These games are great if you are looking for a filler in your lesson or a fun game to wrap up your lesson. They can take 10-15 minutes.

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Hoop Hop Materials: Hula Hoops

  • Spread hula hoops around the gym close enough for students to hop, jump or leap to.
  • All students will begin in a hoop anywhere in the gym. When the teacher says “Go!” students hop, jump, or leap to hoops depending on the round.
  • The goal is for students to be in control of their bodies and not fall over or bump into another person while moving.
  • The game is best if you play three rounds (hopping, jumping, and leaping) and then discuss how the movements felt each round and the difficulty of moving.
  • Note: You can increase the difficulty of the game by adding a tagging factor or have students collecting objects like bean bags or cones.

Tree’s in the Forest Materials: Hula Hoops and Foam Dodge Balls

  • Choose 3-4 students to be the taggers. Each taggers have a hula hoop and foam ball. The foam ball is “poison”.
  • The taggers must keep one foot in their hula hoop at all times and move the hoop with them as they move around to tag people.
  • If a student is tagged by a tagger with the poison ball, the student and tagger change jobs.
  • Balls can not be thrown at each other to tag people, they are only to be used as a softer tagging tool than a hand.
  • Note: Taggers do not have to switch places with the person they tag, but it is a nice way to get everyone moving since taggers can’t run with the hula hoop. It also allows people who don’t want to be it the whole game the opportunity to play and tag.

Night at The Museum Materials: Music (optional)

  • One student stands in the middle of the gym. They are the “museum guard”. The rest of the students spread out in the gym. They are the “statues”.
  • The museum guard closes their eyes for 5 or 10 seconds, you can choose the duration or allow the student to choose.
  • When they hit 5 or 10 seconds the statues must freeze. The guard opens their eyes immediately and tries to catch one of the statues moving.
  • If the guard catches a statue moving, they are the new guard.
  • When the guard is counting the students must be doing locomotor movements or dancing. Music can be helpful for either option to keep the energy high.
  • The teacher will likely need to referee a little bit with deciding who has moved or hasn’t.
  • Note: To make the game a little harder statues must get in a pose of their choice (maybe a yoga pose) when the guard stops counting. Statues can not stand straight with their hands by their sides.

Colour Tag Materials: N/A

  • One student is “it” and stands in the middle of the gym. The rest of the students stand against the gym wall facing the tagger.
  • The tagger says a colour and any student that is wearing that colour must run to the other side of the gym and try to not get tagged. For example, the tagger calls out “blue!” and anyone wearing blue clothing must run.
  • If a student gets tagged they must join the tagger in the middle of the gym and they must decide together what the next colour will be.
  • The taggers can also call “Rainbow!” which means all of the students have to run regardless of what colour they are wearing.
  • Note: For students that are non-verbal or have trouble using a loud voice you can have coloured piece of paper that the student can hold up instead of calling out a colour. They can also hold up the card and the teacher can call out the colour.

Band-aid Tag Materials: N/A

  • Choose 1 or 2 students to be “it”. The rest of the students spread out in the gym.
  • When a student is tagged by the taggers they must hold their hand on the spot that they were tagged and then continue to run around.
  • If they get tagged again, they must put their other hand on the spot that they got tagged and run around.
  • If they get tagged a third time, they must stop where they were tagged. That student must wait for two other students to come over to them and count to 5.
  • Once they count to five they are all free. Taggers can not tag people while they are “operating” or helping someone get untagged.
  • It is usually best to create a tag zone on the body, so people can only get tagged between the waste and shoulders for safety.
  • Note: It is best to use a tagging tool with this game such as pool noodles or a foam ball to help with safety.