Warm-up activities energize the students and prepare their muscles for the main activities of physical education class. A variety of warm-up activities and games keep the kids engaged and excited to start gym class. For the best results, use activities that use the whole body to get all of the muscle groups warmed up and ready to play.
Sports Pantomime
This warm-up exercise doesn't require any equipment, making it a quick activity to start of your PE class. Spread the students out around the gym so each has enough space to move. Ask the kids to call out several different sports they know. This could include basketball, football, volleyball, ice skating, soccer, gymnastics or other sports the kids can name. Tell each child to pick one of the sports. Blow the whistle to indicate the students should pantomime the sport they chose. Blow the whistle again after a minute or two, letting them know they should switch to a different sport. Continue as long as you want the warm-up to last.
Cone Chase
The students work on two different teams for this warm-up activity. Spread out several cones throughout the gym. One group of students goes around and knocks over the cones. The other group runs around and sets up the cones. For more variety, call out a certain way the students must move around to get to the cones. For example, you might have them skip, run, walk backward or do the crab walk.
Circle Exercises
The circle exercise warm-up is a variation of follow the leader. The students stand in a large circle in the middle of the gym. One student stands in the middle of the circle and performs various exercises or activities. Ideas include acting like a particular animal, toe touches, dancing, jumping jacks or sit-ups. The rest of the students follow what the middle person does. Switch the person in the middle every few minutes to have variety.
Calling Out Orders
A set of orders or code words become the directions in this warm-up game. PhysEdTeacher.com uses orders you might hear on a ship for the activity. Designate an area of the gym as the ship. Each order corresponds to an action for the kids. For example, if you yell, "Bow," the kids would run to the front of the boat area. They run to the back if you say, "Stern." Other ideas include "scrub the deck," where kids get on their knees and mimic scrubbing or "hit the deck," where they quickly lie down on their stomachs. You can easily adapt the orders to fit a different theme or make up random phrases that correspond to different exercises or actions. Using the code words instead of just saying the exercise name makes the activity more interesting.
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