These games were collected by Elaine Gregory for the presentation “Teaching Health, Wellness, and Elementary Physical Education in One Class”. AAHPERD 2010 Indianapolis.
CATEGORY:Responsibility
NAME:“Responsibility” Warm-Up
OBJECTIVES:To work on being responsible for something in their possession.
GRADE LEVEL:K-2
SKILLS:Run/Walk
EQUIPMENT:Tennis ball for each student
SOURCE:Great Activities ,March/April 1996(Reggie Daigle from Latham, NY)
DIRECTIONS:Each child is given a ball to carry, something easily carried like a tennis ball, yarn ball, or hacky sack.
During the run, each child is responsible for their ball to see that it does not become “lost” or dropped. Periodically during the run, I exchange my tennis ball with students who are acting responsibility. (You’re doing such a good job with your ball, I know you can be responsible with this ball”). “This often allows me to exchange balls with students who may need a bit of encouragement or positive reinforcement before we begin our lesson.
We run for about 2-3 minutes. After the run (or at the end of the class period) we spend a short time talking about why we need to be responsibility for ourselves, our families, and others.
CATEGORY:Drug Abuse
Tag Game
NAME:Cigarette Chain Tag
OBJECTIVE:The more you smoke the more difficult it becomes for you to remain
physically active.
GRADE LEVEL:3-6
SKILLS:Running; working together
EQUIPMENT:None
SOURCE:Great Activities
DIRECTIONS:Pre-activity – Talk about the benefits of exercise with your students. These are the things that help your body feel good and look good. Talk about the “bad” things we can do to our bodies. Smoking is certainly a “bad” way to treat your body.
This is a tag game. One player is selected to be a smoker (IT). This player will try and tag the rest of the students. If a student is tagged, he/she must hold hands with the smoker and continue to chase the students.
As additional students are tagged, they join on to the end of the “smoker’s chain.” Thus the cigarette chain grows longer and longer and making it harder and harder to move quickly.
When the chain gets to be so large that the game appears to slow down, stop the game and ask the smoker what happens when more and more “cigarettes” joined the group. Select a new IT and continue for another round.
CATEGORY:Nutrition
NAME:The Calorie Facts Game
OBJECTIVE:Introduce students to the concept that most foods contain a certain
number of calories.
GRADE LEVEL:4-6
SKILLS:Processing information; fitness skills
EQUIPMENT:3 hoops; three cones; food cards
SOURCE:Great Activities, January/February 1997
DIRECTIONS:You will need food cards that identify the calorie count. Spread the cards out in the middle of the playing area, upside down.
Have three hoops spread out in a circle around the cards labeled:
- “0 – 100 calories”; stork stand and march in place
- “101 - 300 calories”; half jacks and curl-ups
- “301 – 1000 calories”; push-ups and running in place (or jump rope)
The less calories in a particular food, the easier the exercises were; and the more calories, the harder the exercises were to do.
Divide the class into four groups with all of the food cards in the middle and three hoops arranged in the middle to form a triangle. On “go” the first person takes one lap around the outside of the playing area and then runs to the middle and grabs one food card. He/she then looks at the number of calories and decides which hoop the card should be placed in.
After placing the food card in the proper hoop, he or she chooses one of the exercises to do to burn off the fat calories. Then the player runs back to his or her team, and leads the exercise as the rest of the teams does the exercise ten times. When the exercises are completed, the player goes to the end of the line and sits down. When everyone is sitting, the teacher checks for accuracy and gives each team 1 point if they are correct. Continue until everyone has had a turn. Then sit everyone around each hoop and have a discussion about the foods in that hoop, the calorie count in each one of the foods, and examples of better food choices.
CATEGORY:Hygiene; Tag Game
NAME:Germ Wars
OBJECTIVE:The “germ” tags the healthy student, thus “infecting” them. The infected
student must then be “healed” by the doctor.
GRADE LEVEL:4-6
SKILLS:Cooperation, running and dodging
EQUIPMENT:Balls that are “germs” and something for the doctor to use to heal.
SOURCE: Indoor Action Games For Elementary Children
DIRECTIONS:Divide the class into two even teams and have the teams face each other on opposite sides of the room. The teams are armed with lethal “germs” (foam balls). The players attempt to “infect” the opposition by touching them with germs to immobilize them. If a player is touched with a germ, he falls dramatically to the ground and is frozen. Each team has a doctor with a syringe who can give a shot to a frozen player and revive him. The goal is to infect the opposing doctor, because he cannot give himself a shot and no one else can become the doctor. If the doctor is hit, the game is over.
CATEGORY:Safety
NAME:Stop, Drop, and Roll
OBJECTIVE:To practice the stop, drop, and roll skill in an activity setting.
GRADE LEVEL:K-3
SKILLS:Listening; the fire safety skill of stop, drop, and roll
EQUIPMENT:None
SOURCE:Energizers from East Carolina University
DIRECTIONS:On teacher signal, the students begin to move around the room. When the teacher yells “fire” the students stop, drop, and roll. The teacher then yells “fires out” and the students continue around the room. Teacher yells “fire” and the activity continues.
The teacher can also call out “When the heat gets high…” and the students will reply “…you get down low” and squat down to the ground to avoid smoke (students can also crawl toward emergency exit).
Note: 1. Movement around the gymnasium can be different locomotor movements.
2. This can also be a classroom activity.
CATEGORY:Physiology
NAME:Heart Smart
OBJECTIVE:To correctly react to terms by either jumping or falling.
GRADE LEVEL:2-5
SKILLS:Listening; Understanding the function of the heart
EQUIPMENT:None
SOURCE: Energizers by East Carolina University
DIRECTIONS:The teacher discusses the heart:
-Where is it located? Left side of the chest.
-What size is it? Size of a fist.
-Function? Deliver blood to the body.
-What strengthens the heart? Jumping, swimming, jogging (students can act out each activity)
-What weakens the heart? Inactivity, smoking unhealthy diet.
Students will move around in general space. The teacher will call out habits that strengthen or weaken the heart. If the habit strengthens the heart, students will respond by jumping. If the habit weakens the heart, students will respond by falling down (or squatting).
Riding a bike – jump
Eating 4 pepperoni pizzas – fall
Walking your dog – jump
Smoking cigarettes – fall
Never going outside to play – fall
Dancing with your friends –jump
Skating – jump
Watching a lot of TV – fall
Never eating fruits and vegetables – fall
Riding a scooter – jump
Shooting baskets – jump
Paying PlayStation – fall
Eating fast food – fall
Raking the leaves – jump
Washing the car – jump
Taking the stairs – jump
Taking the elevator – fall
Swimming – jump
Eating potato chips and twinkies - fall