Melbourne Cup Day Activities

Activity Ideas:

Pin the tail on the horse

Draw up a horse; it doesn’t have to be a perfect replica- in fact, the funnier the better! Make a tail, and have your participants take it in turns to see who can pin the tail in the right spot, or closest to it.

If you are lucky enough to have a Riding for the disabled centre close to you they are usually more than happy to have your residents out for a ride in either a cart, or if they choose, on horseback.

Hold a “horse race”

Sing-along with horse songs

Social/Recreation:

INSTRUCTIONS

Each players takes it in turns to throw, roll or push the large dice onto the floor table.

Where possible, participants can move their horses along the track according to the number shown on the top face of the dice; otherwise the group leader may be able to use a “helping hand” device to move the horses along, thus saving on bending down each time.

Participants continue taking turns until one horse crosses the line. As this may happen quite quickly if a player throws several successive large numbers, it may be an idea to have a whole race meeting of races, with a man prize for the “Cup “race only. If a sweep was conducted with tokens (or money, if done as a fund raiser), the group leader then “pays” the agreed upon winnings (e.g. half the kitty), and second and third place getters may then also receive their “winning” See activity sheet on running a sweep for ideas.

Game Variation:

An alternative way to play this game, is to have two dice. This method of playing will slow down the pace of the game as horses can only move a maximum of two spaces at a time. If the number total show on the two dice is odd, the horse moves two spaces forward, if it is even the horse moves one space forward, and if a double is thrown the players moves two spaces back.