P.E. Balloon Activities for Elementary Students

This week my Kindergarten and Preschool aged students had fun playing with balloons!  My 2nd graders did not have school this week, but they will be participating in these balloon activities soon.  They are finishing their unit on jump ropes...

To view the details of my Balloon Lesson, please click on this link.  The first several pages of this document are posters I used in my lesson, and the last page has the list of activities.  My plan is to break the activities (there are about 9) over THREE class periods.  We spent about 8 minutes doing balloon activities and the rest of class was the warm-up and fitness games. 

These posters show the order of things I taught the kids.  Today we did the red and orange poster.  Next week we'll talk more about the other posters.  The red and orange poster just have body parts listed.  This is how we practiced hitting the balloons (with our feet, hands, fingers, elbow, knee, head, shoulder, thumb).  The pattern posters give examples of how we can use patterns while we play with balloons.  Ex.  Hit the balloon with hand, then foot (AB pattern) OR an ABC patterns of "hand, knee, foot". 

This is a video of the pre-K class doing an "AB" pattern while hitting the balloon.  Hand-Foot, Hand-Foot, etc.

The ECSE classes played "Stop-Go-Slow" using scooters.  Great way to work those leg muscles!  Pictured is Mr. Gietzen, our new student teacher. 

Doing the bear walk during our "Four Corners" warm-up.

     

Elementary P.E. Chinese Jump Ropes

Special Note:  This semester I will have a student teacher working with me from Aquinas College.  His name is Mr. Joe Gietzen and he is very excited to be with us! 

Update:  For the month of December, 2nd graders worked a lot on catching and throwing.  We also had fun playing some holiday games such as "Feed the Reindeer",  Christmas Tree Tag and Candy Cane Tag.  

In January we will be focusing on Jump Rope Skills.  Students will practice with Chinese Jump Ropes, Long Ropes, Single Ropes, and Jumping Sticks.   This week the kids also played a running game called "Freezer".  A good one for the cold month of January!   Click HERE for more videos of jump rope activities from previous years. 

Chinese Jump Rope Pattern "Americans" 1-2-3-4-(straddle jumps) In-Out-In-On This student is learning the American's pattern. She has two misses,then nails it on her third turn! Good job!
This student was successful (no misses) at ankle height, so the rope holders move it up to calf height. The highest I allow for second graders is knee height.

Picture of 2nd graders doing Chinese Jump Ropes

P.E. Kindergarten Jump Rope Lesson

Special Note:  Mr. Joe Gietzen began working with us today!  He is my student teacher for this semester and will be working with me until May!  He is from Aquinas College. 

Kindergarten Jump Rope Lesson:
Day 1 and 2

Jumping Rope is a tough skill to learn for most Kindergarten children.  Before teaching my students how to jump with the rope, I always begin with a variety of other activities to show them there are many things to do with jump ropes besides just jumping over it!

1)  Students laid their ropes in a straight line and walked on it like it was a balance beam.  Then we made curvy lines and walked forwards and backwards on it.  We also practiced jumping over the rope with two feet while it was on the floor.

2)  Students used their ropes to make shapes on the floor.  They made circles, squares, triangles, ovals, hearts, etc.  After they made each shape I told them to jump in and out of their shape. 

3)  Students worked individually and with groups to make letters on the floor.

Scroll down to see #4 below the pictures.....

4)  On Day 2 of our jump rope unit, we learned the cue words for the horizontal jump.  I use the posters from the EPEC curriculum which are "READY, CROUCH, JUMP, LAND".  We practiced jumping with feet together using that good form.

5)  The next activity with the ropes was to hold the handles so that the rope is in FRONT of your feet.  I had the students use that good jumping form to crouch (bend knees) and jump over their ropes with out having to twirl it over their head yet.

6)  Lastly, I taught the kids how to twirl the rope over their heads.  First we practice the arm motion WITHOUT using a rope yet.  My cue words are "ready, down and over your head".  Ready mean arms are stretched out in front of your body (holding pretend rope), Down means you push your hands down towards the floor, Over your head means to twirl the rope over your head.   I was VERY impressed with how well the kids did! 

7)  For the last 5 minutes of class we played a jumping game (without ropes) called "Sleeping Giants".  It was so much fun and a great way for kids to practice their jumping skills.  See movie below.....

Here is a video of a new warm-up game we played today called "Speedway".

Note to PE teachers - I highly recommend "Rene Bibaud's jump rope DVDs".  Especially for teaching upper elementary jump rope skills.