Last spring I highlighted OPEN Phys Ed’s National Field Day activities and lesson plans. For the new school year OPEN has published a new collection of lesson plans, activities, and videos for K-8 students. The new collection is called Rhythm Fit. You can access all of the Rhythm Fit resources right now with a free OPEN Phys Ed account. 

Rhythm Fit is a series of physical fitness activities set to music created by Hip Hop Public Health. Don’t let that description make you think that Rhythm Fit is just a set of dance activities. As you can see by watching this short video from the Rhythm Fit collection, the activities incorporate equipment commonly found in school gyms. The Rhythm Fit collection includes lesson plans (PDF and Word versions available), activity cards that you can distribute, assessments, and demonstration videos. 

Applications for Education

One of the things that I really appreciate OPEN Phys Ed in general and the Rhythm Fit collection in particular is that kids don’t have be natural athletes in order to be successful as they would in traditional physical education activities. Furthermore, OPEN provides suggestions for UDL adaptations to help teachers include all kids in physical education.