Many elementary schools lack the luxury of a hall exclusively for physical education use. So when it’s wet outside, is PE cancelled?  Not necessarily…

Of course, we would ideally have students running, jumping, and throwing, letting off steam and testing their physical limits. But there is so much that students can learn in a small restricted area, such as the classroom. So, in this blog post, we look at classroom PE games and activities for elementary schools.

Using classroom desks

Classroom desks are the perfect size for elementary school students to develop skills in Table-Tennis, Table-Hockey, Table-Football, Table-Anything really (with a little creativity!).

Gymnastics in the classroom

Consider moving tables to one side of the room to create enough space for Gymnastics. 

OK, students won’t be jumping and rolling quite as much, but they can perfect the Gymnastics Key Shapes, individual balances, perhaps even partner balances. You don’t need a lot of space to put students into groups of 2 or 3 to create a routine such as: Key Shape, Individual Balance, Key Shape, Partner Balance, Key Shape. 

Give the students some time to practice, then get them to perform their routine to the rest of the class.  Key Shapes cards can be downloaded from the PE Planning website.

Dance in the classroom

Have a look at our Dance plans. You should be able to extract the phases where students perform individually.  Practice these in the classroom then add them into your dance performance when you have access to the hall. 

There’s a huge range of PE quizzes, word-searches, and drawing games that can be downloaded from this website too, when you sign up for our resources and lesson plans.

There are so many reasons to keep physical education in your timetable, regardless of space, equipment, facilities, and Social Distancing rules.  Whether you are a PE Planning Subscriber or not, we are always happy to help, so just send us a message if you’re struggling for ideas for classroom PE games and activities.