Fun Mini Activities For Physical Education

The Pterodactyl (could be done on a rainy day in classroom)	·         Flap your arms like they are the wings of a pterodactyl ·         Start by slowly stretching your arms out like you just woke up ·         Once your arms are extended begin flapping slowly ·         You may increase the speed and adjust the angle to imagine you are leaning into a turn as you dodge a larger dinosaur that is trying to eat you ·         Make sure that your feet remain planted so that all the movement is done while you stand in place ·         While your wings are stretched out you can crouch down and rise up on your tippy toes to imagine that you are flying under and over tree branches
The Musketeer (could be done on a rainy day in a classroom)	·         Stand with one foot stretched in front of you like you are going to do a lunge ·         Put one hand on your hip and hold the other one like you are going to pull a sword out of its holder ·         When I say go pull out your imaginary sword and hold it at attention (vertical in front of you) ·         Practice slicing side to side at a diagonal angle ·         Now try chopping up and down ·         Variations can be made directionally and then to change hands slight foot movements could be added and students could eventually have a tournament against a peer pretending to respond or mirror their partners movements
The Crustacean (could be done on a rainy day in a classroom)	·         Hold up your pinchers ·         First pinch with your left hand and alternate pinching with your right hand ·         Rock your body in the opposite direction of the hand that is pinching ·         Move your head by gently rocking using your neck muscles to match the direction you are pinching in
The Snake (could be done on a rainy day in a classroom)	·         Start by making your body into the smallest shape possible ·         You are in your den ·         Now slowly and in a fluid motion begin to stretch out like a snake slithering from its den ·         Slowly stand up so that you are at your tallest. Like a snake climbing a tree in the jungle ·         Move your muscles in a swaying motion like a snake slithers by lowering your hips and shoulders ·         You could move your body front to back in a swaying (slithering) motion
The Golden Soldier (could be done on a rainy day in a classroom)	·         Begin by standing as straight and as tall as you can ·         Begin marching to the beat that the teacher or a volunteer student makes ·         The beat can speed up or slow down and students can make exaggerated movements ·         Could make adjustments to say march like a tiger or a snake for variations ·         Students could imagine they are playing a drum to include dramatic arm movements
The Jack and Jill	·         Students run in place like they are going up a hill ·         Once they are at the top of the hill they act out filling up a bucket of water ·         Then students pretend to roll down a hill by rolling on the floor ·         This can be repeated with variations like in slow motion or sped up
The Werewolf	·         Start by pretending to sleep (laying on ground) ·         Teacher says full moon and students pretend to change into a werewolf and they skip around howling at the moon ·         Students could make variation of the game by tagging each other and every time someone is tagged they have to howl ·         When the teacher says “dawn” students change movement from skipping to hopping. ·         When teacher says “good morning” students pretend to sleep again
The Ogre and the Frog	·         The teacher or a volunteer stands at one side and the class stands in a line at some distance ·         When the teacher or the student turns their back (pretending to be the ogre) the students (frogs) begin to leap forward ·         When the ogre turns around the frogs have to freeze. If they move then they are turned into ogres that stand with the teacher and turn when she does ·         Students will practice leaping like a frog
The Tide pool	·         Students will stand in a circle and pretend they are floating in a tide pool ·         They can start by rotating their hips, arms or legs ·         Fluidity should be stressed and making swaying motions ·         Variations could be imagining that the water is moving faster or that a big storm has come so that students will make bigger motions and then slow down as the storm passes
The Spider	·         Students will imagine that they are spiders making a web ·         They will run from the starting point to another point ·         Next, they will hop from that point to a third location ·         Finally students will reverse their steps and do the motions backwards ·         They can make new movements as a variation or work with a partner to make a larger “web”
The Hippopotamus and the Crane	·         Students will start by showing how they would move if they were a hippopotamus (large lumbering movements) and then show how they might move as a crane (more fluid graceful movements) ·         Teacher will call out hippo or crane and students will alternate between the movements ·         Bending knees and turning can be stressed
The Liberty Bell	·         Students will pretend that they are the Liberty Bell and jump up and click their heels to simulate the ringing of a bell ·         When they click their heels they can say “riiiing” ·         Students can get a running start and try to click their heels twice
Attack of the Ooze	·         Students will start by pretending they are a scientist stirring a vat of liquid ·         They can start slow and go faster ·         When the teacher yells “oh no” ·         Students will transform into ooze by becoming the largest size they can and pretending to escape from the lab ·         They can roll or crawl making exaggerated movements like ooze would that is taking over the world
The Windmill	·         Teacher says “wind” and students spin their arms in circular movements ·         Variations can be “lots of wind” so students spin their arms faster or that students pretend that the windmill broke loose and they spin their arms and run around the designated area
Magnets	·         Students are paired up ·         Teacher says attract or positive and students run together around the designated area ·         Teacher says repel or negative and students run away from each other