Getting Parents and Carers Involved
Getting parents involved in school life is often a challenge. A great place to start with parental involvement is sports day.It's one of the biggest days of the Summer Term, the kids are starting to wind down for the long summer holiday and they really look forward to a day of fun.
Traditional sports day activities for parents are running races but we have a few more ideas to really get the parents involved and enjoying school life.
The Fish Game
Ideally you will have a rough idea of how many of your parents will come to the sports day and have prepared your fish in advance. The kids can do this to help promote to the parents that they need to get involved.Cut enough fish shapes out of thin card or thick paper, you can have whatever size you like but remember the bigger the fish the harder it is to play; ideally a playground or sports hall is a good surface for the game.
Set your fish up in the desired area - parents need to crouch down at the side of their fish - they will need something to waft the fish (newspaper, table tennis bat or something similar to move the fish).
On the whistle the parents need to start wafting to get the fish to move all the way to the finish line.
Don't forget your referee needs to make sure there is no cheating! This is really good fun for the parents and the on-looking crowd.
Parent and Child Three-Legged Race
With a little encouragement, most parents will want to help their child win a game.This is just the same as a normal three-legged game but the parent and child are partnered together, racing the others to the finish line.
Tug of War
This is a game that the on-looking kids absolutely love - who will win? Their teacher or their parents? The kids can have lots of fun cheering for their mums, dads and teachers, while the grown-ups are putting their strength to the test!
Let the kids take charge!
Another good way of getting the parents to take part, of course with encouragement from the kids, is to let the children take charge of the games.The children organise a sports day event game - this could be anything they like; goal shooting or shooting basketball hoops are always enjoyable. The children set the course and decide the rules of the game, and then encourage their parents to take part. The children then become the judges and time keepers for the event and the parents try to impress their children.
Relay Run for Kids and Parents
Set up your course and decide if you have the parent or child in the first leg - this has to be all parents or all children, not mixed.The parent runs the first leg and then gives the baton to the child who then runs the second leg to the finish line; you could make it longer and have 2 parents and children on each team so they have to work together with other friends.
You will find that some parents will be good at running and be in the lead, but the child is slower so loses the lead - a very good bonding activity for the child and parent, with opportunity for lots of encouragement.
Extra participation
Other ways to get parents involved in the sports day is to put out that you need help with refereeing the games, or keeping the kids hydrated with a water stall and even the parents will want to have a drink if it's a nice warm summer day. You will usually find some parents will be quite happy to come along and man the stalls for you.After the event when you are packing up, if you can have a number of parents to help get everything back into school where it belongs, this is always a great help.
For more games and ideas - view the full range of School Sports Day products available here:
