Physical Education Websites

By simply typing "elementary games" into the Google search engine, you can find pages upon pages of suggestions by parents, teachers, and many others of how to set up games for multiple ages and groups of children. The only question you're going to be left with, is which one to choose? Here are three websites that provide a good start:

1. Mr Gym.com 
This website, run by an elementary school Physical Education teacher in the United States, provides you with a good variety of Phys. ed. games including sports games, cooperative games, and warm-ups. Each individual section, when clicked on, will show you a number of games relating to that topic.
For example, if you were to click on cooperative games, a list of 50 different ideas will come up, with new suggestions being added each day. Each one of these games focuses on encouraging students to work as a team in order to solve a problem, or complete the game.

The games range anywhere from Birthday games, to dance, to fitness and beyond.
As an extra added bonus, this site also includes features such as the national standard for Kindergarten through to Grade 12 (although they are not Canadian standards, the still give a basic idea), assessment, how acquire equipment at good costs, field trip ideas, and even how to build a climbing wall for your kids.


2. CanTeach
This is a Canadian site that, like the last, is a good reference for games. The main focus of this particular site is team activities for grades kindergarten and up, such as ball wrestling, "The Dragons are coming!" and snake. Because the games mentioned are for younger kids, descriptions of the games are kept in nice, easy points that make it easy to describe to a younger crowd, and the game names and characters are kept interesting to keep their attention and let them use their imagination as well.
This site also includes introductions to ball control, whether it's with your foot, your chest, or a hockey stick, or even just learning how to bounce a basketball.
The author of this site also provides those interested with information on teaching elementary students the importance of warm-ups through the use of spaghetti and collage, giving them the opportunity to do a hands on learning process.

7 dance activities are provided, as well as alternative environment activities which include outdoor forest factors.

 3. Six Great Physical Education Games My Students Loved
Although this particular site only provides 6 game options to for you to take to the students, they are all well laid out and excellent for younger students. The author also gives modification ideas to accommodate the different age groups that the game may be used with. 
All of the games provided don't necessarily work on the general skills of sports, such as dribbling and bouncing, but they do work on running skills, giving students a chance to be the 'leader' and getting them to pay attention to their surroundings in a way that they can keep up with what is happening.
I particularly liked the Treasure Chase game because it involves all of the students, and everyone is on some sort of team, meaning they have help in completing their task. The treasure giver and the treasure holder make up one team, while the rest of the students make up the next as they try and stop their fellow classmate and get a chance to be the one to make the decision of who gets to go next.

All three of these sites are great for finding a place to start when planning a PE class, or a way to gain new ideas. And, if none of these provide an idea, there are many more sources to find and explore!

*ɐssılǝɯ*

Invented Games

Invented Game number 1: "Fly Ball"
For this game, our group used 3 bouncy balls, 4 small hand held nets, 2 hula hoops, and 2 small buckets. The goal of the game was to get the ball into the bucket, but in between the thrower and the bucket are guards. Between the 8 of us, there were 3 positions:
1. Two Throwers who would be trying to get the ball into the buckets.
2. 4 guards; the hula hoops were set up next to each other at a distance that allows the guards to touch fingers. 2 guards were set up in each hula hoop, each one with one of the nets. The goal of this position is to try and stop the balls from reaching the bucket by either deflecting it or catching it in the net.
3. 2 bucket holders. The job of the two people in this position is to help the thrower by moving the bucket to try and help get the ball in.
  A good age group for this game would be around Grade 2 and up. Any grades lower than that may have problems understanding the concept. Yet, alterations could be made to make this a good game for younger age groups. The main rules are; (a)the ball must bounce at least once before it can be considered a goal
(b)The guards cannot step outside of their boundary (the hula hoop)
(c)The bucket holders must stay behind the guards
(d)The thrower must stay on the marked line. - this is where the modifications would come in, making the line closer if the student is have trouble, or further away if they're finding it too easy.
Through this game, students are able to work on hand-eye coordination, as well as teamwork and participation.

Invented Game number 2: "Almost-Ultimate Frisbee"
This game included the use of Frisbees, flags, and 3 hula hoops. Between the 8 of us we split into 2 groups of 4, and the goal was to get the Frisbee through the hoop. One player on each team is the goalie, and holds up the hula hoops on the opposite team's side of the field, moving it to try and get it into a position that makes it possible for the team to score. The rest of the team is in charge of passing in down the field towards the goal.
The age group of the game would once again be slightly older, probably starting around Grade 4 and up. The reason for this is the skill level required of the students to throw the frisbee. There are some main rules in this game that must be followed to make sure everyone participates:
(a)Every person on the team must touch the Frisbee before they can score. Each time the Frisbee is taken back by the other team, they must start over.
(b)The goalie cannot move forward toward their team to help them score, they must stay in their box.
(c)You cannot travel with the frisbee, but must pass it off to another player before you continue forward
(d)The Frisbee must go through the hula hoop in order to score.
Modifications: depending on the skill level of the group that is playing, the field size can either be increased or decreased. The size of the teams can also be changed, as well as the size of the goal.
Through this game, students can work on skills such as teamwork, coordination, participation, and skill level. 

September 13th to 17th - Physical Education teaching philosophy

Although PE class is a good chance for teachers to get kids to release some of their energy and hopefully, in turn, help them concentrate, it can also be a great opportunity to teach life skills if the time is taken.

When teaching this class, I believe the Teacher should take the time to incorporate tasks and skill sets that the child will be able to take and use outside of class as well, such as teamwork, respect, participation and leadership. Because the kids will have the opportunity to not just listen but to actually experience and perform these tasks, they will learn faster and hopefully keep it in their memory for a longer period, if not for life! Simple actions, such as putting the shy kid in a leadership position or creating a game where everyone has to participate in order to score, has the potential to entice confidence and good relations between the students and prepare them for harder situations they will face in their lives ahead.

With the threat of obesity and unhealthy lifestyles a very real and common problem in today's society, it is important to teach students the importance of staying healthy early on. Physical Education provides a fantastic opportunity for this, where the Teacher can give the student a chance to exercise each week in a fun environment so that they can come to enjoy it. Teacher's also have the opportunity during this time to promote other healthy habits in relation to how it will improve or affect their abilities in class!

Melissa Voth