children in southwest China

• Ruyun Zou 1   na1 ,
• Kun Wang 2   na1 ,
• Yongsen Liu 2 , 4 ,
• Tingran Zhang 2 &
• Xiudong Wei 5  

BMC Public Health volume  24 , Article number:  1759 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

To investigate the physical fitness level and health behavior status of preschool children in China, explore the relationship between physical fitness and health behavior, and further reveal the main factors affecting health behavior, to provide a reference for improving the physical fitness level of preschool children and maintaining healthy behavior.

A total of 755 preschool children (394 boys and 361 girls, aged 4.52 ± 1.11 years) were selected from Chongqing and Liupanshui in China by cluster random sampling method for questionnaire survey and physical monitoring, and SPSS21.0 software was used to process and analyze the data.

(1) Heart rate ( p  = 0.015), protein content ( p  < 0.001), and time spent on the balance beam ( p  < 0.001) were significantly lower in boys than in girls, while BMI ( p  = 0.012), muscle mass ( p  < 0.001), and distance of standing long jump ( p  < 0.001) were significantly higher in boys than in girls. Meanwhile, systolic blood pressure ( p  = 0.004) and diastolic blood pressure ( p  = 0.001) of rural children were significantly higher than those of urban children, while BMI ( p  < 0.001) and sitting forward flexion ( p  = 0.019) were significantly lower than those of urban children. (2) The light-intensity physical activity (LPA) and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) of boys were significantly higher than that of girls ( p  < 0.001), and the MVPA of urban children was significantly higher than that of rural children ( p  = 0.001), and the former participated in sports classes more frequently ( p  < 0.001). (3) There was a significant correlation between physical activity (PA) and physical fitness indicators of preschoolers. Participating in sports interest classes was only significantly correlated with systolic blood pressure ( r  = 0.08) and sitting forward flexion ( r  = 0.09). (4) The PA level of preschool children was related to gender, household registration, kindergarten nature, age, residence environment, parental support, and participation degree. Participation in sports interest classes was related to gender, the nature of the kindergarten, household registration, age, and parent participation. Daily screen time was related to household registration, the nature of the kindergarten, the environment of residence, and the value perception of parents.

Conclusions

There were different degrees of correlation between preschool children’s physical fitness and health behaviors, and children’s health behaviors were closely related to gender, environment, parents, and other factors. Therefore, how to increase the protective factors of children’s health behaviors and controlling the risk factors may be crucial to promoting the development of good health behaviors and improving the physical fitness of preschool children.

Peer Review reports

Introduction

Physical fitness represents an individual’s ability to perform physical activities, including muscle strength and endurance, body composition, and flexibility [ 1 ]. The age of 3–6 was the key period of individual growth and development, during which physical development entered a period of rapid growth and physical fitness was constantly improved [ 2 ]. However, in China, years of physical monitoring data showed that the continuous decline in physical fitness of preschool children has not been effectively improved [ 3 , 4 ], and with more sedentary lifestyles among children, the rate of obesity and overweight was constantly rising [ 5 ]. Globally, childhood overweight and obesity are projected to increase by 60 percentiles, reaching an estimated 250 million children by 2030 [ 6 , 7 ]. As the foundation period of adolescent physical fitness, preschool children’s physical fitness level was not only closely related to growth and development and adult body health [ 8 , 9 ] but also related to the future prosperity and development of the nation [ 10 ]. Therefore, the scientific monitoring of preschool children’s physical fitness and the clarification of its related factors are undoubtedly a major research focus.

However, the physical fitness of preschool children is a comprehensive variable, which is easily affected by multiple factors. Firstly, the physical fitness level of preschoolers was mainly affected by factors such as heredity [ 11 ], parents and family conditions [ 12 ], living environment [ 13 ], and sleep quality [ 14 ]. Secondly, researchers have paid extensive attention to the relationship between preschool children’s health behaviors and their physical fitness, among which health behaviors generally refer to various activities widely involved in daily life to promote physical and mental health and physical fitness, including intake of balanced nutrition, adequate sleep, reduction of screen time, and regular exercise [ 15 ]. Studies have shown that health behaviors were closely related to the physical fitness of preschool children, such as physical activity (PA) [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ], screen time [ 20 , 21 ], and dietary nutrition [ 22 , 23 ] have important effects on their physical fitness. Moreover, studies on demographic differences showed that there was significant gender [ 24 , 25 ] and urban and rural differences in children’s physical fitness [ 26 ]. For example, boys have better physical fitness than girls, especially muscle strength, and urban children have better physical shape and flexibility than rural children. These results suggested that there were certain demographic differences in preschool children’s physical fitness, and it was closely related to health behavior, so it may be of great significance to investigate the relationship between their physical fitness and health behavior for the improvement of physical fitness.

Among many health behaviors, PA was considered to be the key to affecting the physical fitness of preschoolers [ 27 , 28 ]. According to the Exercise Guidelines for Children (3–6 years old) issued by the Chinese government in 2018, preschoolers should spend more than 180 min on various types of physical activities throughout the day, including no less than 60 min of moderate or above intensity physical activities in total [ 29 ]. The World Health Organization recommends that young children (5 years and under) [ 30 ] and children and adolescents (5 to 17 years) [ 31 ] should do an average of at least 60 min of moderate-to-vigorous exercise per day while limiting screen time. A study showed that moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) has a positive influence on improving preschoolers’ physical fitness and replacing light-intensity physical activity (LPA) with MVPA was the best way to increase the physical fitness of preschoolers [ 32 ]. Meanwhile, improving the level of PA has positive effects on preschoolers’ mental health [ 33 , 34 ], cognitive ability [ 35 ], and academic performance [ 36 ] to varying degrees. In other words, appropriate PA could not only promote the improvement of physical fitness, but also improve psychological, cognitive, and academic performance [ 37 ]. The preschool period was the best time for children to learn and improve their motor skills, and a positive physical and health education experience was also easy to form during this period [ 38 ] ensuring the necessary amount of PA was essential for healthy growth of preschoolers.

Screen time was another important factor affecting the physical fitness of preschoolers. Excessive daily screen time has been linked primarily to rising rates of obesity among preschoolers. For example, studies have shown that a poor lifestyle (such as screen time) was associated with an increased rate of obesity in preschool children [ 39 ], and excessive daily screen time was a risk factor for increasing abdominal obesity and BMI in preschool children [ 24 , 40 ]. Therefore, maintaining an appropriate amount of physical activity while controlling behaviors such as screen time may be an effective way to improve or improve the physical fitness of preschool children. However, due to the young age of preschool children, their physical activity, screen time, and other behaviors are usually closely related to their parents, teachers, and external environment in addition to their limited cognition. Based on this, under the background of the fifth national physique monitoring, this study adopts the method of cluster random sampling to investigate the current situation of physical fitness and health behavior of preschoolers in Chongqing and the Liupanshui City of China and their relationship, and further explore the main influencing factors of health behaviors such as physical activity level, participation in sports interest classes, and daily screen time of preschool children, thus to provide a reference for scientifically leading preschoolers to form healthy behaviors and improve their physical fitness.

Participants

A total of 8 kindergartens in Chongqing and Liupanshui City were randomly selected for testing by cluster random sampling method (These two cities are designated test sites for China’s national physical fitness test in Southwest China). Meanwhile, 80 to 120 preschool children were randomly selected from each kindergarten in a ratio of about 1:4. A total of 800 preschoolers aged 3–6 years old were recruited, and 755 children completed the physical fitness test with complete and valid data (Table  1 ). Among them, 394 were boys, with an average body height of 1.08 ± 0.07 m, body mass of 18.75 ± 3.21 kg, and age of 4.67 ± 1.12 years. There were 361 girls with an average body height of 1.06 ± 0.08 m, body mass of 17.80 ± 3.02 kg, and age of 4.36 ± 1.08 years.

Participants’ inclusion criteria: (1) Preschoolers aged 3 to 6 years; (2) All four limbs, no disability; (3) Parents/guardians agree and sign the informed consent form. Exclusion criteria: (1) A history of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases; (2) After assessment with the Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire (PAR-Q) [ 41 ] (to be completed by a parent or guardian), participants can participate in moderate-intensity physical activities or above. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the School of Physical Education, Southwest University (SWU-TY202105), and followed the Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants, moreover, because of the young age of the participants, we also obtained the approval of their parents, who signed the parental informed consent.

Questionnaire survey

During the physical fitness test, the parents or guardians of preschoolers were surveyed by the questionnaire survey. The Fifth National Physical Fitness Monitoring Questionnaire (3 to 6-year-old children) [ 42 ] developed by the General Administration of Sport of China was adopted. It was jointly developed by the Chinese government and the General Administration of Sport of China and was an authoritative questionnaire for national physical fitness monitoring. To ensure the authenticity of the questionnaire filling, we gathered the parents or guardians of preschoolers who participated in the survey in different periods respectively to the designated test site and fully explained the questionnaire content and precautions to them before handing out the questionnaire. Moreover, questionnaires were distributed and collected on-site, and participants (parents or guardians) were asked to recall and fill out the questionnaire based on their own children’s real situation, and each questionnaire took about 20 min to complete. A total of 800 questionnaires were sent out in this study, and 755 were effectively received, with an effective recovery rate of 94.38 percentiles. The contents of the questionnaire mainly include demographic information (such as gender and age), family structure (such as both parents are together or single single-parent families), environment of residence (such as city or country, whether there are outdoor sports facilities in residence), educational level of parents, physical activity amount, daily screen time, daily physical activities (such as running, fun games, and sports training classes), and parents’ support for their children’s sports. It should be pointed out that according to the framework of the questionnaire in this study, the contents related to the health behaviors of preschool children mainly involve daily screen time, amount of physical activity, and participation in sports interest training courses. Therefore, these three variables were used in this study to reflect the health behaviors of preschool children.

Reliability and validity of the questionnaire

To test the reliability and validity of the questionnaire, the questionnaire was scored by six infant health experts before the formal investigation, with an average score of 97.18 points. Meanwhile, the retest method was used to test the reliability of the questionnaire, and the parents or guardians of 68 preschoolers in two of the kindergartens were randomly selected to repeat the survey, and the interval between the two tests was 10 days. The intra-group correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to test, and the retest reliability was 0.85. It shows that the whole questionnaire has good reliability and measurement validity. Among them, the reliability and validity of the Parents Sport Support Scale and Physical Activity Rating Scale were as follows:

The Parents Sport Support Scale was used to evaluate the parental exercise support of preschoolers, which was assessed by 9 items. The Likert 5-point scale was adopted, according to the option “strongly disagree-strongly agree”, it was scored as 1 to 5 points respectively, the higher the score, the more positive the attitude. A total of 3 common factors were extracted through factor analysis, including value perception (4 items, such as “Do you think your child’s physical fitness can be enhanced by playing sports games”), sports support (3 items, such as “Do you encourage your child to go out for sports games in your spare time”), participation in accompaniment (2 items, such as “Would you like to arrange regular sports games with your child?“), after direct oblique rotation, the progressive contribution rate of the three common factors reaches 61.72 percentiles. After the internal consistency test, the Cronbach α of value perception was 0.86, the Cronbach α of sports support was 0.84, and the Cronbach α of participation escort was 0.87. The measurement model validation results: x 2 /df = 1.91, RMSEA = 0.04, AGFI = 0.98, TLI = 0.97, CFI = 0.99, IFI = 0.97, GFI = 0.97. It shows that the questionnaire as a whole has good reliability and measurement validity.

The Physical Activity Rating Scale (PARS-3) was adopted to assess the PA amount of preschoolers [ 43 ], which includes three dimensions PA intensity, activity time, and activity frequency. The Likert 5-point scale was adopted, and the PA amount = activity intensity × (activity time − 1) × activity frequency, the score range was 0 to 100 points, and the assessment criteria for PA amount were: low PA amount ≤ 19 points, moderate PA amount range was 20 to 42 points, high PA amount ≥ 43 points. The retest reliability of this scale is high, and the correlation coefficient r  = 0.82. It should be pointed out that preschoolers’ PA consists of two parts school physical activity and weekend PA, so the scale was filled by teachers and parents respectively according to the actual situation of children in different scenarios.

General fitness test

The general fitness testing of preschoolers was conducted in the sampled kindergartens by qualified professionals trained by the National Physical Fitness Monitoring Center, and the testing time was 8:30 to noon and 14:00 to 17:30. The testing equipment adopts the equipment designated by the national physical fitness monitoring, and conducts general fitness testing and comprehensive rating according to the test methods and scoring standards of the “National Physical Fitness Monitoring Work Manual (Children Part)”. The test indicators were divided into three parts: cardiovascular test, body composition analysis, and general fitness test.

Cardiovascular test

Resting heart rate and blood pressure. The resting heart rate, systolic blood pressure (SBP), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were measured using an Omron HBP9020 automatic electronic blood pressure monitor (Omron, Osaka, Japan). The measurement method was to measure the blood pressure of the right upper arm after sitting for 5 min. Specifically, the armband roll was tied 2–3 cm above the elbow joint of the upper arm, and the armband was at the same level as the heart. The armband was automatically pressurized and measured according to the starting key, and the measurement should be kept quiet during the pressure measurement. The measurement process takes about 50 s. It should be pointed out that to improve the accuracy of the data, the measurement was repeated once at an interval of two min, and the average value of the two counts was recorded.

Body composition analysis

The body composition data of preschoolers were measured by InBody (InBody-270, Korea), which included body fat percentage (BFP), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), muscle mass (MM), and protein. During the test, participants should stand barefoot on the instrument as required, and hold the electrode pads of the handle with both hands, and the test duration was about the 50s. It should be pointed out that the WHR was the measurement of the waist and hip circumference using a tape measure, and then input the corresponding values into the computer InBody software to calculate the WHR. In addition, to examine the body mass index (BMI) of preschoolers, their body height and weight were measured and calculated according to the formula “Body Mass Index (BMI) = weight/(height * height)”, the unit of weight is kg, and the unit of height is m.

The general fitness test includes a total of six test items, as follows:

Grip strength (GS): A hand dynamometer is an evaluation tool that’s used to measure isometric grip force (hand grip strength) (Xinman WCS-100 model, Shanghai, China). During the test, participants need to hold their hands firmly. At this time, the data on the LCD screen starts to refresh and the measurement data can be read until there are no more new measurement peaks, records were made in kg units.

Sitting forward flexion (SFF): The electronic sitting forward flexion tester (Lingkang LK-T5016, Jiangsu, China) is an assessment tool used to measure the possible range of motion of the torso, waist, buttocks, and other joints at rest, mainly reflecting the ductility and flexibility of the joints, ligaments, and muscles in these parts. During the test, participants should extend their legs straight, keep their heels together, and separate their toes naturally. Then, palms down, arms together and extended flat, upper body flexion forward, and two fingers moving forward at a constant speed until they cannot push the touchpad, were recorded in centimeters (cm).

Standing long jump (SLJ): A standing long jump tester is an assessment tool for measuring lower limb explosive power (Hengkang HK-6000-TY, Shenzhen, China). After pre-swing, both feet will take off in place at the same time without pad or tandem jumping, and the instrument will automatically measure the vertical distance between the back edge of the take-off line and the back edge of the nearest landing site, which was recorded in centimeters (cm).

Continuous jump of both feet (CJBF): A two-foot continuous jump tester is an assessment tool used to measure lower limb jumps and coordination (BESTWEN, 7-inch portable, Jiangsu, China). After hearing the instruction to start, participants should jump forward with their feet together. After the first foot lands on the mat, perform a second jump in a row, and the instrument will automatically record the distance between the two jumps, which was recorded in meters (m).

Balance beam (BB): The balance beam test instrument is an assessment tool used to measure balance ability (Boffei, Zhejiang, China). Participants should stand behind the “starting line”, face the balance beam, and raise their arms horizontally. After hearing the command “start”, their feet should move forward to the “finish line” alternately. When either foot exceeds the “finish line”, the instrument will automatically record the time, which was recorded in seconds (s).

15 m obstacle run (15 m OR): The obstacle run test instrument is an assessment tool for a comprehensive measurement of reflexes, coordination, and speed (LK-T6013, Jiangsu, China). When participants heard the start instruction, they quickly circumnavigated the six obstacles, and the instrument automatically recorded the time when they reached the finish line, which was recorded in seconds (s).

It should be pointed out that the subjects do not need to conduct targeted warm-up activities before each test, and professional testers will give technical explanations before each test, practice once or twice during the test, and then conduct formal tests. Each group was tested in the same order, starting with strength, speed/agility, strength, endurance, and ending with flexibility.

Statistical analysis

All data were processed and analyzed using SPSS21.0 software. The independent sample t-test (also known as the student’s t-test) was used to analyze the status quo of physical fitness and health behaviors of preschoolers, the Pearson correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationship between physical fitness and health behaviors, and the logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the influencing factors of preschoolers’ health behaviors. The significance level of all indexes was set at p  < 0.05.

The physical fitness status of preschoolers

The survey results of the physical fitness status of preschoolers showed (Table  2 ): (1) In terms of cardiovascular test, there were no significant gender differences in SBP ( p  = 0.619) and DBP ( p  = 0.160) in preschoolers, but the HR of boys was significantly lower than that of girls ( p  = 0.015). Meanwhile, the SBP ( p  = 0.004) and DBP ( p  = 0.001) of rural children were significantly higher than those of urban children, but there was no significant difference in HR between urban and rural areas ( p  = 0.136). (2) In terms of body composition analysis, the BMI ( p  = 0.012) and MM ( p  < 0.001) of boys were significantly higher than those of girls, while the protein content of girls was significantly higher than that of boys ( p  < 0.001), and the rest of the indicators showed no significant gender differences. Meanwhile, the BMI of urban children was significantly higher than that of rural children ( p  < 0.001), and there was no significant difference between urban and rural areas in other indicators. (3) In terms of physical fitness, boys were significantly better than girls in SLJ ( p  < 0.001), BB ( p  < 0.001), and GS ( p  < 0.001), while there was no significant gender difference in other indicators. The SFF of urban children was significantly better than that of rural children ( p  = 0.019), and there was no significant difference between urban and rural areas in other indicators.

Status of health behaviors of preschoolers

The results of the status quo of health behaviors of preschoolers showed (Table  3 ): (1) In terms of PA, among the low-activity groups, the activity level of boys was significantly higher than that of girls ( p  < 0.001), while there was no significant difference between rural and urban children ( p  = 0.189). In the MVPA group, the activity level of boys was significantly higher than that of girls ( p  < 0.001), and the activity level of urban children was significantly higher than that of rural children ( p  = 0.001). It should be pointed out that among the surveyed preschoolers, very few people have reached a high level of PA, so this study combined moderate and high PA into one category according to the actual situation, that is, MVPA. (2) In terms of participation in sports interest classes, there was no significant gender difference ( p  = 0.176), but the participation of urban children was significantly higher than that of rural children ( p  < 0.001). (3) There were no significant gender ( p  = 0.057) and urban-rural ( p  = 0.693) differences in daily screen time.

The relationship between physical fitness and healthy behavior of preschoolers

The correlation analysis showed (Table  4 ): There was a close relationship between physical fitness and healthy behaviors of preschoolers. (1) There was a significant correlation between physical fitness and PA, which was manifested as a significant negative correlation between PA amount and HR ( r =-0.19), SBP ( r =-0.08), and DBP ( r =-0.12). The PA amount was significantly positively correlated with BMI ( r  = 0.12), WHR ( r  = 0.18), MM ( r  = 0.15), and protein ( r  = 0.09), and was significantly negatively correlated with BFP ( r =-0.11). The PA amount was significantly positively correlated with SFF ( r  = 0.09), SLJ ( r  = 0.19), and GS ( r  = 0.16), while it was significantly negatively correlated with CJBF ( r = -0.20), BB ( r =-0.35), and the 15 m OR ( r = -0.15). (2) In terms of sports interest classes, weekly participation in sports interest classes was only significantly positively correlated with SBP ( r  = 0.08) and SFF ( r  = 0.09), but had no significant correlation with other physical fitness indicators (3) In terms of screen time, there was no significant direct correlation between daily screen time and physical fitness of preschoolers.

Influencing factors of preschoolers’ health behavior

Construction of binary logistic regression model.

The logistic regression analysis theoretically does not require that each index variable must obey the conditions of linearity, independence, and normality. Therefore, this study takes the influencing factors of preschoolers’ health behavior as independent variables and selects three main aspects of children’s health behavior, that is PA, participation in sports interest classes, and screen time as outcome variables to establish regression models respectively (Model 1, Model 2, Model 3, respectively), to further explore the influence of influencing factors on different health behaviors of preschoolers, and the Odds Ratio (OR) was introduced into the regression model [ 44 , 45 ]. Usually, OR > 1 indicates that the factor was a favorable factor, OR < 1 indicates that the factor was an unfavorable factor, and OR = 1 indicates that the factor has nothing to do with the outcome variable.

Test of logistic regression model and odds ratio analysis

From the global test results of the model, the chi-square value and significance level of the likelihood ratio (Likelihood Ratio) corresponding to the model reaches the ideal level, model 1 (x 2  = 169.19, p  < 0.001), model 2 (x 2  = 121.16, p  < 0.001), model 3 (x 2  = 48.57, p  < 0.001), indicating that all three models were statistically significant. From the model’s goodness-of-fit test results, model 1 (x 2  = 841.11, p  > 0.075), model 2 (x 2  = 904.70, p  = 0.112), model 3 (x 2  = 997.98, p  = 0.241), the corresponding probability p values of the three models were all greater than 0.05, which further confirms that the fitting effect of the model was acceptable.

From the odds ratio correlation analysis of Model 1, we could see that the PA of preschoolers was mainly related to the following six factors: (1) From the perspective of gender, the odds ratio of “boys/girls” Exp(b) = 1.413 ( p  = 0.031), indicating that the proportion of boys doing MVPA was 1.413 times that of girls, that is, the former was significantly higher than the latter. (2) From the perspective of household registration, the advantage ratio of “rural/urban” was Exp(b) = 0.405 ( p  = 0.012), indicating that the MVPA performed by rural children was 0.405 times that of urban children, that is, the former was significantly lower than the latter. (3) From the perspective of the nature of kindergartens, the advantage ratio of “public/private” was Exp(b) = 2.280 ( p  = 0.019), indicating that the MVPA performed by children in public kindergartens was 2.280 times that of children in private kindergartens, that is, the former was significantly higher than the latter. (4) In terms of age, the odds ratio Exp(b) of “3 years old/6 years old” was Exp(b) = 0.573 ( p  = 0.027), and the odds ratio Exp(b) of “4 years old/6 years old” was Exp(b) = 0.627 ( p  = 0.045), indicating that 3-year-old and 4-year-old children’s MVPA were 0.573 and 0.627 times that of 6-year-old children, respectively, that is, 6-year-old children’s PA was higher. (5) From the perspective of the outdoor sports facilities in the place of residence, the odds ratio of “yes/no” Exp(b) = 1.455 ( p  = 0.043), indicating that the MVPA performed by children with sports facilities in their residence was 1.455 times that without the corresponding facilities, that is, the former was significantly higher than the latter. (6) From the perspective of parental sports support, the odds ratio Exp(b) of “sports support” was Exp(b) = 1.138 ( p  = 0.039), and the odds ratios Exp(b) of “participation accompanying” was Exp(b) = 1.112 ( p  = 0.021), indicating that for each unit of increase in these two factors, the proportion of preschoolers participating in MVPA will increase to 1.138 and 1.112 times, respectively.

From the correlation analysis of the odds ratio of Model 2, we could see that whether preschoolers participate in sports interest classes was mainly related to the following five factors: (1) In terms of gender, the odds ratio of “boys/girls” Exp(b) = 0.675 ( p  = 0.022), indicating that the proportion of boys participating in sports interest classes was only 0.675 times that of girls, that is, the former was significantly lower than the latter. (2) From the perspective of household registration, the advantage ratio of “rural/urban” was Exp(b) = 0.341 ( p  < 0.001), indicating that rural children’s participation in sports interest classes was 0.341 times that of urban children, that is, the former was significantly lower than the latter. (3) In terms of the nature of kindergartens, the advantage ratio of “public/private” was Exp(b) = 1.848 ( p  = 0.035), indicating that children in public kindergartens participate in sports interest classes 1.848 times that of children in private kindergartens, that is, the former was significantly higher than the latter. (4) From the perspective of age, the advantage ratio of “3 years old/6 years old” was Exp(b) = 0.369 ( p  < 0.001), indicating that 3-year-old children participating in sports interest classes were 0.369 times that of 6-year-old children, that is, the former was significantly lower than the latter. (5) From the perspective of parental sports support, the odds ratio Exp(b) = 1.192 ( p  < 0.001) of “participation and companionship”, indicating that every time the factor increases by one unit, the proportion of children participating in sports interest classes will increase to 1.192 times.

From the odds ratio correlation analysis of Model 3, we could see that the daily screen time of preschoolers was mainly related to the following four factors: (1) From the perspective of household registration, the advantage ratio Exp(b) of “rural/urban” = 0.573 ( p  = 0.043), indicating that the proportion of rural children’s daily screen time less than 1 h was 0.573 times that of urban children, that is, the former has more screen time per day. (2) From the perspective of the nature of kindergartens, the advantage ratio of “public/private” was Exp(b) = 1.825 ( p  = 0.026), which showed that the daily screen time of children studying in public kindergartens was less than 1 h was 1.825 times that of children in private kindergartens, that is, the former has less screen time per day. (3) In terms of whether there were outdoor sports facilities in the place of residence, the odds ratio of “yes/no” was Exp(b) = 1.416 ( p  = 0.037), indicating that the daily screen time of children with sports venue facilities in their residence was less than 1 h was 1.416 times that of children without corresponding venue facilities, that is, the former has less screen time per day. (4) From the perspective of parental exercise support, the odds ratio was Exp(b) = 1.075 ( p  = 0.011) of “value perception”, indicating that for each unit increase of this factor, the proportion of children’s daily screen time less than 1 h will increase to 1.075 times the original (please see Table  5 ).

Discussions

Difference analysis of physical fitness and healthy behavior of preschoolers.

In this study, we found that boys’ physical fitness (such as standing long jump, grip strength, balance, et al.) and body composition analysis (such as BMI, muscle mass, et al.) were significantly better than girls’, while girls’ resting heart rate and body protein content were higher high. This was consistent with previous research results, indicating that boys have relatively good physical conditions [ 46 , 47 ], the physiological structural characteristics of boys tend to make them have better muscle strength, while girls were more likely to have qualities such as greater flexibility [ 25 ]. However, this study did not find that girls had better performance in sitting forward flexion, which may be related to the fact that the flexibility of preschoolers was still in the initial stage of formation. In addition, the rural children had higher systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure, lower BMI, and sitting forward flexion. This was similar to the study of Zhang et al. [ 26 ], which showed that urban young children have relatively better cardiovascular system development and better body composition analysis and flexibility. Overall, there were certain demographic differences in the physical fitness of preschoolers, and we speculate that this may be related to their genetics, living environment, and lifestyle factors.

Meanwhile, we found that boys were generally more physically active than girls. Studies have pointed out that the PA level of children is closely related to their growth and development, especially the MVPA [ 48 ]. In general, boys were more active than girls [ 49 ], and it was easier for them to do more physical activities in preschool. The study has shown that boys generally show a greater MVPA than girls [ 50 ], which may be one reason why boys have better physical fitness. A recent large sample study also found that preschool boys had significantly higher daily MVPA than girls [ 51 ] and that boys participated in most different categories of MVPA on weekdays and weekends than girls [ 52 ]. In addition, compared with rural children, urban children have significantly higher levels of middle and high activity, and the latter participate in sports classes significantly more frequently than the latter. Research showed that parents of urban children were better than parents of rural children in terms of education level, economic income, and educational concept [ 26 ], so they were more willing to let their children participate in sports classes, such as dancing, football, and swimming, which was one of the potential factors for urban children to have higher PA. Overall, this study identified gender and urban-rural differences in physical fitness and physical activity of preschool children in Southwest China, which was conducive to the formulation of follow-up personalized health promotion programs.

The relationship between physical fitness and healthy behaviors of preschoolers

This study found a significant correlation between physical fitness and PA in preschoolers, as higher levels of PA were associated with lower heart rate and blood pressure, and better body composition analysis and fitness in preschoolers. There was a close relationship between physical fitness and PA in children [ 20 , 53 ], especially MVPA, which was believed to be effective in improving muscle strength, explosiveness, balance, agility, and aerobic fitness in preschoolers [ 54 ]. Meanwhile, MVPA has a positive influence on the improvement of preschool children’s body composition and physical fitness [ 55 ], and this study further confirmed the linear relationship between physical activity and children’s body composition, physical function, and physical fitness, increasing MVPA and reducing low-intensity PA was one of the effective ways to improve the physical fitness of preschoolers. However, the correlation between participation in sports interest classes and the physical fitness of preschoolers was weak and only correlated with systolic blood pressure and sitting forward flexion. This result may be related to two factors. One was the type of sports hobby classes involved, for example, some hobby classes pay more attention to cultivating children’s motor skills rather than physical fitness. Second due to preschoolers being too young, they tend to do low-intensity physical activities in sports classes, which cannot effectively improve their general fitness test. Moreover, Wang et al. [ 20 ] found that controlling the screen time of preschoolers was a protective factor for their flexibility, but this study did not find a significant direct correlation between daily screen time and the physical fitness of preschoolers. Research suggests that this may be related to participation in sports interest classes [ 20 ], therefore, it was speculated that screen time does not directly affect the physical fitness of young children but indirectly affects their physical fitness level by reducing healthy behaviors such as PA [ 56 ]. It can be seen that maintaining a moderate amount of physical activity (especially MVPA) can directly or indirectly promote the physical fitness of preschool children, and actively participating in sports classes and reducing screen time are protective factors for physical fitness.

Analysis of influencing factors on preschoolers’ healthy behavior

Given the important influence of health behavior on the physical fitness of preschoolers, this study used logistic regression analysis to deeply explore the influencing factors of preschoolers’ health behavior. The results showed that the PA of preschoolers was mainly related to many factors, such as gender, household registration, the nature of kindergarten, age, living environment, and parental exercise support. Hinkley et al. [ 57 ] identified the relevant factors affecting the PA of preschoolers from different domains, including children’s gender, outdoor time, and parents’ PA levels, based on the socioecological model. Tucker [ 58 ] pointed out that boys were more active than girls, and that the availability of facilities, play space, and encouragement from parents or kindergarten teachers played an important role in the PA of young children. Some studies have also pointed out that social and cultural factors such as spatial environment and family roles, physical activities of parents, and encouragement from kindergarten teachers have important influences on children’s physical activities, of which environmental factors have a greater impact [ 59 ]. Meanwhile, some researchers have conducted preliminary research on the influencing factors of children’s 24-hour PA behavior [ 60 ]. Among them, two survey studies on infants and young children (3.6 months to 4.2 years old) in Australia and Belgium found that there was no significant gender difference in the 24-hour PA of infants and young children [ 61 , 62 ]. Kracht et al. [ 63 ]. explored the influence of age, race, and family economic level on the 24-hour activity compliance of children aged 3–4 in the United States, and found that the influence of race and family economic level reached a significant level, while age was not a significant difference. It can be seen that the factors affecting the amount of PA in preschoolers involve a wide range [ 21 , 64 ], this study further revealed the proportion of influence of gender, household registration, kindergarten nature, age, residence environment, and parental exercise support on their physical activity level through logistic regression analysis. It should be noted that given the differences in different studies, we speculate that it may be related to the research paradigm and the demographic differences of the respondents, the interaction relationship and mechanism among the factors still need to be further explored.

In terms of the influencing factors of participation in sports interest classes, this study finds that boys were less likely to participate in sports interest classes, which could be explained by the fact that boys were lively and had more leisure activities, so parents were more inclined to let them participate in art interest classes such as painting and music and tend to let girls participate in interest classes such as dance. As for children with urban household registration, the frequency of participating in sports interest classes was higher, research suggests that it may be related to the economic level of the family and the educational concept of parents [ 63 , 65 ]. Meanwhile, compared with private kindergartens, children in public kindergartens participate in sports interest classes more frequently, which may be related to the school’s curriculum content and teachers’ teaching methods. Compared with 6-year-old children, the participation frequency of 3-year-old children was lower. This may be because 3-year-old children were too young, their physiological functions were not fully developed, and they were not suitable for participating in too many sports interest classes, many training institutions also have clear age restrictions. In addition, the degree of parental participation and companionship also affects the frequency of children’s sports interest classes, the higher the degree of companionship, the higher the frequency of children’s participation. It should be noted that previous studies paid little attention to the influencing factors of preschool children’s participation in sports interest classes, but this study clarified the proportion of gender, household registration, kindergarten nature, age, and parents’ sports support on the participation of sports interest classes, which has reference value for investigating the characteristics of children’s participation in sports interest classes.

In terms of daily screen time, studies have shown that excessive screen time in infants and young children not only leads to decreased vision and sleep quality, and increased overweight and obesity [ 66 , 67 ], but also impairs cognitive function in young children [ 68 ]. The findings showed that rural children spend more screen time per day than urban children, this may be because the parents of rural children work outside all year round, the supervision of their supervisors (such as grandparents) was relatively loose, and rural children have relatively few leisure and entertainment activities, resulting in increased screen time. The screen time of children in public kindergartens was significantly lower than that in private kindergartens, which may be related to the educational methods of schools of different natures. Meanwhile, children who live in abundant outdoor sports facilities and venues have relatively less screen time per day, indicating that the environment has a certain influence on children’s behavior, and a good sports environment could promote the corresponding sports behavior of young children, thereby reducing screen time. In addition, the higher the parents’ perception of the value of children’s sports participation behavior, the lower the children’s daily screen time, again indicating that parents’ perceptions could directly or indirectly affect children’s behavior. Overall, excessive screen time was likely to harm the physical and mental health of preschool children, and this study found that household registration, kindergarten nature, residence environment, and parental exercise support were important influencing factors of daily screen time. Therefore, in the follow-up study, the influence path of parents on preschoolers’ health behavior should be further investigated.

Limitations

This study was a cross-sectional investigation and cannot draw a causal relationship between variables. Follow-up experimental studies can be used to further reveal the internal factors that affect the physical fitness behavior of preschoolers. Meanwhile, the PA of preschoolers in this study was obtained according to the subjective score, instead of the objective monitoring of their daily PA by accelerometer. Future studies should adopt the method of a subjective score combined with objective monitoring to obtain more accurate PA data.

This study visually presents the status quo of physical fitness and health behavior of preschool children in southwest China and identifies gender and urban-rural differences in the two variables. On this basis, this study also explores the correlation between preschool children’s physical fitness and healthy behaviors and makes clear the important role of maintaining healthy behaviors (especially MVPA) in improving children’s physical fitness. It was worth noting that this study found that preschool children’s health behaviors were closely related to gender, environment, parents, and other factors, so how to increase the protective factors of children’s health behaviors and controlling the risk factors may be crucial to promoting preschool children to develop good health behaviors.

Data availability

No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the informants for being part of this study.

This study was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (Grant No. SWU1909438) and the Management of Sports Scientific Research Projects in Chongqing (Grant No. A202018).

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Ruyun Zou and Kun Wang contributed equally to this work.

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College of Marxism, Chongqing College of Finance and Economics, Chongqing, 402160, China

College of Physical Education, Research Centre for Exercise Detoxification, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China

Kun Wang, Yongsen Liu & Tingran Zhang

Chongqing Science City Bashu Secondary School, Chongqing, 401331, China

Krirk University, Bangkok, 10220, Thailand

Yongsen Liu

College of Physical Education, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, 402160, China

Xiudong Wei

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All authors designed this study. RZ and KW carried out the protocol and wrote the first draft. RZ, and DL carried out the questionnaire survey and recruited the participants. KW, DL, and XW undertook the statistical analysis of the data. YL, TZ, and XW revised the draft. TZ provided financial support. All authors contributed to and approved the final manuscript.

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Zou, R., Wang, K., Li, D. et al. Study on the relationship and related factors between physical fitness and health behavior of preschool children in southwest China. BMC Public Health 24 , 1759 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-19269-0

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Outdoor steam education: opportunities and challenges.

1. Introduction

2. theoretical framework.

• How do teachers perceive the pedagogical use of outdoor spaces?
• What specific activities do teachers implement in outdoor spaces, particularly within the framework of the STEAM outdoor education approach?

3. Materials and Methods

4.1. outdoor spaces: characterisation, opportunities, and challenges, 4.1.1. characterisation of the school’s outdoor spaces, 4.1.2. pedagogical opportunities of outside school space, 4.1.3. challenges of outside school spaces.

“Sometimes we lack ideas on how to delimit or define practices that are interesting for the students and that include the content we want to address. We do not have much time to think about these things. The curriculum is extensive, the outdoor activities are a bit out of our control, and we often avoid them. The students are very used to a typical way of teaching and learning and often when you do something different, they do not understand very well what you want them to do, so going outside is also a difficulty.” (T5)

“Being outdoors requires more preparation, in the classroom they arrive and already know their space and the rules, when they go to space the rules change, some children overflow, there has to be more preparation for everything to go well. If there is a routine, they begin to understand the dynamics and what is expected, but if it is punctual, then it requires more preparation. I have not received any training in this area, and I am not sure how to implement these practices without first observing how they are carried out or having colleagues who are interested in these dynamics.” (T6)

4.2. Outdoor Activities

“tell a story; collect elements from nature to make an artistic expression, tennis practice, dancing, games, aspects related to biodiversity, sustainability, such as building a bird feeder and recording observations on whether the birds have eaten; traditional games, social learning and encounters with history, knowledge of cultural heritage”. (T4)

“... to calculate the height of a lamp from the shadow that forms a right triangle, to calculate the area of a certain flower bed or a door... in science I give the plants... so let’s go outside and pull the weeds to see the roots, let’s go and look for flowers...”. (T8)

5. Discussion

6. conclusions, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest, appendix a.1. interviews methodological plan.

Appendix A.2. Questionnaire Methodological Plan

Appendix B.1. Binomial Test (I) to Assess Statistical Significance Regarding Evaluation of Outdoor Spaces

Appendix B.2. Binomial Test (II) to assess Statistical Significance Regarding Pedagogical Opportunities of Outside School Space

Appendix B.3. Binomial Test (III) to Assess Statistical Significance Regarding Challenges of Outside School Spaces

Appendix B.4. Binomial Test (IV) to Assess Statistical Significance Regarding Outdoor Activities

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Share and Cite

Correia, M.; Ribeirinha, T.; Beirante, D.; Santos, R.; Ramos, L.; Dias, I.S.; Luís, H.; Catela, D.; Galinha, S.; Arrais, A.; et al. Outdoor STEAM Education: Opportunities and Challenges. Educ. Sci. 2024 , 14 , 688. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14070688

Correia M, Ribeirinha T, Beirante D, Santos R, Ramos L, Dias IS, Luís H, Catela D, Galinha S, Arrais A, et al. Outdoor STEAM Education: Opportunities and Challenges. Education Sciences . 2024; 14(7):688. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14070688

Correia, Marisa, Teresa Ribeirinha, David Beirante, Raquel Santos, Liliana Ramos, Isabel Simões Dias, Helena Luís, David Catela, Sónia Galinha, Ana Arrais, and et al. 2024. "Outdoor STEAM Education: Opportunities and Challenges" Education Sciences 14, no. 7: 688. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci14070688

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