Physical Movement Activities for Grade 1

Help your students in elementary school get their heart rate up and their blood pumping with engaging physical education activities. Use group activities to help first graders learn how to hone their gross motor skills. Involve the use of basic sports equipment to help teach the rules of sports games and lessons. Children who combine physical activity with a healthy diet will have a lower chance of obesity. Get your students going with physical education activities to promote a healthy lifestyle.

Dance

Use music and dance to introduce movement to a first-grade class. Play polka, waltz or other dance music and group the class into pairs. Teach them the basics of dance and let them mimic your movements. Explain how to follow the beat of the music to guide the dance steps. Alternatively, teach the entire class a simple line dance, with grape vine, shuffle and twist steps. Start off with a basic song like the "Hokey Pokey" to help children become aware of moving and using their bodies. Progress in difficultly as children master specific steps.

Honing Motor Skills with Sports

Basketballs, baseballs, bats and soccer balls can help first-graders to get their bodies moving and teach them the basics of sports. Explain the rules of a sport such as basketball or baseball and then focus activities on specific movements used within those sports. Let children practice dribbling a basketball or throwing a baseball back and forth. Aim for consistency. Use positive words to encourage children to keep trying when attempting to score a goal with soccer, swing a bat at a ball or make a hoop in basketball.

Tests of Skill and Strength

Turn your playground into an obstacle course and make a game out of getting fit. Design a path or course to help elementary children get out excess energy. Create a hopscotch area where children have to hop to get to monkey bars. After crossing the bars, have children perform a set of jumping jacks before making their way to another obstacle, such as climbing a ladder to a slide. Mix up the activities to work various muscle groups. Time each child and give a reward to the one who can successfully complete the course in the shortest amount of time.

Running Games

Games of tag or Red Rover make use of running exercises. Play tag by nominating one child to be the "tagger." Set the class loose in a large field or gym and have the tagger run after different children to catch or "tag" them. As soon as a child is tagged, she then becomes the tagger.

Red Rover is played by dividing a class into two teams at opposite ends of a gym. Each team joins hands to form a line. One team calls out, "Red rover, red rover, let [a classmate's name] come over." The named classmate runs toward the opposite team and tries to break through the line. If he cannot, he must join the team. The team that acquires the most teammates wins. Additionally, play Capture the Flag or Frisbee to increase the running activities of first-graders.