My kids love sports day. They love the competitive element, and the change to get active and they look forward to it throughout the summer term. But, who said sports day has to be only once a year? It’s easy to set up your own sports day at home and is a great way to get the kids to use up their energy!
Marks & Spencer sent us some PE kits from their school uniform range and some outdoor toys to help us with hosting, and we called a couple of friends around to join us for the sports day.
Sports Day Equipment List
Here are some ideas of equipment that’s handy to use. Of course, you can adapt the races whatever you have to hand!
- Sports clothes
- Chalk board and chalk – to keep track of the scores
- A baton or stick to use for relay races
- Frisbee to use for discus throwing
- Skipping rope
- Stilts
- Bean bags
- Tunnels to crawl through
- Hoola hoops
- Small trampoline
- Bucket
- Ball
- Egg and spoon (real or plastic versions!)
- Pillow case or sack for sack race
- Medals or prizes for winners
- Water bottles or drinks for the kids after they have finished racing
Sports Day Races
Depending on the kids ages, and how much time you have you could include as many or as few of these races as you need
Running race. The straight up running race is always a favourite with my kids. With a larger group of kids, put them into teams and make a relay race, passing the baton on to the next runner.
Fun variations on the basic race are a jumping race, skipping race or a running backwards race
Obstacle course
Tunnels are ideal for using in an obstacle course, you can set up a track with a tunnel for them to crawl through, then a hoola hoop to step through, a trampoline to jump on and a ball for them to throw into the bucket before making it to the end of the course. For older ones, make it a little more complicated – you could put a net for them to crawl under or a narrow balance beam for them to walk across, or a section to walk with stilts.
Traditional races
Use an old pillow case for little ones to jump in for your own version of the traditional sack race, and you can’t forget the classic egg and spoon! It’s fun to include a parents race too, and let each child cheer on their own mum or dad.
Improvise with your own version of popular track and field events, like the discus event using a frisbee. Perhaps you could make your own version of a javelin too!
Challenges
If you don’t have too many kids taking part, then you can include challenges where everyone takes turns to see how many skips they can complete, or how many balls they can throw into the basket ball hoop, and record each score. If you don’t have a basket ball set, improvise with someone holding the plastic hoop and get them to throw the balls through.
Keeping score
Let the oldest child keep score on the chalk board and tot up all the points – that way they get some maths practise in too! It’s fun to hand out medals or some small prizes to the winners. Perhaps the kids could make some cardboard medals to use as a fun craft project before they start.
If you have any more sports day game ideas that are always a hit with your kids, please share them in the comments.
Anna Marikar, mum of four and seasoned blogger, has spent over a decade sharing her parenting journey and passion for kid-friendly crafts and free printables.
Her easy-to-follow craft ideas and practical parenting advice have transformed In The Playroom into a cherished resource for parents.
This looks like so much fun. Some great ideas here. I love the photo of them on their marks too.
What a lovely idea!