Double the thrills and excitement! Borrowed-Item Race prompts

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 for 10 years as a kindergarten teacher and for 7 years as an after-school childcare instructor, then took a post as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I also engaged in activities that shared Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational play, working with many children. Afterwards, through freelance writing, planning, and editing work at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and conveying ideas. Leveraging the perspective cultivated in educational settings and my experience as an editor, I aim to deliver practical information—focusing on fields related to music and children—that values both input and output. Hobbies include instruments, singing, handcrafts, toys, drawing, traditional play, the outdoors, books, DIY, and crafts. Special skill: spinning-top tricks.
Keyboard playerSAKI
I’ve been playing the Electone since I was six, mainly performing Disney music, anime songs, and music from dramas and films. I post performance videos on YouTube and social media, and I also give concerts. Building on my Electone experience, I took up synthesizer and piano during my student years and performed at school-sponsored events. As a writer, I’ve covered not only music-related topics but a wide range of genres, so I hope to draw on my experience to deliver articles that make readers think, “I want to try that!” or “I want to listen to that!”

The classic event at sports festivals is the borrowing race, where you quickly find the specified item and head for the goal.

A variation called the “Borrow-a-Person Race,” which changes what you borrow from “things” to “people,” has been gaining popularity at sports festivals.

In this article, we’ll introduce recommended prompts for the Borrow-a-Person Race!

If you’re thinking, “I want to try it, but I don’t know what prompts to use,” or “I want funny ideas,” please use the prompts we introduce here as a reference.

The Borrow-a-Person Race involves even more interaction with others than the traditional borrowing race, making it perfect for deepening bonds with teammates and engaging with members of the community!

Appearance/Physique (1–10)

handsome male teachers and beautiful female teachers

A challenge where participants search the venue for the most handsome or beautiful teacher.

It’s an activity that both the players looking for attractive people and those who get chosen can enjoy.

A key point is that the audience watching can get excited together as well.

It’s also recommended to add conditions—such as having men look for women and women look for men.

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A popular teacher

It’s exciting in so many ways! Here’s a fun idea featuring popular teachers.

How about adding the theme of “popular teacher” to the list of race prompts? It’s a unique prompt that lets you find out what kind of teacher the child who draws it likes.

And it won’t just make the participating kids’ hearts race—the teachers will be nervous too.

It’s sure to draw attention as everyone wonders which teachers the kids like most! Definitely give it a try.

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Person with attendance number 〇

A prompt focused on students! Here are ideas from the person with attendance number X.

While prompts aimed at teachers, guardians, and community members can be exciting too, how about using attendance numbers that focus on students this time? If there’s variation across classes or grades, you can adjust by choosing a lower number or setting it to “the person with the last attendance number,” and so on.

Feel free to adapt it.

Try using attendance-number-based ideas to get students excited!

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Appearance/Physique (11–20)

principal

The challenge is to bring the principal, who is the highest authority at the school.

Since each school has only one principal, only one person can reach the goal.

Try incorporating ideas to heat up the competition—for example, having the principal wait in a distant location in advance—and put them into practice.

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People who are 〇〇 committee members

An easy theme to find! Let me share some ideas from students on the XX committee.

Many schools require students to join a committee starting in the upper grades of elementary school.

How about using themes that focus on specific committees? Each grade, or even each class, will have students who belong, making it easy to find participants.

It’s also wonderful to put the spotlight on students who are working in their committee roles during the sports festival.

Be sure to incorporate this into your races!

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Person with twin-tails (pigtails)

A theme with lots of potential candidates! Here’s an idea featuring people with twin tails (pigtails).

How about setting a challenge to find people wearing twin tails on the day of the sports festival? At sports festivals, participants often compete while wearing caps, but twin tails are easy to spot even with a hat, so they’re highly recommended.

Plus, since many people are likely to qualify, it could bring you closer to winning the race.

It’s a wonderful prompt that can also spark interaction across different age groups! Definitely give it a try.

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Graduate

At a sports day, it’s not just the students’ efforts that matter—support from teachers and spectators is essential too.

Here, we’re focusing on those who aren’t students, with the challenge of finding alumni among them.

You can’t tell at a glance whether someone graduated from this school, so quick movement and communication will be put to the test.

Through the theme of “alumni,” you might uncover people’s histories—like a teacher who actually graduated from this school, or families who have attended it for generations.

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Human-type that’s kind of like XX (11–20)

Next, we’ll introduce a prompt about the image of “someone who seems like ___.” This challenge is about as hard as, or even harder than, the previous appearance-related prompt.

Here, competitors must choose based entirely on the image they have of the people around them.

However, if there’s someone on the team who is commonly seen as “that type,” it can become an easy prompt.

Have the referee or designated judge decide whether the person you brought to the goal fits the prompt.