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Learning Athletic Games for Kids

Games that are educational as well as active will help keep children engaged in what they are learning and will also increase how much of the information they absorb and retain. By adding a physical element to the games, it gives the children another reference point to reinforce the knowledge. By adding athletic elements to the games, you can make the games more fun and enjoyable as well.

Explorers Table
- Lay out a table with a variety of natural and potentially educational items on it. Items could include fossils, stones, feathers, herbs and pieces of trees and flowers. Set up stations around the room that associate with the explorers table items. Make sure the tables are a good distance away, at least 15 feet. Due to the space requirements, the game is best played outdoors or in a gymnasium. The stations could be labeled as artifacts, sea life, plant life, animal life and building materials, depending on the items you choose. Set up a strip of masking tape three feet in front of the explorers table. Raise one item off the table in the air and ask which station it belongs in. The children who know will race to the line. The first one there has the first guess, if he guesses correctly, he has 10 seconds to take the item to the correct station and return to the group. If he does not make it, the object returns to the table.
Multiplication Bean Bag Toss
- Set up each player with 20 bean bags and two paper plates. Ask a simple multiplication question, but in "Jeopardy" style. For example, say the answer is 15. The children must then toss the amount of bean bags to the paper plates that when multiplied equals 15. For this equation, the players could toss five bean bags on one plate and three on the other. The first child who wins the equation gets a point. The bags must be more than half on the plate to count. The game will test throwing accuracy as well as multiplication skills. For an added challenge, after each math problem have the players take one step away from their plates.
Obstacle Course
- Create an obstacle course laden with trivia questions. Set up physical obstacles such as jump ropes, tires to jump through and ropes to climb under. Assign an adult to each station to propose trivia questions. Before the player can tackle the physical portion she must correctly answer a question. You can also incorporate the activity into the question. For example, have the player recite her alphabet or multiplication tables while she jumps rope. If she misses one, she must start over. The child with the fastest time through the course wins.

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