As school comes to a close, kids all over the United States take to the local fields for Field Day. Teachers either love this day or dread it. Kids, overly excited already about the end of the school year, put on colored shirts, typically by class, lather up in sunscreen, grab a water bottle, put on sneakers, and race to the fields in mass! If you are not familiar with Field Day, kids play games such as the water balloon toss, the three-legged race, and relay races with water in a cup. Traditional games may be played too, like the long jump, basketball hoop shoot, and a variation of tennis or lacrosse where the balls all end up in a bucket. So, what does Field Day teach our kids? It definitely teaches kids that sports are fun. And it teaches kids that teamwork among classmates is critical to keep positive energy in the air. But, the most important thing it teaches our kids is that anything that moves your body can be called a sport. Just as with Field Day, sports can be played with all different rules using all sorts of miscellaneous objects. The first sports were just that – made up games using sticks and pebbles, spears, human movements, and horses. Here is an interesting page talking about the origins of some of the earliest sports. http://inventors.about.com/od/sstartinventions/tp/History-Of-Sports.htm.
So, the next time you hear the words Field Day, and you think that this is an event that can only occur at school once a year, remember what Field Day teaches our kids: that anything that moves your body can be called a sport. Make your kids into entrepreneurs…ask them to invent a new sport. Give them free rein to find objects inside and outside the house and then set up a playing field and let them go to it. Who knows, maybe next year’s field day will include your child’s new invention!
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/besporthappy or join our Be Sport Happy Saratoga Equipment Exchange group on Facebook and exchange used sports equipment with other Saratoga families: www.facebook.com/groups/besporthappy.
So, the next time you hear the words Field Day, and you think that this is an event that can only occur at school once a year, remember what Field Day teaches our kids: that anything that moves your body can be called a sport. Make your kids into entrepreneurs…ask them to invent a new sport. Give them free rein to find objects inside and outside the house and then set up a playing field and let them go to it. Who knows, maybe next year’s field day will include your child’s new invention!
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/besporthappy or join our Be Sport Happy Saratoga Equipment Exchange group on Facebook and exchange used sports equipment with other Saratoga families: www.facebook.com/groups/besporthappy.
RSS Feed