Getting out and about is an important part of everyday life in primary school. In addition to the numerous skills, little ones learn during sports, PE, and gym, sessions of physical activity let kits expel some of their seemingly endless energy reserves.
Here are some of the important benefits of PE in primary school.
- Developing spatial awareness
- Learning how to work in a team
- Teaching children to enjoy a healthy, active lifestyle
- Developing coordination, balance, and other fine motor skills.
- Decompressing during the day to help concentration in lessons
Every school needs a good supply of PE equipment. We’ve rounded up a list of the PE essentials based on our expert experience and our best sellers.
Balls
A variety of different types of balls is important to ensure you can play all sorts of games. Balls can be used to improvise activities, too, so it’s good to have an assortment of weights and sizes available.
When sourcing balls for PE and games activities, we recommend looking for durable materials like PVC and rubber to ensure they last a long time and stand up to the elements (and heavy wear and tear). Opting for varying weights and sizes ensures your supplies can be used by kids of all ages and abilities and opens them up to improvised games and activities of all kinds.
Tennis Balls
Traditional-look tennis balls with felt covering. This pack of 12 comes in four different colours to help with organising teams or stages in activities.
Gamester Balls
Gamester balls are extremely lightweight, multipurpose balls made from durable plastic. They’re ideal for throwing and catching. This set of 12 comes in four different colours.
PlaySport Boccia Set
Our bestselling PE equipment product is our PlaySport Boccia Set. The PVC-covered balls in this set are filled with pellets and absorb impact in a unique way that means they can be thrown, rolled, and used by kids of all ages.
Footballs
A collection of hardwearing footballs is essential for any PE or games kit. Ours are made with a special rubber construction to offer a safer alternative for playgrounds.
Basketballs
Ideal for basketball and netball games, a set of Basketball England (the national governing body of Basketball in England) balls, downsized to make play easier for little ones. This set also comes with coloured bibs, two stopwatches, and two squeeze whistles to help complete your games.
Skinned Foam Balls
Versatility is one of the most important factors when looking for most school supplies, including sports and PE equipment. We know how important it is for teachers to be able to improvise and use equipment in creative ways. That’s why we recommend at least one set of generic balls to help complete any game or activity. These foam balls are soft and bouncy, completely safe to use and stand up to wear and tear.
In addition to our foam balls, we also stock a collection of generic large balls in different shapes and sizes, including rugby balls, asymmetric balls, and regular balls in various textures. This collection comes in a mesh bag for easy storage.
Everyday PE and Gym Equipment
There are some items you’ll find in every school gym cupboard. These long-favoured essentials are the cornerstone of any creative PE lesson or sports day. Here are seven pieces of equipment we guarantee you’ll need for a successful year or term of primary school PE.
Bean Bags
Synthetic granular-filled bean bags in a range of four colours. Bean bags are a must for any PE term or sports day. Bean bags are one of the most versatile pieces of PE equipment in schools. In addition to throwing and catching, bean bags can be used as placeholders and markers and even applied for balance and coordination skills.
Vertical Mat Trolley
A vertical mat trolley helps to keep mats out of the way when not in use, ideal for smaller gyms and storage areas. This heavy-duty trolley comes with a divider in the centre to organise mats and keep them upright. It also comes with four swivel castors and a brake for optimal security.
If you have a bit more space, a mat trolley is another option for storage and transportation of PE mats
Chipfoam Mats
Impact absorption during physical activities, especially in gymnastics, is important for the safety of your students. Pick robust PE mats that protect kids from falls, trips, and landing jumps. Our mats are water-resistant and flame-retardant. They also come with anti-slip backing.
Space Markers
Space markers are used to help with agility, movement control, organisation, gameplay rules, and even outdoor experiments. The possibilities are endless for using these absolute essentials, and ours are so affordable—just £21.49 for 50.
Vaulting Box
Balance, coordination, and strength can be trained using a vaulting box in gymnastics and PE. Also, leaping over the vaulting box is sure to expend some of that seemingly limitless energy. Our vaulting box has five interlocking sections to adjust the height for different age groups and abilities. It also has a fitted padded top for safety.
Balance Benches
Balance benches are ideal for marking out spaces for activities, used in gymnastics for balance and coordination, and let’s not forget easy make-shift seats for assembly. Ideally, you’ll need benches with non-slip, non-marking rubber feet and interlocking hooks to secure them together when needed. Our benches come in three sizes: 2.67m, 1.83m, and 3.35m. We also stock multipacks of different coloured benches.
Agility Trestles
Agility trestles support a great many activities in all key stage PE apparatus modules. Choose trestles made from strong steel to provide the best support for all kinds of use. Our set comes with trestles of three different sizes that can be stacked for easy storage.
Agility tables are much similar to trestles but with foam-padded flat tops. We recommend having a range of both in your gym to help with PE activities of all kinds.
Multipacks
Take care of multiple activities, lessons, classes, and year groups, and stay within your budget with these expertly compiled multipacks. We love PE multipacks because they make stocking up easy and often offer cheaper alternatives.
Throw and Catch Kit
A kit designed to teach and practice throwing and catching in all different ways. Equipment in this kit helps kids tackle different actions and behaviours when throwing (e.g. throwing a disc versus throwing a tennis ball versus using a scoop to throw a ball). Test and refine agility and fine motor skills with this kit which can all be stored away at the end of the lesson in a handy holdall.
- Super Catch Sets
- Tail Balls
- Hoop Catches
- Catching Cup and Ball Sets
- Scoop and Ball Sets
- Quoits
- Flying Discs
- Gamester Balls
- Coloured Tennis Balls
- Bean Bag Scarves
- Bean Bags
- Starball
- Activate Inflato-Ball
- Ball Launcher
- Holdall
Deluxe Parachute and Accessories
The legendary parachute is an absolute must for any school. Kids will love throwing the parachute up in the air and running underneath or using the parachute to roll and bounce a ball from one end to the other. This kit comes with extra accessories to make your parachute games even more exciting, along with a 28-page book filled with ideas, guidance, and inspiration.
- Parachute
- Book
- Soffy Playball
- Activate
- Inflato-Ball
- 1 Jinglin' Ball
- 4 Soft Touch Play Balls (in 2 different sizes)
- 10 Rainbow Foam Balls
- 6 Bean Bag Animals
- Holdall
Deluxe Skipping Class Kit
Super energetic and fun, skipping is an excellent aerobic activity in PE and sports. Skipping can be done individually or as a pair, or even group as a team-building activity. In this kit, you can find equipment for virtually any kind of skipping imaginable.
- 12 Ankle Balls
- 8 Coloured Gym Ropes (3m long)
- 2 French Skipping Ropes (3m long)
- 5 Skipping Ropes (2.5m and 5m long
- 2 of each and 1
- 9.6m long)
- 10 Cotton Skipping Ropes (3.05m long)
- 8 Coloured Plastic Skipping Ropes (2.14m long)
- Holdall
Team Games Kit
If you only buy one item to stock your school PE, this is it. The Team Games Kit contains all the bare essential elements needed for any PE or sports lesson. Four types of balls, discs, bean bags and bands make endless games and activities, along with other essentials like bats, cones, and rackets. The whole set is only £129.99 and comes with a holdall to keep your kit safe and out of the way when not in use.
- 12 Gamester Balls
- 12 Soft Sponge Foam Balls
- 4 Playground Ball
- 4 Skinned Foam Sponge Balls
- 4 Puskin Flying Discs
- 4 Telephone Wire Quoits
- 12 Rectangular Cotton Bean Bags
- 8 Primary Tennis Rackets
- 8 Primary Skills Bats
- Set of 4 Plastic Cricket Bats
- 8 Coloured Gym Ropes
- 8 Flexi-Cones
- 4 Jump Sacks
- 24 Team Bands
Bean Bag Collection
We’ve established the importance of the bean bag to any school, class, or even lesson of PE. Make sure you’re never without the right kind of bean bag with this kit that features four different kinds. Each bean bag has its name clearly printed on it to reinforce literacy skills while you carry on with sports lessons.
- Alphabet Bean Bags
- Colour Bean Bags
- Number Bean Bags
- Shape Bean Bags
- Storage Bucket
