Getting kids off the couch and moving is important for their physical growth.
Even at a young age it's important to keep kids active to reduce the risk of obesity in childhood and later on in life. Creating fun running activities for them to participate in can be just the thing to get them moving on a regular basis. With the right activities, you can not only get kids moving and burning energy, but you can also help them learn to spell or get to know one another.
Tag
Kids love playing tag, and the game provides a good and usually safe outlet for their energy. You can play a standard game of tag, where one person is "it" and has to tag someone else, who then becomes "it." You can also incorporate some variations, such as "blob tag," where two people link arms and try to tag someone. Once someone is tagged, they have to join the blob, which gets bigger and bigger.
Relays
Break up the kids into teams and have them run relay races to ignite their competitive spirit. The kids run a lap on a track and then tag their teammate, who then completes another lap. The first team to have all of its players finish a lap is the winner. Or, you can place a bunch of balls in a gymnasium in one bag and put another bag at the other end of the gym for each team. The first person takes a ball, runs it to the bag at the other end of the gym and races back to tag his teammate, who continues the relay race.
Learning Game
You can incorporate learning into running activities. Get a bunch of clothespins, index cards and markers as well as a clipboard for each child. Give the children five index cards apiece and give them five words to write on the cards, one per card, and attach the cards to their clipboards with the clothespins. Make sure they all have the same words. Put the clipboards some distance away and have the kids line up an arm's length from each other. Call off a word and have the kids run to their clipboards to find it and then run back to the starting line. Keep doing this until they've found all the words.
Egg Hunt
You can create an egg hunt that will keep kids running and solving problems. Hide math problems or spelling words in a plastic egg and have the kids find them and then run to a writing station to solve before running off to find more. Consider giving prizes to the kids for finding the eggs and solving problems.
Tags: have kids, index cards, keep kids, solving problems, their clipboards