Test the cardiovascular endurance of your middle schoolers, and see who will have bragging rights by the end of this fun game. Each student is provided with a balloon and must keep it in the air with any body part and keep track of how many times he strikes the balloon. To make the game more challenging, ask the student to strike the balloon, touch the ground and stand back up while the balloon is still in the air.
Arrange for students to complete a series of dribbling drills with basketballs and cones. In addition to dribbling through cones, let the students practice dribbling and passing the ball back and forth to one another. Rainy days are also the ideal time to brush up on or introduce basic basketball skills like making a layup or free throws. Divide the class into groups and make executing the skill a competition.
Get kids’ heart rates pumping with a series of jumping activities like jumping jacks and jumping through hula hoops. Split the students up into two groups, and instruct them to complete the jumping activities as a race to see which team can complete the activities the quickest. For a classic standby, let the kids jump rope, setting an individual goal or competing against other students to see who can jump the longest.
Even if you don’t have a goal, you can still score big with this simple and fun game. Split the students into two teams, and assign them to a goal at one end of the gym. In lieu of a goal, place a set of cones or some other easy-to-identify marker.
Students will get their fair share of stretching and laughing by game's end. Divide the students into two teams, and ask them to spread out arms-length away from each other. Give one ball to the person at the beginning of each line, and instruct her to pass it over her head to the person behind her. The next person passes the ball under, through his legs to the next person, and the pattern continues until the ball reaches the end of the line. The team who completes the over and under pattern first wins the game.