List of Physical Education and Field Day Activities

Children's soccer team in a huddle Physical education is an important facet of a student’s school life. Often, life habits are learned at school, and physical wellness should be no different. Youth physical fitness programs are making great strides by encouraging students to get moving while incorporating fun ideas, interesting themes and clever technology.

Today’s society needs to pay more attention to physical education in schools. A 2018 Pediatrics report highlighted the following findings from 2016 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

  • There are significant increases in obesity and severe obesity in children aged 2 to 5 years and adolescent females aged 16 to 19.
  • Childhood obesity rates in the United States remain high. The study found that about 1 in 5 children suffer from obesity.
  • The past 18 years [from 1999-2016] have seen increases in the level of severe obesity in all ages and populations despite increased attention and efforts.

It is critical to continue teaching younger students the benefits of proper physical health. The obesity epidemic is impacting all ages and populations. Students can take what they learn home to their families, making physical education also a matter of improving community awareness and habits surrounding health.

Myriad tools exist to help facilitate physical education: physical fitness programs, fitness and skill tests, traditional activities and games, and field days. Below are highly effective and fun resources any physical educator could use to create an amazing year full of engaging physical education and field day activities.

Discover the following sections of this guide:

Part 1: Youth Physical Fitness Programs

Part 2: Physical Education Activities to Try Out

Part 3: Field Day Games and Activities

Youth Physical Fitness Programs

Physical activity is of the utmost importance for a student’s health. Not only does it keep students active while they are in school, but it also gives them the tools they need to make healthy exercise choices throughout their lives.

Youth fitness helps build strong bones and muscles, as well as positive mental health. It can even improve concentration, memory and classroom behavior. Beyond the body, physical activity can foster academic achievement:

  • Higher Test Scores in Reading — The results of a 2009 study published in Neuroscience indicated better reading achievement following acute-exercise.
  • Improved Learning and Memory — According to a 2013 study published in Public Library of Science, fitness can boost learning and memory of children.

Schools that invest in youth physical fitness programs are really investing in both the health and the academic potential of their students.

Youth physical fitness programs in school are crucial at this current time. A 2018 report released by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) found that children and adolescents are spending a substantial amount of time engaged in sedentary behaviors, such as watching TV, using cellphones and playing video games. The ODPHP found that once sedentary actions and studying at school were combined, children and adolescents spent an average of six to eight hours not moving.

Youth physical fitness programs are striving to combat the rise in sedentary behaviors, both in and out of school. The many types of youth fitness programs in the U.S. range from single days to time challenges and yearly goals. Below are some of the most effective and well-known programs currently available.

Youth Fitness Programs in the U.S.

  • Kids Heart Challenge — This youth fitness program is a fun way to keep kids healthy by jump roping while raising funds to fight heart disease. This program is also successful in Australia and Canada, where it is called Jump Rope for Heart. The American Heart Association and Society of Health and Physical Education both head up the U.S. program.
  • SHAPE America — This youth fitness program recommends that school-age children have at least one hour of physical activity every day, and its website provides many physical education and activity resources to achieve that goal.
  • National Bike to School Day — Biking to school on a certain day of the year allows schools across the country to join together and celebrate physical activity in tandem with National Bike Month. The next National Bike to School Day is May 8, 2019.

Physical Education Activities to Try Out

Physical activities in school are crucial to increasing a student’s non-sedentary time. According to a 2018 TED Talk, exercising is one of the most transformative things anyone can do to take care of his or her brain and body for the following reasons:

Exercise can →

Protect the Brain — Exercising can help shield the brain against depression, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Improve Focus and Memory — A single workout can improve attention and focus for at least two hours afterward.

Increase Reaction Times and Energy — Working out can increase how fast the body responds to stimulus.

Improve Mood — A single workout has an immediate impact on the brain. It will immediately increase levels of neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, serotonin and noradrenaline, which will increase mood.

Regular exercise is clearly beneficial for both the body and mind of children and adolescents, both in school and later on in life. Teaching students the correct ways to exercise can potentially impact the way they view exercise and their health as they grow up.

That’s why it is important to monitor and measure students’ health with fitness and skill tests, which can be great tracking systems for seeing monthly or yearly trends. It is also important to make physical education as fun and engaging as possible so students will have a good experience and want to continue exercising outside of school as well.

Below are some excellent fitness and skill tests for tracking trends, as well as fun physical education activities and games that are student-tested and student-approved.

Fitness and Skill Tests

  • 40-Yard Dash — The 40-yard sprint is to evaluate the speed, acceleration and agility of students.
  • Pullups – Also called chin-ups, this test is a measure of upper-body strength when completed in a smooth motion.
  • Pushups – A pushup test measures upper-body endurance and is usually performed for a duration of 60 seconds.
  • Situps — Situps measure the strength and endurance of the abdominals and hip flexor muscles, indicating core stability and back support in a person’s body.
  • Wall Sit Test — This simple test measures lower-body strength and endurance, particularly the quadriceps muscle group.

Activities and Games

  • Virtual Rock Wall Obstacles Using Projector — If a physical educator’s school has a rock wall, then a projector can be used to put “obstacles” in the path of students or to urge them to speed up in a fun way.
  • Cooperative Fitness Challenge — This challenge from PE Central encourages students to work together to complete six cooperative tasks: on-the-move throw-and-catch, partner situp throw-and-catch, partner plank taps, partner jumping jacks, crab walk bean bag pick up and frogger.
  • Fitness Bingo — Each student receives a pencil and bingo sheet with different physical activities on each square. When an activity is called, everyone must complete the act, and only then can students circle their bingo squares.

PE Resources

  • PE Central — This website is an excellent resource for physical educators by physical educators, featuring lesson plans, professional development opportunities, physical education activities tested in real classrooms, ways to find funding and a forum for educators to open dialogue.
  • Youth Physical Activity Guidelines Toolkit — The CDC has compiled a guidelines toolkit to encourage schools, families and communities to participate in regular physical activity by providing them with PDFs and PowerPoint presentations full of readily applicable ideas and activities.

Field Day Games and Activities

Field days are all about creating memorable experiences for students. The events and field day games give students a chance to unwind and just let loose, without the fear of having too much energy for the space.

Cooperative and team games make field day more fun for everyone. The experience is made unique by using items that students wouldn’t normally encounter in the classroom setting, such as eggs, hula hoops, water balloons, bubbles, “mummy” wrap and beach items (see below).

The hard part isn’t getting students to enjoy the day — they usually love any fun or silly field day activities teachers come up with. The challenge is all of the preparation the big day requires.

However, finding the right field day ideas may be tricky. Here are a few quick tips to consider.

Balance — Activities need to both provide good exercise and laugh-out-loud fun and be easy enough for all ability levels.

Ask for Help — Planning the day is not necessarily the same as filling up hundreds of water balloons single-handedly just for one event. Logistics get more complicated when field day games require setup, the organization of teams, the explanation of rules, handing out props and then cleanup, all with ordered transitions. Don’t be afraid to ask for help from other teachers or even parents.

Make More Than “Needed” — Kids love water balloons, bubbles, eggs and anything else that sounds fun to play with. If the activities involve cool items, make sure to make plenty and then some. If one event is a standout winner, it can always be repeated if there are more supplies ready. Telling a classroom of kids to wait 20 minutes while the teacher fills more water balloons probably won’t cut it.

Below are some of the top field day games, tested over and over by students. These activities are effective, loved and tons of fun for everyone.

Solo (1 Student)

  • Spoon Race — Students must balance an egg on a spoon while walking to the finish line without splattering it. Use potatoes, grapes or marbles for less mess. To increase difficulty, have pairs compete, with one blindfolded and the other giving directions to a finish line.

Pairs (2 Students)

  • The Cooperative Skills Challenge — The challenge requires cooperation as the students complete six fun and motivational tasks together: the balance shuffle, volley up, throw-and-catch, hula hoop, jump that rope and paddle strike.
  • Water Balloon Toss — Teams of two start a foot apart and toss a water balloon back and forth, taking a step back after each successful catch. Keep going until there’s one team left. Remember to get help with filling the balloons and always make more than necessary.

Teams (3+ Students)

  • Hula Hoop Tic-Tac-Toe Sprints — This is a massive two-team tic-tac-toe game where each square is a hula hoop and the X’s and O’s are bean bags. Each team sprints one person at a time to place bean bags in a desired hoop (to increase difficulty, place the “board” farther away). The game stops when there is a winner or tie.
  • Combination Relay — Create a relay that combines elements of running; other physical activities, such as jumping acts or crunches; and silly things to make the students laugh, such as somersaulting or blowing bubbles while hopping on one foot.
  • Tug of War — A classic field day game, this takes two teams and a big piece of rope. Each side pulls, and when one side pulls the rope far enough, it is the winner.
  • Car Wash Relay — Fill a bucket with water and one sponge. A student from each team takes the sponge and runs to an empty cup, squeezing in as much water as he or she can. After that student runs back, the next student goes. The first team with a full cup is the winner.
  • Musical Hoops — Place hula hoops around a field, with enough for each student. When the music starts, the students must leave their hoops and walk around. The teacher will take away one hoop. When the music stops, they must find a new hoop. Any student left without a hoop is out. If two students are in one hoop, rock-paper-scissors decides the winner. The last student in a hoop is the winner.
  • A Day at the Beach — Give each group a beach chair and a bag containing a towel, sunglasses and a magazine. The first student runs to the finish line holding the chair and bag and lays out the towel, sits on the chair, puts on the sunglasses and then reads the magazine. Once the student has opened the magazine, he or she can pack up and sprint back to his or her team so the second player can go. The first team to finish wins.
  • Mummy Relay — The ideal team size is five. Provide each team with a toilet paper roll. One member is the “mummy.” When the relay begins, the first person wraps one limb of the “mummy” in toilet paper. When that person is finished, the second person wraps another limb. Continue until the toilet paper is gone. Have students vote on “best mummy” and indicate the “quickest team.”