K-2 PE Lesson Ideas

No need to have "boys vs. girls" or "picking teams" anymore in our PE classes. These ideas should provide developmentally appropriate ideas to get students into groups of your liking.

1. Standers and Sitters (forming 2 teams)

Have everyone get a partner. Have one person sit and the other stand. Standers move to a teacher designated area and they form one team. Sitters become a team. Typically this eliminates best buddies and the higher and lower skilled being on the same team all of the time.

Submitted by Ken Bell who is a professor at Boise State University in Boise, ID.

2. Group Face (forming small groups)

Have the kids move around in general space doing whatever you want them to do (skipping, jogging, etc.). When you call out a number, that is the size of the group the students they have to get into (i.e., "4" is called, so the teacher should see groups of 4). (Use math equations if you want i.e., 4-2+7=??). Call out several numbers or equations until you are happy with the groups that are formed. Have groups that are unable to form that numbered group come to you. Typically on there way to see you they find other groups having the same problem and they make the correct numbered group.

Submitted by Ken Bell who is a professor at Boise State University in Boise, ID.

3. Interlocking Grip (forming two teams)

Have students close their eyes and then put their hands together so their fingers are interlocking and their palms are touching each other. Have them open their eyes and look down at their hands. If their right thumb is on top then they are one team and if their left thumb is on top then they go to the other team.

Submitted by Judy Fowler who is a PE teacher in Greensboro, NC.

4. Birthday Groups (forming small groups)

Have students form groups by their birthdays. If you were born in January go to the teacher designated area, February goes here, etc. To form larger teams you can ask them to get into groups if you born from January to March, April to July, etc.

Submitted by Mike Imergoot who teaches physical education at Mark Twain Elementary School in Brentwood, MO.

5. Seasons (forming into 4 groups)

All children born in the Spring form one group; all born in the Winter form another team, and so on.

Submitted by Mike Imergoot who teaches physical education at Mark Twain Elementary School in Brentwood, MO.

6. Birds of a Feather (forming small groups)

Give each student a card with a different kind of bird drawn and/or picture on it. Students are to find the person(s) with the bird that matches theirs. Of course you can use any category for this (i.e., dogs, cars, sports topics).

Submitted by Mike Imergoot who teaches physical education at Mark Twain Elementary School in Brentwood, MO.

7. Take a Number (forming small groups)

Ask the children to quickly get into groups of 3,4, 5 etc. Break up the groups by having the children take a number from one to _____ depending on the number of students in the group. Ones form a group, Twos form a group, etc. This usually breaks up the skilled players and the students end up working with new classmates.

Submitted by John Pomeroy who teaches physical education at Roland E. Cook and Fort Lewis Elementary Schools in Roanoke, VA.

8. Face Your Partner (forming two teams)

Ask the students to quickly find a partner (but don't tell them you are about to organize them into teams). Ask one partner to stand on a line and face their partner who is standing on another line. All of the students will be standing on two lines, facing one another. The children on the one line compose one team, the students on the other line form the other team.

Submitted by George Graham who is a professor in the HPE Program at Virginia Tech.

9. Back To Back (forming two teams)

Have students stand back-to-back with a partner (give them no longer than 10 seconds). Use the following options for forming groups:

1. Have the younger of the two go to a designated area.
2. Have the student with the larger or smaller foot size go to a designated area.
3. Have the taller or shorter student go to a designated area.

Submitted by Craig Walker teaches PE at Spring Garden Elementary School in Hampstead, MD.

10. Every Other Student (forming 2 teams)

Have the girls line up in front of you and boys behind you (or vice versa). Walk down the line and tap every other student and have them raise their hand. Hands up students are one team, hands down the other. You know have an equal number of boys and girls on each team.

Submitted by Chuck McNevich who teaches PE at Carver Elementary School in Lexington Park, MD.

11. Hair Bands (forming different sized groups)

On the days that you need to form groups/teams give students small hair bands to wear on their wrists (they fit perfectly). Have 4-6 colors so then you can divide the class up anyway that you need to. You can group students differently each week by giving out different colors to different students. You can use for skill practice as well (i.e., yellow bands dribble around the yellow hoop, orange bands assess their skill by writing the cues they perform).

Submitted by Ilene Nolish who teaches PE at Boulevard & Roxboro Elementary Schools in Cleveland, OH.

12. Teacher Formed Groups (forming different sized groups)

One of the best methods to form equal groups and teams is to have the teacher make them up in advance. The teachers knowledge of skill, gender, behavior, and compatibility of their own students is probably the best way to form the groups. For example, If you are doing stations list the names of the students on a card, give the group a name, and then have the students go to that station to start. Change groups frequently throughout the year.

Submitted by Angelo Garofalo (c/o Peter Celi) who teaches PE at Harrington Elementary School in Lexington, MA.

13. Deck Of Cards

Make a pack of playing sized cards with the names of your students on them. The teacher shuffles the cards and the students names are called as they are pulled from the pack. If you want just one child, you can choose a child to pick a card, or shuffle them and pick the top one. This is random selection and avoids anyone feeling "bad" about being last or not picked. Ideal if you want any amount of groups as each 3 or 4 cards are turned over they become a group.

Submitted by Claire Wilkins.

14. Everyday Questions (forming 2 groups)

"If you put both socks on before your shoes (sneakers), then you go to this side. If you put one sock and shoe on before the other then move over here."

"If you get out of bed on the left side, then you are over here. If you are a right sider, then you are on this side"

Submitted by John Fortunato who teaches PE at Salem High School in Salem, MA.

15. Hands Up and Down (forming 2 groups)

Have children line up along the middle line of the gym. Move past the students and as you do indicate if they should put their hand up or leave it down (i.e., say up, down, up, up, down etc.). The ups then form one team and the downs form another.

Submitted by Sharon Hey-Montgomery who teaches in Caledon, Ontario.

16. Equipment Fun/Forming Groups (forming small groups)

Spread the pairs of equipment throughout the playing area. Have students enter the gym and pick up any piece of equipment. Have them start playing with the piece of equipment in a creative and safe manner and they should stay close to their personal space area. After about 3-4 minutes, form teams/partners by instructing the student to find the student with the matching piece of equipment. Combine equipment for fast groups of four (i.e., "all bean bags and nerf balls skip to the red line.")

Submitted by Sheri Smith who teaches PE at Blacksburg MS in Blacksburg, VA.

17. Deck of Cards (Part II) (forming small groups)

Decide how many groups you want and what size. For example, if you would like to have 5 groups of 5 and you wanted to randomly put them into groups then get 5 Kings, 5 Aces, 5 2's, 5 Jacks, and 5 Queens (of course you will need more than one deck of cards) and shuffle them up. Pass them out and match up the five who get the Kings, Queens, etc. Those will be their groups for the day/period.

Submitted by Jan Kelley who teaches PE at William Halley ES in Fairfax, VA.

18. First Names (forming partners)

Have children count the number of letters in their first name. Now ask them to find someone in the class who has the same number of letters. Those two are now partners. If a child can't find someone ask him/her what other name he is called by (i.e., a student named Matthew may use the name Matt and then he may look for someone with 4 letters instead of 7). If they still can't find someone then have the children come to you so you can pair them up.

ADVANTAGE: Now that they are in pairs I wanted one partner to get a balloon. They had to figure out whose name started with the letter closest to A. That child went to get the balloon. I tried this with my first graders and they loved it. It was great seeing them talking with one another to find a partner.

Submitted by Mickey Ryan who teaches PE at Como Park Elementary School in Lancaster, NY.

19. Barnyard (forming small groups)

Students are each given one tongue depressor marked with the name of an animal (i.e., cow, pig, chicken, horse, etc.). (The number of different animals used depends on how many groups you want to form. For example, for a class of 30 ending in groups of six, use 5 different animals.) On signal and staying within a marked boundary, students begin to move around general space using a teacher determined locomotor movement (slow movements work best). While students are moving around they are to make the sound of the animal on their tongue depressor. Students "look" (listen) for anyone of the same animal catagory and hook up with them. Continue moving through space until all of your animal buddies have been found and are all together. Students should keep their tongue depressors in their hand but they shouldn't show it to anyone. Do not allow "human" communication for this activity and it is best to tell students to make the animal noises using a soft voice.

Submitted by Nancy Hennefer who teaches PE at Creekside Elementary School in Stockton, CA.

20. Standers and Sitters: Part II (forming small groups)

Have students find someone who has the same size hand or shoe size and have them sit by each other. After all students have grouped together have one person stand. All students standing are on one team those sitting down are on the other.

Submitted by Tami Walker who teaches at Graham Elementary School in Graham, WA.

21. Organize With Colors (forming small groups)

I divide and form students into groups by putting colored paper (I use action figures of different colors) on the walls in row formation. Then, I assign students certain colors and they are then part of that color group. Each student is assigned a personal space in a color row (usually 5-6 colors so 5-6 rows of students). This allows me to reduce time when lining up, getting equipment or placing students in teams. An example of this in action would be "blue group get a ball" or red & blue go over to the sideline, yellow & orange go to the end line. Each color group is a mix of girls, boys, athletes and non-athletes. I will make changes in the groups if I see problems occurring between students. Sometimes it is beneficial to change the groups after a certain amount of time just to mix things up.

In addition, I also have color coded our playground balls which allows me to use the same type of technique.  This has alleviated much of the "fighting" over a specific color ball - they get the color that matches their group.  

Submitted by Jane Gregg who teaches at Myrtle H. Stevens Elementary School in Rocky Hill, CT.

22. Personalized Index Cards

In the beginning of the quarter I give each student an index card. I have them write their first and last name on it and draw whatever they want (within limits of course) on it to personalize it. I then make the teams I need by shuffling the cards and then forming piles based on the number of teams I need. I keep the cards upside down to show I am not playing favorites. If you use this a lot you may want to laminate the cards.

Submitted by Kevi Harwood who teaches in the Meramec Valley RIII School District in Pacific, MO.

23. Taking Roll Best Practice

Submitted by Dustyn who teaches PE at Toyon Middle School in Valley Springs, CA.

24. Forming Teams

Laminate 12" x 18" sheets of colored paper, one each of 6-8 different colors. Cut each sheet into approx. 4" aquares. For selecting 6 teams of 8 players each, take 8 each of 6 different colors and place into shoebox. Have tournament team sheets handy to record on.

Tell students we are selecting teams randomly, and that students will draw a color from the box and be on the red team or green team, etc. Have helper record as you go to keep students from trading their tags. As teams are selected, they group together and work on a team name and cheer to go with their color. This takes most of a 25-30 minute period, and therefore is used for the teams on which they will play their "main games" in the last week of a unit. It ensures that a team is random, without being "teacher-selected". It creates team building by developing a name and cheer while waiting for the process to finish.

Submitted by Dustyn who teaches PE at Toyon Middle School in Valley Springs, CA.

25. Where In The World

Submitted by Allen Russell who teaches PE at Columbine Elementary School in Grand Junction, CO.

26. Equal Teams

Let's say you want to split your class into 4 even teams. Tell the students to get into groups of 4. Most likely, they will get into groups with their friends. All of the athletes usually get in one group and the remaining part of the class usually form their own groups. If these were the teams, the game will probably be one-sided. When the class is separated into groups of 4, tell each group to form a line. Give the first person in each line a blue vest. Give the second person in each line a red vest and so on until you have your 4 teams. After you use this system a few times the students will eventually catch on. They will then split up from their friends when you tell them to get into groups. If this happens just keep those groups as your teams.

Submitted by Bob Wright who is from Holland, PA.

27. Shoes Toss

Have students remove one shoe and put it in a pile. The teacher then divides the shoes into however many teams or groups they need. The students then simply find their shoe to find their group or team.

Submitted by Wendy Vandrunen who teaches at F.R. Haythorne Junior High School in Sherwood Park, Alberta, Canada.

28. Partners

Have your students stand shoulder-to-shoulder in a line facing you. Break the line in half by asking the two people at the halfway point to seperate slightly. Ask the students on the right half of the line to interlock arms, so they are connected. The student to the far right will walk to and face the person at the far left. If they stayed connected, each student from the right will now be face to face with a student from the left. Each student now has a partner. This works well when playing 2 v 2 basketball. Line them up in height order. This will assure you that the 2 tallest students are not partners.

Submitted by Bob Wright who is from Holland, PA.

29. Favorite Color

You will need colored construction paper (one color for each team) for this activity. Place a different color in different locations in the gym. If you want four teams place four different colors in the gym. Ask students to sit under the color that they like the best. For example, if you have the colors red, blue, green and yellow and your favorite color is red you would sit under red. If you want a team of two you would just use two colors.

Submitted by Jan Kelley who teaches at Milford High School in Milford, DE.

30. Finding a partner for Square Dance

Girls (or boys) remain outside the gym doors (or they can just turn around and close eyes) while the boys (or girls) remove one shoe and place it in the middle of the activity area. The girls (or boys) file in and choose a shoe. The boy (or girl) owning the shoe comes forward and the two become partners for the period.

Submitted by Andrea Gehweiler who teaches at Dunleith Elementary School in Marietta, GA.

31. Marbles

You will need a bag, jar, or box and 20-30 different colored marbles. Chinese checkers marbles works great for this. Have the students line up in a single file. One by one they reach into a bag and pull out one marble. They then go to their designated area ie. all blue marbles = one team; red marbles another; etc. If I want four groups of six I put six marbles of each of four colors (ie. red, blue, yellow, green)in the bag. This assures even teams.

Submitted by Terry Stouffer who teaches at East Coventry Elementary School in Pottstown, PA.