1. Bean bag throw: Lay your hoop on the ground, step back and throw a bean bag into the hoop. With each successful throw, take an extra step back to make it trickier! (If you are interested in making your own bean bags, check out this post).
2. Roll it: Find a large flat space (or a nice big hill) and try rolling your hoop along the ground. Don’t forget to chase it as it goes. Or roll it to a friend, and back again.
3. Leapfrog: Lay your hoop on the ground like a lily pad, and perform the actions whilst singing the Mr Frog song. If you have more than one hoop, lay them all around the ground and have fun leap frogging from hoop to hoop. Try skipping next or hopping.
Mr Frog
Mr Frog jumped out of his pond one day,
And found himself in the rain.
Said he, “I’ll get wet and I might catch a cold!” A-A-A-Achoo
And he jumped in the pond again.
4. Skip: Have your tried using your hula hoop instead of a jump rope to skip with?
5. Hang it: Hang your hula hoop from a tree or your verandah and use it for target practice, throwing balls (or bean bags) through.
6. Hula! Can you hula around your waist? Your arm? Your leg? Can your Mum or Dad 🙂
Do you have any other hula hoop games that your children like to play?
Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.
1.num is hula hooping and child is laughing about the funny face expressions!
2.imaginative play-put the hula on ground, imagine it to be a pond, fireplace etc and act accordingly:)
1. Fill empty milk jugs with colored water and throw hula hoops to ring them.
2. Lay them on the ground and make them part of an obstacle course for the children to walk or jump in.
My children LOVE hula hoops! 🙂
The ring toss idea is a great one 🙂
Lovely picture! This makes me want to get a hula hoop for my daughter.
In one of the more recent Family Fun magazines they use a hula hoop for weaving. I’ve been wanting to set up a weaving project and I plan on trying the hula hoop this Friday with the class.
What a great idea.
very interesting ideas…
Ah! Love the hoola hoop ideas — we will definitely be trying these! I like your April Outdoor Challenge, as well. Daily outdoor play has been a (so far unmet) goal of mine for awhile — maybe this will inspire me to get cracking!
A hula hoop is on my wish list for my son. We played with one at a gym class and he just enjoyed putting it over my head and taking it off again as I was sitting down. Love your ideas!
My daughter made a HUGE Dream Catcher using a Hula Hoop in honor of Martin Luther King’s Birthday. We have it hanging in our Play Room!
I love this idea, Sandy, I am sure it looks fantastic.
Hi Christie-
We love the idea of hanging the hula hoop for target practice. Also, on Pinterest, we’ve seen hula hoops used as giant Venn Diagrams. Ah, the potential of circles…
We featured your post at our field day round-up.
Hope you have a lovely week!
Nicolette & Karen
editors of The Classroom Creative.
Rest hula hoop on a chair/ground so its a slanted target and try to throw balls/ bean bags thru the hoop. If you don’t have bean bags water balloons work. or fill a sock with beans or rice and knot or sew the end. Or stand the hoop up between 2 lawn chairs and throw threw it. Great for little kids that can’t hula yet. —
Lay hula on flat ground and try to jump into it or out of it — With 1 foot or 2 together — Great for little kids learning to jump. how many kids can you fit in hula hoop with out falling or touching.
have the children get in a circle and hold hands. Have the kids pass the
hula hoop around the circle without letting go of their hands. The kids
Will need to wiggle and climb in and out of the hoop without breaking the chain.
This is also a good teamwork activity. You can also gave races by making 2
Teams. Races are easier if you have straight lines. Have fun!
Love this idea, Cheryl, thank you for sharing 🙂
that’s the one my guy does..loves jumping from one hoola hoola hoop to another..
Badminton Golf
Spread out 9 hula hoops in a a gym or outdoor space.
Place pods/pile ons a distance in front of each hoop.
Stand at the pod/ pile on a hit a birdie with a badminton racquet into the hoop.
If it lands outside the hoop hit it again from that spot.
Do so counting the number of shots required to get into hoop..
Continue until all 9 holes are played.
Add up total shots but subtract “any hole in one”.
Great game idea, Janet, thank you for sharing 🙂
Thanks for acknowledging my contribution.
How can I edit it as instead of an “and” I used “a”?
Janet Fay
Use the Hula Hoops as cars. Students stand in the middle of their hula hoop and hold it around their waist. The travel around the room. Works on spacing and body awareness. You can have them do different locomotor movements like skipping, hopping, galloping, running, walking. You can also use this with Red light Green light. Play slow music or fast music and they have to match the speed with their vehicle.