Aim of the game is to avoid being ‘it’. One child starts the game as ‘it’, trying to pass on being ‘it’ to another child by touching them and shouting ‘Tag!’, forming a chasing game. Children may decide to create a safe base in which they can rest!

Hide and seek

One child is ‘it’ and counts to twenty (can vary!) with their eyes closed. The other children hide before the time is up, trying to find the best place to avoid detection. The child counting then has to try and find the hiding children – the first to be found is ‘it’ for the next game, and the last to be found is the winner!

Charades

One child chooses a topic of choice (such as books) and must try and mime the title of the book without speaking. The other children must attempt to guess the title of the book without asking any questions, using only the actions of the child as cues. Other popular categories of choice may include film, television or music. The first to guess the correct answer wins.

‘Guess who I am’/20 questions

Each child chooses to be someone/something, such as an animal. The other children ask closed questions (can only answer yes or no) to try and guess the animal, asking no more than 20 questions. Purple Routes Play Project 2017

Splat

Children stand in a circle facing in and one child is in the middle. The child in the middle shouts and points ‘SPLAT!’ to someone in the circle, to which the child has to duck down, having been splatted! The children either side of the ‘splatted’ child would have to turn to face each other put their hands up and shout ‘Splat!’ back. The slowest to shout ‘Splat!’ each time is out.

‘Stuck in the mud’

Version of tag. When they ‘tag’, that person is frozen in place and unable to move until someone ‘tags’ them and they are then unfrozen. The aim of the game is to freeze all of the players.

‘Simon says’

One person is allocated to be ‘simon’ and the other children tend to stand in a straight line. Simon then asks the others to carry out actions, such as to ‘touch your toes’. The actions must only be carried out if ‘Simon’ says’ is said before the action, otherwise they must remain still. The aim of the game is to be the last person standing in the game.

Duck, duck, goose

Children sit down in a circle facing each other, one person is ‘it’ and allocates people as a ‘duck’ or a ‘goose’. Once someone is a ‘goose’, that person has to try and beat the other person around the circle and sit in their place. If the goose wins, the other child is then in the middle for the next game.

Acting out a story

Reading out a popular story (which can be memorised) to the children in which they have to act out the actions to, such as crawling, running, hopping etc. Stories could include those from the Busy Feet packs.

Grandma’s footsteps

This game requires one child to be ‘it’ and for the other children to stand behind in a line (approx at least 15feet away). The children have to creep as quickly as possible to the child who is ‘it’, who would be quickly turning around to catch any child moving. Any child moving would be out of the game. The last child left is the winner! It's similar to What’s the time Mr Wolf?

ID: 1225, revised 22/02/2023