• 23 games
  • Checked October 2026

PE Football Games

No tackling in any of them: a pulled flag or a dropped pass ends the play, and nobody is out.

PE Football Games

Show all 6
  1. Snap, Drop Back, Throw: Three Jobs in Rotation1. A passing game for three, with a job each. The center bends over the ball, the quarterback stands two steps behind, and the receiver waits on a floor spot eight steps away.2. The center snaps the ball back between the legs. The quarterback catches it, takes three steps back and throws to the receiver.3. The receiver runs the ball back and becomes the center. The center becomes the quarterback, and the quarterback jogs out to the spot.4. A caught snap and a caught pass make one clean play. Count the clean plays in two minutes.Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 3 to 30. You need: a foam football and a floor spot for each group of three.
  2. Twenty-One: Pick Your Line, Catch for Points1. One way to play the catching game called 21. Mark three lines with cones, five, nine and thirteen steps from a thrower. Three catchers play against each other.2. Before every throw, each catcher chooses a line to stand on. The near line is worth one point, the middle line two and the far line three.3. The thrower throws to each catcher in turn. A catch scores the points of that line, and a drop scores nothing.4. The first catcher to reach 21 becomes the thrower, and everyone starts again from zero.Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 4 to 32. You need: a foam football and six cones for each group of four.
  3. Thumbs or Pinkies: Show the Catch Before It Arrives1. A catching game about the shape of the hands. Partners stand five steps apart with a foam football.2. The thrower lobs it high or low, without saying which.3. The catcher shows the shape before the ball arrives: thumbs together for a ball above the belt, little fingers together for one below it.4. The right shape and a clean catch score a point for the pair. Swap jobs every throw, and count the points out of ten.Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 2 to 32. You need: a foam football for each pair.

Next step Throwing and catching games

All 23 games

Throwing and catching games 6

  • Four Downs to the Far Line 1. A passing game for pairs with no defenders. Both partners start on one end line of the gym or the field, in a lane of their own. 2. The receiver runs ahead and stops anywhere. The passer throws from the line. 3. After a catch, the passer runs up to the receiver and the two swap jobs. After a drop, the next throw starts from the same place. Either way, that is one down. 4. A pair has four downs to cross the far line. When that is easy, try it in three. Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 2 to 32. You need: a foam football for each pair and cones to mark the lanes.
  • Scramble, Set, Throw: The Whistle Stops the Quarterback 1. A throwing game on the move for three. Mark a square ten steps across. The quarterback jogs inside it with the ball, and two receivers jog around the outside. 2. On the whistle, the quarterback stops, sets both feet and has three seconds to throw to either receiver. 3. Receivers keep moving until the ball is in the air. A catch scores a point for all three. 4. The catcher is the next quarterback. Play ten whistles and count the catches. Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 3 to 30. You need: a foam football and four cones for each group of three.
  • Snap, Drop Back, Throw: Three Jobs in Rotation 1. A passing game for three, with a job each. The center bends over the ball, the quarterback stands two steps behind, and the receiver waits on a floor spot eight steps away. 2. The center snaps the ball back between the legs. The quarterback catches it, takes three steps back and throws to the receiver. 3. The receiver runs the ball back and becomes the center. The center becomes the quarterback, and the quarterback jogs out to the spot. 4. A caught snap and a caught pass make one clean play. Count the clean plays in two minutes. Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 3 to 30. You need: a foam football and a floor spot for each group of three.
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Throwing and catching games, continued

  • Thumbs or Pinkies: Show the Catch Before It Arrives 1. A catching game about the shape of the hands. Partners stand five steps apart with a foam football. 2. The thrower lobs it high or low, without saying which. 3. The catcher shows the shape before the ball arrives: thumbs together for a ball above the belt, little fingers together for one below it. 4. The right shape and a clean catch score a point for the pair. Swap jobs every throw, and count the points out of ten. Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 2 to 32. You need: a foam football for each pair.
  • Tip and Catch: The Second Player Makes the Catch 1. A catching game for three in a line. The thrower stands at one end, the tipper in the middle and the catcher at the far end, with four steps between them. 2. The thrower lobs a soft, high pass to the tipper. 3. The tipper does not catch it. They tap it up and on with both hands, and the catcher behind them has to catch it before it lands. 4. A catch scores a point for all three. Change places after every five throws, and try to beat your own total. Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 3 to 30. You need: a foam football for each group of three.
  • Twenty-One: Pick Your Line, Catch for Points 1. One way to play the catching game called 21. Mark three lines with cones, five, nine and thirteen steps from a thrower. Three catchers play against each other. 2. Before every throw, each catcher chooses a line to stand on. The near line is worth one point, the middle line two and the far line three. 3. The thrower throws to each catcher in turn. A catch scores the points of that line, and a drop scores nothing. 4. The first catcher to reach 21 becomes the thrower, and everyone starts again from zero. Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 4 to 32. You need: a foam football and six cones for each group of four.

Flag football games 6

  • Capture the Football 1. One way to play capture the flag with footballs. Split the gym or the field in half. Each team keeps four footballs in a hoop on its own back line, and everyone wears a flag. 2. Cross the middle, take one football from the other hoop and bring it home to your own. 3. A runner whose flag is pulled on the other side gives back any ball they hold, takes the flag back and walks home before trying again. 4. A stolen ball may be thrown across the middle line. Once a teammate catches it, it is safe. The team with more footballs after five minutes wins. Ages: 9 to 14. Players: 10 to 30. You need: eight foam footballs, two hoops, flag belts and pinnies.
  • Open-Field Lane: One Runner, One Flag Puller 1. A running game, one against one. Mark a lane six steps wide and fifteen long, with three lines of cones across it. The runner wears a flag on each hip and carries the ball. 2. The runner starts at one end and the puller at the other. On go, the runner tries to reach the far end. 3. Each line crossed before a flag is pulled scores one point, and the far end scores five. The puller takes the flag and touches nothing else, and the runner may not shield it. 4. In a group of four, the next two go while the first two walk back down the outside of the lane. Ages: 9 to 18. Players: 4 to 32. You need: a foam football, a flag belt and eight cones for each lane.
  • Option Run: Pitch It Before Your Flag Goes 1. A running game for three against one puller. Mark a lane eight steps wide and twenty long. Three runners line up side by side at one end, each with a flag, and the middle one holds the ball. 2. The ball may travel only sideways or backward, as a soft underhand pitch to a teammate. 3. The puller starts in the middle of the lane and may pull the flag of the player with the ball only. 4. The runners score if the ball crosses the far line in the hands of a runner who still has a flag. A dropped pitch ends the play. Change the puller every play. Ages: 10 to 18. Players: 4 to 32. You need: a foam football, flag belts and cones for each lane.
  • Rush on Five: Count Aloud, Then Go for the Flag 1. A passing game for three, played against a count. The quarterback wears a flag and holds the ball. The rusher stands seven steps away. The receiver moves between two cones ten steps down the field. 2. On hike, the rusher counts aloud, one football, two football, up to five, and only then runs at the quarterback. 3. The quarterback has to throw before the flag is pulled. A caught pass scores for the quarterback and the receiver. A pulled flag scores for the rusher. 4. Rotate after every play: rusher to quarterback, quarterback to receiver, receiver to rusher. Ages: 9 to 18. Players: 3 to 30. You need: a foam football, a flag belt and two cones for each group of three.
  • Three-on-Three Flag Football: Four Downs to Score 1. A small-sided game of flag football. Mark a field thirty steps long with an end zone at each end. Everyone wears a flag on each hip. 2. The team with the ball has four downs to score. Every play starts with a snap and has to be a pass: the quarterback does not run with the ball. 3. A down ends when a flag is pulled, when the player with the ball steps out, or when a pass lands. Nobody blocks, tackles or holds, and a runner may not shield a flag with a hand. 4. After a touchdown, or four downs without one, the other team starts from its own end zone. A different quarterback takes every down. Ages: 9 to 18. Players: 6 to 30. You need: a foam football, flag belts, cones and pinnies for each field.
  • Who Has the Football? Everyone Runs as if They Do 1. A flag-pulling game with a hidden ball. Five runners huddle with their backs to three pullers. One runner tucks a small foam football under folded arms, and the other four fold their arms the same way. 2. On hike, all five run for the end line, fifteen steps away. 3. Each puller may pull one flag and no more. If one of them stops the runner with the ball, the pullers score. If the ball crosses the line, the runners score. 4. A runner who lost a flag puts it back on for the next play. After three plays, new pullers come out. Ages: 8 to 14. Players: 8 to 32. You need: a small foam football, flag belts and cones.

Running and kicking games 5

  • Carry Course: Ball in the Arm Away From the Cone 1. A running course with a ball to look after. Set six cones in a zigzag, four steps apart. The runner tucks a football into one arm, with a hand over its front point. 2. Run the zigzag. At each cone the ball has to be in the arm away from the cone, so it changes arms between cones. 3. A partner walks behind and counts the clean switches. A dropped ball goes back to the cone before. 4. Run it twice, then swap jobs. Try to beat your own count, not your partner's. Ages: 6 to 10. Players: 2 to 32. You need: a foam football for each pair and six cones for each course.
  • Gaining Ground: Punt It Back From Where It Landed 1. A punting game for two teams of three to five on a long field. Each team defends the end line behind it. 2. One player punts a foam football from the hands toward the other team. That team punts it back from the spot where it was caught or stopped. 3. A ball caught before it lands earns three big steps forward before the punt. Players punt in turn, and teammates stand behind the punter. 4. A team scores when its punt lands past the other end line. Call mine before you catch. Ages: 9 to 14. Players: 6 to 30. You need: one foam football and cones for each field.
  • Hand-Off Highway: Count the Clean Exchanges 1. A hand-off game that is counted by the whole group, not raced. Six to eight players split into two lines that face each other, ten steps apart. 2. The first runner carries the ball across, hands it to the first player of the other line and joins the back of that line. 3. The player who takes the ball makes a pocket, one arm high and one arm low, and the ball is laid in between. Nobody throws it. 4. Count the clean hand-offs in two minutes. A dropped ball is picked up and handed over, but it does not count. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 6 to 32. You need: one foam football for each group.
  • Scoop the Fumble: It Never Bounces Straight 1. A chasing game for partners. A football is pointed at both ends, so nobody can tell which way it will bounce. Partners stand side by side on a line. 2. One partner rolls the ball end over end along the ground and calls fumble. 3. The other chases it, bends at the knees, scoops it up with two hands and runs it back over the line. Nobody dives on a ball. 4. A scoop at the first try scores a point. Five rolls, then swap. Pairs stand five steps apart along the line. Ages: 6 to 11. Players: 2 to 32. You need: a foam football for each pair.
  • Three Ways Down the Field: Throw, Punt, Kick 1. A distance contest against your own total. Lay lines of cones across a field every five steps, and number them from a start line. 2. Each player throws a football once, punts it once from the hands and kicks it once from a tee. 3. A partner waits at the side of the field, walks to where each one lands and calls the number of the last line it passed. Everyone else waits behind the start line. 4. Add the three numbers. Swap jobs, then go again and try to beat your own total. Ages: 8 to 14. Players: 2 to 32. You need: a foam football and a kicking tee for each pair, and cones.

Indoor football games 6

  • Backboard Football: Catch the Rebound to Score 1. A passing game to the basketball hoops for two teams of four or five. Use a foam football on half a court or a whole one. 2. Whoever has the ball stands still and gets rid of it inside three seconds, so the rest of the team has to keep moving into space. 3. Throw the ball against the backboard your team attacks. If a teammate catches the rebound before it lands, that is one point. A ball that drops through the hoop is three. 4. A pass that is dropped or picked off hands the ball to the other side. Guard from an arm's length, and never grab at a ball that someone is holding. Ages: 11 to 18. Players: 8 to 30. You need: a foam football, pinnies and a basketball hoop at each end.
  • Box Football: A Catch Inside a Box Scores 1. One way to play a passing game on taped boxes. Tape six boxes on half a gym floor, each two steps square. Two teams of four share one foam football. 2. No steps with the ball. Pass to teammates until one of them catches it with both feet inside a box: one point. 3. A team may not score in the same box twice in a row, and defenders may not stand in a box. 4. After a point, or a dropped pass, the other team takes the ball where it lies. Play to seven. Ages: 8 to 14. Players: 8 to 32. You need: a foam football, floor tape and pinnies for each half court.
  • Field Goal Over the Net 1. A kicking game for three. A volleyball net, or a rope tied between two posts at head height, is the crossbar. Mark kicking lines five and eight steps back from it. 2. The holder stands the foam football on a tee, or steadies it on the floor with one finger. The kicker kicks it over the net. The catcher waits on the far side and rolls it back. 3. Over the net from the near line scores one, and from the far line two. Every group kicks the same way, and nobody goes under the net while a ball is being kicked. 4. Rotate jobs after three kicks, and add up the points of all three. Ages: 8 to 14. Players: 3 to 30. You need: a foam football and a tee for each group of three, and a net or a rope.
  • Half-Court Flag Football: The Midline Is the First Down 1. Flag football sized for a basketball court, four against four. Mark a goal line with cones five steps in from each end wall. Everyone wears a flag. 2. Every play is a pass from a snap. A team has four downs to get the ball over the midline, then four more to score. 3. A down ends when a flag is pulled, when a pass lands, or when the player with the ball touches a side line. No blocking and no contact, and nobody dives. 4. After a touchdown, or when the downs are used up, the other team starts from its own goal line. Teams waiting at the side come on after every score. Ages: 9 to 18. Players: 8 to 32. You need: a foam football, flag belts, cones and pinnies.
  • Over the Defense: Catch It Past the Middle Team 1. A throwing game for a whole class in three zones. Split the gym across its width into three zones with cones, and put a team in each. 2. The two end teams lob foam footballs to each other, high over the middle team. A catch at the far end scores a point for the team that caught it. 3. The middle team scores two points for every ball it catches in the air. Balls are lobbed over heads and never thrown at a player, and nobody leaves their zone. 4. After two minutes, the teams change zones. Play three rounds, so that every team has a turn in the middle. Ages: 9 to 18. Players: 12 to 36. You need: four foam footballs, cones and pinnies.
  • Two-Ball Football: Each Team Attacks With Its Own Ball 1. A passing game with two balls in play at once. Two teams of five to seven share a gym, with an end zone marked across each end. Each team starts with a foam football on its own end line. 2. Nobody runs with a ball: catch it, plant your feet, and pass inside three seconds. 3. A team scores when one of its players catches a pass inside the end zone it attacks. The scorer walks that ball back to their own end line, and play goes on. 4. A ball that is dropped or picked off changes sides on the spot, so one team may find itself with both. There is no contact, and a thrower is given an arm's length of room. Ages: 11 to 18. Players: 10 to 30. You need: two foam footballs of different colors, cones and pinnies.

How this list was compiled: Our list of American football lead-up games for a mixed gym class, sorted by what each game trains. The wording, the ages and the player counts are ours. Nobody is tackled, blocked or put out, and every game uses a foam football. Twenty-One, Capture the Football and Box Football are each written as one way to play. Checked on 12 October 2026: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_football), for the pulled flag that ends a down in place of a tackle; Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_stage), for the ages of each United States grade. Licence: own work

How it works

These PE football games are lead-up games for American football, played with a foam ball: throwing and catching, flag football, running and kicking, and an indoor set.

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Football lead-up games for elementary PE

The football catching and throwing games for PE are written for grades 3 to 6, ages 8 to 12. In the flag football games a pulled flag takes the place of a tackle, and nobody blocks.

Indoor football games for PE

The six indoor games use the hoops, the net and the lines of a gym. All six throwing and catching games fit a gym floor too.

  • Big team games with footballs: Over the Defense and Capture the Football each take a whole class at once.

Questions and answers

What are good football games for high school PE?

Three-on-Three Flag Football, Rush on Five, Option Run, Two-Ball Football and Half-Court Flag Football are written up to age 18. Backboard Football uses the basketball hoop: one point for a rebound a teammate catches, three for a ball through the hoop.

Which PE games with a football suit 6 year olds?

Carry Course, Hand-Off Highway and Scoop the Fumble. Each child carries, hands over or scoops up a foam football, and nobody throws a long pass or pulls a flag.

How do you play the capture the football PE game?

Each team guards four footballs in a hoop on its back line. Cross the middle, take one and bring it home. A runner whose flag is pulled gives the ball back, and a stolen ball thrown across the middle is safe once it is caught.

How do you play the PE 2 ball football game?

In Two-Ball Football each team attacks with its own foam football at the same time. Nobody runs with a ball, and a catch in the end zone scores. A dropped or intercepted ball changes hands, so one team can hold both.

How does the PE game 21 work with a football?

Three catchers each choose a line before every throw: one point from the near line, two from the middle and three from the far one. A catch scores the line, and the first catcher to 21 becomes the thrower.

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