BOULDER, Colo. — The students at Douglass Elementary School already had a climbing wall and a zip line in their gymnasium. Then their P.E. teacher learned to skateboard.

So the students are taking up skateboarding, too. It's the latest in a trend toward physical education that's fun and tempts children into staying active outside of school and perhaps years later.

Douglass teacher Richard Cendali developed a school skateboarding curriculum after learning how to skateboard last year from his former student Eric Klassen. Klassen is the co-owner of the skateboard education program Skate Pass LLC.

"I'm always trying to find new and exciting things kids like to do," said the white-haired Cendali, 60.

The curriculum has spread to five Colorado schools, and Skate Pass plans to expand nationally.

"Skateboarding is definitely a new activity in school P.E. classes," said Paula Kun, spokeswoman for the National Association for Sport and Physical Education. "Not everyone is going to love it, but I'm sure it'll be a fun, new activity."

Skate Pass offers schools "curriculum kits" starting at $3,000, which include helmets, pads and skateboards with wheels designed not to scratch up gym floors. The boards also have extra-soft bushings — part of the axlelike trucks that cushion turns — that are easier for children to control.

Experts say school P.E. programs in America are undergoing a dramatic change — from competitive team sports and physical fitness testing to a smorgasbord of appealing options like yoga, martial arts and climbing. The changes come amid growing concern over children's sedentary habits, helping fuel childhood obesity. About 34 percent of U.S. children are estimated to be overweight or obese.

The Skate Pass program fits into this "New P.E." movement, which recognizes some children aren't natural athletes and might be intimidated by physically competitive environments.

"Think back to when you were a kid," Klassen said. "If you're going to go out and play, you're not thinking you're getting exercise. You're just going to run out and screw around. That's what kids think about skateboards. As long as they think that way, they're going to keep on doing it."

Once a year, Cendali's students put on helmets and pads to learn the basics of how to push a board, stand on it, how to fall, turn and even make grabs — when they bend down and grab the board.

"I didn't know that would ever happen at any school," said fifth-grader David Wheeler, who learned to skateboard at age 7 from his brother.

Mr. C, as the students call him, is known for creating the traveling Skip It jump-roping team about 30 years ago and for helping develop an in-line skating curriculum for P.E. classes nationwide.