From classic to quirky: prompts that will liven up a borrow-it relay

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.
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 borrowing race is one of the classic events at a sports day.

In this event, participants search around the sports day venue for an item or person that matches the prompt, and the first person to reach the finish line together with what they found wins.

In this article, we introduce perfect prompts for the borrowing race, organized by category!

We’ve gathered a wide variety of prompts—from standard ones that are easy for small children to find and lower-difficulty prompts, to quirky and amusing ones.

There are also prompts for things you don’t usually see, as well as sweet, heart-throbbing prompts with a romantic twist!

Use the prompts we introduce as inspiration to make your borrowing race fun and entertaining!

Interesting (1–10)

Graduate

Your parents might have attended the same school, or some graduates may have returned as teachers—alumni could be closer than you think.

The challenge is to seek out those alumni around you and guide them to the goal.

If you already know someone graduated from this school, you can aim for that person; if not, make sure to reach out and ask around.

You might discover that someone you didn’t realize is actually an alumnus, revealing a side of them you never knew—all thanks to this task.

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2,000-yen bill

The 2,000-yen bill, issued in 2000, is perfectly valid money you can use in stores, yet it seems like we rarely see it.

The challenge is to find someone who has this bill—famous for being rather uncommon—borrow it, and bring it to the goal.

It’s often said that these bills don’t circulate much outside Okinawa, so it’s possible you won’t find a single one even after searching the entire venue.

The fact that some people keep them at home because they’re rare might be another factor that makes this challenge more difficult.

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the person I’m going on a date with tomorrow

Since many schools have a compensatory day off after the sports day, some couples might be planning a date for tomorrow.

This prompt is about finding those couples.

Of course, if the person who drew the prompt is planning a date themselves, it’s fine to cross the finish line together with their partner! Some parents might be in the same situation, so whoever gets this prompt should try communicating with lots of different people.

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SAKI

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A person who can do impersonations

This challenge is to find someone who can do impressions.

When you reach the goal, have them perform their specialty impression.

It will surely liven up the sports day! If there’s someone who regularly does impressions in the classroom, you’ll probably clear this task easily.

The person creating the challenge might also want to research in advance whether there’s anyone at school who can do impressions.

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A person who sings well

How about choosing someone who’s good at singing as the theme? There seem to be many possibilities: someone whose beautiful voice fills the music class, someone who hones their vocals every day in the choir or a light music club, or even a parent who teaches singing.

At the end, let’s have them perform a short phrase!

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In conclusion

We introduced some recommended themes for a Borrowed Item Race—did you find any you’d like to try? There are themes from various genres, so feel free to tailor them to the age of the participants.

You can also use the examples we shared as a starting point to come up with even more entertaining themes!