Field Day: A Daunting Task

Field Day tends to be one of the most enjoyable events for students throughout the year. As physical education teachers, we are typically responsible for organizing all of the various activities, setting everything up, as well as getting volunteers to help out and it can be an extremely daunting task depending on the size of school you are at and amount of help you have. 

We recently held our annual Field Day, which went great, and luckily the weather gods were on my side because it was a beautiful day, along with that I had a lot of parent volunteers to help out. After finishing field day though, I thought it might be a good idea to reflect on the various steps that I took to prepare for field and what I made sure to do the day of field day. 

Step 1: Brainstorming what you want to do for Field Day.

• Deciding how your field day will be run is one of the most important aspects in the initial process. Some things to consider include:
• Will you use groups/teams
• How will you divide groups/teams up (strictly by grade level, mixed primary, and secondary)
• Will you have enough space to have all of the students participating at the same time and on the same day
• Will you have a theme for field day
• Will you need volunteers and if so, how many will you need

Step 2: What activities for field day will you do.

• Once you have decided on some of the above questions you can begin to think about various activities and games that can be incorporated into your field day. Some of which may include
• Relay activities
• Water related activities depending on the time of year you have field day
• Team sport activities 
• Adventure Ed. related activities

Step 3: Deciding whether or not you will need more volunteers aside from the school staff.

• If you are using volunteers whether it is parents or other older students, it is important to think about what they will do, will they help lead groups or lead stations. Along with this, keeping them informed as to their job responsibilities will help them and you out on field day.

Step 4: Trying to make it as stressless as possible for staff/parent volunteers.

• Along with the games and activities, teachers and many other staff members are typically involved, so it is always important to keep teachers informed of what is going on far enough ahead of time so that they can prepare. I have included a few ideas of what teachers might need, to prepare for field day.
• List of students in their group or team if it is mixed grade leve
• Station schedule
• Description of each station for station volunteers
• Map of stations
• Daily breakdown of how field day will run

Step 5: Preparing on the day of field day.

• My busiest morning of the year is field day, I am always running around, trying to organize equipment, and making sure everything is set-up ready to go for the afternoon. A few things to consider when the day has arrived.
• Allowing yourself enough prep time
• Ensuring equipment is in working order and safe
• Depending on climate, having available areas for water or shade for students to chill out in
• Making sure volunteers arriving with enough time to prep about how the day will run or informing them about the station they will be working at

There are many other things to consider when preparing for field day, but these will hopefully help get you started as you prepare for your big day.  I would love to hear creative ideas you have with regards to field day, please post on my blog any great ideas you have. Thanks!!!