Have Your Students Create a Virtual Fitness Game in Physical Education

Create a virtual fitness game in PE class? Sure, why not!

I have a YouTube channel called Detroit PE where I post virtual fitness games I create every week. The goal of my channel is to get kids of all ages physically active while having fun.

Not to mention that as a teacher, I am able to play all my videos for my students while keeping engagement high. It’s a win win.

So I was thinking to myself, how fun would it be to see what my students could create? I’ll have 4th-8th grade create their own virtual fitness game to promote physical activity in our virtual PE class! And the kicker would be that all of the functional games that had effort put into them would be spotlighted on my YouTube channel in a series called Kids Creations (coming soon).

In this post, I’m going to show you exactly how I introduced this project to my students, and what each day looked like for us below.

The Set Up

First I had to create a Google Slide presentation on what I expected out of these virtual game creations.

Click through the above presentation, and see if this introduction is right for your students. You may also CLICK HERE to open this presentation up in Google Slides.

You’re also going to need a rubric. See the rubric my students are working off of below.

A few things you will want to keep in mind with my set up.

Only grades 4-8 will create a virtual fitness game during live PE class.
Every day in class is a workday so they can ask questions and see how I add pictures and videos.
It is due two weeks from the day it was introduced, and kids will have 8 in class days to work on it, and 6 days at home (Fridays/weekends).
The rubric leaves lots of room for the students to create WHATEVER virtual fitness game they choose. I am not limiting their games, as long as they have 8 functional rounds that include exercise.
I work on my game daily with my screen shared so I can show how certain things are done, and give them ideas on what to include in their own virtual fitness game.
All of my students are using Google Slides, unless they are skilled in other platforms. They have my permission to work independently while still attending virtual class.

Starting to Create a Virtual Fitness Game

I walked each student through day 1, but if kids were more advanced they were free to move ahead.

Monday – Day 1: Starting To Create Our Virtual Fitness Game

Objective: by the end of class, students should have a title page for their virtual fitness game creation.

Once you’ve given instructions, walk your students through how to open Google Drive and select Google Slides.

create a virtual fitness game in physical education class with google slides

Show them how to add slides, change the layout, delete and move slides, and how to add text.

While students are playing around with their title page, you can show them different formatting options.

The remainder of the class is spent answering questions and just having fun and helping students figure out what direction they want to take their virtual fitness games.

Tuesday – Day 2:

Objective: by the end of class students should have a How To Play page complete.

Today is spent reviewing how to navigate Google Slides while the students work, and helping students with the How To Play page for their games.

Remind them that even though they know how to play their own game, someone viewing their video does not. Directions need to be clear, short and straight to the point.

Encourage students to get the content into the game before they start messing around with fonts and colors.

Wednesday – Day 3:

Objective: students should have rounds 1 and 2 done by the end of class.

Some of your students are going to be past this stage already, and that’s alright. Don’t hold back the ones who are familiar with this platform.

Day 3 should be about getting the bulk of the content into the game. Give students ideas on exercises to include, and take questions throughout their workday. As you are answering questions, visually show them what you’re doing with your screen shared. This will help others with the same questions when they tune in.

Thursday – Day 4:

Objective: by the end of class, students should have rounds 3 and 4 completed.

When I say having the rounds completed, I don’t mean slides looking perfect. I keep telling my students I want the content inserted first, and formatting and editing comes second.

Friday – Day 5:

Objective: by the end of class, students should have rounds 5-8 completed.

Now that the students know the direction the game is going, they’ll start completing slides faster. You should be showing them more advanced tricks like transitions, having videos play automatically or muting audio on their videos (if that’s what they want).

My Friday’s are asynchronous so all of the tricks and extras were taught Thursday.

Week 2:

Since I gave my students so much time to work on their virtual fitness games during class, I did not assign this as homework. But I encouraged my students to work on their time off if it was something they enjoyed.

So when your students come back to you during week 2 of creations, they might be at completely different spots.

Week 2 for my students and I is fine tuning what we already completed. There is a lot of screen sharing from them to show me their progress if they choose. I’m able to help with spelling errors, layout, visibility and anything I catch that doesn’t make sense to a viewer.

Some students turned theirs in already and have asked if they still needed to come to class. The answer is yes. There’s always room for improvement. The few that did turn theirs in a week ahead of the due date were given feedback and corrections that they can work on. Remember, part of their grade is effort and neatness. I know they wont be perfect, but I do expect them to put in the work.

Example of my Virtual Fitness Game I work On Live With Each Class:

This is the presentation I mess around with as the students work. Every so often I will hear students ask how did you get “x,y,z” and I’ll be able to immediately show them.

Click here to see the presentation I work on live with my students.

Lastly

My favorite part of this assignment is they get to be as creative as they want. I do not limit anything they want to include.

My job is to help with the flow and visibility, making sure their viewers understand what they are trying to portray.

Some of the games these kids have come up with are blowing me away, and I cannot wait to share them with you all on my YouTube channel. My kids are super excited to be spotlighted as well!