On November 16, 1920, a small group met to organize a Kansas Physical Education Association with an aim to advocate for requiring health and physical education in all Kansas public elementary and secondary schools. Dr. James Naismith was elected president at this meeting.

The association did not meet again until November 1928, at which time the group renamed itself to become the Kansas State Physical Education Association. In spring 1929 L.P. Washburn was elected president, and the group held its first convention in November of that year, adopting a constitution.

Despite the economic depression of the 1930s and cuts to physical education programs at schools, the association continued to grow its membership in addition to starting a regularly published bulletin. Projects during this era included raising requirements for teachers of physical education, creating educational standards for physical education, requiring medical examinations for all school children, and advocating for a State Superintendent of physical education. In 1935 the association once again changed its name, this time to the Kansas Health and Physical Education Association. The group joined the Central District of the American Association for Health and Physical Education.

In the mid-1940s the association's efforts to create teaching requirements for physical education came to fruition, and the group also ensured that the freshman class of 1945 onward were required a minimum one credit in physical education before being eligible to graduate high school. In 1947 the association added "Recreation" to their name to allow city and other recreation directions to be included in the membership, and in 1959 the name was revised slightly to become the Kansas Association of Health, Physical Education and Recreation (KAHPER).

In the 1960s the association's long-term goal of having a state direction of physical education came to fruition. The group started taking on issues with drug abuse and smoking, and in the 1970s added "Dance" to their name. KAHPERD began receiving funding through the American Heart Association's Kansas affiliate with the Jump Rope for Heart campaign in the 1980s, a campaign that has continued to the present day. Throughout the latter half of the 20th century KAHPERD continued to help revise curriculum guidelines and requirements for teaching physical education. A major concern in the 2010s for the association was protecting elementary school recess through the Let's Move in Schools campaign.

The Kansas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance continues to support, promote, advocate, develop, and create opportunities to advance the health of students, schools, and communities thorughout Kansas.