Classic Games & Activities Your Kids Will Love
Teach your kids some classic activities and games—you know, the ones YOU played as a kid! Then turn them loose for some retro, free-play fun!
- Play Kick-the-Can! Kick a can or a stone as far along the sidewalk or road as you are able. Compete with a family member, or enjoy it all by yourself.
- Play Follow-the-Leader (and change it up by playing Follow-the-Leader jump rope style or the indoor version, where no one's feet can touch the ground).
- Pull out the chalk! Draw a hopscotch board on the sidewalk, or pictures on a wood fence. Decorate your driveway with chalk flowers and birds. Anything goes! Kids can express themselves and leave their mark—and it gets cleaned up and washed away by the next rain.
- Play Chase! Indoors or out.
- Play Sardines. It's like Hide-and-Seek but in reverse. The person who is IT finds a hiding spot. Everyone else searches, and when they find them, they squeeze in close and keep quiet. Play till the last person in the group finds the hiding spot.
- Start a lemonade stand! Set up a lemonade stand using a card table and chairs—or a roving red wagon, and a pitcher of delicious lemonade. Make it easy by stashing lemonade mix and paper cups in your pantry so the kids can be spontaneous.
- Get out the jump ropes! They're not just for jumping—they're also for making up rhymes, creating obstacle courses, playing tug of war or becoming a versatile prop for other playful ideas.
- Try Tag or one of its many variations: freeze tag (where a tagged child is frozen until unfrozen by a not-yet-tagged friend), shadow tag (step on someone's shadow), or line tag (where everyone tagged joins hands in the line).
- Play Marco Polo—without a pool! It's a blast on dry land, too! The person who is IT closes their eyes. Everyone scatters, but not too far. IT calls out "Marco." Everyone in the game has to respond by saying "Polo," which gives the child who is IT a chance to hear and tag them. Whoever is tagged becomes IT for the next round.
- Have Spoon Races! Put a rock on a spoon and walk across the yard. Try it again with an egg!
- Play King or Queen of the Hill. One kid is the King or Queen and stands on the hill. Everyone else tries to get the Queen or King off the hill.
- Start an impromptu game of Simon Says, Red Rover, or even Duck, Duck, Goose.
- Play Devil Sticks. Kids hold a stick in each hand and use them to juggle a third stick back and forth. Find three similarly sized sticks and try your hand at it.
Provided byMiriam Peskowitz
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