Shark Week kicks off every summer! It’s a great time to add some excitement to your physical education lessons or summer camp activities. There are so many shark themed PE activities to get students active and practicing skills such as throwing, balancing, defense, and more. Here are some of our favorite activities to celebrate Shark Week. Many of them can be played both indoors and outdoors.

Shark Attack Jumping and Landing

The gym floor is a river with tons of sharks! Place several hula hoops and poly spots around the gym or recreation space. Students will use jumping patterns to jump from spot to spot, and avoid touching the floor. The challenge is to make it to the other side without getting bitten by a shark! View the full activity with variations.

Shark Dribble Protector

Spread hula hoops, blue poly spots or blue cones around the gym. Choose a few students to be the sharks and the other students will be the swimmers. The swimmers must cross the ocean while dibbling a basketball around each shark without losing control of the ball. The sharks must stand on their spot and try to steal the ball with their arms. View the full activity with variations.

Sailors and Sharks

One student will be the shark, and wears a pinny. All other students are sailors standing on ships (mats). The sailor must get to a new ship while doing locomotor movements. If they are tagged by the shark, they become a shark and help try to capture the remaining sailors. View the full activity.

Sharks and Minnows Hand Dribbling

This game is similar to Shark Dribble Protector. Two students will be the sharks, wearing pinnies. The other students are the minnows, spread out along the pool. Each student has a basketball to dribble during the entire game. The sharks must try to tag the minnows while dribbling, and minnows must try to avoid the sharks. When a minnow is tagged, they get turned into a shark and return to the game to chase the remaining minnows. View the full activity and variations.

Shark Ball with Parachute 

All students hold the end of the parachute, and stretch it out so it’s flat in the air. Throw a blue ball onto the middle of the parachute. The players must lift the parachute up and down to send the shark ball into the air, and must try to keep it in the air without it falling. Variation: You can also play with two teams, where one side tries to keep the ball on the parachute, and the other side tries to get the ball to fall off. View more parachute games.

Shark Attack with Parachute

Students sit on the floor with the parachute flat, covering their waist. When the activity starts, they will shake and lift the parachute to resemble water. These students are the swimmers. Choose 2-4 players to be the sharks. Their job is to stay under the parachute and pull the swimmers under. If a swimmer is captured, they switch places and become the shark. Variation: Choose a student to be the lifeguard.They can try to save the swimmer being pulled under. If they save them, they become a swimmer and the other student becomes a lifeguard. Check out this video example on how to play.

 Which activity is your favorite for celebrating Shark Week?