HAVE THE BEST VIRTUAL FIELD DAY EVER:
How to Make It Happen
The end of the school year is upon us! With spring almost in full bloom now is the perfect time to start thinking about field day.
Don’t let Covid throw a wrench in your usual plans! You can still organize fun field day activities for kids virtually. These field day games will be fabulous and your students will create plenty of memories while they remain safe and socially distanced in the comfort of their own home. Thanks to Zoom everyone can get together and have the best virtual field day ever!
But first you have to make it happen! I’ll show you how. With helpful tips to organize and creative suggestions your virtual field day will go off without a hitch!
GET FAMILIES ORGANIZED FOR FIELD DAY ACTIVITIES
There’s nothing more disappointing than a faulty internet connection during an important event! It’s essential that you get parents on board for at home students. Ensure that they have a stable internet connection that works outside with an iPad or laptop prior to the field day to eliminate problems if they plan on Zooming live with you.
Prepping ahead of time is key too! Email a list of all the necessary materials in advance so parents have the needed resources to participate in the field day games. To make sure everyone is on the same page you may want to have a Zoom meeting a day prior to the event. That way parents can ask questions and you can go over the field day games themes so it runs smoothly for all.
You can even record a video of you going over all of the directions, which parents can watch and rewatch if they are confused, need help, or don’t wish to participate in a live, real-time setting.
TIPS FOR
HOLDING THE
BEST FIELD DAY
EVER VIRTUALLY
Friendly Field Day Competition
Kids love to compete. It drives them to play and do their best! Throw in some friendly competition with your field day activities. You can create teams of four, have a boys versus girls style set up, or even award points to those who compete in competitions to promote participation.
To figure out the winners, tally up the totals and award fun prizes to winning groups or the highest earners. You can have awards for things like virtual homework passes, coupons to local businesses, a virtual lunch with the teacher and a friend-the options are endless!
RECREATE FIELD
DAY AT SCHOOL FROM HOME
Create a feeling of unity to make field day feel like the real deal and be fun. Have your class wear a certain color, design their own shirt, wear an accessory, or pair of crazy socks that adds to the virtual event. This also makes for a fun photo opp against a background, which is included in the field day at home package.
If there are yearly traditions that are done at school include them into the virtual field day experience. If you have things like Olympic games for kids do those! If you have the same field day themes include those! If there are special treats, like popsicles at the end of the day, work that into the schedule for kids at home.
Activity Ideas
For The
Best Virtual
Field Day
Mix up indoor/outdoor field day games. Energy is running high you don’t want kids to conk out! Take breaks from outdoor field day and bring them indoors. Utilize Zoom’s break out group feature to assign students a place to go with others to cool down with yoga poses, brain breaks, directed drawings, and other mindful reflection moments.
When it comes to field day activities the more the merrier! Open up the event to students’ siblings and family members to help them feel like they aren’t alone when playing field day games and setting up obstacle courses at home. Invite families to share their creations by posting in some of the photo share templates, which can be presented during one of your future classes.
Music adds life
to any party!
No field day is complete without music-pick some favorite tunes of the class (or when all else fails, Kidz Bops are popular among all)! You can create a playlist to play in the background; assigning a song to each activity as students participate.
After doing fun field day activities be sure to reward the kids! To wrap things up, email award certificates home so that everyone feels special and allow students to share their final thoughts about the day. With a “Be Amazing” theme, everyone will feel inspired, refreshed, and rewarded from their day filled with fun, movement, and school spirit!
While this field day package is ideal for those who are fully remote, it can easily be modified to accommodate any kind of modern, current learning style-from hybrid, to in person, or a combination of both!
Field day is one event that students remember for a lifetime. While circumstances have changed, you can still keep things as normal as possible for your kiddos by setting something up and utilizing the resources of this set, which they’ll never forget!
