I created an Amazing Race inspired lesson for my classes last year. It was a bit of set-up, but they really enjoyed it, and had a great workout running around and completing activities outside of the school. Novel activities with a bit of competition are usually popular with students, so I was glad that this was fun, fostered teamwork, and was a great workout for them.
My Amazing Race student handouts can be found here: Amazing Race Student Handouts
Rules for Students:
- Your entire team must stay together at all times
- You are not allowed in the school until directed to do so
- You must successfully complete a task before moving on to the next one
- Follow all traffic rules – cross roads in crosswalks, etc. Be safe!
- One person in each group will need a camera
- Do not litter
- Try your best – it is a race!
- No cheating!
Tips For Creating and Running Your Own Amazing Race:
- When I designed my race I had to keep in mind that I would be the only adult running it, and that I couldn’t be in more than one place at a time. I based the first part of the race with me in the outdoor basketball court and had the students running back to me there several times, before I had them going to secretaries (which I had pre-approved with them), and then finally back to me in a different location.
- If you feel like students can make there own groups of four or so, feel free to do that. I knew that if I let my PE 8 class do that, I would have had a group or two of slackers, so I made sure to pair up more competitive students with less competitive ones, so that they would get them moving faster.
- Just like the real Amazing Race, I gave students two task options on the detours, this is a big hit with them as they feel as though they have input into what they are doing
- Utilize what is around your school to create a more fun and diverse course – they also love being able to go off of the school grounds and it makes them have to run farther!
- I used a puzzle for one of my tasks – you can find cheap puzzles at your local dollar store. I bought three different patterns and had them bring it back to me so that 1. I didn’t have to go over to the stadium after class to pick them up and 2. So that I knew that another team wasn’t using the same puzzle.
- One task involved getting a code by visiting different locations. As you can see by my Roadblock cards, I had three different codes to make it harder for students to share information with each other.
I hope that this has helped you create a fun and challenging Amazing Race for your class. Please leave any suggestions or ideas that you have.
Girls PE 