Wonderful sports day / athletic festival

Arrange the ball-carrying relay! A roundup of surprising and fun ideas

10 years as a kindergarten teacher / elementary school teacher / junior and senior high school teacher / childminderkepiko
Graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, Faculty of Music (now: Department of Music Culture and Education, Early Childhood Music Education major). In elementary school, my homeroom teacher was Jun Kusaba, a game researcher. After graduating from university, I worked as a kindergarten teacher for 10 years and as an after-school childcare instructor for 7 years, then took a position as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I engaged in activities that introduced Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational activities, working with many children. Later, through freelance writing, planning, and editing at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and sharing. Drawing on the perspective cultivated in the field of education and my experience as an editor, I provide practical information with an emphasis on both input and output, mainly in areas related to music and children. My hobbies include instruments, singing, handicrafts, toys, drawing, traditional games, the outdoors, and books. My special skill is spinning-top tricks.
Accompanist / Piano Instructoryuri
Accompanist pianist × piano instructor × web writer. I began piano lessons at age four and, inspired by my piano teacher, decided to pursue music. I went on to specialized music programs in high school and university, where I discovered the appeal of accompanying instrumentalists and singers. Currently, alongside teaching piano, I work mainly in my home region of Aichi as an accompanist for flute, voice, choir, and more. Through lessons, my students often introduce me to trending songs, and my hobby is trying anything on the piano—Japanese and Western pop, commercial jingles, and beyond. Since 2021, I’ve also been active as a web writer, covering music and a variety of other genres.

The “ball-carrying relay” is a popular activity at all kinds of events, such as sports days, mixers, and fun parties.

The basic way to play is simple: everyone takes turns carrying the ball without dropping it, and the team that reaches the goal first wins!

With its simple rules, it’s a game that both kids and adults can enjoy, and it’s easy to customize.

In this article, we’ll introduce a variety of ways to tweak the ball-carrying relay.

We’ve also included fun ideas that combine it with other games, so if you’re looking for events participants haven’t experienced before, be sure to check them out.

Arrange the Ball-Carrying Relay! A One-Stop Showcase of Surprising & Fun Ideas (21–30)

Ball Rolling Relay

Body-building exercise [Ball Edition] Ball Rolling Relay

Ball Rolling Relay

Ball-rolling relays are also ideal for exercising your legs and lower back.

The rules are simple: aim for the goal while weaving through multiple cones set up in a zigzag pattern.

However, you must roll the ball—you can’t hold it or dribble it.

This means you need to control the ball quickly while keeping a half-squat posture.

It’s more strenuous than it looks, so be sure to stretch well before you try it.

The smaller the ball, the harder it is to roll.

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Racket race

NSG Grand Sports Festival Racket Race

Racket race

Here’s an introduction to the racket race using badminton rackets.

Teams of two hold a ball between their rackets and run together.

The key seems to be balancing while matching each other’s running speed.

If you rush and get flustered, the ball will quickly drop, so it’s bound to be a nail-biting event.

Coordinate your breathing and carefully carry the ball together.

It’s a race that will have teammates watching on the edge of their seats, too.

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Will it fit in the basket on my back?

Ball carrying

Will it fit in the basket on my back?

For those who want to try a slightly more complex event, “Can it land in the basket on your back?” is also recommended.

In this game, you dribble a ball like in basketball, and at the halfway point you give it a big bounce so it lands in the basket you’re carrying on your back.

Getting the ball into this basket is both the most entertaining part and the most challenging.

You’ll probably end up hitting your head with the ball many times, so use something soft.

A laundry basket works well for the basket.

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Ball Passing Relay

Ball-Passing Relay (Indoor Version)

Ball Passing Relay

Ball Passing Relay is a game where you keep sending balls along, passing and relaying them like nagashi-somen.

Instead of using bamboo like in nagashi-somen, you make ball chutes out of thick paper or empty plastic wrap cores.

You let the ball roll through your chute and relay it into the next person’s chute.

Everyone can form a circle and pass in order, or line up in a row to mimic the nagashi-somen style.

The more people, the more fun! By connecting the path together as a team so the ball doesn’t drop, you’ll boost teamwork.

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flysheet relay

The “Fly Sheet Relay” is a game where four people carry a square sheet with a ball on top, working together to transport it.

The rules are simple, but it’s actually quite tricky—if the heights of the sheet’s four corners aren’t kept even, the ball will fall.

Try adjusting the difficulty based on the participants: use a larger sheet when children are playing, and a smaller one for adults only.

If you want to make it even more exciting, set up obstacles along the course to liven things up!

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[Breakthrough-type Game] Line Ball Transport

Breakthrough-style game: Line Ball Carry Arrangement

[Breakthrough-type Game] Line Ball Transport

Do you know the line ball-carrying game, also known as a breakthrough game? In this game, there is a person who plays a goalkeeper-like role moving along a line between the start and the goal, trying to prevent the ball from being carried through.

The players hold the ball and try to slip past the keeper.

Teachers or parents act as the keeper and should block the players with a moderate level of challenge.

It gets more exciting if you create openings when you’re forced side to side.

This activity is also effective for training explosive power.

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Cone-tag relay

Parent-child showdown: cone toss relay

Cone-tag relay

We’d like to introduce a ball-carrying relay that incorporates a target-hitting element: the Cone-Hit Relay.

In this activity, players roll a ball toward a set-up cone; if they knock it over, they pick up the ball and pass it to the next person to continue the relay.

You could say it’s similar to bowling.

What’s fun is that victory depends not just on running speed, but also on skill at hitting the cone.

Depending on the location, the number of cones available, and the participants’ ages, feel free to adjust the rules, such as allowing the relay to continue even if the ball doesn’t hit the cone, or making it sufficient just to hit the cone without knocking it over.

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