The document provides 9 ideas for active games that can be played in small indoor spaces. The games include: 1. A trivia game using fitness dice where correct answers earn teams points for completing exercises. 2. "Bridge Ball" where players try to hit a ball through other players' legs while blocking it from their own. 3. A game of "Pirates" where teams race to correctly perform called out actions. 4. A version of "Simon Says" using physical activities instead of actions. 5. A card game called "Card War" where students pair up to compete in short exercises determined by drawn cards. 6. A relay race to correctly categorize food cards on My

1. Game Ideas for Small Spaces
1. Fitness Dice Review
Supplies Needed: Fitness dice
Divide the group into two teams. Explain to the teams that they will be answering trivia
questions about what we have learned so far. When a team gets a correct answer, they will roll
the fitness dice to see what activity and how many of the activity their team will do. If all team
members complete the activity, the team will receive the number of points on the number dice
(i.e. 10 jumping jacks = 10 points, 4 arm circles = 4 points). We will play until one team reaches
60 points. This will remind us that we should be active for 60 minutes a day. 60 is the goal!
Appoint GOAL volunteers to be scorekeepers for each team. Call on a quiet volunteer from
Team 1 and ask a question about the information they have learned so far (i.e. Where does
yogurt fit onto MyPlate? Which level of the Exercise House includes push-ups?). Help if needed.
When the student answers correctly, they may roll the fitness dice to see which activity and how
many of the activity their team can do to earn points. If the whole team participates, they are
awarded the number of points shown on the dice. Then continue by asking for a volunteer from
Team 2 to answer a review question. Switch back and forth between the teams until one team
reaches 60 points.
2. Bridge Ball
Supplies Needed: Soccer ball

2. Have everyone stand in a circle, foot to foot (pictured above). Their legs should be slightly more
than shoulder width apart, forming a “bridge.” Have everyone get into ready position with their
hands on their knees.
Make sure all players know not to reach in front of others in order to get the ball.
The object of the game is for players to try to hit the ball between other players’ bridges
(formed by their legs) and block balls from coming through their own bridges. Players get a
letter in the word “bridge” each time the ball goes through their legs. Once a player has spelled
bridge, the game restarts.
Players may only hit the ball with an open palm. No throwing.
They may catch the ball if it is head height. Then they must place the ball on the ground and hit
it back into play.
If a ball goes outside the circle, a GOAL volunteer will go to retrieve it.
If the ball goes between a player’s legs, s/he gets a letter toward the word bridge. A GOAL
volunteer will go get the ball and hit it back in play.
VARIATIONS:
Instead of spelling bridge (for younger kids), players can turn around and play backwards once
the ball has gone through their legs. You could also choose a simpler word for them to spell or
not keep track of a score at all.
Add a second ball once players know how to play.
3. Pirates
Supplies Needed: None
Group the students in teams of 4 and give each team space away from the other teams. Explain
to the students that they must work as a team to complete the action that the GOAL volunteer
will call out. Any team that does the wrong action or is the last team to complete the right
action must run and touch all 4 walls of the room before returning to their spot and rejoining
the game.

3. Demonstrate the following actions with students following along to familiarize themselves with
the commands before the game begins.
Here are the actions that the GOAL volunteers will call out randomly:
• “Salute Captain”
The students must stand with their feet together and one hand at their side and the
other hand up at their forehead saluting.
• “Sailboat”
The students must lean forward and balance on one foot with their arms outspread
and their other foot pointing straight back.
• “Submarine”
The students must drop to their backs and put one leg straight up in the air.
• “Swab the Deck”
The students must go on their hands and knees with one hand on the mat and one
hand held slightly up off of the mat.
• “Pirate”
The students must stand on one leg and cover the opposite eye.
• “Man Overboard”
The students must run and touch a wall and then run back and lie down flat on their
stomachs.
Choose a GOAL volunteer to randomly call out the commands. As you call out the commands, do
the action with the students to give them additional cues. The remaining GOAL volunteers can
create their own team to compete with the students or be split up to be on some student
teams.
4. Active Simon Says
Supplies Needed: None
Choose one of the GOAL volunteers to be Simon. The volunteer will say, “Simon says…” and
then name a physical activity. So if the leader says, “Simon says, pretend to dribble a
basketball,” all the kids will follow suit and pretend to dribble a basketball until “Simon” gives
another direction. If “Simon” does not say “Simon Says” before the activity instruction, the
students do not do the activity.
If the kids are responding well, choose a student to be the next Simon and then switch after a
few minutes. Always choose a Simon that has been fully participating in the previous rounds.

4. 5. Card War
Supplies Needed: Deck of cards (Week 5 bin)
Give each student a handful of playing cards. After handing out the cards, ask students to spread
out around the room.
When a GOAL volunteer says “Go,” the students have 5 seconds to pair up with another student.
The GOAL volunteer will then roll the fitness dice and tell students what they say. “The winner
will get to do 6 jumping jacks,” for example.
The students will then fan out their cards, and the student they are paired with will pick one
from the opposite student’s hand. The volunteer will say “1, 2, 3, show!” and the students will
show each other the cards they drew. Whoever picks the highest card is the winner. Return the
cards to their owners.
Have all the winners raise their hands and then lead them in the activity from the fitness dice.
Once they complete the activity, they earn 1 point.
The volunteer will then say “Switch partners!” and each student will find a new partner to
choose a card from. Continue on in this way.
At the end of the game, whoever has the most points wins!
*Note: If the students tie and draw the same card, they can both complete the fitness activity
and earn 1 point.
6. MyPlate Relay
Supplies Needed: 4 MyPlate paper plates (Week 6 bin), Grocery store food cards (Week 6 bin), 4
colored buckets (Week 2 bin)
Split the students into 4 teams. Each team should gather around one of the tables.
Place a MyPlate plate and a bucket in front of each team.
Spread the grocery store food cards out on a table at the opposite end of the room.
When you say go, the first person in each team line will race to the opposite end of the gym,
pick up a food card, and bring it back to their team. The team will decide where it goes on
MyPlate. When it is placed in a section of the plate, the second person on the team can run to
the opposite end to pick up another card, bring it back to the team, and place it in the correct
category of MyPlate.

5. Set a time limit on this so the teams have __ minutes to correctly categorize as many food cards
as they can.
Make sure to tell the kids that some food cards (i.e. desserts) do not fit anywhere on MyPlate
and should be placed in the bucket. This counts as a correct categorization.
Also, some foods may count as more than one category (i.e. spaghetti could be grains for the
pasta and vegetables for the sauce). As long as they place it in one of the correct categories, it
will count.
The team with the most food cards correctly categorized at the end of the time limit is the
winner.
VARIATIONS:
The following variations can be used to make the game more challenging (maybe for older
students).
1. Food cards that go in the bucket do not count toward your overall score.
2. Each team must have at least one food card in each section of MyPlate or they are
disqualified.
3. Have a secret bonus category in your mind and tell the teams at the end of the time limit,
any food cards correctly categorized in that section will earn 2 points instead of one. You
could make them answer a question about that category before you allow them to double
the points.
You can play the game more than once, adding these variations.
7. Find the Right Spot
Supplies Needed: Food and activity spaces, masking tape, Bluetooth speaker (Week 4 bin), a
volunteer’s phone to plug in to play music
In the space you have, spread out the cards with food and activity pictures on them and tape
them to the floor. Set up a few minutes before you plan to start, while other volunteers are
finishing up a lesson.
Have each student choose a spot to start on.

6. Explain to the students that you will play music and have them walk around the room looking at
the different pictures. As long as the music is playing, they need to keep walking. When one of
the volunteers stops the music, he or she will call out a clue and a method of getting to the right
picture. For example, a volunteer may stop the music and say “Hop on one foot to a food to a
fruit or vegetable!” Then the kids will all hop on one foot until they find a fruit or vegetable
picture to stand on. They can share pictures.
The other GOAL volunteers will check to make sure everyone is on a picture that fit the clue and
quickly say the spaces out loud so students hear what the others chose as a correct space. Then,
the volunteer will start the music again and the kids will move around the room until the music
is stopped and another clue is given.
After a few clues, you can try an elimination round, where no one is allowed to share spaces.
Whoever does not get a space is out. Go through this quickly so kids are not sitting out for too
long. Only try elimination round if it is a small group of students.
Example clues:
Skip to a dairy food!
Dance over to a protein!
Put your elbow on a whole grain!
Frog hop to a picture of a cardio activity!
Fly like an airplane over to a lifestyle activity!
Speed walk to a strength and flexibility activity!
Swim over to a sedentary activity!
Run to something that helps build strong muscles! (Could be protein food or strength activity)
8. Hula Hoop Tag
Supplies Needed: Hula hoops
Scatter out several hula hoops around the floor. Choose one of the GOAL volunteers to be the
tagger and try to freeze the other players. Students inside a hula hoop cannot be tagged or
frozen, but they can only stay in a hoop long enough to count to 10. Only one child per hula
hoop is allowed. Be sure to monitor the hoops so that children are not staying in them longer

7. than 10 seconds. Switch out the tagger every few minutes if they are not able to catch anyone. If
the kids are playing well, allow one or two of the kids to be the taggers. Make sure everyone
knows who is “It” when you switch taggers.
9. Fitness Circuits
Supplies Needed: Resistance bands (Week 5 bin), Jump ropes (Week 6 bin), hula hoops
Set up different fitness stations around the room, each led by a GOAL volunteer. Split the kids
up among the stations. The GOAL volunteer at each station will demonstrate the activity for the
kids and allow the kids to practice it for a few minutes. The kids will then rotate to the next
station (GOAL volunteers stay at your station). Continue until all groups have visited all stations.
You can set up a number of stations that fits the size of your group. Station ideas are below:
1. Jump Rope
2. Resistance Bands (see Week 5 lesson in binder for resistance band exercises)
3. Stretching
4. Hula Hoops
5. Yoga positions
6. Create your own!