Building Your PE Program: 9 Must-Have Equipment Upgrades

Greetings PE Nation!

Today I discuss essential "Level Two" equipment additions to enhance any physical education program, highlighting nine versatile items that balance cost with educational impact.

• Cup stacking and bucket stacks serve multiple functions from dedicated stacking activities to targets for games
• Deck rings work as frisbees, collectible items, and ball holders
• Hockey/soccer nets provide clear goals and enhance game experiences
• Rubber "critters" add fun elements for throwing, catching, and creative play
• Parachutes engage students of all ages in collaborative movement activities
• Expanding your ball collection creates more skill-building opportunities
• Jump bands/Chinese jump ropes complement traditional jump rope units
• Scoops make catching accessible while remaining challenging for all ages
• Scooters provide unique movement experiences despite requiring careful safety instruction

Download the free Ultimate PE Equipment Checklist from the link in the show notes to guide your program building, and please take a moment to leave a five-star review to help grow our PE community!

Take care,

Dave

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Level Two Equipment
• 3:19 Cups and Bucket Stacks
• 5:56 Deck Rings and Hockey Nets
• 8:31 Critters, Parachutes, and Variety Balls
• 14:14 Jump Bands, Scoops, and Scooters
• 17:00 Cowbell Tip and Call to Action

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:11

Hello and welcome to the Supersize Phys Ed podcast. My name is Dave and today I want to up the notch a little bit. I want to up the level a little bit of equipment we need to acquire for our PE program. So, without further ado, here we go the level a little bit of equipment we need to acquire for our PE program. So, without further ado, here we go. All right, welcome in PE Nation. I appreciate you listening in today.

Speaker 1: 0:45

So if you listen to the first episode, I'm going to make three on this of essential PE equipment you need for your program. I'd say level one, which is the last podcast, is debatable. You don't have to have all those things. But as we get to levels two and two today and three in the next podcast of the series, it's more debatable. I mean, you could definitely say, well, I don't need that, it's cool to have, but I don't need that. Now, level one I think those are pretty basic things you need and again, you can add to that, you can take away things from that, whatever. But you know, for the most part those are things you need, right, and if you haven't listened to that, please go back and listen to it If you find these podcasts valuable. I hope you do, and I have articles linked to these as well. And if you want the equipment checklist, that is a free PDF that'll be in the show notes. That is a free PDF, that'll be in the show notes.

Speaker 1: 1:44

So let's talk about this. So you know, slow and steady builds a program. Rome wasn't built in a day, right? So you need to build your program slowly and as the years go by hopefully at the same school or not, but hopefully at the same school you start to think of new things you could add to your program. You know new things you could add for opportunities for your students, you know, just to add the fun and excitement and build skills at the same time. So again, level one is like the basics. Level two we're building an arsenal. So again, we want to look for things that are. I always look for three things. I look for things that are relatively inexpensive. They can serve multiple functions and they work well with the number of students you have. I'm not going to buy things that only serve one small group of kids because I have a lot of kids at a time. I want to make sure that it works for my program and you know, we'll talk about grants and things later on. So if you don't have access to grants or a lot of money, you want to obviously get the most bang for your buck, right. So this is where I started branching out though level two. I started getting things that you know are new, exciting, different, but can serve a lot of purposes. So here we go as a boomer, let's go, let's go. Nine things to add this is level two to your program. Here we go.

Speaker 1: 3:19

Number one are cups or and or bucket stacks, and I have both. So cup stacking. I started cup stacking I don't know 10 years ago or so, maybe more, actually it was more and I really fell in love with it. I really do enjoy it, and I have a cup stacking club. I just started two years ago and I have some really great students that want to get better and better and better, and even beginners that just want to participate.

Speaker 1: 3:48

So I definitely use Cupstacking a lot and I do those on rainy days as well. I'll bring them into a classroom and we'll just practice, or we can do it with a large group and I'll just give especially the younger kids, just give them three cups each, and we'll do different patterns, do different ways of stacking, and even the real way. I'll show them the real way. So cups and buckets, again a lot of fun. And I've seen, if you don't have a budget, I've seen people use, like you know, red solo cups, which are fine, but they're not. They stick together. They're not the same thing. So if you have the means, definitely get some speed stacks and bucket stacks as well. Again, you can use Home Depot buckets, but not exactly the same. So here's how I use them.

Speaker 1: 4:29

Again, not only on rainy days. I use them on free days where they can just choose to build, and that goes with cups and buckets, and they do. There's some kids that just they don't want to play soccer or hockey or basketball, they want to just build with their friends, and that's fine. Basketball, they want to just build with their friends, and that's fine. So, definitely free days. I use them as targets, especially the buckets. They could throw them at the buckets or in the buckets.

Speaker 1: 4:54

I also use the cups kind of as a random choice color thing. So sometimes in games where I have students go collect treasure, which will be like beanbags or deck rings with different colors, and I'll say, okay, there's going to be, uh, magic color or a secret color. That's worth more points, like five points versus one, and I'll take the colors, like the just regular colors of the rainbow kind of thing, put them behind my back and shuffle them and I'll pull one out and be like, okay, yellow, those are worth five. So just you know, it helps out with picking colors, I guess randomly. And again, buckets I do other things with them, like they can be for collecting things, like they would have to fill the bucket with something, or, again, building, tossing objects into them as well as throwing them, you know, at them. So I definitely get some buckets and cups. They're just a great addition. They bring color, they bring life, they bring building to your program. And that is number one. Number two are deck rings.

Speaker 1: 5:56

Now, when I first started teaching PE, I didn't even know what deck rings were. I saw them. I'm like, what are these weird rubbery things? But they, as I've gotten to gotten used to them, I'm like, oh, these are kind of cool and they're versatile. You use them for a lot of things. Uh, now I have a bunch of them, uh, and there's different sizes, there's bigger ones. I just have the regular ones and I have a lot of them, so you know they're pretty safe. No-transcript, you can kind of use them as a frisbee. They're not that easy to throw like a frisbee but just practicing that way you can use them as treasure, like I said in the last one, to collect, like they collect treasure and kind of like Froot Loops. There's a game with like their Froot Loops and I also use them to put basketballs or like the brain balls I have on top of them, like they're a ball holder. So again, the more things you have, the better, and the more variety you have, the better. And I think deck rings are just a great addition. So that is number two.

Speaker 1: 7:20

Number three are hockey or soccer nets, and my current school had really no nets when I first got there. They had those little pop-up soccer nets that are really cheap and I thought that was kind of a tragedy. Like they need, uh, they need something to be able to, you know, attempt to shoot at or in. So we use cones for the first couple months. Um, they serve as goals and you know they're fine, but it's hard to tell if you score or not score or whatever, with nets or with cones. So I did take some of my money in the beginning and bought two hockey nets which served also as, like soccer nets on the court, like futsal kind of game where it's small soccer games, hockey games, where it's small soccer games, hockey games. And then after my first year, into my second year, I bought another two more. So I have four hockey nets which serve as hockey and soccer and I use them for a couple other things too. Like you know, when we do the cannon launchers, we could shoot them into the nets. You know things like that. So they're versatile to some degree. Again, cones are okay, but nets are way better. And that is number three.

Speaker 1: 8:31

Number four are critters. Now I have real critters in my office. It's kind of creepy and dingy and dark, but I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about the rubber ones or sort of rubber ones. I guess that you can use for different things. They're fun, right? Critters are just fun. You can throw them, catch them, put them on top of your parachute to launch them, you can collect them. And in my current school I don't have a lot. I have rubber chickens and I have inflatable sharks and fish which we use a lot for relay races and just for kids to dance with kind of thing. But the smaller critters I used to have, like rubber chickens, I had fish, I had other animals in my former school. So I'm trying to build that up in my current school and they're just more fun, especially the little kids. They love playing with different things and not just, you know, the same ball every time. They want to do different things and it helps build skills while having fun. So definitely again, not a need but definitely a cool thing to have are just a bunch of critters. Again, even just rubber chickens. They're just hey, who doesn't love a rubber chicken, right? So definitely work on that, work on acquiring more things. Again, they're fun, kids love them, especially the little kids. So definitely get some critters. And that is number four.

Speaker 1: 9:58

Number five are parachutes, or even just one parachute. So I have. I did a video on this last year, I think in the beginning of my last school year, during my pre-service week I started counting all the parachutes I have at my current school and I've never bought one. They've been there for years, I think I count 13. I have 13 parachutes of different sizes. Most of them are medium to large, so I only use probably the same two the past couple or past few years, because I have one that serves two classes at a time and one that serves one class at a time, and I guess you just can't have too many parachutes. I don't think so. Also, smaller parachutes. I have a few no-transcript kindergarten through second grade, but you know, third, fourth and even fifth, they like to do it at least one time. And I've noticed that about my fifth graders. They'll want to do it one more time before they go to middle school and I'll tell them like, hey, besides, like summer camps, you're probably not going to do parachute like in middle school. So give it a try, have fun.

Speaker 1: 11:28

We do like ball launches and things where you know it's a little competitive with the older kids. We do tag games, we do lots of things so, and we launch critters, like I said, and inflatable fish into the orbit. So definitely get a parachute, or 13 of them, who cares? You know, just get a bunch. Number six, I'm just gonna say a variety of balls. So in my first article I listed tennis balls as like a top priority, because you can get those for no money if you get them donated, which I have, you know, and every kid can get one when I'm doing like it's like a rainy day, everything's wet except we're under the pavilion, everybody gets a tennis ball and we're doing different drills with them. So I look for things that are, again, multiple kids can have more, every kid can have one. But now I want to expand that in level two. Here I want to get footballs, soccer balls, basketballs, volleyballs, kickballs, soft yarn balls, orange hockey balls. I mean there's all sorts of things you can get and some of them serve multiple functions, like, yes, you can use tennis balls for hockey balls. Or yes, you can use I mean there's some kind of multi-purpose balls you could use to play different games. So just add to your collection, add to your program, just keep collecting more. And I've said balls a lot. So I'm going to keep going. And that is number six.

Speaker 1: 13:02

Number seven are jump bands, or chinese jump ropes, and they are a little different and I'm not even sure if that's politically correct to say that anymore. I don't even. I have no idea. But um, yeah, that's what I have. I have the chinese jump ropes. There are also jump bands. I actually just call them jump bands. Um, I don't know why. I just I just do again, it's not a necessity, it's just a nice upgrade to your jump roping unit. There are bands that stretch out and fit around your students' legs. There's three levels. There's ankles behind the students' ankles facing each other two students. Then you move up levels to your calf level and then behind your knee. Calf level and then behind your knee and again they face each other two students. They stretch them out and then a third student hops in and performs a set pattern or like a free jump kind of pattern. And I'm lucky enough, I've had them in both my schools, so they're just perfect for small groups. Rainy days Again, your jump roping unit when we do our Kids Heart Challenge, the stations they're just a really good addition to that. And yeah, that's it and that's number seven.

Speaker 1: 14:14

Number eight are scoops, and I probably should have put them number one. I didn't really put these in order of importance, but of this list I'd say these might be the most important because you really should have scoops. But of this list, I'd say these might be the most important because you really should have scoops. Again, they're like I don't think I really need to tell anybody what scoops are, but they're like a thing at the end of a lacrosse stick with a short handle and you know we use those a lot for especially the little. You know younger kids get to learn how to throw and catch. They're easy to catch with it. Sometimes I feel like the ball just finds the scoop Like I don't know how. And you know you can do different things with it. You can play different games with it. You play self-toss games, group toss, partner toss, almost like a lacrosse type game with the older students. You could toss into a bucket or throw it at a target or even toss it into a hoop. So again, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this, but you should have scoops. I mean, everybody loves scoops and with the little ones they do way better than you think they're going to do. So it's really fun to see that. So that is number eight. That is number eight. The final one today.

Speaker 1: 15:26

Number nine are scooters, and scooters have been around forever, but it doesn't mean you have to use them. At my former school I had a ton of scooters and we played them quite a bit, where every kid in, let's say, one class got scooters. I think I even had two classes, two scooters at a time. I one class got scooters. I think I even had two classes. I do scooters. At a time I had so many scooters and we played games like tag and um basketball, like you could hook basketball nets which we had to like on a pole on one on some of them. They have to kind of shoot them in and you play crab soccer with them or some kind of passing game with them. So they're fun. I don't think you have to have them, though, like at my current school. I only have about 10 good ones, I think even less. So I only bring them out on field days or special occasions like relay races. Again, I just don't have the budget for them. I could write a grant for them. I just I like them. I don't love them.

Speaker 1: 16:21

Kids get hurt, as far as you know. You really got to teach how to. You know kids bang their fingers. You got to teach them how to hold them really well and kids fall off them. They bump into each other. Again. It's funny. Then You're like well, why did you put this on the list? Because I think it's important to have these experiences. I think kids need to have some experience on scooters, just for fun and just because it's one of those childhood games, but I don't use them very often, I just so. I think you should probably have some and give them the experience. But you know, make sure you teach them how to use them well, and you know you don't want people getting hurt. So again, that's number nine. Definitely not a necessity, but scooters are number nine.

Speaker 1: 17:00

And now it is time for your cowbell tip of the day. All right, so your tip of the day is to think of the things you can use to expand your program and hopefully this list helps you get some ideas if you don't already have some of these things. And I would definitely say, download a free copy of my Ultimate PE Equipment Checklist that has levels 1, 2, and 3 on it. And you know my word isn't like the ultimate, you know final word on this thing. I definitely want you to contact me or reach out to me. If you think there's something I should add or take off or something you just don't think is that important. I'd love to hear from you. So definitely do that, get the checklist and think about things you'd add to your program. And that is your cowbell tip of the day.

Speaker 1: 18:06

Thank you everybody for tuning in today. I really do appreciate it, as always, go to supersizefizadcom for more information or check out the links and articles and things I put in the show notes. But I do have one thing for you to maybe do something different, something new. I don't often ask for this, but if you could take a I mean it takes like I don't know five seconds I put 10 seconds in the show notes to just click on the link and give me a hopefully five-star review. If this gives you value, um, it doesn't take long at all, just a star rating or add a review. It just helps grow the program, grow the podcast, and I'd love to reach out to more PE teachers not students, but PE teachers around the globe and just keep this movement going. So I do thank you, as always, for listening in and if you could help us out, that'd be great. So, pe Nation, have a great day week, weekend and it's still summer for me when I'm recording this and let's keep pushing our profession forward. Thank you.