Recently, we’ve had several inquiries at PE Central asking, “As a physical education teacher, how can I use soft swim pool noodles appropriately in my physical education class?”
Great question! Soft foam swim pool noodles are a versatile, low cost, and colorful piece of equipment. They can be used as an obstacle to go around, under or over, in dances as a prop, a way to practice balance, pathways and directions, as a tagger identifier and they are great to use at a station activity.
S&S has an awesome activity guide for tons of games with pool noodles and I searched through our lesson plans at PE Central and found 5 ideas that incorporate pool noodles.
This is a nice lesson to help young children learn about pathways, directions and personal space
This is a nice activity to have children practice their locomotor skills. The noodles are held
This lesson idea incorporates a lot of dribbling and building of things including noodles.
This lesson the teacher uses the noodles at a station and the kids practice balancing with them.
In this lesson idea the teacher uses the noodles as an obstacle/cone for students to move around/through.
I hope these have helped spark your interest in adding pool noodles to your future lesson plans. Let us know how you are using them in your classroom or if you try some of the above activities.
Author: Mark Manross, Executive Director at PE Central
Spaghetti and meatballs game with hula hoops on ground as plates with two yarn balls in each to be meatballs. Those with pool noodles (spaghetti) are trying to knock meatballs off plates while rest of class is trying to get them back on the plate. K-2
I use the noodle cut in half as a beginning baseball bat and put a nurf ball or yard ball on top of a 2 foot pylon cone. I have the students in pairs , one sitting several feet behind the batter. Each student swings three times. Then the students switch. This is a remarkably safe way to teach striking skills to Kinder and first grade. Second Grade I use a woofle ball. Have Fun. 🙂
Hockey with beach balls: the noodles are the sticks.
That is a great idea Scott, thanks for sharing! If you have any PE lesson plan ideas written up or are interested, we are always looking for guest bloggers on this blog and also PE teachers to submit lesson plans on the PE Central website.
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