Amazing Legends Race

I'm the "manager" for Brooke's soccer team (the Legends) so it was my job to plan their end of year party. I procrastinated and kinda panicked at the last minute I'm not going to lie, but once I got this idea of an "Amazing Race" game it all came together quickly. The girls said they had a great time - and they were certainly kept busy so that's a good thing! There were a couple hiccups but nothing that couldn't be corrected on the fly - they were all good sports and I didn't hear any complaining other than when Brooke tried to eat a sardine hahaha, I'll get to that in a minute. We had 13 girls so for teams we did 3 teams of 3, 1 team of 4. To form teams I blew up balloons in 4 colors, the girls lined up and when I said go they ran for a balloon. Whatever color they grabbed was the team they were on.

the 4 different teams

I typed up instructions for 8 stations; after they went to a station and completed the task they were given the next set of instructions for the next station - the first set of instructions I rolled up tightly and put inside one balloon for each team before blowing them up. So they had to pop their balloons to get the instructions. Here are the rest of the stations and the instructions I gave them:

#1: as a team, make a paper airplane and fly it to the laundry basket. One or more players can make one and see who gets in first, or you can work together to make one and fly it. Once it goes in the basket as a team, run to a judge and get your next instructions. *note: it was windy so landing the plane in the basket was hard - I moved the basket closer to them a couple of times.

#2: your choice, either one person on the team has to eat a sardine, or the entire team has to run around the tennis court at the other end of the park. The sardine is quick and fast, running will slow your team down! *note this was when Brooke struggled a bit! The first team had a girl that just gulped the fish down so Brooke thought it'd be no big deal. Um yeah, it was way harder than it looked haha!

Brooke chose the sardine so the team wouldn't have to run. 

#3: there is a poem taped somewhere in the park, find and memorize it but don't take it with you. Go to a judge and recite the poem perfectly, word for word. 2 players on every team must be able to recite the entire poem. Once 2 people have done it, the judge will give you your next instructions. If you can't recite the poem return to where the poem is and memorize it again. Keep doing that until you get it right!
*note: I made up a silly easy poem about soccer girls and typed it up, then taped it to a picnic table.

4th: grab the water balloons in your team colors. Put them all in the middle of your circle then take 5 big steps away from each other. Play toss with every player on your team - everyone must catch and throw a balloon 5 times each, and you must have 1 unbroken balloon left for your team. Bring it to a judge and receive your next instructions.

5th: as a team go on a scavenger hunt in the park and find: a stone, pinecone, 3 different kinds of leaves, a 3 leaf clover, something smooth, something flat. Bring all to a judge and receive next instructions.

6th: tasting station - all of you taste the 4 different drinks and decide what you think they are. Tell the judge, if correct receive next instructions; if incorrect go taste them again. You have 3 chances to get it right, if you don't then as a team hold hands and sing "Mary had a little lamb" for the judge before getting next instructions. *note: I got 4 dark drinks (coke, root beer, grape pop, tea) thinking the dark color would make it harder - without thinking about they'd be able to smell them! So next time I'd be trickier.

tasting station

7th: each player has to throw a tennis ball into the laundry basket without bouncing it and have it not bounce out of the basket. Receive next instructions. *note: this was harder than it sounded. we ended up letting them bounce it into the basket.

8th: crack the code as team. *note: I made up a simple code using numbers and symbols for each letter, typed it at the top of the paper and then made a sentence they had to figure out using the code.

cracking the code

First team to complete all of the challenges and be standing on the mat at the start/finish line wins.

  

the winners

This really did come together pretty easily and there weren't a whole lot of props that I had to come up with (part of my plan for sure). Each place received "prizes" ranging from chocolate bars to stickers, chapstick, etc. For first place I also gave them little plastic trophy cups (found at the grocery store in a package of 6) that I put a label on saying "1st place, amazing legends race 2016"