What Works for Me: Relay Races

 Every few years, I end up with a group of Sunday school kids who think that relay races are the best thing ever invented. Typically, it has been my 3rd or 4th graders (or 5th graders with limited exposure to running like crazies at church). The great thing about relay races is that they are a wonderful way to work on memory verses.

And they can be modified to fit the needs of the group.

In the past, we have used rocks to spell out virtues (summer months), or kept it simple with "Run down. Read the verse off the sheet. Run back. Tag the next person." Weeks with more visual, tactile kids who are confidant in their spelling/copywork skills have involved a giant sheet of paper and a large Sharpie. The week we talked about Abraham leaving his home involved adding a couple of Kenyan skirts to the mix.

Lately, though, we have gone from an all girls 4th grade group to having 25-35% of the group as 4th grade boys - and often been adding 5th graders into the crew at the end of the hour. Reading all of those big words, with the added pressure of needing to do so quickly, has tended to put our 4th grade boys at a disadvantage, and, well, no one likes knowing that they are going to loose, so...

Our most recent modifications:

1) Two lines. Run down to Jessica. Draw a card from the stack. Follow the instructions to get back. Tag the next person. 

On the back of each card is a sticky note (so that we can use the cards more than once) with part of the verse. First team to get all of their cards back and put the verse in order wins.

We often, but not always, give them the large print sheet to leave on the floor between the teams for reference.

2) Run down to Jessica. Pick up one puzzle piece. Run back. Tag the next person. First team to get their puzzle assembled wins. 

This time, two of the girls helped me fill in this template in the few minutes before music.