How to Organise a Fun Family Garden Sports Day this Summer

SEP 5, 2018

With health and fitness concerns constantly plastered across the media, it feels like a long time since children could simply enjoy playing outdoors. Instead, games consoles and television are the preferred choice by many, despite sunny weather and infinite possibilities with a little imagination. Spending family time outdoors shouldn’t be difficult, and one way to get family and friends together is to organise a summer garden sports day.

Make the Trophies

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A little competition is healthy, and a small prize is usually enough to motivate. Whilst a packet of sweets or a toy may well suffice, you could also make and award trophies. In fact, making trophies could well be a fun arts and crafts activity, something to engage your children and get them excited about the main event. It doesn’t have to be overly fancy or difficult, you could make medals using coloured card and some string, or a first-prize trophy by crunching and forming foil.

Organise a Picnic

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Invite your friends and have a picnic. Not only does this encourage more participants to make the sports day even more fun, it becomes a social event where you can enjoy good weather, company, food and, perhaps, some Pimm’s!

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The Activities

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Be creative, you can do pretty much anything. There are, of course, some firm favourites: an egg and spoon race, running race, crawling race, three-legged race and various combinations of throwing balls and wellies! But don’t limit yourself to these, you could break into teams and tailor the activities for adults as well as your children. The more imaginative the better, and you don’t need much equipment, it’s all very easy to organise.

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Invite Friends

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It’s great to organise a family event, but consider opening it to your friend group too. More people means more fun, more excitement and more chance of tiring the littles ones out! Having a garden sports day doesn’t have to be limited to a garden, you could go to the local park and even look to run an annual event. It doesn’t take much preparation, cost or time, but it’s an opportunity to spend with your family and friends.

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Have fun

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Competition can be fun, but not everyone wins. Try to tailor activities for everyone, make it fair, enjoyable and inclusive. The day isn’t just about the activities, it’s about socialising and enjoying family and friend time without being stuck in front of a television.