List of Field Day Games for Kids

Field Day is a popular tradition at many elementary schools across the country. It is a fun way for kids to celebrate the end of the school year. The day traditionally consists of a variety of outdoor games and activities for children, similar to a carnival. Make your Field Day a success by customizing a variety of activities that will suit your school. Choose games that combine physical activity and enjoyment of the outdoors for the optimal Field Day experience.

This activity helps kids cool off from the outside heat. Make two rows of buckets sitting across from each other and fill with water. Place large sponges inside the buckets on one side. Have children line up, with one child at each bucket. Time the children for one minute. When time begins, children can pick up the sponges and throw them across to a partner on the opposite side, dipping the sponges in the water bucket each time. Rather than keeping score, children will enjoy trying to get their partners as wet as possible.

This is another water activity that children will enjoy. Set up a volleyball net in a grassy area and divide children into two teams. You will need balloons filled with water as well as a towel for each pair of children. Partners hold opposite ends of a towel and use it to catapult water balloons back and forth over the net. Use the same basic rules as in regular volleyball.

This game is played similar to horseshoes, but with the use of beanbags and hula hoops instead of horseshoes and stakes. Make a starting line and place two hula hoops behind the line at a distance that is appropriate for the specific grade level. You can play with two students competing against each other, or two teams competing, with one student from each team playing at a time. Give each student a point for each beanbag that lands inside the hula hoop. The student or team with the most points is the winner.

This outdoor game requires minimal setup. All you need is two basketballs and a basketball hoop. Have children line up behind the free throw line of the basketball hoop. Give a basketball to each of the first two players in line. Play begins when the first student shoots the ball. As soon as the first player shoots, the second player can begin shooting. If the first player misses the basket, he continues to shoot. Once he makes a basket, he gives the ball to the next player in line and moves to the back of the line. If the second player makes a basket before the first player, the first player is out of the game. Play continues down the line until only one player remains.