Windy, rainy, no hall…? Try classroom PE games

Published on 15th September, 2020

Whoever designed primary schools, didn’t have PE and the British weather at the forefront of their minds. And now with extended lunchtimes for Social Distancing, does this mean no PE in the winter months?

Classroom pe games

Very few primary schools have the luxury of a hall exclusively for PE.  So is PE cancelled due to wet weather and no hall?  Not necessarily…

Of course, we would ideally have children running jumping and throwing, letting off steam and testing their physical limits.  But there is so much that children can learn in a small restricted area, such as the classroom. So, in this blog post, we look at classroom PE games and activities.

Using classroom desks

Classroom desks are the perfect size for primary school children to develop skills in Table-Tennis, Table-Hockey, Table-Football, Table-Anything really (with a little creativity).

Gymnastics in the classroom

Consider moving tables to one side of the room to create enough space for Gymnastics. 

OK, children won’t be jumping and rolling quite as much, but they can perfect the Gymnastics Key Shapes, individual balances, perhaps even partner balances.  You don’t need a lot of space to put children into groups of 2 or 3 to create a routine such as; Key Shape, Individual Balance, Key Shape, Partner Balance, Key Shape. 

Give the children some time to practice then get them to perform their routine to the rest of the class.  Key Shapes cards can be downloaded from the PE Planning website.

Dance in the classroom

Have a look at our Dance plans. You should be able to extract the phases where children perform individually.  Practice these in the classroom then add them into your dance performance when you have access to the hall. 

Our LKS2 Social Distancing Dance is WAKA-WAKA.  The whole of this dance can be performed on the spot.

There is also a huge range of PE quizzes, word-searches and drawing games that can be downloaded from this website too, when you sign up for our resources and lesson plans.

There are so many reasons to keep PE in your timetable, regardless of space, equipment, facilities and Social Distancing rules.  Whether you are a PE Planning Subscriber or not, we are always happy to help, so just send us a message if you’re struggling for ideas for classroom pe games and activities.