![[For Preschoolers] Get Fired Up at the Sports Day! Fun Parent-Child Activity Ideas That Everyone Will Enjoy](https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/ITsjVQzQn9w/maxresdefault.webp)
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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[Preschoolers] Exciting Sports Day! Fun Parent-Child Event Ideas (1–10)
Mr. Ant on an errand
Let’s clear the mission! Here’s an idea inspired by “The Little Errand Ant.” Many of you probably know the children’s song “Otsukai Arisan.” This time, let’s incorporate it as a sports day event.
Once you’ve made the treats using colored plastic bags, poster paper, and construction paper, you’re all set.
Familiar items like candies, donuts, and biscuits work well.
Following cards that display illustrations of treats at random, children carry oversized treats in a unique relay-style competition.
Hide-and-seek at the sports day?
Parents and children will both get excited! Here are some ideas for playing hide-and-seek at a sports day.
Hide-and-seek is usually a game played during everyday playtime, right? This time, let’s try it at a sports day.
It’s especially recommended for preschools and kindergartens where children wear the same hats and gym clothes for the event.
After hide-and-seek, setting up a corner where parents and children can deepen their bonds through dance or interactive play will make things even more lively.
Give it a try!
Animal Race
Let’s step into character and play! Here are some ideas for an Animal Race.
Many children find it fun to pretend to be animals.
This time, try racing while transforming into a frog, a bear, or even a baby together with parents or guardians! Sports days can feel different from the usual routine, and many children may get nervous—but participating alongside a parent or guardian can help them feel more at ease.
Preparing headbands or costumes will likely boost their excitement, too.
Get into the hula hoop.
A game where hoops are laid out randomly on the ground, everyone walks around and around the hula hoops, and when the music stops, you jump into any hoop.
To put it simply, it’s the hoop version of musical chairs, played by parents and children together.
You can use hula hoops, but it’s more exciting if the hoops vary in size—big and small—so why not make your own with newspaper and vinyl tape? If you can’t get into a hoop, you’re out.
The last parent–child pair remaining wins!
Play Park Together
In the interactive exercise “Let’s Play Park Together,” parents and children can try all kinds of movements: holding hands and jumping, cradling the children like treasures, playing bowling, and more.
Since you can switch roles in the bowling activity, if the parent plays the pins and does some funny moves, it might bring out smiles from the kids.
Finish by lifting the children up high for a grand finale! It’s sure to make a wonderful photo opportunity.
It may look difficult, but there’s actually not much dancing involved, so even one-year-olds should be able to enjoy it fully.
Zip along as a parent and child!
Let’s set off on a parent-child journey! Here’s a dance track called “Oyako de Byuun.” In this song, you spread your arms like an airplane and move around, and caregivers can dance while giving children piggyback rides.
At the end, you can lift the children and let them “fly,” and it’s packed with active play that kids will love and beg to do again.
Because it encourages lots of physical contact, it will help strengthen the parent-child bond.
It also sounds fun to dance while asking, “Where are we going?”
Go! Go! Go! by Shinkansen!
Recommended for classes that love vehicles! Here are ideas for Shinkansen GO! GO! GO! Many children are likely interested in bullet trains and working vehicles.
How about planning events centered on the Shinkansen this time? Start at a gate where you tap a card.
Seat the child in a cardboard Shinkansen and have their guardian run while pulling or pushing it.
After passing through a “waterfall” made of plastic tape streamers, they receive a souvenir and head to the goal.
If you package the souvenir like a station bento (ekiben), it will add to the excitement.
Give it a try!