13 Homeschool PE Ideas
Does your state require PE as a part of your homeschool curriculum? There are lots of ways to handle PE requirements! Some families enjoy less structured ideas and activities, and others like a more structured approach. One of the nicest things about homeschooling is that you can do whichever best fits your family!
As you consider what to do for your homeschool PE class, keep in mind that it’s a great example if you, the parent, get active along with your children. To be honest, we adults need to get plenty of exercise just like our kids, and it’s great for everyone’s mental health and good health in general. Also, it’s a great example for our kids if we get active along with them!
13 Homeschool PE Ideas
1. Play Outdoor Games Requiring Existing Equipment or No Equipment
One less-structured idea for meeting your state’s requirements is simply going outside to play. If you have a yard or live in a neighborhood with a playground, try one or more of the following ideas:
- swing
- slide
- play on the monkey bars
- play chase
- play freeze tag
- run around the track or ball field
- play hide and seek
- play Red Light/Green Light
- walk the dog
- go on a hike
- play Red Rover
These activities require only the playground equipment and people! There’s nothing to buy.
2. Play Outdoor Games Requiring Minimal Equipment
If you don’t have playground equipment to use, there are lots (and lots!) of outdoor games you can play that use only minimal equipment. Try some of these ideas!
- dodge ball
- frisbee
- whiffle ball
- baseball
- hula hoop
- jump rope
- bean bag toss
- hopscotch
3. Play Outdoor Games Requiring Equipment
If you’re able to invest a little more in equipment, you may want to have your children:
- ride bicycles
- jump on pogo sticks
- jump on a trampoline
- play in water sprinklers
- badminton
- volleyball
- ride a skateboard
4. Swim
If you have access to a pool, swimming is great exercise! You can count:
- swimming lessons
- swim team practices and competitions
- swimming in a community pool or your own pool
5. Have a Relay Race
Set up your own relay race. Not only is relay racing great exercise, but it will also help your kids learn teamwork and sportsmanship. If you don’t have enough kids of your own, ask some of your kids’ friends to participate with you!
6. Build an Obstacle Course
Have your kids brainstorm obstacles and set up a course in the neighborhood. Take turns running it, and see who can run it the fastest! (If you have younger children who can’t beat their older siblings’ times, have them work to improve their own times instead of competing against each other.)
7. Play Organized Sports
There are more and more organized sports offered to homeschoolers or offered in local cities and counties. Some examples are:
- baseball
- swim team
- football
- softball
- soccer
8. Take Lessons
- archery
- swimming
- martial arts
- fencing
9. Do Yard Work
If you live in a house with a yard, there is probably always yard work that needs to be done! Depending on the ages and maturity levels of your children, you may have them:
- use a push mower or weed eater
- plant flowers
- pull weeds
- trim bushes
- plant and maintain a garden
- rake leaves
10. Play Games or Take Exercise Classes
- aerobics
- weight lifting
- Zumba
- games that require movement/provide exercise – You can find games for boxing, dancing, running, playing tennis, bowling, and more on the following platforms (and others).
- Nintendo Switch
- Wii
- PS4
- Xbox One
- workout videos or apps
11. House Work
- wash the car
- sweep, mop, and vacuum the floors
- wash windows
12. Find a Place Offering:
- golf or mini-golf
- bowling
- ping pong
- horseback riding
- laser tag
- paintball
- tennis
- ice skating
- kayaking
- rafting
- rock climbing
- ropes courses
13. If It’s Winter and You Live Where It Snows
- Have a snowball fight.
- Build a snowman.
- Go sledding.
- Shovel snow.
Keep in mind that you can do many of these activities or only one or two. Switch it up each day, week, month, or semester. Adjust as needed according to your schedule and your family’s needs. If possible, though, be active along with your children instead of sitting by and watching them. It’ll be great for family bonding, your own health, and your own mental health! And most of all, have fun!
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One thing I love about home educating is the variety. We can use a wide array of resources and materials to bring some FUN into our days and to also help us those days when things are going off course.. One of the greatest tool in case like this, are chess. Chess is a game that develops perceptiveness, imagination and the ability to focus on a specific task. The development of the brain’s left hemisphere which is responsible for logical thinking takes place through counting combinations, whereas the development of the right hemisphere, which is responsible for creative thinking, occurs by arranging new plans and finding new non-standard moves in different positions. For this matter you can use special diagrams, there are a lot of them to find over the internet. Bunch of them you will find in this lovely book – net-bossorg/chess-puzzles-for-kids-by-maksim-aksanov. And if you want to combine this with some physical activities, you can build a macro board game with humansize figures 😉
Our PE classes are currently taking place in the backyard. There is very little space for hide and seek or ball games. Also, unfortunately, we do not have a pool (and it would be nice to organize classes in water). In general, all we do is gymnastics. Thank you for giving us a couple more ideas.