Parents Corner

FUN GAMES

A.K.A. Suicide

The Equipment:

The Rules:

The basic activity of the game is throwing the ball up against the wall, letting it bounce on the ground if you want, then catching it. You can throw it against the wall and catch it yourself, or let another team member catch it, or whatever.

The fun starts when one of two things happen: 1) if a person throws the ball and it touches the ground before hitting the wall or 2) a person fumbles or drops the ball in any way. This includes purposely throwing the ball at another player so that the ball hits them but they cannot catch it before the ball hits the ground.

When either of these things happen, the fumbler/bad thrower must run to the wall. Meanwhile another player is trying to throw the ball so that it hits the wall before the fumbler can touch the wall.

If the fumbler can make it to the wall first, game play continues. If the ball gets there first, the fumbler has one strike, then game play continues. Some kids played that when a player gets three strikes, he is simply out of the game. But among other groups, the person with three strikes must stand with their hands against the wall while his fellow game players pelt him in the butt with the ball. Strange? Very. A great game, minus the pelting.

MUMMY

Lots of kids spread out around a boundary area and not too far away apart from one another. One kid starts out with the ball and throws the ball to another kid. If the kid who threw the ball gives bad aim then that kid has to sit down. If the kid who was being thrown the ball gets a good pass and the kid drops or dodges the ball is out and sits down and gives the ball to someone else. When the game gets down to two kids then each one puts one hand behind their back and toss the ball back and forth until someone messes up.

HIDE AND SEEK - Most popular Outdoor game

First you pick someone to be it (the person to seek) then he/she turns around and counts with their eyes closed at the "base" while the rest of the people hide. Then "It" says "Ready or Not, Here I Come" and rushes to find everyone. Then the people try to get to base without getting tagged or else they are "It". If the person who is "It" doesn't get someone in three tries he gets to pick a man to be it!

RED LIGHT GREEN LIGHT

In this game, one person plays the "stop light" and the rest try to touch him/her.

At the start, all the children form a line about 15 feet away from the stop light.

The stop light faces away from the line of kids and says "green light". At this point the kids are allowed to move towards the stoplight.

At any point, the stop light may say "red light!" and turn around. If any of the kids are caught moving after this has occurred, they are out.

Play resumes when the stop light turns back around and says "green light".

The stop light wins if all the kids are out before anyone is able to touch him/her.

Otherwise, the first player to touch the stop light wins the game and earns the right to be "stop light" for the next game.

Simon Says

One person is chosen to be "Simon" the others stand in a straight line.

The Simon then calls out an action for the children to follow. It can be anything like.... touch your toes jump 10 times on 1 foot...... The Simon when giving an action can simply state the action by it self..."touch your ears" and whoever does it is out and has to sit down. Or the Simon can say "Simon says, touch your ears" and them everyone must follow the instruction. You can vary the actions according to the age group of children you are playing with. The last person who is standing can then be "Simon"! This game is very common and easy to play.

Obstacle Course

Requirements- Use what ever you have on hand, cones, hula hoops, baseball bases, hockey sticks, etc. Set up an obstacle course a hockey stick to jump over, a hula hoop to crawl through, cones to run around, etc. Have kids take turns going through the obstacle course. Idea- Do this during Sports Week or have your own Olympics and give out medals!

HUMAN CHAIN

Two people start the game. They hold hands and chase people, the person they catch joins the chain by linking hands. When another person is caught they can stay together or spilt 2 and 2 they must split in even numbers and can link together at will. This game is played till all are caught.

Freeze !

In this version of Tag, one person is still "it", but when they touch someone, that person is "frozen" in place. They cannot move and must stand with their feet apart. The only way they can become unfrozen is if a person crawls under their legs. Game continues until all the players are frozen. Then the last person to be frozen is "it" for the next game and the game continues....

Sleeping Lions

In this game, all of the children ( except one or two hunters ) lie down on the floor in sleeping positions. Once they are settled, they are not allowed to move (they have to stay still) . The hunters walk through the room and try to make the sleeping lions move by making them laugh, telling them jokes, making funny noises and so on. The hunters are not allowed to touch the lions. Once the lions have moved, they get up and join the hunters.