Diabetes
Education
in P.E. Class
Learning about Diabetes in a Fun and Fit Way!!
Test your students’ diabetes knowledge with Quiz Calisthenics!
The coach or teacher will read out a true/false trivia question.
If the students think the answer is true, they will do 5 pushups.
If they think the answer is false, they will do 5 crunches.
If any student answers wrong, they will do 5 tuck jumps.
**Exercises and reps can be altered**
There are 3 types of diabetes.
(True-type 1 type 2 and Gestational)
 Insulin is a hormone that allows food to turn to energy and enter the cells.
(TRUE)
 The Liver is the part of the body that doesn’t make insulin in a person with type
1 diabetes. (FALSE- it’s the pancreas)
 A glucose meter is a device that measures blood pressure. (FALSE-it measures
blood glucose)
 People who are obese are more likely to develop Type 2 Diabetes. (TRUE)
 Diabetes can cause long term damage in the nerves, eyes, kidneys and blood
vessels. (TRUE)
 Type 2 diabetes is most common in small populations. (TRUE)
 Excessive thirst is a symptom of diabetes. (TRUE)
 You can catch diabetes from someone who already has it. (FALSE-no you
cannot)
 Low blood sugar is also called Hyperglycemia. (FALSE- it is hypoglycemia)
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A person with diabetes, healthy blood sugar or blood glucose is 70-130 mg/dl.
A good way to lower your blood sugar is by being active!
When you exercise, the sugar or fuel that gives your body energy comes from the
blood, the liver and the muscles. During the first 15 minutes of exercise, most of the
fuel comes from either the blood stream or the muscles. Then, as the exercise
duration increases, the fuel comes from glycogen stored in the liver and then from
glycogen stored in the free fatty acid. As a result, exercise can deplete sugar levels
and glycogen stores.
This game is very similar to “peppering” in volleyball. The students will pair up, and
will have to “pepper” continuously, or bump, set, spike together. The coach or teacher
will give the students a current blood sugar, for example 152 mg/dl, and whichever
pair can lower the blood sugar into a healthy range first (70-130 mg/dl), by
peppering, wins. 1 completed bump, set, spike is equivalent to lowering
1 mg/dl. By being active, the students are lowering the blood sugar and
keeping their diabetes in good control!
Teach your students all about Beta and Delta Cells while playing
Glucose Cup! The goal of the game is to get the glucose (soccer ball)
into the cell (goal) in order
to give us energy! The team
with the ball is the Beta
Cells, because beta cells
secrete insulin which
forces glucose into the cell,
or the ball into the
goal. The defenders are the
Delta Cells, because
delta cells release
somatostatin, which
inhibits insulin release,
therefore no glucose is pushed into the cell; it remains in the
bloodstream. The first team to get 5 glucose into the cell wins!!
The game of Alpha-Beta-Delta is similar to that of Red Light! Green
Light! Yellow Light! The coach will yell out Alpha, Beta, or Delta and
the first student to make it across the gym is the winner!
Alpha Cells synthesize and secrete glucagon, that SLOWLY
increases overall blood glucose. Therefore, when the teacher yells,
“Alpha!” the students must run in slow motion.
 Beta Cells secrete insulin that forces glucose to GO into the cell.
When the teacher yells, “Beta!” the students will run as fast as
they can across the gym.
 Delta Cells release somatostatin which STOPS insulin release,
therefore stopping glucose from entering the cell. When the
teacher yells, “Delta!” the students must all stop where they are.
Beta vs. Delta is like the game Freeze Tag. A few “taggers”
are Beta Cells, and a few other “taggers” are Delta Cells. The
other students are all glucose. If a “glucose” gets tagged by a
Delta Cell, they must freeze right where they are and cannot
move until they are tagged by a Beta Cell. This signifying
Delta Cells inhibiting glucose from entering the cell, or
stopping it from moving, and Beta Cells forcing glucose into
the cell,
allowing it to move again.
Designate boundaries. Depending on the size of
the play group, one or more children are the Cell,
and the rest of the children running around are
the sugar. Any one tagged by the Cell must join
hands and become part of it. The object of the
game is for the Cell to devour all of the sugar in
the gym in order to get energy!
The teacher holds up a card
with a specific type of food
on it. If the student has that
number on their card, they
place a marker on it.
Whoever gets 4 markers in a
row doesn’t have to do the
class prize!! The class prize
consists of some sort of
exercise.(pushups, squats,
sit-ups, etc.)
5
16
14
12
2
10
19
9
20
11
5
30
13
10
17
29
The teacher will call out a food, and however
many carbohydrates are in that food determines
the number of students needed to form a group.
Anyone who isn’t in a group, due to odd
numbers, is out, and has to walk around the gym
until the rest of the students are out.
1 c of popcorn= 5g of carbohydrates
Children get into groups of 5
The teacher will choose a food card.
The type of carb that is drawn determines the
exercise, and the amount of carbs determines the
amount of reps.
Starches= Push-Ups
Fruit= Tuck Jumps
Dairy= Burpees
Sweets= Sit-Ups
Juices= Squats
1 hot dog bun
(starch)
½ a banana
(fruit)
1 yogurt
(dairy)
20 g
13g
10g
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½ banana: 13g
1 hot dog bun: 20g
1 corn tortilla: 12g
1 baked potato: 15g
1 flour tortilla: 16g
1 pancake: 14g
4 wheat crackers: 5g
1 slice of bread: 12g
½ c of corn: 15g
1 packet of Ketchup: 2g
1 tbsp Chocolate Syrup: 12g
½ c of ice cream: 15g
1 c of milk: 12g
1 yogurt: 10g
1 apple: 19g
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10 grapes: 9g
1 c of pineapple: 20g
1 c of watermelon: 11g
1 granola bar: 18g
1 biscuit: 15g
½ c mashed potatoes: 15g
1 c of popcorn: 5g
1 c of chicken noodle soup: 7g
1 piece angel food cake: 16g
1 fun size milky way bar: 12 g
2 graham cracker squares: 10g
1 glazed donut: 30g
½ c of Dr. Pepper: 13g
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Each game can be a different station that is played
for 5 minutes and then rotated.
In preparation for the SchoolWalk, each lesson can
be a different game to give diabetes education.
While stretching, instead of counting during the
stretches they spell out diabetes, insulin, pancreas,
etc.