Fun Family Fitness: Help Kids Create Their Own Race Bibs

Want to squeeze in a little run but you’ve got children in tow? Turn your run into a fun race and encourage the kiddos to participate. 

Recently, the boys watched the tail end of a local 5k race and wanted a turn for themselves. We were far too late to join, so we headed home and made our own race bibs and race course.

Ummm… kids get fast so fast, right?! I could barely beat my kindergarten kiddo, but I blamed it on the pesky turns and bad shoes (like any self-respecting parent).

With a few orange cones, we laid out an oval and turned our driveway into a small race track.

Intent on making this a “real deal” race, the boys made race bibs for each person. We used plain white printer paper, trimmed down to their preferred bib size.

In black marker, they wrote the name of the race along the top and bottom. In red marker, they wrote large bib numbers. They most enjoyed choosing numbers and electing to allocate the highest numbers to themselves, of course.

In no time flat, we got our competition on. Let’s just say I didn’t win every time (even when I tried hard). These boys are going to be bigger, faster and stronger than me before I know it.

Mixing Creativity and Sports Passion

I love mixing my boys’ passion for sports with a serious dose of creativity. They’ve developed great ingenuity as a result. Often, they ask for some new piece of equipment or sports toy. When I decline, they say “ok, then let’s make it!” They generally succeed (sometimes with some parental assistance) with paper, cardboard, Legos or some other set of materials we have floating around the house.

As for the run, my boys worked their creative and cardio muscles while I clocked in enough steps to meet my daily 10,000 step goal. Creating our own course also fended off the meltdown of disappointment that they couldn’t participate in the 5k at the local park. It was a win-win-win all around!

Are your kids into running at all? If so and you make your own running bibs, you know the drill. Be sure to share them and tag us on Instagram or Facebook @kidssportslab with #SmartsForSportyPants. Can’t wait to see what you and yours create and explore!