You don’t need a lot of toys to have a fun play date with your kids. Try these classic children’s games for your next play date.
Classic Children’s Games:
Classic Children’s Games # 1 – Simon Says: A leader is chosen for the game (each child can have a turn at being the leader) and says a command starting with “Simon Says”. For example, “Simon Says jump on one foot”. All kids then would have to jump on one foot. If the leader says a command without starting it with “Simon Says”, any child that does the command is out of the game for this round. For example, if the leader says “Spin in a circle” – don’t do it without “Simon Says”! The last child remaining is the winner for that round.
Classic Children’s Games # 2 – Hokey Pokey: Most of us have heard the hokey pokey song, “You put your right hand in, you take your right hand out, you put your right hand in and you shake it all about. You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around, and that’s what it’s all about”. Continue on choosing different parts of the body for each verse.
Classic Children’s Games # 3 – What time is it, Mr. Wolf?: Choose one child to be “Mr. Wolf” and stand at the opposite end of the field/room. Mr. Wolf should have his back facing the other children. Then all of the other children say “What time is it Mr. Wolf?” and Mr. Wolf can say either a time, for example “It’s 3 o’clock” and then each child takes 3 steps forward or Mr. Wolf can say “Dinner Time!” and turn around and chase the players back to the starting line. If Mr. Wolf tags a child, that child then becomes Mr. Wolf.
Classic Children’s Games # 4 – Red Light, Green Light: The leader stands at the opposite end of the field/room. With his/her back turned to the group, he shouts “Green Light” and all of the kids start running toward him to the finish line. At any time, the leader can turn around and shout “Red Light” and the runners must immediately stop. Anyone who doesn’t immediately stop is out for that round.
Classic Children’s Games # 5 – Chain Tag: This is like the regular game of tag with a twist, the person tagged as “it” chases the children to tag them. Anyone he/she touches then holds the hand of the “it” player to form a chain. Anyone at the end of the chain (the ones with a free hand) is able to tag other children to form a larger chain. You can split the chain into two chains after the chain starts to get too long.
Classic Children’s Games # 6 – Duck, Duck, Goose: All of the children sit around in a circle. The one “it” player walks around the circle lightly patting each child on the head by saying either “Duck” or “Goose”. If he touches a child’s head and says “Goose”, that player must jump up and run around the circle and try to make it back to the empty seat first. The first person to make it to the empty seat gets to sit and then person left standing is then “it”.
Classic Children’s Games # 7 – Shadow Tag: Like the standard game of tag although in this game players try to “tag” each other by stepping on the shadow of another player. Once a person’s shadow is stepped on, that child is now “it” and tries to step on someone else’s shadow.
Classic Children’s Games # 8 – Freeze Tag: Like the standard game of tag except in this game, when someone is tagged, they must freeze in the spot & position they were tagged. In order to “unfreeze”, another player must run under their legs or under an arm to release them back into the game.
Classic Children’s Games # 9 – Line Tag: Using sidewalk chalk, draw lines on the ground in a maze type pattern. The “it” person must chase the other players only by walking on the lines drawn. The other players also must not step off of the lines while trying to avoid the “it” person. Anyone tagged then becomes “it” and the game continues.
What classic children’s games do you remember playing as a child? Help us remember one more classic children’s game to bring this list up to 10!
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