• 19 games
  • Checked October 2026

Fun Games for Pickleball PE

For a class that has never held a paddle, with rotations that keep twelve players busy on one court.

Fun Games for Pickleball PE

Show all 5
  1. Drop, Bounce, Send: Into Your Partner's Hoop1. A first sending game built on the drop serve, in which the ball is dropped and hit after it bounces. Partners stand five steps apart, each behind a hoop on the floor.2. Let the ball fall from your hand without tossing it up. After the bounce, hit it underhand so that it lands in your partner's hoop.3. The partner catches it after the bounce and sends it back the same way.4. A bounce inside the hoop scores a point for the pair. At ten points, move the hoops one step farther apart.Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 2 to 32. You need: a paddle and a hoop each, and a pickleball for each pair.
  2. Kitchen or Not: Step In Only After the Bounce1. A catching game that teaches the zone rule of the sport. The kitchen is the zone between the net and a line seven feet from it, and nobody standing in it may hit a ball before it has bounced.2. The catcher stands just behind the kitchen line with no paddle. A partner across the net tosses the ball underhand, either short into the kitchen or straight to the catcher.3. A short one: let it bounce, then step in and catch it. One that comes to you: catch it in the air with both feet behind the line.4. The right choice scores a point. Five tosses, then swap.Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 2 to 32. You need: a pickleball for each pair, a net and a taped kitchen line.
  3. Roll the Rim: Circle the Ball Around the Paddle1. A balance game that a flat paddle makes possible. Everyone has a paddle and a ball, in a space of their own.2. Hold the paddle flat, face up, and tilt it so that the ball rolls in a circle around the edge of the face without falling off.3. Count the full circles. On the call of switch, send the ball around the other way.4. Level two: walk along a line of the court while it circles. A ball that drops is picked up, and the count carries on.Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 2 to 32. You need: a paddle and a pickleball each.

Next step Tennis games for beginners

All 19 games

First-day pickleball games 5

  • Bounce in the Hoop: Hit, Bounce, Hit 1. A control game for one player at a time. Lay a hoop on the floor and stand beside it with a paddle and a ball. 2. Drop the ball into the hoop. After the bounce, tap it up gently, so that it comes down inside the hoop again. 3. Let it bounce once between hits, every time. Count the hits in a row that land in the hoop. 4. At ten, turn the paddle over and use its other face. Or share the hoop with a partner and hit in turn. Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 2 to 32. You need: a paddle, a pickleball and a hoop each.
  • Drop, Bounce, Send: Into Your Partner's Hoop 1. A first sending game built on the drop serve, in which the ball is dropped and hit after it bounces. Partners stand five steps apart, each behind a hoop on the floor. 2. Let the ball fall from your hand without tossing it up. After the bounce, hit it underhand so that it lands in your partner's hoop. 3. The partner catches it after the bounce and sends it back the same way. 4. A bounce inside the hoop scores a point for the pair. At ten points, move the hoops one step farther apart. Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 2 to 32. You need: a paddle and a hoop each, and a pickleball for each pair.
  • Kitchen or Not: Step In Only After the Bounce 1. A catching game that teaches the zone rule of the sport. The kitchen is the zone between the net and a line seven feet from it, and nobody standing in it may hit a ball before it has bounced. 2. The catcher stands just behind the kitchen line with no paddle. A partner across the net tosses the ball underhand, either short into the kitchen or straight to the catcher. 3. A short one: let it bounce, then step in and catch it. One that comes to you: catch it in the air with both feet behind the line. 4. The right choice scores a point. Five tosses, then swap. Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 2 to 32. You need: a pickleball for each pair, a net and a taped kitchen line.
Show all 19 games (16 more)

First-day pickleball games, continued

  • Roll the Rim: Circle the Ball Around the Paddle 1. A balance game that a flat paddle makes possible. Everyone has a paddle and a ball, in a space of their own. 2. Hold the paddle flat, face up, and tilt it so that the ball rolls in a circle around the edge of the face without falling off. 3. Count the full circles. On the call of switch, send the ball around the other way. 4. Level two: walk along a line of the court while it circles. A ball that drops is picked up, and the count carries on. Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 2 to 32. You need: a paddle and a pickleball each.
  • Two-Paddle Sandwich Walk 1. A carrying game for partners. Press one ball between the faces of two paddles, one paddle each, with no hand on the ball. 2. Walk it from one side line of the gym to the other and back. 3. A ball that falls is put back in at the place where it fell. Count the crossings made without a drop. 4. Then try it sideways, backward, or with the paddles held above the shoulders. A pair that makes a clean crossing picks the next way to travel. Ages: 8 to 12. Players: 2 to 32. You need: a paddle each and a pickleball for each pair.

Dink and rally games 5

  • Dink and Slide: Travel Along the Net Together 1. A soft rally that moves. A dink is a slow, soft shot that lands in the kitchen. Partners face each other across the net at one side line, each just behind the kitchen line. 2. Dink the ball back and forth, so that every shot bounces in the kitchen. 3. After each hit of your own, take one step sideways. The pair travels along the net to the far side line and back. 4. Count the dinks in one trip. When the ball goes dead, start again from the place where the pair stands. Ages: 9 to 14. Players: 2 to 24. You need: a paddle each, a pickleball for each pair and a net.
  • Dink to Seven: Only the Kitchen Is In 1. A dinking contest on a slice of the court. Partners face each other across the net, each just behind the kitchen line, and play from corner to corner. 2. Start each point with a gentle drop and hit. From then on, every ball has to bounce in the other player's kitchen. 3. A ball into the net, past the kitchen line or wide loses the point. So does a ball hit out of the air with a foot in the kitchen. 4. First to seven. Then play the other diagonal. Ages: 9 to 14. Players: 2 to 24. You need: a paddle each, a pickleball for each pair and a net.
  • From the Baseline Into the Kitchen 1. A soft shot from a long way back. The hitter stands on the baseline with five balls. A partner waits across the net, just behind the kitchen line. 2. Drop a ball and hit it after the bounce, in a slow arc, so that it bounces inside the partner's kitchen. 3. The partner lets it bounce, catches it and keeps it. One point for every ball that bounces in the kitchen. 4. After five balls, swap ends and jobs. A hitter who scores four starts the next turn one step behind the baseline. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 2 to 24. You need: a paddle each, five pickleballs for each pair and a net.
  • Three-Shot Start: Bounce, Bounce, Then Anything 1. A game that drills the two-bounce rule. The serve has to bounce before it is returned, and the return has to bounce before the serving side hits it. Only after that may anyone hit the ball out of the air. 2. One partner serves underhand from the baseline. The other lets it bounce and returns it. 3. The server lets the return bounce and hits a third shot, which the partner catches. That is one clean start. 4. Count ten clean starts, then swap. After that, play the point out from the third shot. Ages: 9 to 14. Players: 2 to 24. You need: a paddle each, a pickleball for each pair and a net.
  • Wall Dinks: Over the Tape, Bounce, Again 1. A rally against a wall, for one player or for two who take turns. The net is 34 inches high at its center, so tape a line across the wall at that height, and a line on the floor three steps out. 2. From behind the floor line, hit the ball softly so that it touches the wall above the tape. 3. Let it bounce once on the floor, then hit again. Count the hits in a row. 4. With a partner, hit in turn, so that each player has to step out of the way and back in. Ages: 9 to 14. Players: 2 to 32. You need: a paddle each, a pickleball, a wall and tape.

Pickleball serving games 4

  • Clear the Kitchen: Ten Serves Past the Line 1. A serving count with one thing to avoid. A serve has to land in the service court diagonally opposite, which lies behind the kitchen, so a serve that drops in the kitchen is a fault. 2. Serve underhand from behind the baseline, ten times. 3. A partner on the far side calls in, kitchen or out for each one, and catches the ball after the bounce. 4. Count the serves that were in. Swap, then serve from the other half of the baseline and try to beat your number. Ages: 9 to 14. Players: 2 to 24. You need: a paddle each, a pickleball for each pair and a net.
  • Score Caller: Three Numbers Before Every Serve 1. A doubles game in which the call matters as much as the serve. A doubles score is called as three numbers: the serving team's points, the receiving team's points, and a one or a two for which partner is serving. 2. Play doubles to five. Before each serve, the server says all three numbers aloud. 3. A serve with no call, or with a wrong one, is taken again. The other three players check it. 4. After each game, the pairs waiting at the side come on. The first server of every game starts as server two. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 4 to 24. You need: a paddle each, a pickleball and a net for each court.
  • Serve Judge: Legal and In Scores Two 1. A serving game with a referee. A serve hit out of the hand is made underarm, with the paddle moving upward and meeting the ball below the waist. 2. Work in threes: a server, a judge who stands to the side, and a catcher across the net. 3. Each serve can score two points: one if it lands in the service court diagonally opposite, and one if the judge saw an upward swing that met the ball below the waist. 4. Five serves, then rotate. A server may use the drop serve and let the ball bounce first. The judge then checks only that the ball was dropped and not tossed. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 3 to 24. You need: a paddle each, a pickleball for each group of three and a net.
  • Side Out: Only the Server Can Score 1. A short game that teaches how points are won. In pickleball only the serving side can score. When the server loses a rally, nobody gets a point and the serve passes to the other side: a side out. 2. Two players use half a court, straight ahead of each other. One serves underhand. 3. Play the rally out. If the server wins it, that is a point, and they serve again. If not, the other player serves. 4. First to five. Say the score before every serve, with your own number first. Ages: 9 to 14. Players: 2 to 24. You need: a paddle each, a pickleball for each pair and a net.

One court, many players 5

  • Dink Train: Two Lines at the Kitchen, One Dink Each 1. A team rally for six to twelve players on one court. Two lines face each other across the net, each starting just behind the kitchen line. 2. The first player dinks the ball over so that it bounces in the kitchen, then goes to the back of their own line. 3. The first player opposite dinks it back after the bounce, and does the same. 4. Both lines count the dinks in a row as one team. When the ball goes dead, the next player starts it again with a drop and a hit, and the count goes back to one. Ages: 9 to 14. Players: 6 to 36. You need: a paddle each, a pickleball and a net for each court.
  • Paddle Four Square: Underhand After One Bounce 1. Four square with paddles in place of hands. Mark one big square on the floor and divide it into quarters, numbered one to four. A player with a paddle guards each quarter, and anyone left over queues beside quarter one. 2. Number four starts: drop the ball, let it bounce, and hit it underhand into someone else's quarter. 3. Whoever owns that quarter waits for one bounce and hits it on, to any quarter they like. The rally ends on a second bounce, on a ball out of the square, or on a hit made before the bounce. 4. The player who ended it hands over the paddle and joins the queue. The rest shuffle up toward four, and the front of the queue takes quarter one. Ages: 8 to 14. Players: 5 to 32. You need: four paddles, a pickleball and floor tape for each square.
  • Skinny Singles: Half the Court Each 1. Singles on half a court, so that four can play where two would. In skinny singles only half of each player's side is in play during a rally. 2. Split the court down its center line. Two games run side by side, and each player defends the half straight ahead. 3. Serve underhand, let the serve and the return bounce, and stay out of the kitchen unless the ball has bounced there. 4. Play to five, with a point for every rally won. Then the two winners trade places, so that everyone meets a new player. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 4 to 24. You need: a paddle each, two pickleballs and a net for each court.
  • Twelve Spots Around One Court: Every Spot Has a Job 1. A rotation that keeps twelve players busy on one court. Number twelve spots around it: four are the playing places, and eight stand outside the lines. 2. Each outside spot has a job. There are two line judges on each side of the net, two scorekeepers who call the score, and two ball collectors. 3. The four on court play doubles. Every two minutes the teacher calls rotate, and everyone moves on one spot. 4. New partners form at every call. The score carries on, kept by the scorekeepers for the two sides of the net. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 8 to 36. You need: four paddles, a pickleball, a net and twelve floor spots for each court.
  • Two Against One: Score Only When You Stand Alone 1. A game for three on one court. One player has a side of the net to themselves and serves. The other two share the far side. 2. Play the rally out. The player who stands alone scores a point for winning it, and the pair scores nothing. 3. After every rally, all three move one place clockwise, so that a new player stands alone and serves. 4. First to five points. With six players, split the court down the middle and run two games side by side. Ages: 10 to 14. Players: 3 to 24. You need: a paddle each, a pickleball for each group of three and a net.

How this list was compiled: Our list for a gym class or a beginners' group that has never held a paddle, sorted from a first day with a paddle and a ball each to rotations for one court. The wording, the ages and the player counts are ours, and nobody is put out. Games to five or seven are this list's own short games. Checked on 12 October 2026: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickleball), for the non-volley zone seven feet from the net, the two-bounce rule, the underarm serve and the drop serve, the service court diagonally opposite, scoring by the serving side only, the three parts of a doubles score, the net 34 inches high at its center, the court the size of a doubles badminton court, the dink and skinny singles; Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_stage), for the ages of each United States grade. Licence: own work

How it works

These fun games for pickleball in PE start on the first day, with a paddle and a ball each. After them come dink and rally games for pairs, serving games and rotation games for one court and many players.

Read the full guide

Pickleball mini games for elementary PE

The first-day set is written for ages 8 to 12, third grade and up. Roll the Rim, Two-Paddle Sandwich Walk, Bounce in the Hoop and Drop, Bounce, Send need no net. Kitchen or Not needs one, and a taped line.

The three rules these games teach

The kitchen: within seven feet of the net, nobody hits a ball before it bounces. Two bounces: the serve and the return each bounce before they are hit. The serve: underhand, into the service court diagonally opposite. Only the serving side scores.

  • A pickleball court is the size of a doubles badminton court: lower that net to 34 inches at its center.

Questions and answers

Which pickleball games for PE work with one court and a big class?

The rotation set. Twelve Spots Around One Court gives all twelve players a place or a job, Dink Train takes two lines of up to six, and Paddle Four Square needs no net, only tape on the floor.

What are pickleball games to play with two players?

Every dink and rally game is for a pair: Dink and Slide, Dink to Seven, Three-Shot Start, From the Baseline Into the Kitchen and Wall Dinks. Side Out is a short game for two on half a court.

Which PE pickleball games teach the kitchen rule?

Kitchen or Not, where a catcher steps in only after the bounce, then Dink to Seven, where a ball hit out of the air with a foot in the kitchen loses the point. Skinny Singles puts the rule into a real game.

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