• Have your students sing in a free physical education exercise.singing girl image by Daria Miroshnikova from Fotolia.com
  
  In a perfect world, teachers would always have all the physical education equipment they want and need for every class period. This does not always work out exactly as planned. It is a good idea to have several games planned that do not involve any equipment. These games are completely free and can be played in almost any space where people can move around.
  
  

Frozen Tag

• This game is similar to the popular children's game freeze tag but with a twist. As in freeze tag, one or more students are "it" and they must go around tagging the other students in the class to freeze them. Unlike freeze tag, when they touch another student, only the body part of the other person that was tagged is frozen. For example, if the student was tagged on his arm, he must pretend his arm is stuck by his side. This adds a bit of dramatic play into the game and it can lead to amusing situations like a student hobbling on one leg or even dragging himself on the ground to get away from the "it" person.
  
  

Red Ball, Green Ball

• This game may have ball in the title but there are no actual balls involved whatsoever. Everyone in class can get into a big circle. In the game you are miming different sized balls and throwing it to the other members of the circle. The teacher begins by saying that he has a red ball, showing how big it is (by how he holds it in his hands) and then he says "red ball" and throws it to a student he has made eye contact with. The student catches the ball based on how it was thrown to him. For example, if it was rolled, the student will have to bend down to pick it up. When he catches the ball he says "thank you, red ball" before throwing it to someone else and saying "red ball." Continue to add more and more balls of different sizes and shapes so that there are many going around the circle.
  
  

Go

• Have your students get into a large, wide circle, giving them a lot of room to move. One student begins by pointing to another student in the circle. When the other student says "go," the pointing student can begin to move in that direction to the other student. At that time the student who said "go" points to another student, waiting to hear "go" before moving. This game requires all of the students to pay attention or else they will slow the game down. Add to the game later by saying "go" plus an adverb like "go quickly" or "go slowly" or even a phrase like "go like a panda." The game can also be played as an elimination game with students who mess up getting knocked out of the game.
  
  

Song Spot

• This simple game gives students the opportunity to take initiative and support each other. You also get to see how many different songs your students know. Have the students get into a circle. The game starts when you give a suggestion of a word or a theme. One of the students jumps in the center of the circle and begins singing the words to a song that relate to that theme. The students on the outside who know the song begin singing along while dancing. As soon as someone on the outside can think of a new song based on the one being sung, he jumps in and starts singing the new song. This continues until they can no longer think of any more songs.