Everything parents and carers need to organise a joyful, developmentally rich relay race for children aged two to five, indoors or out.
A relay race is a team game in which players take turns completing a short course before tagging, handing an object to, or simply reaching the next player in line. For toddlers, the simplest version needs only a clear start point, a turn-around marker, and an adult who is genuinely enthusiastic about cheering everyone home. No score needs to be kept, no winner formally declared, and the race is over when the last child crosses the line to a round of applause from everybody present. That, in essence, is all the structure an under-five requires.
The relay format suits toddlers so well because it keeps each child moving for a brief, manageable burst, then gives them a moment to catch their breath and watch a friend. Those alternating intervals of action and observation are precisely the rhythm that supports attention in young children. Short turns mean no child stands waiting so long that they wander off or grow frustrated, and the shared goal, however loosely held, gives even a two-year-old a reason to care about what happens next. In practical terms: gather two or more children, agree on a route of roughly three to six metres, decide what to carry or do along the way, and begin.
What the UK Chief Medical Officers say
The UK CMO physical activity guidelines recommend that children under five who are capable of walking should be physically active for at least three hours spread throughout the day. Relay races, even brief ones run in a living room, count directly towards that goal while layering in social and cognitive benefits that purely solitary movement does not provide.
Adult relay rules assume players understand sequencing, competitive fairness, and the importance of not setting off before a baton arrives. Toddlers are still building all three capacities. The adapted rules below keep the spirit of the game intact while removing sources of frustration.
Keeping these principles in mind as an organiser means you can adapt on the fly when a three-year-old decides to run the course backwards, which, developmentally speaking, is rather a good sign.
Before introducing any props, it is worth running one or two equipment-free versions so that children learn the sequence of the game without the added cognitive load of holding something. Good starting points include: the Silly Walk Relay, in which each child must choose a funny way to travel the course; the Animal Relay, where each runner moves like a named creature; and the Freeze-and-Go Relay, where waiting children freeze like statues until their turn arrives, building self-regulation alongside gross motor skill. These formats work beautifully in small indoor spaces such as a hallway or a cleared sitting room on a rainy afternoon.
Once children are comfortable with the relay sequence, introducing a physical object to carry adds a layer of fine motor challenge and makes the handover moment tangible and satisfying. Wooden objects are particularly well suited because their weight gives children proprioceptive feedback, they are durable, and they carry none of the sharp edges or lightweight instability of plastic alternatives. A wooden skittle pin, carried upright in two hands, makes an excellent baton for three- to five-year-olds: it is large enough to grip confidently, heavy enough to require attention, and pleasingly ceremonial.
Explore Jaques London's wooden skittles sets, which double beautifully as relay batons and turn a garden game into an all-day play resource.Bean bags are the gentler choice for younger toddlers or for formats that involve balancing the object on a body part rather than carrying it in the hands. A bean bag balanced on the head creates instant hilarity and requires slow, deliberate movement that develops core stability and spatial awareness. Other objects that work well include a wooden spoon bearing a tennis ball, a small wooden block passed hand to hand, or a simple folded piece of cloth that must be kept off the ground.
Variety sustains engagement across different ages, spaces, and group sizes. The following formats range from the simplest to the most elaborate.
Even a spontaneous relay race benefits from two minutes of adult preparation. Mark start and finish lines clearly using chalk, rope, or a strip of coloured tape. Keep teams to two or three children per side wherever possible: longer queues erode attention. Position yourself at the handover point rather than the finish line, so you can guide the exchange calmly and prevent collisions. Brief each child on their role before the race begins, kneeling to their eye level to do so. If one child is significantly faster than the others, give them a small additional challenge, carrying the object on their head or hopping rather than running, so the race remains open. Always end with a cool-down moment, a slow walk, a stretch, or a seated activity, so that excitement can settle before the next transition in the day.
The developmental case for games like relay races is robust and spans multiple disciplines. Researchers Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff, whose work on playful learning has shaped early years thinking on both sides of the Atlantic, identify structured-yet-flexible play as one of the most efficient vehicles for building executive function in young children. A relay race, with its simple rules, physical engagement, and social stakes, fits that description precisely.
Pellegrini on active play and self-regulation
Educational psychologist Anthony Pellegrini's longitudinal research demonstrates that physically active group play directly supports the development of self-regulation in preschool-aged children. The turn-taking structure of a relay race, waiting, watching, then acting on cue, is exactly the kind of repeated practice that builds this capacity over time.
Neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp's work on the SEEKING and PLAY emotional systems suggests that boisterous, movement-based play activates neural circuits associated with positive affect and social bonding, meaning the sheer joy children display during a relay race is not incidental to its value but central to it. Meanwhile, Adele Diamond's research on executive function development confirms that games requiring children to inhibit an impulse, waiting at the line until the baton arrives, are among the most effective early interventions for building cognitive control. Jaques of London, founded in 1795 and the world's oldest games company, has always understood intuitively what research now confirms: that beautifully made, physically engaging games are not a break from learning but its most natural expression.
Brussoni on outdoor risk and resilience
Researcher Mariana Brussoni has shown that children who engage in physically active outdoor play, including games involving mild physical challenge, develop greater risk assessment skills, emotional resilience, and peer cooperation than those whose activity is consistently restricted. A relay race outdoors, with its running, turning, and handover moments, provides exactly the kind of beneficial challenge her work endorses.
Most children begin to follow a simple two-step sequential rule, run there and come back, around the age of two and a half to three, particularly when an adult models the action first and the group is small. Full comprehension of the relay concept, including waiting for a handover and understanding team membership, tends to consolidate between three and four. That said, even a confident two-year-old can participate joyfully in an equipment-free version where an adult gently guides each turn. The key is to calibrate expectations to the child in front of you rather than to any fixed age threshold, and to treat confusion as part of the learning rather than a problem to be solved.
Losing distress in under-fives is developmentally normal and reflects the same emotional intensity that makes them so fully present in play. The most effective response is neither to dismiss the feeling nor to eliminate all competitive structure, but to validate the emotion briefly and redirect attention to specific things the child did well, regardless of outcome. Structuring the game so that both teams complete the course, then celebrating the finish together, removes the binary of win and loss without removing the motivation that a little friendly competition provides. Over time, the experience of managing disappointment within a safe social context, what Vygotsky would recognise as supported development within the zone of proximal development, is itself a valuable developmental gain.
Mixed-age relay races work best when the course or task is adjusted per child rather than teams being perfectly matched in ability. Younger children can run a shorter leg, carry a lighter object, or receive a gentle head start. Older children can be given a more demanding version of the task: balancing an object, completing an extra obstacle, or running the course twice. This approach means every child experiences genuine effort and genuine success, which is far more motivating than artificial equality. Research by Jeffrey Trawick-Smith on mixed-age play supports the view that slightly older children also benefit from the role of informal guide, reinforcing their own understanding by helping younger peers.
Outdoors, short grass is the ideal surface: it cushions falls, provides traction, and gives children the sensory richness that researcher Richard Louv links to wellbeing in young children. Avoid wet grass or slopes steeper than children can comfortably manage at a run. Indoors, a clear carpeted space is preferable to bare smooth flooring, particularly for sock-footed children, where the slip risk rises considerably. In both settings, remove or pad any hard furniture within the running corridor, ensure the turnaround marker is soft, a folded cushion or a cone rather than a hard object, and keep the course short enough that children are never running at full speed towards a wall or piece of furniture. Brief the children on the boundaries before play begins, and position supervising adults at the ends of the course rather than to one side, so they can intercept any overrun naturally and calmly.
Britain's oldest toy maker. Every toy open-ended, wooden, and built for exactly the kind of play the research recommends.