It’s currently Summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and whilst it’s very cold and rainy in my part of Australia, there’s also a faint whiff on the admittedly Arctic wind of the coming Spring. Knowing that, and that many of you are probably running low on free ways to keep the kids entertained over Summer break, I compiled a list of ten games to play in the backyard that don’t require any equipment. I think I played nearly all of these games at some point when I was a child, some I particularly liked and played a lot, and hopefully your kids will love them, too!
1. Tag
There are so many names and variations on this game, tiggy was what I knew it by as a child, but essentially one person is ‘it’ and the rest are trying not to get tagged by that person. Each game should go for five to ten minutes, unless the person who’s ‘it’ catches all of the others before the time’s up. You can also play this with torches or flashlights in the evening, which is fun to watch, and this article here has seven other very cool variations on the game!
2. What’s the time, Mr Wolf?
One child is the wolf, and stands across the yard from all the rest, facing away from the other players. The non-wolf children all chant ‘What’s the time, Mr Wolf?’ to which the wolf replies with their choice of time, such as ‘7 o’clock!’. Whatever time the wolf declared is the number of steps the players then take across the yard towards the wolf. This goes on, until the wolf responds with ‘Dinner time!’ and turns around to chase the non-wolf children. Whomever the wolf catches, is the next wolf.
3. Duck, Duck, Goose!
Have your little water-fowl all sit in a circle on the ground, and pick one player to be the ‘goose’. The goose walks around the outside of the circle, lightly tapping the head of each seated player, labelling them as a ‘duck’ as they do so. At some point, the goose will tap a seated player and declare them a ‘goose’, and take off running around the circle. The new goose jumps up, and also runs around the circle, and the first goose who sits in the vacated spot in the circle becomes a duck, while the standing player is now the goose, and the game begins again.
4. Crocodile, Crocodile
My Googling leads me to believe that there are many variations on this one as well, but I’m going to describe the one I happily played as a child. Have all the players line up on one side of the yard, and pick one to be the crocodile, who is on the other side of the yard. The non-crocodiles all chant ‘Crocodile, crocodile, may we cross the water? If not, why not? What’s your favourite colour? The crocodile yells out a colour, and all the children wearing anything with that colour are safe to cross to the other side of the yard. Then all the remaining children try to run to the other side of the yard, whilst the crocodile runs to try to catch them. The first player caught by the crocodile becomes the new crocodile and the game begins again. If the crocodile doesn’t catch anyone, then pick a new one at random.
5. Captain’s Coming
The first time I played this game was in grade 4 P.E., with a teacher who was a bully and whom I just detested. It was outside in the blazing sun, on ‘grass’ that was mostly yellow where it wasn’t just dry dirt. I still had fun playing this game. There are a lot of commands to remember with this one, so it’s better for older kids, but you could use fewer commands to play this game with younger children. Designate which sides of your yard will be the bow (front of the ship), the stern (back of the ship), port side (left side of the ship), and starboard side (right side of the ship). Pick one player to be the ‘Captain’ who will yell out commands, while the rest of the players are the ‘swabbies’. The captain yells out commands that the swabbies run to follow. The last swabbie to complete each command is out of the game, until one swabbie remains, who becomes the new captain! The commands are as follows;
Bow – Run to the front of the ship
Stern – Run to the back of the ship
Port – Run to the left side of the ship
Starboard – Run to the right side of the ship
Captain’s coming – Run to the captain and salute
Hit the deck – Lie on the ground
Scrub the deck – Pretend to scrub the ground
Climb the rigging – Pretend to climb a net
Cannonballs – Squat down and pretend to be a cannonball
Lifeboats – Pretend to row a boat
Dig for treasure – Pretend to dig
Submarine – Lie on the ground and hold one arm up in the air
6. Simon Says
Pick one child to be ‘Simon’ who will face the rest of the children and issue commands to them. For example, ‘Simon says… hop on one foot!’ or ‘Simon says… meow like a cat!’ If any of the players follow a command from Simon that didn’t begin with ‘Simon says’, they’re out of the game. The last player in the game becomes Simon for the next round!
7. Hide and Seek
This is another of those games with tons of variants, but essentially, one child is the seeker, they stand still and close their eyes while they count to 10, or 20 if you have fast counters! All the other players run off and hide in the yard. Then the seeker goes and finds them. After all the players have been found, pick a new seeker and play again!
8. Sardines
This game is kind of like hide and seek in reverse. The player who is ‘it’ goes and hides, whilst the rest of the players closes their eyes and count to 10. Then all the seekers try to find the person who is ‘it’, and when they do they hide with them. This continues until everyone is squishing in (like sardines in a tin) with the ‘it’ player in their hiding place. The last person to find the ‘it’ player becomes the new ‘it’ player!
9. Red Light, Green Light
Thanks to Squid Games this game is pretty fresh in most adults’ minds, but just in case it isn’t, here’s how it goes. All players line up on one side of the yard, aside from a ‘Traffic Warden’ who stands on the other side of the yard. The traffic warden yells out ‘Green Light’ and all the players run towards the other side of the yard, but when the traffic warden yells out ‘Red Light’ all the players must stop where they are and remain completely still. Any player who moves during the ‘Red Light’ is out. First player across the finish line is the new traffic warden.
10. I Went on a Journey and I Saw
You know that electronic memory game, Simon? Flashing lights, straining memory? This game is sort of like that, except instead of remembering the order of colours, your players will be remembering things they each saw on a hypothetical journey, and an action to go along with the things they saw. I encourage humorous actions to get all your players giggling! Have your players stand in a circle, and say , for example, “I went on a journey, and I saw… a bird” and here the player might flap their arms like wings. The next person says “I went on a journey and I saw a bird *flaps arms*, and… a river *makes a wavy hand motion*. Next person says “I went on a journey and I saw a bird *flaps arms*, a river *makes a wavy hand motion* and… a car *holds an imaginary steering wheel*. This goes on around all the players with each person adding something, but if a player cannot remember the correct thing or action, they’re out. The last player who can remember all the items and actions wins! You’d be shocked how much this game can improve your memory! My husband, daughter and I play an indoor version where we say “I went to a banquet and I ate…” and list food items. It’s super fun, and a real mental workout!
All these games could easily be played at the park, too, of course, or at an indoor hall or large room. I tried to include a variety of games for various ages, but the rules can easily be adjusted to make the games easier for little children or more complex for older ones. It’s so important to get outside and move around, and kids are sure to have a blast with these games and a group of friends or just the family! I do hope you give them a go, and let me know which ones you liked best, or any that I may have missed!
