Playing Card Relay Race

Objective

In the Playing Card Relay Race, the children work on symbol recognition whilst being physically active at a moderate to vigorous-intensity pace.

Instructions

  1. Divide the children into teams and line them up in a row at one end of the play area. Each teams has its own symbol: squares, hearts, clovers or spades. If you only have two teams, use cards with two different symbols.
  2. Put the cards at the other end of the play area with the symbol facing downwards.
  3. Upon a signal, the first child in each team runs across the play area and turns a card. If the card has the correct symbol, the child takes the card with them back to their team. If the card has another symbol, the child turns around and runs empty-handed back to his/her team.
  4. When the first child comes back to their team, they pass it on to the next child in the row, etc.
  5. The relay race continues until the teams have collected all the cards with their symbol.

Tips

  • To make it easier to remember their symbol, the ace card can be placed in front of each team, so they can check that the card they collected has the correct symbol.
  • After the game has finished, each time can be challenged to place the cards they have collected in the correct number sequence from 1-10.

Variation

  • To make the game easier, you can use UNO memory cards and get the children to collect cards in the correct colour.

Equipment

Normal deck of playing cards with cards numbered 1-10

Age

0 - 2 years
3 - 5 years

Area

Large space
Small space

Motor skills

Learning areas

Activity type