Sports day fun ideas for the elderly

sports day for the elderly

The summer is a great time for residents in a care home or retirement village such as Extra Care to get together, make new friends and enjoy activities in the great outdoors. One activity that seems to be all over news articles at the moment is sport days in care homes. Imagine going to watch the grandchildren at their sports day and then inviting them back to your own a few days or weeks later? You could invite your grandchildren to join in to. They would be so excited!

Whether you are living in a care home, retirement village, you have a parent living in a care home or retirement village, or you are a care home event planner, this guide will give you some great ideas on how to create the perfect sports day event for grown-ups! It’s a great way to keep active and will provide tons of laughter with friends and new ones.

Game Ideas:

Wheelchair egg and spoon race
Anyone can take part, you can organise races that will suit all residents and they can all sign up to particular races on a sheet that you leave in reception. In the wheelchair egg and spoon race, the residents could either team up with a carer or steer their wheelchairs themselves (as long as they all do the same so no-one has an advantage). They have to balance the egg on the spoon with one hand and try and ensure it is on there all the way to the finish line. The first one to reach the finishing line wins!

Three-legged race
A great way to meet new people, the three-legged race involves residents pairing up and trying to reach the finishing line first, with their closest legs tied together. So in effect the duo only have three legs instead of four! This one can be dangerous, as the residents may trip over so make sure they don’t get too competitive and try and go too fast!

Tug –of-war
Split the participants into two groups and let them enjoy a game of tug-a-war. Make sure they is an equal ability on each side. You can find tug-a-war rules by following this link. This is a fun game that can get really competitive, too!

Dress-up relay
The dress-up relay is always a fun one that creates a lot of laughter. There are many different ways to do this one but an example is that the first runner has to wear a particular costume (maybe a feather bower,  a hat and wellington boots. Then they run their bit of the relay before passing the costume on to the next person. The next runner has to put the costume on before they start running, and so on. The winners are whatever team crosses the finishing line first wearing all of the costume. If they are not wearing the costume, they are disqualified!

It’s up to you whether you want to make the sports day a friendly or a competitive event. If you want to make it more competitive, you could offer them a prize to motivate them!  Make sure the prize is something that everyone would want to win!

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2 Comments

  1. May 25, 2015 / 3:58 am

    My dad is a beast at a three-legged race. It’s like he’s flying through the whole race. It was awesome. Who said that the three-legged race is only for the young..:-)

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