Get organized

Before you can go wild ‘n’ crazy, you’ve got to pick a date, find chaperones, settle on a location and invite your crew. Select a weekend, a day during spring break or a half-day afternoon. Ask your parents if they’d be willing to head up your field day (and keep you all safe). Depending upon where you decide to host the activities—a school field, a local park or your own backyard are all good picks—and how many kids you invite (your whole class?), you might need to get a few more parents on board, too.

Got the deets down? Print off flyers with your field day 411 and hand ‘em out at school…or create a Facebook event.

Pick up supplies

Plan out your activities, make a list of whatever equipment you’ll need—hula hoops, blind folds, balloons, buckets, water, etc.—and make sure you have enough of everything on hand for your field day. Dollar store t-shirts in team colors will up the competitive factor.

Munchies!

You and your gang are gonna need some fuel if you’re gonna do your very best. Have healthy snacks on hand—fruit, veggies, granola bars, trail mix—as well as cookout food or pizza for your post-games celebration. Don’t forget about the drinks! Have an ample supply of cool water and Gatorade on hand to keep you hydrated.

Game time

These 10 activities are our favorites. Feel free to toss the ones you’re not so keen on and add on your own games.

Blind man’s bluff obstacle course – Divide your group into twos. One person in each pair will be blindfolded and the other will be tasked with leading her through an obstacle course. If you’re playing in teams, make it into a relay with the team who gets all of their pairs through the course the fastest winning.

Fill ‘er up relay – Separate your group into teams. At one end of your field, teams will stand with a full water bucket and a sponge. On the other—say, 10 yards away—there will be an empty bucket with a line on it. Each person on the team will soak the sponge, run to the empty bucket and squeeze out the water. This will continue until one team’s empty bucket is filled to the line and the last one to squeeze the sponge returns to the team.

How low can you go? – Have two parents hold a yardstick or a piece of PVC pipe between them and play limbo. The team the winner is on wins the game.

Egg-cellent spoon relay – Give each team a spoon and an egg. Each person on the team will carry the egg to a point 10 yards away (mark with a cone or bucket), return to the starting point and hand the egg and spoon to another person without touching the egg. The first team to go through all of its players (or be the last team standing) wins.

Hula-hoop hurrah – Each person on the team hula hoops for as long as she can. When the hoop drops, it passes to the next person. The last team standing wins.

Three-legged race – Tie two teammates’ legs together for this classic race. Partners run down to the 10-yard line and return, then another set of partners does the run. The team who gets all of their partners through the fastest wins.

Chain of fools – Every person on the team joins hands, forming a line. A hula-hoop is placed on the shoulder of the person at one end of the line. The fastest team to pass the hoop down the line over each person without breaking the chain wins.

Water balloon toss – You can do this toss in pairs or have teams stand in a circle formation. After a few tosses, have each team member back up. The last team standing wins.

Team relay – Give each team member in this relay a different way to make it to the 10-yard point and back to the starting point. One person can be in a burlap sack, another on a bouncy ball, another could hop on one foot, another could crawl, another crab walk. The fastest team wins!

Tug O’ War – It’s time for the ultimate field day challenge! If you’ve got more than two teams, have them face off on opposite sides of the rope. Do it tournament style, with the winners of each “tug” moving forward into the next round.

Crown the winners

by Brittany Taylor | 2/1/2016