Four square
Where: Hall or outdoors
Space needed: 5m2 or more
Number of children: 4-6
Equipment: Ball, chalk or masking tape
You’ve probably played a version of this when you were at school and it’s still going strong today. It’s a game with various names and almost as many sets of rules, so let me give you the version we play and you can adapt as you wish.
First, you’ll need to mark out a court of 4m by 4m and then divide it into four equal squares of 2m by 2m. Number the squares one, two, three and four. Start with four children playing the game, one in each of the squares. The aim is to make it to square number one and stay there. The game is a bit like tennis except instead of using a racquet, you use your hands.
Start playing with whoever is in square number one. They serve by hitting the ball so it bounces in one of the other three squares. Note that you can’t get out from a serve so you normally serve underarm. If it bounces in your square then you hit it with your hand to bounce in another square and so on. Keep playing until either a person fails to play the ball before it bounces twice, a person hits the ball outside of the court or a person bounces the ball in their own area rather than another player’s area. That person is then out and goes down to the number four square and the other players below them move up a square. The aim is to try and target the number one player to get them out.
You can also play with more than four players, although you wouldn’t want to play with more than six. The extra players wait at the side and when a person is out, they join the back of the waiting queue. The top of the queue takes square number four and everyone else moves up one place. There’s no real end to the game so keep playing as long as you wish.
Pass the parcel
Where: Indoors
Space needed: Enough to sit in a circle
Number of children: 6+
Equipment: A present with several layers of wrapping, music, small prizes
Have a present with several layers of wrapping. Play the music and pass the parcel round the circle. Stop the music and whoever has the parcel unwraps a layer. Repeat until you have a winner (the person who unwraps the final layer). To add a twist to the game, include a challenge in each layer. Suggestions are: do a charade, make an animal noise for others to guess, close your eyes and name four other people in the group, show us a dance, sing a nursery rhyme, sing a song like a monkey, put four marshmallows in your mouth and say a nursery rhyme, tell a joke, say a tongue twister, hop on one leg for 30 seconds while holding a glass of water, do an impression of a leader, mime a sport for others to guess, eat a cracker in under a minute, hop around the circle, or answer yes to any three questions the others ask you.
What’s the time Mr Wolf?
Where: Indoors
Space needed: Enough space to run around
Number of children: 6+
Equipment: None
Choose one child to be the ‘wolf’. They stand at one end of the hall facing the wall while everyone else stands at the other end. The children ask, ‘What’s the time Mr Wolf?’ The wolf gives a reply between one and 12 o’clock and the others take that many steps forward (eg if the wolf says, ‘six o’clock’ everyone takes six steps forward). This continues until the wolf says, ‘Dinner time!’ When this happens, the wolf turns round and tries to catch someone before they can get safely back to the other end. If a child is caught, they become the ‘Wolf’ for the next round.
You can also add the rule that if any child can get to the wolf before they say ‘Dinner time!’ then the wolf loses and has to stay as the wolf for the next turn. (And you take everyone back to their initial positions and start again.)
Steve Mawhinney is the children’s worker for Barnsbury Parish, Islington
