Cut large hearts out of red construction paper. Divide the number of students in your class by two and make that number of hearts. On each heart, write down an exercise such as "Do 10 push-ups." Cut each heart in half, so for example, "Do 10 push-ups" now reads "Do 10 pu."
Give each student a heart-half at random, and let them run around to find their match. When the students find their match, the pair has to do the exercise printed on the heart. When finished, you can collect the hearts and start all over again.
This activity is great because it focuses on a holiday that young children may not know that much about. Before you begin this activity, explain Groundhog Day to your students, and its meaning and significance. Pick three students from the group and tell them to stand at the front of the room with their eyes closed. These are the "guessers." Tell the rest of the students to find a partner. Once the students are partnered up, assign one of the them to be the groundhog and choose another child to be the shadow. Explain that they will have to run, skip, gallop, hop, jump or cartwheel across the gym floor. The groundhogs lead the way, and the shadows follow close, but not too close. Explain that the groundhogs must change their movements every 10 to 15 steps.
In the middle of the exercise shout, "freeze!" and have everyone freeze mid-step. The three "guessers" at the front of the room have to tell who they think the pairs of groundhogs and shadows are, based on how everyone looks. Repeat this exercise again, with new guessers and new partners.
This activity is perfect for Halloween, especially if kids are rowdy with excitement about a night of trick-or-treating ahead of them. Divide your students into groups of four. Give each group a piece of large sports equipment that they can lift together, such as a hockey stick or a hockey goal. Cover the floor of the gym with small obstacles, such as bowling pins or tennis ball canisters. These are the graves. Tell each team that they need to make it across the gym floor without disrupting any of the graves. If they do knock over a grave, they have to fix it and return back to the starting point with their team. The teams' goal is to cross the gym floor, without dropping the equipment that they're carrying or knocking over any of the graves.