Opposite Day or Backwards Day is a fun theme idea to do with your kids or in your school or classroom. I wanted to share with you ideas of activities, food, and even some hidden learning opportunities for your theme day.
The official Opposite Day is January 25, but you can celebrate it just for fun any day you wish. Some people choose April 1st (April Fools Day) to celebrate.
My kids have loved our Backwards Days. In fact, sometimes when they were younger, if everyone was super grouchy, I would just declare it was Backwards Day and the mood immediately shifted.
There are so many silly things you can do. Even small changes like having spaghetti for breakfast and pancakes for supper is something kids find so fun.
Opposite Day Ideas:
- Have supper for breakfast and breakfast for supper.
- Wear your clothes inside out or backwards.
- Wear your shoes on the opposite feet.
- Put socks on your hands instead of your feet.
- Wear pyjamas during the day and day clothes to bed.
- Have an Opposite Day Scavenger Hunt.
- Play Opposite Day Bingo.
- Speak in opposites (“bad” for “good”, “yes” for “no”, etc.)
- Eat dessert first.
- Walk backwards.
- Do everything with your non-dominant hand so lefties use their right hand and righties use their left hand.
- Write your name backwards.
- Draw upside down.
- Try a role reversal where the teacher gets to be the student for awhile the parent gets to be the child once in awhile.
- Sing song backwards.
- Say the alphabet from Z to A.
- Read a book backwards starting from the back to the front.
- Hang pictures or artwork upside down.
- Practise some mirror writing.
- Call people by their last name first.
- Any type of play backwards like backwards skipping, skating, or soccer.
- Do an egg and spoon race or three-legged race but walking backwards.
- Play backwards limbo (jump over the stick rather than going under).
- Take pictures with the subject’s back to the camera.
- Make upside down cupcakes with icing on the bottom.
- Place an ice cream scoop on a plate and a cone on top of that to create an upside down ice cream cone.
- Make sandwiches with the bread or bun on the inside.
- Talk about antonyms.
- Write a poem using antonyms.
- Teach the kids palindromes.
- Sleep with your head at the foot of the bed.
I hope your kids or students enjoy the silliness of this day as much as my kids always have!
Find other fun theme day ideas to use in your home or school.
Check out some other fun games and activities for kids:
