Relay Race Baton

Activity Overview

Part of a traditional relay race is the passing of the baton. To prepare for the Two-Person Relay Race Your student can create their own baton in any way they want. They can be something they wear on their wrist, around their neck or waist, or even something that they hold in their hand to pass in the traditional way. The option to make the baton wearable opens up the different ways that you can run your relay. You could walk on stilts, you can do a sack race, you can crawl one half and run backwards the second half. The possibilities are endless!

What You Need

• Toilet paper or paper towel roll

• Colorful tape

• Art supplies - decorate your baton with stickers, feathers, gems or anything that brings your student joy

• White glue (works better than a glue stick on cardboard)

Steps

1. Share with your student what a relay baton looks like. Talk to your student about how they might want to decorate and create their relay baton. Show the student a paper towel roll and ask if that looks like a baton. Tell your student that there are other ways to make a baton.

2. Keep in mind when you are creating that some of your relay ideas might make it hard to carry a baton. Is there a way to make it into a necklace or bracelet in those instances?

3. Get creative! Use tape, paint, markers, collaged paper, gems, elastic, string, rubber bands, or anything else your student would like to use and decorate the baton.

4. Once your student is done creating, give it to the first runner, and get ready for the pass!

Guiding Questions

• Do you know what a relay race is?

• Have you ever seen a baton?

• What would be easy to pass to a friend? What would be difficult?

• Do you want to try to wear your baton?