Gymnastics Games

Warm-up, shape, balance and landing games for a class or practice, all on the floor with no apparatus.

Gymnastics Games

Show all 32
  1. Quarter-Turn Compass1. Everyone stands on a spot facing the same wall, which is north.2. The coach calls north, east, south or west, and the class jumps to face it with a quarter turn, a half turn or no turn at all.3. Land on two feet and freeze.4. Anyone facing the wrong wall, or still moving, does a straight jump on the spot and rejoins. Add the call about face for a half turn once the class knows the walls.Drills: turning jumps with a still landing. Space: a spot each. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 30. You need: nothing.
  2. Jump the River1. Lay two ropes on a mat in a long V, close together at one end and a big step apart at the other.2. Gymnasts choose where to cross, jump from two feet, and land on two feet on the far bank.3. A landing held still for two counts lets you cross a little wider next time. A step or a hand down sends you one pace back toward the narrow end.4. Finish by asking each gymnast to show their widest stuck crossing.Drills: a two-foot take-off and a still landing. Space: a strip of mats. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 16. You need: mats and two ropes.
  3. Stick It on the Line1. Tape a line on a mat. Teams of three or four line up a few steps behind it.2. In turn, step up to the line and jump forward from two feet.3. Land on two feet with knees bent and arms out in front, and hold it for three counts without a step. That is a stuck landing, and it scores a point for the team.4. The first team to ten points wins. In later rounds, add a half turn to the jump.Drills: a stuck landing from a two-foot jump. Space: a strip of mats. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 3 to 24. You need: mats and tape.

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How it works

These gymnastics games are for a coach or a teacher with a floor, a few mats and a class to warm up. As fun gymnastics activities go they are gentle: none asks for a roll, a handstand or a cartwheel.

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The four shapes the games call

A tuck has the knees to the chest. A pike is folded at the hips only. A straddle has the legs wide, and a straight shape is stretched from fingers to toes. Shape Statues teaches all four by name, and most other games then change shape on one word.

What a stuck landing is

To stick a landing is to land without a step or a stumble. Everything under Jumping and landing games scores it the same way: two feet, held still for a count.

  • Lay one taped line and leave it down: Bean Bag Line Walk, Flamingo Count and Tightrope Pass-By all use it.

Questions and answers

What are fun gymnastics warm up games?

Shape Tag, Safe for Three Counts, and Straddle Tunnel Tag get a class running and use gymnastics shapes while they do it. For a calmer start, Four Walls, Four Ways and Rocket Countdown work with any number and need only the floor.

Which gymnastics games for kids need no equipment?

Shape Detective, Back-to-Back Shape Match, Flamingo Count, Statues in the Museum and Quarter-Turn Compass need only a clear floor. Choose No props under More filters to see every game of that kind.

What are good games to play at gymnastics practice with beginners?

Start with games that have no wrong answer: Mat Islands, Lily Pad Landings and Bean Bag Line Walk suit four-year-olds. From age six, Spell STICK and Rock, Paper, Scissors in Shapes add a score to chase.

What makes a good game for gymnastics camp?

Time. Routine From Four Cards and Synchro Pairs end in a performance, Skills Card for a Partner's Initials can run all week, and Floor Circuit With No Apparatus keeps a big group moving while the apparatus is in use.

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All 32 games

Gymnastics warm up games 7

  • Animal Walk Lanes 1. Lay a lane of mats for each team of three or four. 2. The first gymnast in each team crosses the lane as the animal the coach names: a bear on hands and feet, a crab with the tummy up, a frog in two-foot jumps, or an inchworm that walks its hands out and then its feet in. 3. They jog back beside the lane and touch the next gymnast's hand. 4. Change the animal each round. It is not a race, and the team whose animals look most like the real thing picks the next one. Drills: taking weight on the hands. Space: a lane of mats for each team. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 3 to 24. You need: a lane of mats for each team.
  • The Bean Game: Runner, String, Broad, Baked 1. Everyone jogs around the floor. 2. The coach calls a bean and the class changes at once. Runner bean is a run on the spot, jumping bean is small bounces, string bean is a stretch up tall on tiptoe, broad bean is arms and legs as wide as they go, and baked bean is a tuck on the floor with the knees to the chest. 3. Frozen bean means freeze. 4. The last to change calls the next bean. Drills: quick changes between tall, wide and tucked shapes. Space: the whole floor. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 4 to 30. You need: nothing.
  • Four Walls, Four Ways 1. Give each wall of the gym a way of traveling: skips to one, side steps to the next, hops to the third, and a tiptoe walk with arms up to the fourth. 2. The coach points at a wall, and the class travels to it that way and touches the floor in front of it. 3. Point again before everyone has arrived. 4. Once the class knows all four, let a gymnast do the pointing. Drills: traveling steps and listening. Space: the whole floor. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 4 to 30. You need: nothing.
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Gymnastics warm up games, continued

  • Mat Islands 1. Scatter mats around the floor, one for every two gymnasts. 2. While the music plays, everyone skips around the islands without touching one. 3. When it stops, the coach calls a shape, and everyone gets to an island and holds it there: a tuck sit, a straddle sit, a pike sit with the legs straight out in front, or a straight shape lying down. 4. Take one island away each round. Nobody is out, and the islands just get more crowded. Drills: finding the four basic shapes fast. Space: the whole floor, with mats scattered on it. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 6 to 30. You need: mats and music.
  • Rocket Countdown 1. Everyone crouches in a tuck on their own spot. 2. The class counts down from ten together, rising a little on every number, until everyone stands tall on tiptoe at one. 3. On blast off, jump straight up with arms by the ears and land on two feet without a step. 4. Jog once around the floor as rockets and come back to your spot for the next launch. Drills: a straight jump and a still landing. Space: a spot each. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 30. You need: nothing.
  • Shape Tag, Safe for Three Counts 1. Pick one tagger for every eight gymnasts. 2. You are safe from a tag while you hold the shape the coach has named for the round, such as a tuck sit or a straddle stand, but only for a count of three, said out loud. 3. Then you must run again. 4. A tagged gymnast swaps jobs with the tagger. Change the safe shape each round. Drills: getting into a shape fast. Space: the whole floor. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 6 to 24. You need: nothing.
  • Straddle Tunnel Tag 1. Two taggers chase inside the floor area, and everyone else runs on their toes. A tag is a light touch on the shoulder or back. 2. A tagged gymnast stands still in a straddle, legs wide and arms out to the side. 3. A free player sets them loose by crawling through the tunnel of their legs. 4. Change the taggers every minute. Drills: a warm body and a wide straddle stand. Space: the whole floor. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 6 to 24. You need: two bibs or bands for the taggers.

Body shape games 6

  • Back-to-Back Shape Match 1. Pairs stand back to back, a step apart. 2. The coach counts one, two, three, show. On show, both jump around to face each other and land in a standing shape: a tuck crouch, a straddle stand, or a straight stand with arms up. 3. A match scores a point for the pair, and there is no talking between rounds. 4. Play ten rounds, then find a new partner and try to beat your score. Drills: landing in a shape. Space: a spot for each pair. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 30. You need: nothing.
  • Flip a Shape Card 1. Draw each of the four shapes on six cards and spread all twenty-four face down across the floor. 2. On go, run to a card, flip it, hold the shape on it for three counts, and turn it face down again. 3. Find a different card each time. 4. Stop after two minutes and ask who held all four shapes. Drills: reading a shape and holding it. Space: the whole floor. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 24. You need: twenty-four shape cards.
  • Rock, Paper, Scissors in Shapes 1. Lay a strip of mats and mark five spots along it. Everyone starts at the first spot. 2. Pairs face each other, bounce twice, and land the third bounce in a shape. A tuck crouch is rock, a straight stand with arms up is paper, and a straddle stand is scissors. 3. The winner moves up one spot and the other stays, and a tie is played again. 4. Find a new partner on your spot. A gymnast who wins on the fifth spot starts again from the first. Drills: jumping into a shape and landing still. Space: a strip of mats. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 4 to 24. You need: a strip of mats and five floor spots.
  • Shape Detective 1. One gymnast, the detective, turns away while the coach silently points to a leader. 2. Everyone sits in a circle in a tuck. The leader changes shape every few seconds, to a pike sit, a straddle sit or a straight back with arms up, and the others copy at once without staring at the leader. 3. The detective stands in the middle and has three guesses at who is leading. 4. The leader becomes the next detective. Drills: clean seated shapes and quick changes. Space: a circle on the floor. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 20. You need: nothing.
  • Shape Statues 1. Play music while the class travels around the floor on tiptoe. 2. Stop the music and call tuck, pike, straddle or straight. 3. Everyone holds that shape for three counts, sitting, standing or lying. A tuck has the knees to the chest, a pike is folded at the hips only, a straddle has the legs wide, and a straight shape is stretched from fingers to toes. 4. The coach names one statue with pointed toes, and that gymnast calls the next shape. Drills: the four shapes by name. Space: the whole floor. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 4 to 30. You need: music.
  • Sit, Lie, Stand 1. Everyone starts on a mat or a spot. 2. The coach calls a shape and a level together, such as straddle sitting, tuck lying on your back, straight standing, or pike sitting. 3. Hold each one for three counts with the toes pointed. 4. Speed up, then call two in a row for the class to join without stopping in between. Drills: one shape at three levels. Space: a mat or a spot each. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 30. You need: a mat or a floor spot each.

Balance games on a floor line 7

  • Bean Bag Line Walk 1. Tape a line about ten steps long for every four gymnasts. 2. Walk it forward with a bean bag on your head and your arms out. If the bag falls, put it back and take two steps back. 3. Make the second crossing sideways and the third backward, with a partner walking beside you. 4. Finish each crossing by stepping off with feet together, without losing the bag. Drills: tall posture on a line. Space: one line on the floor for every four. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 16. You need: tape and a bean bag each.
  • Flamingo Count 1. Pairs face each other on a line, each standing on one foot with the other foot resting against the standing leg. 2. They count out loud together. 3. When either player's foot comes down, the count stops, and that number is the pair's shared score. 4. Change legs and try to beat it, then try a third time with arms up by the ears. Drills: a balance on one foot. Space: one line on the floor. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 30. You need: nothing.
  • Line Tag on Tiptoe 1. Everyone, the two taggers included, may travel only along the painted or taped lines of the floor, on tiptoe. 2. Nobody may pass another player on a line, so turn around or change lines at a crossing. 3. A tagged gymnast steps off, holds a balance on one foot for five counts, and steps back on. 4. Change the taggers each minute. Drills: tiptoe walking on a line. Space: the lines of the floor. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 24. You need: floor lines or tape.
  • One-Foot Bean Bag Circle 1. Stand in a circle, an arm's length apart, everyone on one foot. 2. Pass a bean bag around the circle from hand to hand. 3. If your foot touches down, change to the other foot and carry on, and nobody is out. 4. Count the laps the bag makes before the coach calls switch, then send a second bag the other way. Drills: a balance on one foot while reaching. Space: a circle on the floor. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 5 to 20. You need: two bean bags.
  • Points on the Floor 1. Everyone finds a space on a mat. 2. The coach calls a number from one to five, and that many body parts, and no more, may touch the floor. A hand, a foot, a knee, an elbow and your seat each count as one, and heads stay off the floor. 3. Hold the balance still for three counts. 4. Call the same number again and ask for a different answer. Drills: balances on different parts of the body. Space: a mat each, or one between two. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 2 to 30. You need: mats.
  • Statues in the Museum 1. One gymnast, the night guard, stands at the far wall with their back to the class. 2. The statues creep forward on tiptoe from the other wall. 3. When the guard turns around, every statue freezes in a balance on one foot, such as an arabesque, standing on one leg with the other leg lifted. 4. A statue that wobbles, or has two feet down, takes five steps back. 5. The first to touch the far wall is the next guard. Drills: stopping in a balance on one foot. Space: the whole floor. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 4 to 24. You need: nothing.
  • Tightrope Pass-By 1. Two gymnasts start at opposite ends of one line and walk toward each other, heel to toe. 2. Where they meet, they swap sides without either stepping off, holding each other's forearms and turning slowly. 3. A pair that both reach the far ends scores a point for the class. 4. Send the next two, and count how many pairs in a row the class can get across. Drills: balance while turning. Space: one line on the floor. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 2 to 20. You need: floor lines or tape.

Jumping and landing games 6

  • Hoop Path 1. Lay ten flat hoops, or chalk ten circles, in a path on the floor. One circle means land with feet together, and two side by side mean land in a straddle, one foot in each. 2. Gymnasts bounce through one after another, leaving three circles between them. 3. The last circle sits on a mat. Land in it and hold still for three counts. 4. Let each team rebuild the path for the next team. Drills: two-foot bounces and a still finish. Space: a path across the floor. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 20. You need: ten flat hoops or chalk, and a mat.
  • Jump the River 1. Lay two ropes on a mat in a long V, close together at one end and a big step apart at the other. 2. Gymnasts choose where to cross, jump from two feet, and land on two feet on the far bank. 3. A landing held still for two counts lets you cross a little wider next time. A step or a hand down sends you one pace back toward the narrow end. 4. Finish by asking each gymnast to show their widest stuck crossing. Drills: a two-foot take-off and a still landing. Space: a strip of mats. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 16. You need: mats and two ropes.
  • Lily Pad Landings 1. Scatter non-slip floor spots or small mats as lily pads, a jump apart. 2. Each frog jumps from pad to pad, two feet to two feet, and must be still for two counts before the next jump. 3. Two frogs may not share a pad. 4. After a minute, the coach slides the pads a little farther apart. A frog that lands in the pond walks back to the nearest pad and carries on. Drills: two-foot landings held still. Space: the whole floor. Youngest player: age 4. Players: 2 to 20. You need: non-slip floor spots or small mats.
  • Quarter-Turn Compass 1. Everyone stands on a spot facing the same wall, which is north. 2. The coach calls north, east, south or west, and the class jumps to face it with a quarter turn, a half turn or no turn at all. 3. Land on two feet and freeze. 4. Anyone facing the wrong wall, or still moving, does a straight jump on the spot and rejoins. Add the call about face for a half turn once the class knows the walls. Drills: turning jumps with a still landing. Space: a spot each. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 2 to 30. You need: nothing.
  • Spell STICK 1. The class stands along the edge of a mat, facing the coach. 2. The coach calls a jump: straight, tuck with the knees to the chest, star with arms and legs wide, or straight with a quarter turn. 3. Everyone jumps on go and tries to land without a step. 4. When the whole line stays still for three counts, the class wins a letter of the word STICK. 5. Five letters win the game, and a wobble costs nothing. Drills: landing together without a step. Space: a strip of mats. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 4 to 24. You need: mats.
  • Stick It on the Line 1. Tape a line on a mat. Teams of three or four line up a few steps behind it. 2. In turn, step up to the line and jump forward from two feet. 3. Land on two feet with knees bent and arms out in front, and hold it for three counts without a step. That is a stuck landing, and it scores a point for the team. 4. The first team to ten points wins. In later rounds, add a half turn to the jump. Drills: a stuck landing from a two-foot jump. Space: a strip of mats. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 3 to 24. You need: mats and tape.

Games for gymnastics camp 6

  • Compliment Judges 1. Half the camp performs a jump and a stuck landing on the mat, one gymnast at a time, and the other half sits as judges. 2. Instead of a score, each judge holds up one of three cards: pointed toes, tight legs or still landing. 3. A judge holds up the thing the gymnast did best, so every gymnast gets a card. 4. Swap halves. Drills: performing in front of others. Space: a strip of mats. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 6 to 30. You need: mats and three cards for each judge.
  • Floor Circuit With No Apparatus 1. Mark a loop around the floor: a taped line to walk on tiptoe, five hoops to bounce through, a zigzag of cones to cross as a bear on hands and feet, and a mat to finish on with a straight jump and a still landing. 2. Send gymnasts around one at a time, a few seconds apart. 3. Each stuck finish drops a bean bag in the team bucket. 4. Count the bags after five minutes, and try to beat the total after lunch. Drills: balance, bounce, weight on hands and landing in one loop. Space: the whole floor. Youngest player: age 5. Players: 4 to 30. You need: tape, five hoops, cones, a mat, bean bags and a bucket.
  • Routine From Four Cards 1. Make four piles of cards: shapes, balances, jumps and ways to travel. 2. Each group of three draws one card from every pile. 3. Give the groups five minutes to join the four moves into one short routine with a start pose and a finish pose. 4. Each group performs, and the others watch and name the four cards they saw. Drills: joining moves into a routine. Space: a strip of mats for each group. Youngest player: age 6. Players: 3 to 24. You need: four piles of move cards.
  • Skills Card for a Partner's Initials 1. Give every gymnast a card with nine boxes and one floor challenge in each, such as hold a balance on one foot for ten counts, land five straight jumps in a row without a step, walk a line backward, or hold a pike sit with pointed toes for ten counts. 2. Work in pairs. 3. When your partner sees you do a challenge, they initial the box. 4. A full card earns the right to write a tenth challenge for tomorrow. Drills: the basics, checked by a partner. Space: the whole floor. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 2 to 30. You need: a challenge card and a pencil each.
  • Synchro Pairs 1. Pairs make up a sequence of four moves: a shape, a balance, a jump and a pose. 2. They practice until both do every move at the same moment. 3. Then one partner turns to face the other and they perform it as a mirror. 4. Pairs show both versions, and the camp claps for the pair that looked most like one person. Drills: timing with a partner. Space: a mat for each pair. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 2 to 24. You need: mats.
  • Team Statue by Numbers 1. Groups of four stand on a mat. 2. The coach calls how many feet and hands the whole group may have on the floor, such as five feet and two hands. 3. The group has until a count of ten to build one linked statue that fits, holding hands or shoulders for balance. Nobody is lifted, and nobody stands or leans on a teammate. 4. Hold it for three counts. Then call harder numbers, such as four feet and no hands. Drills: balance and planning as a group. Space: a mat for each group. Youngest player: age 7. Players: 4 to 24. You need: mats.

How this list was compiled: Our suggestions, written for this site for a coach or a teacher running a children's gymnastics class on a floor with mats. The wording is ours, and the youngest ages and player counts are our estimates. No game uses apparatus, and none asks for a roll, a handstand, a cartwheel or any skill upside down; nothing here is coaching, training or injury advice. The shapes (tuck, pike, straddle, layout), the arabesque and what it means to stick a landing were checked on 2026-10-08 against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_gymnastics_terms. Licence: own work