During the month
of May, many schools hold their annual field day festivities.
Why not put a new twist on your field day, and have all interdisciplinary
activities for your students. Below, I have listed a few websites
that list some field day activities. I have also listed a few
games that work well for field day.
20
Field Day Activities Any Kid Can Do (And Do Well!)
This website offers 20 activities that you can easily include
in your field day festivities.
FANTASTIC
FIELD DAYS!- From Education World! May is National
Physical Fitness and Sports Month. This month also is the time
of year when many schools hold their annual field days. That's
why Ed World's editors decided to jump in with dozens of great
activities that are sure to make your field day the best one ever!
Included: Five new lesson plans plus links to many more.
INTERDISCIPLINARY GAMES FOR FIELD
DAY - Below I have listed a few games and activities
that you can include in your field day activities that incorporate
a few different areas of the curriculum.
Alphabet Tag (language arts):
The students will be spread out in the
playing area. Three children will be chosen to begin the game
as taggers. Each tagger will carry a yarn ball to signify his/her
status. On the start signal, players run about in the playing
area attempting to evade the taggers. If a player is tagged, s/he
stops and creates a capital letter with his/her body. They are
not allowed to make a letter that has them lying down on the ground.
To unfreeze frozen players, players stand
in front of them and guess the letter that they’ve made.
If the guess is incorrect, the rescuer runs off and the player
remains frozen until someone else comes along and correctly identifies
the letter. Taggers are not allowed to tag rescuers.
Frozen Math Tag (Math)
The students will find personal space
to begin the activity. Two or three students will be chosen to
be the taggers. Taggers will carry a yarn ball to signify their
status. On the start signal, taggers chase the players. If tagged,
a player must stop and count to a designated number (see below
for examples). After doing so, s/he is free to continue running.
Players may unfreeze themselves by counting
in the following manner:
- must slowly count to 10 out loud
- must count the letters in their name
- must count the girls in the activity
- must count the boys in the activity
- must count backwards from 10 to 1
Initial Letter (language arts)
Cards with capital letters will be placed
face up over the entire playing area. You will need to make multiple
cards for each letter. Teams will be arranged into groups of 4-5.
Have the players determine the first initial of their name. This
game works in a relay fashion, and each group needs a hula-hoop
in front of their line.
On the start signal, the first player
in each group runs out to the alphabet cards, finds the card with
his/her first initial letter on it, and brings it back to the
group and places it in the team’s hoop. Each player takes
a turn doing the same thing. When all players have found their
initial card, the group sits down. The teacher will check to see
if each group has completed the task correctly, and if they have
they will receive one point. At the end of the round, the cards
are all returned to the playing area.
Other first initials
that can be sought are:
-first name
-last name
-first letter of a picture that the group will look at
Protect Your Territory (Social
Studies)
The group will be divided into two
teams. One will be the Native Americans and the other the Settlers.
Each group will have a set of small orange cones representing
their territories. The cones will be spread out on their side
of the playing area, which is divided into two. The teacher will
remind students of the difficulties that both native Americans
and settlers had in trying to agree on land use for themselves.
Here are the goals of the game:
 |
Players on both teams
set up their cones anywhere on their side of the playing area.
These are their established territories that they will try
to protect. Teams will decide which players will guard (protect)
their territories and which players will be the runners. |
|
On
the start signal, the runners cross the midline of the playing
area and attempt to take a territory (cone) and make it back
to their side without being tagged. If they do so, they add
the cone to their collection. |
|
If
the runners are tagged, they must put the cone down, leave
the playing area, and perform 5 jumping jacks before re-entering
the game. |
|
They
must re-enter the game on their side of the playing area. |
|
Guards
can only tag runners if they are carrying a cone. |
|
Guards
must stay alert and be ready to tag runners. They may have
to chase them or move around their area. |
|
Play
can be stopped after several minutes, and each group can count
up the amount of cones they have collected. The area can be
reset and the game starts again. |
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