The weather is gorgeous at the moment, but even so on average children spend up to six hours watching TV. This is a shame, as some of my best memories are from spending time outside playing games with a group of friends. While there’s nothing wrong with your children watching some TV, there’s also nothing wrong with them playing some of the all-time classic outdoor games. The only problem is they may not know them. This is where you and this article come in. Pass down the torch of these great games, and teach your children the rules.
Some of them they will love, others they may ignore, but it’s good to give them the option. Anything from 5 children upwards will work well for these, so you may want to invite some of the kids’ friends or the neighbours’ kids round for a bit. Make a day of it, and prepare some light snacks for a break. To ensure there’s no sneaking inside to play video games, have the play area in your garden shed. In the shed the kids can enjoy their snack and plot the next game.
- Red Rover
Red Rover is a great game to start with especially if you have a group of children who don’t know each other very well. To play, the children split into two teams and form a line by holding hands, and face each other. The gap between the teams should be wide enough to gain some speed when running. Each group takes turns in calling a member of the team over by calling “Red Rover, Red Rover let Child Come Over”. The challenged child must run at the other team and try to break through the joined hands. If the child succeeds they take a child with them to join their team. If they lose they join the opposing team.
- Wolf’s Dinner Time
One child is chosen as the wolf, and the others form a line a good distance away. The wolf has his back to the group. The group calls out “What’s the time, Mr Wolf?” The wolf turns and answers with a time. The time is the amount of steps the group may take. When the wolf thinks the group is close enough his answer changes to “Dinner Time”, and he chases the group. Whoever is “eaten” becomes the next wolf. The wolf, however, must be careful as if the group reaches him before Dinner he is captured and loses the game.
- Freeze Tag
This is a good game to finish the day with, as it will wear them out. One child is ‘It’ and chases the group around the garden. Whoever is caught is frozen to the spot and can only be freed by a team member. But the team member must be careful as if they are caught just after freeing someone then both children are frozen to the spot.
Disclaimer: This featured post was brought to you in association with Tiger Sheds.
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