Ten Ideas for a Funtastic Sports Day

Sports Day

10 Ideas for a Fun Sports Day

Sports Day is one of the highlights of the school year – especially if it doesn’t rain! But whilst some pupils enjoy being sporty, others aren’t so sure. We’ve come up with some great ideas for making your sports day fun for everyone so that, in addition to the more competitive events, you can encourage teamwork at the same time.

Fun at the Seaside

On a 50 metre running track, you will need to lay out a rubber ring for each pupil on the 10 metre line, a pair of armbands each on the 20 metre line, a mask and snorkel each on the 30 metre line and a beach ball on the 40 metre line. Each child should start the race wearing a pair of flippers and collect and put on each of the additional items as they run. Hopefully this will lead to a lot of laughter for the spectators.

Scavenger Hunt

This is a great game for pupils who are good at problem solving and you can easily tie it in with your current learning topics. Set up a series of clues and puzzles around the school and time each team. Make sure that some of the tasks require teamwork. The quickest team to get to the finishing point and solve the final riddle wins.

Balloon Squeeze

Another task that requires good teamwork; in pairs pupils must get a balloon to the end of a 50 metre track by squashing it between their chests or tummies. They must not use their hands or feet to move the balloon and if they drop it they will have to go back to the beginning.

Bucket Head Challenge

This race is perfect for a hot summer day. Each pupil needs to hold a bucket of water on their head whilst completing a tricky obstacle course, including going over hurdles, jumping through hoops and limboing under horizontal poles. The winner is NOT the person who completes the course the quickest but the pupil who has the most water left in their bucket at the end.

You Spin Me Right Round

A simple but fun sports day activity – simply see who can hula-hoop for the longest. You could mix it up by using different parts of the body, such as arms and legs, rather than just your waist.

Have Fun with Harry Potter

Who’s up for a game of Quidditch? Kids will love recreating Harry’s favourite game and all you’ll need is some hula hoops, three soft balls, a football and a tennis ball. Don’t forget your broomsticks! You can see the full rules for Muggle Quidditch here.

Use Your Noodles

Pool noodles are low-cost and can be used for a huge range of activities outside of the swimming pool too. You could even create your own mini-pentathlon; why not use your noodles to:

  • Create hurdles for a running race
  • See how far kids can throw them as a javelin
  • Turn them into hoops for bean bag toss
  • Create domes to kick footballs through (like foot-croquet)
  • Set up a downhill slalom running course

Fancy Dress Relay

Pupils need to be split into teams of 5 for this race. One will be designated as the ‘dresser-up’ and the other four will each collect an item of clothing for them to put on.

On the start whistle the first runner will go to the 10m line and pick up the first item of fancy dress for their team, only when they have given the item to the dresser up will the second runner be able to go to the 20m line to pick up the next item, when they return the third runner can go to the 30m line to pick up item three, then when they get back the fourth person will run to the 40m line to get the final item.

Once the dresser-up is wearing the complete fancy dress outfit they must run to the finish line. The first team to get their dresser-up over the finish line wins!

Dizzy Bat

On a 50m track place a long bat (a baseball bat or cricket bat would work well) on the 10m and 30m lines for each pupil. On the start whistle the pupils should run to the first bat, and with one end of the bat on the floor and the bat standing up vertically, they should place their forehead on the top end of the bat and spin around it 3 times. They should then (try to) run to the next bat and do the same thing again. First to the finish line wins.

5 Races in One

Do you want to mix up your 50m sprint race? Why not get your pupils to move in five different ways? They could run the first 10m, hop the second 10m, skip the third, jump the fourth, and run backwards to the finish line.

We hope you enjoy your sports day this year and that our sports day activities inspire you!

Did you know PTS has a fantastic range of Sports Day rewards, including Stickers, Medals, Certificates and CertifiCARDS. Click here to find out more.

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