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Ideas for Outdoor Racing Games

Go beyond simple sprints and relay races. Liven things up with racing games that depend on speed, agility and sometimes cleverness. Whether you're playing with a small group of children at a birthday party or organizing a game for a physical education class, these games accommodate groups of all sizes.

Oyster Shell
- Divide players into two teams, named X and Y. Teams each form a line, facing the other team, about 10 feet apart. Draw a line 20 feet behind each team. This is the safe line. The oyster shell is a beanbag with an X on one side and a Y on the other. The teacher or moderator tosses the beanbag high into the air, between the two teams. If the beanbag lands with the X face up, team X races to the safe line behind them, while team Y tries to catch them. Team Y gets a point for each team X member caught.
Treasure Chase
- Players stand in a line, side by side. Draw a safe line behind them. Players hold their hands together, with an opening at the top. One person holds a small item such as a stone and goes down the line pretending to drop the treasure into each person's hands. He secretly puts the treasure into one person's hands. When the person with the treasure thinks it's safe, she races to the safe line. If she makes it, she gets to be the next person to pass out the treasure. If she gets tagged, that person gets to hand out the treasure.
Hopping Race
- Evenly divide players into groups. Groups line up at the starting line. The first person in each group races to the finish line and back, tagging the next player in line. The catch is players must race while hopping on one foot, switching to the opposite foot when they reach the finish line. If the other foot touches the ground during the race (except when switching at the finish line), the player must start over. The fastest team wins.
Block Game
- Divide children into two groups. Give each group a set of 10 blocks, like the large cardboard blocks designed to look like bricks. Children stand in a line in their own group. Pile the blocks at one end of the line. Teams race to build a pile of blocks at the other end of their line. The person at the end of the line picks up one block at a time, passing the block to the child next to him, and so on down the line to the last person. The last person rebuilds the pile of blocks. The first person can't pick up the next block until the last person is finished placing the block. The first team to successfully rebuild their pile wins.

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