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Objective: Adapted from the game In the Zone (Hughes, J. 2002. No Standing Around in My Gym. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics), Catch Me if You Can emphasizes teamwork and strategy through a high-energy passing and catching manipulative game. -
From my book PE2theMax II: Stepping up the “Game” in Physical Education, the game of Action Packed provides a great way to introduce and/or integrate multiple fitness and social activities that will allow students to demonstrate competency in fitness skills, in the attempts to also enhance persistence, team- work, and camaraderie. -
Objective: To reinforce spatial awareness, fleeing and dodging, throwing for accuracy, and hula hoop manipulatives in the wacky, action-packed game of Hooper’s Hulas. -
From my book PE2theMax II: Stepping up the “Game” in Physical Education, in the game of Going Cuckoo, students must cooperatively and quickly work together to get all of the misplaced Cuckoo eggs safely to their mother’s nest, while reinforcing throwing, catching, hand-eye coordination, and cardiovascular fitness. Scenario: There are two common kinds of cuckoos in North America, the blue-billed cuckoo and the red-billed cuckoo. Bird watchers have observed and learned that cuckoos do not like to care for their young. The sad truth is that cuckoos actually lay their eggs in another bird’s nest and leave them to be hatched and cared for by another bird. To avoid the risk of extinc- tion, a group of bird watchers have decided to team up and find the misplaced cuckoo eggs and safely transfer all the fragile eggs to their natural mother’s nest. -
Objective: to provide students various ways to develop and improve aim and accuracy while learning to manipulate various throwing objects. -
Objective: This is a fast-paced aerobic game that focuses on the movement competencies of dodging and fleeing. -
Objective: A strategy-based game where teamwork, decisiveness, and communication skills are critical to win it ALL or walk away with NOTHING (accept having fun with your friends and getting active)! -
Objective: This game improves bowling for accuracy while placing students in nonstop defensive situations. -
Objective: Students will practice and improve bouncing for accuracy, spatial awareness, defensive strategy, and cardiovascular endurance in the high- energy game of A Drop in the Bucket. -
This is an excerpt from my book PE²: Double the Physical + Double the Education = Double the Fun. Included are some additional teaching tips to assist you in time management and grouping strategies. These strategies are especially helpful if you teach large classes of 50+. -
Each class that arrives to physical education must enter the gym, get into personal space, and await the teacher’s instructions. A student “caught being ready” (sitting still, listening, etc.) is chosen every class to go to the stage to be the Stretch Captain. Variation/Option: since most students want to be chosen, I’ve added a new stipulation in order to be selected as the Stretch Captain. In this variation I ask “who knows their multiples of 4 or 6 or 8, etc. This limits the number of students who raise their hands and challenges those students who do not know their multiples to learn them so that they may be chosen for a future class. The Stretch Captain will read and lead each stretch from the list of stretches, while counting to 10 or whatever multiple is chosen times 10. Upon completion, the Stretch Captain will roll the fitness die to determine what fitness activity all students must perform. Note: the teacher can supplement any fitness activity if a fitness die is not available. This is a great incentive for entering the gym correctly because EVERYONE wants to be the Stretch Captain! -
Objective: All students will actively engage in the mysterious game of Trick or Treasure because what is unveiled could be a trick or could be a treasure. Trick or Treasure provides a fun, high-energy outlet for students to reinforce fitness skills, strategy and deception. -
OBJECTIVE: EcSTATIC Bowling is the advanced and more competitive version from the original game of EcSTATIC. Teams will race to complete the cooperative bowling and static balance challenges. AND as a bonus, holding static poses is great for building core strength! -
Helpers of the Month Here is a fun incentive I use with my 5th graders who excel and demonstrate great attitudes in physical education. Helpers of the Month assist me in promoting behavior expectations to other students. This incentive utilizes 5th graders as physical education helpers in daily setup, cleanup, errands, and other classroom management needs. 5th Grade Student Teachers Here is a fun incentive I use with fifth graders who excel and demonstrate great attitudes in physical education. This program utilizes fifth graders as student teachers at various physical education stations for kindergarteners. -
For decades, there has been a search for PE activities that blend academic and physical elements. With time being a huge factor, a balance must be achieved; physical intensity must not be diminished by time spent on verbal instruction. Could the answer to this balance be easy? Easy as PIE? INNOVATIVE WAY YOUR P.E. PROGRAM CAN: •Promote reading and math •Reinforce classroom content •Challenge students physically and mentally PHYSICAL: Students use lots of high energy locomotor skills, running, skipping, leaping etc, to find assigned letters and in the span of a few seconds use fine motor skills to place the ball on the word building tray. Correct throwing form and proper basketball shooting technique may be practiced as students must throw balls into the unique mixer goal. ACADEMIC: Beginning readers get extra practice in letter recognition, spelling high frequency sight words and word building. Established readers use subject specific task cards to reinforce classroom concepts in areas of English, science, nutrition, health, etc. The math concept of fractions is utilized as “just keeping score in a game.” COLLABORATIVE: Students work in teams and every team member has a role to play. Each team has a captain, a point guard and several letter “ninjas”. Teams compete for points by spelling words quickly and must work together. The elements of cooperation and competition are extremely effective in keeping students motivated and on task. The inventor of the game, Carol Cranford is a retired physical education specialist from Alabama. "Thank you for checking out this game. It is now a staple item in my physical education curriculum because my students love it". JD Hughes -
Objective: To elevate dance appreciation through unique, fun, and exciting rhythmic dance skills with the attempt to alleviating any preconceived negative feelings concerning dance. -
These are a few hands-on tools I use to engage students in the learning process. I simply tie them into a lesson/game that fits well with the tool I'm using. Although there is a small investment involved to add these products to your equipment, it's interesting to see how captivated students are when they can actually see and feel the effects of an occluded artery, or how much sugar and fat are in the foods they eat. Students also are amazed at the fat chunk and that although it weighs the same as muscle, it takes up twice the space, plus it is gross to feel. The Pack of Toxic Tar Display contains two removable cigarettes filled with gooey "tar." The tar in these two cigarettes represents the amount of toxic tar that a smoker receives from smoking one pack of cigarettes. -
Nonverbal cues are a great time management tool I often times implement in physical education to avoid disrupting the flow of learning when instruction is being given. Implementing the nonverbal cues allows me to quickly address and alleviate many problems instead of stopping the class, addressing the problem, and re-starting the class. For example, I’m demonstrating a skill and I notice a student who is talking to a friend; instead of calling them out and disrupting class, I simply make eye contact with that student and do the “cut it out” cue without hindering my demonstration. -
PE2theMax II: Stepping up the Game in Physical Education is the 3rd physical education book from J.D. Hughes' 7-book series, author of the best-selling No Standing Around in My Gym and PE2theMax. This guide includes 30 games and dances in an easy-to-use spiral bound book. All games and activities have been classroom-tested and used successfully with children ages 4 to 13. -
Virtual Field Day
The Virtual Field Day is an online, alternative Pre-K through 8th grade field day that contains 12 Minute to Win it Challenges. These movement-based activities will provide your students with a fun, yet challenging opportunity to participate in a new type of field day experience. This resource offers a Virtual Field Day document, 12 challenge activities, student rules and video submission information, along with equipment needs, teacher notes and scoring suggestions for each challenge. You can simply show my videos and use my scores or recreate your own videos and scoring. You can download it in a Word document so that you can modify, cut and paste, and basically do what you need to fit your program's needs. Minute to Win it Challenges: A video will be posted to provide you with the rules, equipment needed and a demonstration of how to perform each challenge- Tennis Racket Challenge
- Rope Jump Challenge
- Frisbee Throw Challenge
- Rundown Challenge
- Basketball Shooting Challenge
- Marshmallow Move Challenge
- Penny Tower Challenge
- Bottle Flip Challenge
- Hoop in and out Challenge
- Wall Ball Challenge
- Grocery Bag Juggle Challenge
- Cartwheel Challenge
- Bonus: badges for every event that can be emailed
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To elevate dance appreciation through unique, fun, and exciting rhythmic dance skills with the attempt to alleviating any preconceived negative feelings concerning dance. -
PE2theMax: Maximize Skills, Participation, Teamwork and Fun is the 2nd physical education book from J.D. Hughes' 7-book series, author of the best-selling No Standing Around in My Gym. If you agree that physical education should be fun, instructive, and a place where students acquire physical and life skills, then you’ll love the games and activities in PE2theMax! -
A must have best-seller from physical educator, nationally recognized presented and author of 7 books. No Standing Around in My Gym, is book 1 of a 7 book series. Keep all students in your physical education program moving, learning, and on their toes—even when you're teaching very large classes. -
OBJECTIVE: Grinchmas will be one of your go-to favorites to get your students into the holiday spirit. Co-authored with my great friend and colleague Butch Soles, Grinchmas was birthed out of the games Stack Attack and Blockheads from PE²: Double the Physical + Double the Education = Double the Fun (2011), Grinchmas is an ideal game to help students practice and improve throwing and bowling for accuracy, and offensive and defensive strategy. Grinchmas combines the art of cup/bucket stacking, the strategy, and tactics incorporated in offense and defense, the skill of throwing and bowling to hit various targets, along with the “never give up” attitude it takes to be successful. SCENARIO: The grumpy, old Mr. Grinch and his Grinch relatives are back at it once again to try and take away the joy of Christmas by stealing the children’s presents and destroying all of the Christmas trees! It is up to the children of Arborville to save Christmas by sending all of the Christmas presents back down the chimney and returning the Christmas trees to all of the families of Arborville. -
Download this free 6 page pdf to provide you with the Lesson Plan Scope I use for My Physical Education Program. This Scope includes the Skills Development/area of focus of the game, it's recommended grade level along with what book you can find it in and the page number. Due to length of my school year, the Lesson Plan Scope does not include every game or activity that I've ever written in all 7 books. I've basically selected all of my favorite games and lessons that I can fit into my calendar year. Thanks for checking it out ;) -
HyPEd Up! Taking Physical Education Games to the Next Level is the 5th book in my 7 book series. HyPEd Up includes 120 pages of 24 of my newest, never-seen-before games that infuse play and fun with a purpose along with movement-based games that integrate common core material along with 2, fun dances. The games contain easy-to-read illustrations, diagrams for class set up, and task cards along with answer sheets. -
Hula Hut Throw Down combines the art of hula hut building, the strategical tactics incorporated in offense and defense, the skills of hitting various targets, along with the “never give up” attitude it takes to be successful. -
As I approach the end of my career, I look back at my teaching evolution from being a scared, young educator, with no idea how to really teach children, to a veteran author-teacher-mentor who truly loves the physical education profession. None of which would be possible if it had not been for the passionate teachers who came before me and shared with me their joy and expertise. If you have ever tried any of my games or participated in any of my staff development/workshops, I pray that you saw my heart for physical education and children and that my passion came across through what I shared and presented. So, it is with great joy to share with you my final publication, PE2theMax's Greatest Hits: Games Created to Maximize Skills, Participation, Teamwork, and Fun! Although it was extremely hard, I went back through all six of my books and selected my all-time favorite, most popular creations to share with you in one edition. As a bonus, I have also included six of my latest game creations that I think you will enjoy. A book full of my all-time favorite games and activities designed with play and fun with a PURPOSE. A wonderful guide to help enhance any physical education program by providing activities to be implemented as stand-alone lessons or as follow up activities to reinforce a particular learning target(s). PE2theMax's Greatest Hits includes 145 pages to help guide you toward greater success in your physical education program and most importantly, students having lots of fun in the gym. This is the 7th and final book in my 7 book series. This resource provides invigorating and challenging activities for classes of all sizes, resulting in minimal discipline problems and maximum participation. All games and activities are classroom-tested and have been used successfully with children ages 4 to 13. They maximize participation and ensure that every child is provided with numerous opportunities for success while learning basic fitness-, sport-, and academic-related skills. Now let’s play! -
Students will practice and improve kicking and soccer-style dribbling, defensive and offensive strategy, and cardiovascular endurance in the throwback, Pac Man-like game of Gobble, Gobble. -
To elevate dance appreciation through unique, fun, and exciting rhythmic dance skills with the attempt to alleviating any preconceived negative feelings concerning dance. -
Objective: This is a fast-paced game where teamwork, decisiveness, and communication skills are critical to wheel ’n deal teams to success. -
I’m excited to share with you my latest creation and 6th book of my 7 book series, HyPEd Up II! Physical Education Games to the Max. HyPEd Up II includes 25 new games with 100+ pages and TONS of diagrams and pictures. Being around children has taught me so many things over my 24+ years of teaching elementary physical education. I have embraced the notion that physical educators have a major impact on whether or not physically active children grow up to become physically active adults. With that thought in mind, I have asked myself numerous times… “at the end of the day, the end of the year, the end of my students’ elementary physical education experience, what is the number one outcome I want each child to take away from their time with me?” There are MANY learning outcomes and targets that I establish within my physical education curriculum. However, if I had to choose one overall outcome, it would have to be that all children would leave realizing that movement is FUN and that they want movement to be a part of their lives forever. Ultimately, my goal for each child is that they come to the conclusion that they will not be fully content in life unless they are actively pursuing lifelong fitness. It is my pleasure to present to you HyPEd Up II! Physical Education Games to the Max! A book of games and activities designed with play and fun with a PURPOSE. This book is a guide to enhancing any physical education program by giving the teacher suggestions of activities to be implemented as stand-alone activities or as follow up activities to reinforce a particular learning target(s). -
OBJECTIVE: It’s sometimes “Risky Business” trying to make money in today’s society, but with some hard work and some potential low or high risk investments, you can really make it big! The game of Risky Business is a cooperative challenge that provides a great way to introduce money recognition and counting money, while integrating running and fitness in the attempt to enhance persistence, teamwork, and camaraderie. -
I’m excited to share with you my 4th book of my 7 book series, PE²: Double the Physical + Double the Education = Double the Fun! This indispensable resource includes 95 pages of teaching tips, incentives, motivational ideas as well as unique, never-seen-before games that infuse play and fun with a purpose. The games contain easy-to-read illustrations and diagrams to aid in class setup. -
Objective: The dice game of Blockheads provides a fun, high-energy outlet for students to reinforce fitness skills and practice number recognition, number comparisons, and be able to create and solve various subtraction problems. -
Pokémon Go Get ‘em is a cooperative game that will allow students the opportunity to explore various ways to develop and improve ball manipulation, slingshot skills of force and accuracy, while helping to improve each student’s cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, and muscular endurance. -
What you get with your purchase of my eBook flash drive: A flash drive full of what I have created over the last 32+ years as an elementary physical education teacher…
- No Standing Around in My Gym: Lesson Plans, Games, & Tips for Physical Education eBook (151 pages)
- PE2theMax: Maximize Skills, Participation, Teamwork, and Fun eBook (100 pages)
- Pe2theMax II: Stepping up the “Game” in Physical Education eBook (93 pages)
- PE²: Double the Physical + Double the Education = Double the Fun eBook (95 pages)
- HyPEd Up! Taking Physical Education Games to the Next Level! eBook (120 pages)
- HyPEd Up II! Physical Education Games to the Max! eBook (120 pages)
- PE2theMax’s Greatest Hits: Games Created to Maximize Skills, Participation, Teamwork, and Fun eBook (145 pages)
- 75 printable essential questions and word wall signs
- K-5 Lesson Plan Scope
- Color artwork templates in pdf format to use and/or post on the wall of many of my most popular games:
- Stay Composed Posters
- cooPEration Challenges
- Crack the Code Templates
- Dice Daze
- Dynamic Duo Challenges
- EcSTATIC Poses A & B
- Guess Who Pirates & Monsters
- NBAced It
- PaceMaker II Art
- Trick of Treasure
- What’s in Your Piggy Bank Coins and Money art
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Objective: This mind-boggling game improves problem solving, teamwork, strategy, and accuracy as each level challenges teams to make “the great escape.”
