Summary of handmade sign ideas for the sports day

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A signboard placed at the entrance of the venue where the sports day is held.

A signboard with the words “Sports Day” lets parents, guests, and local community members know at a glance that a sports day is happening here today.

In this article, we’ll introduce recommended ideas to inspire you when designing a sports day signboard.

Parents and teachers in charge of designing and making the signboard, please take a look! Some of the designs we introduce are ones that children can help with, too.

Let’s create a wonderful signboard design and make the sports day even more festive!

Handmade Sports Day Sign Ideas (11–20)

Simple type

There are many ways to make signs for a sports day, but sometimes keeping it simple can be a good choice.

For example, a simple design might be just the word “Sports Day” brushed in calligraphy.

Or you could add a small decorative element as a single accent.

Approaches like these create a stylish, cool-looking sign.

Try to find a level of simplicity that doesn’t make it feel too plain.

Avoiding a colorful palette is also one way to achieve a simple look.

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stained glass-style

If you finish it with a stained-glass look, you’ll end up with a beautiful sign.

To recreate the richly colored appearance of stained glass, use a technique called wet-on-wet painting.

Wet-on-wet means dropping paint onto paper that has been moistened with water, intentionally letting it bleed.

The unique gradients created as it bleeds closely resemble the glow of stained glass.

Think about what motif you want to design.

It could be fun for everyone to take turns dripping a little paint to complete it together.

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Children doing a relay

I think many schools, daycare centers, and kindergartens include a relay race as one of the main events of their sports day.

So how about designing children who are running a relay? In this idea, you attach paper cutouts of children to a signboard to depict the relay scene.

If you want to create a cute atmosphere, it’s also a good idea to have anthropomorphic animals running.

If you capture the moment of passing the baton, you’ll create a dramatic relay scene!

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Children playing tamaire (a ball-toss game)

If you design children playing tamaire (a traditional Japanese ball-toss game), you’ll end up with a unique sign.

First, make the balls and the children out of construction paper and attach them to the sign.

Then prepare a real net to recreate the tamaire net.

If you place real balls inside it, you’ll have a delightfully playful sign that feels like an actual tamaire game.

This tamaire-themed sign also looks great decorated with red-and-white pom-poms.

Their fluffy shape even resembles the tamaire balls!

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three-dimensional sign

If you want to create a sign with a strong presence, making it three-dimensional is an effective approach.

For example, you can harden newspaper, paint it to form letters, and attach them to the sign.

This produces a quite three-dimensional finish, so the letters alone can have plenty of impact.

Feel free to customize it to your liking by changing the color of each letter or adding decorations.

If you use newspaper, you’ll need a large amount, so collect it in advance.

Depending on the situation, it’s also fine to bulk it up with other types of paper.

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Face-in-the-hole panel type

Sports day signs inform viewers about the event and help build excitement.

But they also serve as popular photo spots.

Here are some ideas to make taking pictures even more fun: turn the sign into a cutout face panel.

If you add a gimmick that lets people stick their faces through and pretend to be something, you’ll get even more memorable photos.

If cutting holes in the sign is difficult, we recommend adding a separate face-insert section made from construction paper and attaching it next to the sign.

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Handmade Sports Day Sign Ideas (21–30)

A signboard featuring patterns from Demon Slayer

@aa04060 Original song – MELANIE – MELANIE

The anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba has become a social phenomenon, and many children are probably fans.

How about creating a signboard inspired by Demon Slayer? Of course, you can design it with the characters as they are, but to give it a stylish feel, we recommend incorporating the patterns from the kimonos the characters wear.

How about expressing the lines of each letter using those patterns? Be sure to maintain a balance so the text doesn’t become hard to read.

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