Sports Day activities

Outdoor events, such as sports days, are a great opportunity to teach sun safety. Show your pupils the Sun Ready Challenge assembly presentation before doing these activities so they understand the basics of sun safety.

1. Sun safe fun race

Hold a team relay race where the aim is to make a ‘balloon person’ sun safe. Each team draws a face on a balloon and ties it to a chair. The idea is to get the balloon-person sun safe in four stages, with each member of the team running relay-style to do one of the following:

• Put ‘sun cream’ (flour and water paste) on the balloon
• Put a hat on the balloon
• Put sunglasses on the balloon (use rubber bands to keep the glasses in place)
• To finish, put the balloon in the shade by holding a tea towel over it. 

2. Sun safe style

Award a prize for the best sun-ready competitor in each class, as judged by the teacher. Consider hats, clothes, sun cream and sunglasses. You should tell students about this competition before Sports Day, so that they have time to prepare their sun-ready attire.

3. Sun safe competitions

Similar to the above, the following competitions could be announced before Sports Day, and then prizes could be given out on the day:

• Top Hat Award for whoever looks best in their hat
• Cream of the Crop Award for the best sun cream application
• Safe Skin Award for someone who has covered up well
• Overall Sun Ready Sports Day Champion.  

4. Hydration station

Have a competition for pupils to come up with imaginative ways to ensure that everyone drinks plenty of water on the day. The best ideas can then be incorporated into sports day. You may wish to use the Hydration station worksheets, which you can download using the button below.

5. Collection Chaos

This is a sun safety themed race where competitors have to run and collect a hat, sunglasses, a long-sleeved top and a bottle of sun cream one at a time. The four items are placed on the track at increasing distances from the start line. The nearest one is collected and returned to the start line, then the next nearest and so on.

6. Shade is cool

Pupils design an imaginative shade system for sports day to keep everyone out of the sun. This could be a classroom activity or a competition with labelled drawings and models. The finished work could be displayed on Sports Day where everyone, including parents, can see it. Sun-safe slogans can be incorporated into the display.

7. Download the Soltan Sun Ready Challenge app

The Soltan Sun Ready Challenge app is a fun and interactive app which encourages pupils to get active by carrying out tasks and challenges around the playground.