[For Preschoolers] Get Fired Up at the Sports Day! Fun Parent-Child Activity Ideas That Everyone Will Enjoy
Here are some recommended parent-child events for sports day that young children can enjoy together with their guardians! In this collection, you’ll find playful activities that really liven things up, such as hide-and-seek using newspaper, a musical chairs-style game with a large hula hoop, and a ball-toss game featuring a mischievous character.
These events are perfect for first-time participants—easy to join and great for strengthening bonds between children and their guardians.
Find ideas here to create a fun sports day full of smiles and happy memories.
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[For 3- to 4-year-olds] Get pumped for Sports Day! 10 fun parent–child activity ideas (41–50)
Fan ping-pong
Table tennis and tennis are Olympic events, but they can be a bit difficult to include as events for two-year-olds at a sports day.
So let’s turn the racket into a uchiwa fan to make it fun and accessible for two-year-olds.
With a larger hitting surface, even infants can enjoy participating.
Using ping-pong balls, soft foam balls, or even balloons would be fun as well.
For a parent-child event, it could be exciting if the parents toss the ball to make it easier for the child to hit, or conversely, the parents return the balls tossed by the children.
[For Preschoolers] Get Fired Up at Sports Day! 10 Fun Parent-Child Event Ideas (51–60)
Piggyback race
Piggyback races, where dads or moms carry their children on their backs and compete, are widely known as a classic parent-child event.
Even though they’re kids, if they’re in kindergarten or daycare they’re growing, and if the parents don’t usually exercise much, the race can be quite tough.
On the other hand, sprinting full-out with a child on your back is something you hardly ever do in daily life, so both the children and the parents can enjoy it.
Competing while in close contact deepens the parent-child bond, making it easy to see why this event has become a classic.
Bread-eating race while being carried
How about arranging a classic sports day “bread-eating race” into a “piggyback bread-eating race” for your nursery or kindergarten sports festival? The key is to hang the bread a bit higher so children can only reach it if their parent picks them up.
Since lifting takes some strength, it’s an event that fathers as well as mothers can easily take part in.
We’d especially love dads who don’t often get chances to interact with their children to join in! It’s a creative twist on the usual bread-eating race.
Kicking Sniper
How about incorporating a “Kicking Sniper” event, modeled after soccer—one of the Olympic sports? In this game, you kick a ball at targets, and the person who knocks down the most wins.
You can use softer balls suited to the participants’ ages, and making the targets popular characters could add extra fun.
For infants, you might intentionally place the targets in an unstable way so they topple easily, while for preschoolers, adding mechanisms that make the targets move would make it even more exciting.
Give it a try together as a parent-child team!
Caterpillar race
It’s a race where you make a large caterpillar track big enough for one or two people using long cardboard or mats, then crawl inside and move forward.
You can’t see ahead and it’s hard to move, so it’s tough—but a lot of fun! A parent and child can get in together and race as a team, too! If you’re going solo, doing forward rolls as you go can be a viable strategy.
After the race, you’ll probably become friends with the people you ran with in the caterpillar, regardless of who won or lost!
Cardboard Car Race
A cardboard car race where parents and children ride in cars made of cardboard and compete while overcoming obstacles.
Because you have to move in sync like playing “pretend train,” it’s a competition that tests parent-child teamwork.
Obstacles themed to match the cardboard cars—such as police cars and fire engines—also appear, so both children and adults are likely to enjoy it.
In addition, having the preschoolers make the cardboard cars themselves makes the preparation stage exciting, making it a fun event for kindergartens and nursery schools to organize.
Giant-Pants Ball Toss
We’d like to introduce a recommended parent-child event for sports days at nursery and kindergarten: the “Giant Pants Ball Toss.” The rules are simple: a parent and child wear one pair of giant pants together and do a ball toss.
Since the parent and child have to share a single pair of pants, it can be tough if they’re not in sync! At the end, the parent and child take off the giant pants together at the finish line and pass them on to the next pair.
If you’re a close-knit duo, you can run a well-coordinated race! It’s a heartwarming event that strengthens the parent-child bond, so why not include it in your sports day?