Remember those fun games from your own childhood? Well, brush off your skills and get ready, because those games are still fun. Here are three of our favorites that you can teach your kids. They’ll love the glimpse into your childhood!
Today’s kids have access to handheld games, iPods, gaming systems, endless television and wi-fi, but they’re often missing out on some of the best fun to be had — the classic games from our own childhood. Just in time for the longer days of summer, here are three of our favorite games that bring back fond memories and still make us smile:
Mother May I?
A group of kids
How you’ll play:
- One player plays the mother role (boys can be the father).
- The mother/father stands at one end of the lawn while the remaining players line up 10-15 feet back.
- Players ask the mother if they can do such things as take (number of) steps (regular, baby or giant steps or frog leaps) forward. “Mother, may I take four frog leaps forward” is just one example.
- The mother either grants permission or instructs them to do something else. The player must then do whatever the mother instructs, even if it works against him.
- The mother/father can reduce the number of steps being asked to take or even tell the player to take that number of steps backward instead.
How you’ll win:
The first player to reach the mother wins and becomes the mother for the next round.
Find out which learning style your child has if she likes Mother May I? >>
Red Rover
Six or more players and a large lawn on which to play
How you’ll play:
- Divide the players into two equal teams.?
- The teams then form two lines, roughly fifty feet apart, facing one another and holding hands.?
- The child at the end of one line goes first by calling out to a child on the other team like this: “Red Rover, Red Rover, send Katie on over.”
- Katie then runs as fast as she can across the play area and attempts to break through the other team’s chain. If she is able to break through, she returns to her own team. If she doesn’t, she joins the opposing team.
How you’ll win:
The last person to join a chain is the winner.
We have even more ideas for free activities for kids >>
Freeze Tag
A group of kids
How you’ll play:
- Randomly choose one child to be “it.”
- In this version of Tag, when the player who is “it” tags another player, she is frozen and must stand still until unfrozen.
- Unfrozen players can unfreeze other players by touching them.
- When a player is tagged, she can decide if she wants to be out of the game or become “it.”
How you’ll win:
Stay in the game without being tagged. The last one left unfrozen wins.
Play
We think that your kids will come to love these games just as you did and will create their own memories of playing outside until the street lights come on.
More on outdoor play
How to encourage outdoor play
3 Educational outdoor games
Go out and get dirty
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