Normally around this time of year we’d be heading to end of school picnics and field day. Last year we had a neighborhood potluck cookout with all the kids from our bus stop to celebrate the end of school. This year things are quite different. We have only seen our bus stop neighbors waving from the sidewalk or bike riding in the local church parking lot. The moms got together and brainstormed a way we could have a field day while following all of the social distancing and touch-free guidelines. (Two are doctors, so we had a good planning team!) We came up with a rotating backyard field day. One station per yard, BYO everything, touch free, adults wear masks, no food. Despite all the restrictions, it was so fun!
The boys wore their new matching swimming costumes in case they got a little wet. The rash guards are from Amazon and the striped bottoms are GAP! Both UPF 50.
Be still my heart!
Birch also now has a pair of Natives for summer. They are great!
Field day stations included:
- Freeze dance
- Water balloon toss (with sibling or parent – not other kids)
- Obstacle course (our house!)
- Water bucket fill challenge (BYO cup per child, no sharing)
- Sack race (each child had their own sack)
- Ping pong ball on the spoon carry (one labeled ball and spoon per child)
Here’s the balance beam portion of our course. There were also bases to run, cones to weave through, a trampoline to bounce off, and hurdles to jump over.
The kids had a great time, and the parents did too!
While we would have loved to share a big pot luck meal, that was obviously not an option, so we went to our respective houses and had separate cookouts while the kids yelled across the yards! Our fam had burgers on the grill and kale salad. Plus special ice cream treats!
Here’s to hoping next year’s field day will be back on school grounds.
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
I love this! Looks like you all had fun! 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Ashley says
This is awesome. I’ll bet the kids were so excited. I love that you all worked together to make this event for the kids. Makes me wish we lived in a neighborhood like that!
Shanae says
Way to make lemonade out of lemons! Looks like a great, creative time!
Andrea says
That’s so great! So creative. Love birch’s curls! I just bought a pair of natives for my 4.5 year old, I’m excited for them to arrive. It’s our first time trying them, expensive but everyone raves about how durable they are and how long they last so I found a 20% off coupon and gave it a whirl!
Teresa says
That is so awesome. We all need to get creative to keep some element of fun right now. We are fortunate to have a small front lawn and we have been having snack time (BYO) with various friends as a front lawn picnic and each stick to our side of the front walkway. They are 4 so it’s not easy but it’s better than 10 weeks of seeing no one except on FaceTime!
Emily J says
<3<3<3
Judith Scott says
What an awesome creative thing to do!Your neighborhood sounds great, and is beautiful too BTW.I’ll bet in years to come the kids will remember their “special” field day way more than the usual ones at school!
Lindsey says
That’s great that you were still able to celebrate the end of the year! I love the matching swim sets!
Ellen says
That looks really fun! Good for you!
Sara says
What a fantastic idea!
You are making the best of it.
Alexandria says
I might steal this idea for our neighbors! Also – love your face mask (cannot believe I am typing this ?). Do you recall the brand?
Kath Younger says
It was handmade by a friend!
Ashley M Runco says
Kk told me to to check this out!!! I LOVE IT!! Going to incorporate this idea for Ava’s birthday party this year – we’ve been trying to figure out how to throw a social distance birthday for 4-5 year olds that would still be fun for everyone. This checks all the boxes!! Thank you!
Kath Younger says
Oh yay! Hope you get some good ideas