PE Lesson Plans: Aerobic Challenge
This aerobic challenge is a great way to help your PE students get their bodies moving while also having fun. Simple lesson for PE class!
I try to plan all my PE lessons so that my students are moving a lot and getting aerobic exercise while having fun.
Every once in a while, especially as they get older, I like to teach more pointedly about aerobic health. I tried this lesson today with my 3rd and 4th grade and it went great!
Want to save this post?
Enter your email below and get it sent straight to your inbox.
Aerobic Challenge
Start the class with a warm-up that incorporates a lot of aerobic activity. I like to use this game which my kids love.
Then, follow the warm-up by having the kids sit down and telling them that today you’re going to do an aerobic challenge. This small discussion gives them a chance to catch their breath after the warm up.
Next, talk about the word “aerobic” and what it means. You can point out to your students that they did a little aerobic activity at the beginning of class and ask if they could feel their heart pumping or if they were breathing more heavily afterwards.
My kids knew that it meant some kind of exercise, but not that it was referring to exercise of the heart and lungs. We had a good mini discussion.
After the discussion, give them all a written aerobic challenge of about 10 activities.
For my students, the instructions were to work on their own, to do the activities in a random order (to help space them out and share equipment), do exercises correctly, and to move clockwise for anything that asked them to move around the perimeter of the gym. It also helps to encourage them to pay attention to their heart and lungs during the aerobic challenge.
I would recommend sharing something similar with your class!
Once you have shared the instructions and handed out the papers, let them get to work!
Possible Exercises for the Aerobic Challenge
The nice thing about this lesson plan is that you can make-up your own aerobic challenge. My tip: mix in some fun activities that involve favorite equipment.
Here are some ideas:
- Jog around the perimeter of the gym 3 times
- Jump rope for 100 jumps
- Dribble a soccer ball (or deck ring) around the gym perimeter
- Toss and catch a yarn ball while moving around the perimeter
- Work on a trick with a hula hoop for 2 minutes
- Side slide around the gym
- Complete 35 jumping jacks
- Give 10 people a high five
- Hold a plank for 1 minute
- Grapevine around the perimeter 2 times
For fast finishers: For fourth grade and up, I gave them a piece of scratch paper and pencil. They were told to write down their own exercise routine of 5 exercises that they could do at home.
I challenged them to do their routine every night. If they had time, they could do their routine now.
For my third graders, I let them have free time with any equipment we had out (my fastest finishers had about 5 minutes of time left).
My students really dove into the aerobic challenge, and we had a fun and productive class. Hopefully it will help them remember the meaning of the word “aerobic”! Definitely try it out with your PE class!
Aerobic Challenge Worksheet Printable
