It is important to make sure you have activities available for your dancers for the majority of the time at your marathon. Activities keep your dancers motivated! They keep the dancers engaged, from being bored, and from thinking or about how long they have been standing. It also can provide another opportunity for your dancers to interact with the families, Riley kids, and other dancers.
Activities Appropriate for Dancers and Riley Kids
- Learning the line dance will be fun and a time consuming activity, but think about having other activities like a Wii station, bounce house, or face painting stations available for when the dancers are not learning the line dance. These activities also are appropriate for the Riley kids to join in on so your dancers can have more time making personal connections to the families.
Motivating Environment
- Dance marathons are all about having fun and raising money for a great cause, but sometimes dancers forget that. Make sure you have a great playlist always on the speakers to keep up everyone’s energy. Do make sure that all the songs on the playlist are appropriate for the Riley kids to listen to! Posters or banners of specific Riley kids around the marathon area also remind dancers why they are there and who they are fundraising for.
- An inspiration tent that includes Riley stories (from families at the marathon, your school, or Ryan White and Ashley Crouse) serve as an effective to show why the dancers are there and maintain the focus and atmosphere better than a poster, for example.
- Some larger marathons may incorporate color teams (sometimes 3 to 4) to increase motivation between groups and incite competition to keep going throughout the marathon. These should only be used if there are enough people and can be facilitated effectively.
More Activity Ideas
- Small prize give away each hour for the most enthusiastic dancers
- Dancing or singing competitions between teams or individual dancers
- A craft station where dancers can make tie blankets or cards for kids currently at Riley hospital
- Coloring/painting stations with coloring book pages are another easy way to keep busy
- Limbo or Tug-of-War during dinner/lunch
- Food Eating Competitions
- Large group games (eg: Red rover, Sharks & Minnows, Elves/Wizards/Giants, etc.)
- Zumba or Group stretching
