27 Ways to Choose Teams (Without Tears) in Gym Class

Hey PE Teachers – do you struggle to come up with fun and easy ways to choose teams in gym class?

Get ready to say goodbye to the groans, frowns, and terrible tears, when it comes to team selection in your physical education classes.

27 Fun and Fair Ways to Choose Teams Without Tears in Gym Class

In this blog post, Love 2 Teach and Learn is sharing 27 creative, fair, and fun strategies to make team selection easy, exciting, and totally drama-free for your elementary PE class.

Hi there, it’s so great to meet you! I’m Mrs. T. or you can call me Jen – a Michigan mom, wife, new grandma (aka “Jemma”) and K-12 PE teacher who is on a mission to MAKE SCHOOL FUN AGAIN!

Get ready to discover new ways to choose teams, boost teamwork, keep kids smiling, and make every gym lesson a win for everyone!

Partner Games

If you are planning to play fun partner games like Hot Potato Tag and you need to make groups of two, here are six creative ways to choose teams.

Partner Games with Mrs. T.

#1: NUMBER STUDENTS OFF (e.g., 1, 2, 1, 2) as you go around the group – This idea is pretty old-school and boring but it works and I had to include it since it’s a classic.
#2: USE JOKES AND RIDDLES -Pass out slips of paper with matching jokes or riddles and their answers – kids must match up questions with answers. This works with trivia questions too.

Use Jokes and Riddles - Fair and Fun Ways to Make Teams

#3: GO FISH CARDS—Have students randomly choose a card and then let them find their match. You could also do this with famous pairs like (Peanut Butter and Jelly, Mickey and Minnie, Salt and Pepper).
#4: OLD MAID CARDS – are really great ways to choose teams. Just have students choose a card and find their match. If you have an odd number of students – no problem – just add in the Old Maid and let whoever picks the Old Maid choose the partner group they want to work with.

Ways to Choose Teams - Go Fish and Old Maid Cards!

#5: ANIMAL SOUNDS – The teacher secretly whispers an animal in each student’s ear and then students have to make that animal noise until they find their match. If you want to add in a fun challenge – put blindfolds on the kids.
#6: OPPOSITES – Partner students up and teach opposites at the same time – For example, pair up the tallest student with the shortest student, longest hair with shortest hair)

Small Group Games

Whether you need to divide your students into groups of two, three, four, or more, here are 21 more fun and fair ways to choose teams for PE games.

These grouping ideas can easily be used to form groups for classroom games, group projects, and activities, as well.

#7: CRAFT or POPSICLE STICKS – Have students draw different colored popsicle sticks. I keep the sticks in a cloth drawstring bag so they can’t see what color stick they are choosing.

Popsicle Sticks are Great for Making Fair Teams

#8: COLORED BINGO CHIPS – Have students draw different colored chips out of a large cup or a drawstring bag. I like to make it extra fun and throw in a gold chip or coin – whoever picks the gold coin gets to wait until all teams are formed and choose the team that they want to join for the game. My students love this!
#9: PLAYING CARDS – Hand out playing cards and group students by suit, number or card color – throw in the “Joker” and let that student choose what team they want to join.

#10: PUZZLE PIECES – Have students match puzzle pieces together to find their group. You can also do this by cutting up pictures in a magazine or an old children’s book.
#11: BIRTHDAY MONTH – Have students line up by their birthday month and then split down the middle if you need two teams – or you can split into thirds or fourths if you need more teams.
#12: PUT NAMES OR STUDENT NUMBERS IN A HAT/CUP – You can always go old-school and draw names out of a hat or a cup to form teams.
#13: UNO CARDS – Have students pick a card and match by color, number, or symbol.
#14: MUSICAL HOOPS – Spread out hula hoops along the gym floor equal to the number of groups you need for the activity or game. Then tell the students you are going to play some music. When the music stops they should hurry and stand inside a hoop. Let them know the max number of students that can be inside of a hoop.
#15: FIRST NAME – Put students into groups based on their first names. They can form groups based on how many letters are in their first name or you can group them by the first letter of their first name.
#16: WOULD YOU RATHER – Group by a quick “would you rather” question and split into teams according to their answers.#16 TANGRAMS: Put tangrams with different colors and shapes into a drawstring bag for kids to choose from.

WOULD YOU RATHER - Fun Ways to Choose Groups for kids

#17: SECRET NUMBERS – Put a bunch of numbers in a hat/cup and have students randomly pull out a number. For partner groups, put two of each number in the hat/cup, groups of three put 3 of the same number in the hat, cup, and so on.
#18: FAVORITES – Have students get into groups based on their favorite COLORS, FOOD, ANIMALS, HOBBIES, SCHOOL SUBJECT, ICE CREAM FLAVOR, etc.
#19: TANGRAMS: Put tangrams with different colors and shapes into a drawstring bag for kids to choose from.
#20: SPORTS TRIVIA – Pass out cards with sports trivia questions and answers and have the students find their match. (For example, one card might say: Q: What term is used in bowling when someone bowls three strikes in a row? A: Turkey). This is a great way to review a specific unit of study.
#21: SPORTS TEAMS or SPORTS EQUIPMENT – Have students choose cards with different sports teams or equipment on them. For example one card might have “Detroit” on it and another “Tigers” or one card might have “Baseball” and the other “Bat”.
#22: EGG HUNT – My students love this one. I put a small piece of paper with a number on it inside a plastic Easter egg. Then I hide the eggs and the kids get to find one egg and find their teammates with the matching number. This is one of their favorite ways to choose teams, which is why we do it all school year long.

EGG HUNT - Fun Ways to Choose Teams in Gym Class

#23: ROLL DICE – group students by even or odd numbers rolled – or you can do a little math, have them roll two dice and add them up.
#24: COLORED BEAN BAGS – place colored bean bags in a drawstring bag and have students choose one. The color they choose is the team that they will join.
#25: ALPHABETICAL ORDER – Line your students up in ABC order by first or last name and then divide them down the middle for two teams or every couple letters to make more teams.
#26: SPINNER WHEEL – Use a spinner wheel with student names on it.
#27: GET TECHY – Of course you can always use a random team generator website or partner generator app like TEAM SHAKE.

There you have it – 27 easy Ways to Choose Teams in the gym or classroom. These methods keep team selection fair, random, and fun, helping to avoid hurt feelings and making every gym class activity a positive experience.

As a PE Teacher, the Dollar Store is my very best friend and many of the items that I use in class to choose teams I get at my nearest Dollar Tree or Dollar General Store.

@pewithmrst
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♬ original sound – pewithmrst

Hey -Thanks for stopping by today to check out 27 Ways to Make Teams. I really appreciate it.

Having fun in PE class is my jam so If you’re looking for easy, fun, and super unique (not boring) Low or No Prep physical education games, Emergency PE Sub Plans and PE Projects, I’ve got a bunch for you all found inside of my K-5 PE Games GROWING BUNDLE.