We aim to give food for thought as well as inspiring your creativity and
providing practical ideas you can’t wait to implement in your own settings!
Celebrate Sports Season:
On your Marks, Get Set, Go!
‘Sports Day Season’ is now upon us and what better way to engage with our Educator Focus: Outdoor Learning than to get ‘em outside and get ‘em active!
If you ask any class of children which lessons they look forward to the most, P.E./Sport will be high up on a lot of children’s lists.
A highlight of the year for these children is Sports Day.
So, it’s time to start balancing eggs on spoons, perfect those sack race skills and overcome all of the obstacles.
Structuring your Sports Day
Whether it’s your first time organising a Sports Day or you’re an old hand at it and are looking for fresh inspiration to enhance your outdoor P.E. lessons…EuHu have got you covered!
Go digging in the P.E. cupboard…
Digging about in the P.E. cupboard is often a hidden treasure trove of resources! Look hard enough and, buried amongst the mountains of stuff that hasn’t been put back properly, you can normally find a wealth of super resources to engage your learners with P.E. and Sport.
Look for ‘The Essentials’
- 1. Hula Hoops
- 2. Relay Batons
- 3. Bands
- 4. Bean bags
- 5. Cones
For more ideas for resources, you could take a look at Davies Sports’ dedicated section on Sports Day.
Try these:
1. Practise the egg and spoon race.
2. Perfect the sack race technique.
3. Create a shuttle run.
4. Organise a relay race.
5. Do the hurdles.
6. Have a band race (children have to collect a number of coloured bands in their lane and ‘wear’ them to the finishing line).
Colour Teams
Be Safe in the Sun
The good ol’ Great British weather means that many Sports Days get rained off at the last minute and have to be rearranged but, with the recent spate of sunshine we’ve been enjoying, you could get lucky this year! Make sure the children stay safe by getting those caps, water bottles and suncream at the ready!
Stickers!
Consider investing in special Sports Day stickers so everyone gets to feel a sense of achievement. We think something like this would be just perfect…
Tips from the Teachers:
Try the EuHu Team’s very own tips to help your event run smoothly…straight from the horses’ (teachers’) mouths:
If you know it will be a hot day, maybe hold the Sports Day in the morning when the sun isn’t as fierce.
Have a Parent Race/Toddler race at the end. Always a laugh and a good way to end the event. Be aware that some parents can get very competitive though!
For a fun ‘silly’ race, put water in plastic firefighter hats that the children have to put on and get drenched. They will find this hilarious! Just be mindful of any children with sensory processing needs/ones who don’t like getting wet etc.
Arrange for a treat at the end i.e. an ice cream, ice lolly or ice pop will do the trick!
For EYFS and KS1 in particular, it can be a good idea to leave the water bottles at the finish line (in groups, so the children know where to look for theirs). This means they still get to hydrate after their races but minimises the risk of them fidgeting with their bottle.
Don’t just think about the children, maybe ensure that the spectators all have access to a drink. You could set up a refreshment stall. You might even be able to get some Parent/Carer volunteers to man this for you.
Get some older children to help set up the equipment for each race. Year 5 and 6 pupils are perfect for this and will love the responsibility!
Group all of your equipment together according to the race (and on a trolley if your school has one). It’ll make setting up each race much quicker, smoother and easier.
Of course, this Outdoor activity doesn’t have to just be for Sports Day. You might already have done yours. But the Summer Term is the perfect time to get your class out into the fresh air as much as possible. They’ll be bouncing into school every day if you do!
Have fun and keep fit!
