60 Ball Games: Simple Games for Physical Education

This collection offers small games for physical education that focus on ball skills. Children and young people can aim for baskets and cones, throw at each other, dribble through stick goals, or work together to keep a water balloon in the air. Many of them can be played with primary school children and offer an alternative to classics such as dodgeball and rounders.

What is included in the material

• Preface and table of contents with a color-coded system: Colored boxes indicate which elements of football, handball, basketball, volleyball, hockey, table tennis, badminton, and rugby are included in each game.
• Ball games such as board ball, cone ball, rescue ball, and Tigerball are listed in alphabetical order, each with an illustration, duration, required equipment, game description, and variations.

Tips for using the material

• Warm-up or end of lesson: Depending on the game, the ball games can be used as a warm-up or at the end of a physical education lesson.
• Varying the games: The variations make it easy to change a game, for example by using different balls, adding zones, or changing the scoring and passing rules.
• Foot, hand, or racket: Many games can also be played with the foot or a racket; 2-ball, dice football, and number football can also be played as handball, hockey, or basketball using the same principle.
• Short waiting times: If no goal is scored for a longer period in 2-ball or dice football, the game leader can send the next players onto the field; in Shout Out, it is advisable to split a very large group.
• As a tournament: Prellball is well suited for a tournament involving several smaller teams.
• Developing tactics together: In Frantic, the class can come up with a tactic after each round to beat the time of the previous round.

These skills are promoted

• Ball skills when throwing, catching, passing, bouncing, and dribbling, including with the weaker hand or foot
• Teamwork when the ball must be passed skillfully to score or save teammates
• Communication in the group, for example when forming figures together while bouncing or guiding in blind football
• Rules and techniques of sports games such as the three-step rule, ground pass, or lay-up in simplified game formats
• Reaction to signals when a new task follows a stop in the music, a whistle, or a shout

Organizational notes

• In addition to balls, common sports hall equipment is needed depending on the game, such as long benches, boxes, mats, cones, sticks, and team dividers.
• For Frantic, it is advantageous to have two game leaders to keep an overview.

You can find more game ideas in the dodgeball variations, the rounders variations, and the game cards with tag games.