Rainy Day? Five Indoor PE Activities for Elementary School Students

When it comes to the fall season, many Physical Education teachers will find themselves having to bring their classes indoors. For some, this may be difficult trying to find innovative games aside from Tag or Duck, Duck Goose.

EducationWorld has a list of five indoor physical education activities teachers can bring to their elementary school gymnasiums this fall. 

1. Through the Hoop: Provided by Teaching Ideas, physical education teachers are asked to split their class into groups of ten, and then ask the students to form a circle. Teachers will give each group a hula hoop and ask them to link hands, placing the hula hoop over the arms of two children. The class is then expected to step through the hoop without unlinking hands. 
2. Don't Fall in the Water: This activity is also provided by Teaching Ideas, and encourages children "to work as a team, organizing their actions to achieve the desired outcome as quickly [but as safely] as possible."

Steps:

• Set up the gymnasium into four separate "islands" with four blue mats to represent water, and four brown benches or a rectangular piece of wood to stand on. 
• Split the class into four evenly-sized groups, and ask each group to stand on the bench. Explain to the class that the benches are the safe zones. The mats and floor are the sea, and there are sharks in the waters.
• Tell the children to get into alphabetical order, and students should help one another move sensibly over the benches. Teachers can try other ways to organize, from height, age, birthdays, and get them to carry out these tasks quietly. 

3. Balls Galore: In this game, students will learn cooperation, strategy, and teamwork, along with some exercise. The object of the game is to get one player to hold as many tennis balls off the ground as possible.

Instructions:

• Each team will have a ball holder, and the other players will be the "stuffers." Players much adhere to the following guidelines:
  1. Players may not use their clothes or pockets to hold the tennis balls. 
  2. The tennis balls can not be touching any other player or object. 
  3. The tennis balls need to be held for 10 seconds to qualify as a hold. 

4. Cat and Mouse: Similar to a type of tag, this game is provided by eHow.com. In this game, two students can be the cats, and the rest are mice. Mice must have a piece string or a scarf tucked into their waistbands representing their tails. The teacher will ring the bell, and the cats must chase the mice and pull their tails out to get them out of the game. 
5. Perimeter: According to Brian Lewis, maker of the YouTube video, students will take a fitness ball, lie on the floor with their feet against the wall, and use their feet to keep the ball on the wall, moving around the perimeter of the gym. As soon as the student is done passing the ball off, they must get up and go to the end of the line to keep the ball moving. 

Article by Kassondra Granata, EducationWorld Contributor