Playground Games For Kids

A key writer on the psychology of play was Russian Lev Vygotsky. He decribes the crucial role of imagination in child play. Something that begins after the age of three. Play is also the place where social rules are learned. This includes the 'roles' people can take, what is acceptable and what is not.

Play also introduces children to the notions of winning and losing. Knowing what it feels like to experience both situations, how to cope, and how to keep both experiences in perspective. Maria Montesorri says that ""Play Is The Work of the Child".In particular it is a time of 'expansion'. In play the imagination is expanded, creativity and problem solving is developed, co-operative activity is learned and new ideas are added to old ones.

Whilst 'play' is cast as frivolous in the mind of an adult, for a child it is a vital way of learning about the world. What works and what doesn't in comparitively 'safe' circumstances. Significantly 'play' is where children are in charge. They can set the rules, they can break them too! Subtly 'play' is place where anxieties can be explored, for example what happens when Teddy has a tummy ache? How does he feel? Where might he go to get better? Whose help does he ask for? etc.

Click on image for another article about child play psychology.

This was a great game that could be played anywhere provided you have a way of marking out a 'court'. Usually we used chalk and often we had to resort to using a stone or even mud to draw the lines and numbers. This was a game for both boys and girls and was great for hand , leg and eye co-ordination.

Click the photo for a link to fascinating history of children's games.

A game that was mainly played by girls. Although I have to say I did have a try and it was great fun. 'Players' would execute a number of set jumping tasks that involved the goal of having your feet either on, under, the elastic looped between two the legs of two friends. The task became increasingly harder as each round meant the elastic loop was moved higher and higher from the legs to the waist and eventually to chest high.

Usually the players would chant a rhyme as the task was being performed.

French Skipping Chant
Chinese Jump Rope

Hot Rice is a tag game that makes use of a ball or bean bag. It typically lasts 20 minutes. One player is nominated as 'it' and tries to hit the other players with the ball/bean bag below the knee. They of course try to escape and dodge the thrown ball. Once hit the target player joins sides with the 'it' player and the 'it' group progressively grows bigger working in co-operation to get the remaining target players.

In some versions of the game the target players can't pick up the ball. The version I played at school allowed target players to pick up the ball/bean bag between two clenched fists and knock it away. If the target was caught/ tagged in possession they had to join the 'it' team.
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Passed down for generations. the basic game of tag has many variations. It doesn't come without controversy. Players and supervisors have been seriously injured, and some people feel there are social and ethical issues relating to victimisation. Tag has been banned in some schools as a result.

The local government association in the UK disagrees with these bans saying "Parents and teachers should defy the compensation culture and encourage children to get stuck in to traditional playground games as a possible way of combating obesity."

British Bulldogs was a rough and tumble game that we played at School and Boy Scouts. It was almost like rugby or american football without a ball.

The game did develop a reputation for being quite rough. The idea was for players nominated as 'bulldogs' to stand in the middle of a large playing field. The remaining players would stand at either end of the field and then attempt to get from one end of the field to the other without being caught. Players who were caught became bulldogs and the task became increasingly difficult as time went on.

As with many games chants and rituals from part of the British Bull Dogs experience, and care does need to be taken to ensure that things don't get out of hand.

This is quite a scary and exciting game for youngsters. In North America its Mr Fox not Mr Wolf. The player who is the wolf stands facing the wall and the other players stand some distance away. Using the chant 'what time is it Mr Wolf?' the Wolf responds with a time such as 'it's four o'clock'. This indicates the number of paces the players use to approach the wolf. The Wolf can suddenly announce to the chant that its 'Dinner Time!' and then s/he tries to catch one of the players as s/he chases back to their home position. Any player 'caught' become the Wolf. Great fun!

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This is a game of cricket with no stumps or running. The batsman stands in the middle of the other players with a bat. The ida is that the batsman protects his legs beneath the knees from being hit with a ball bowled or thrown at him/her by the other players.

The a variations in the rule about if the batsman can turn to face the bowler. Not facing the bowler makes batting quite tricky. As with regular cricket the bastman in French Cricket is out when he is hit on the legs or when s/he hits the ball and it is caught without bouncing on the ground before hand.

The ball is thrown by a player called the 'Bad Egg' who stands with their back to the other players. The ball is ony thrown after the players answer a simple question posed by the 'Bad Egg' such as 'favourite drink?' or 'favourite color?'. All players shout an answer and the 'Bad Egg' repeats one of the answers as they throw the ball. As the ball is thrown all the players scatter and the perosn whose answer was repeated has to get the ball. Once retrieved they shout 'Stop' and the otehr players have to stay put, standing with their legs apart.The player with the bal then tries to throw the ball between the legs of one of the players that s/he chooses. If s/he does it then that player becomes the 'Bad Egg', if not then s/he become the 'Bad Egg'.

This is a great game for develping a sense of achievement as each leap gets more challeging.

" If I could winne a Lady at Leape-frogge, or by vawlting into my Saddle, with my Armour on my backe." Shakespeare Henry Vth

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The player who is the pirate sits blindfolded on the floor with a tin of 'treasure' in front of them. The other players sit in a side circle around the pirate. Someone is choosen to be the 'thief'. The pirate mustn't know who it is. The 'thief' then creeps around tworads the pirate to try and take the treasure. the pirate listens out for the thief and tries to point at where they are. If they are 'discovered they are 'out'. If they are successful they become the pirate. Really great fun this one.