Football numbers
Where: Large hall or outdoors
Space needed: Small football pitch size
Number of children: 8+
Equipment: Football, two goals, cones to mark out pitch
Mark out a pitch in the hall / park, with goals that are about the width of hockey goals and place the ball in the centre of the pitch. Split the children into two equal teams, and number each child in both teams. If you have an odd number of children, give one player on the smaller team two numbers. The two number ones will play against each other, the two number twos against each other, and so on – make sure the pairings are as evenly-matched as possible (you could do this by lining the teams up in height order before numbering them).
Give each team a goal they have to score into and then call out a number. The two players with that number run out and try to score into their goal, the first player to do so is the winner. Then start again by calling another set of numbers. If the ball goes off the pitch, quickly put it back in play where it went off and start again. At the end of the game, the team that has scored the most goals wins.
Once you start, make sure each child keeps their number and doesn’t swap, and call each number the same number of times. I usually make the children run to the opposite goal and then to the centre when I call their number. That way a slower child is at least in a position to defend their goal when their opposite number gets to the ball.
Once you’ve played the game a couple of times, you can try a couple of variations. You can call more than one number, but be careful that the pitch doesn’t become too crowded or that you don’t put little children up against big children as that can be difficult for them. If no one scores after a minute, you could throw in a second ball.
Water relay
Where: Outdoors
Space needed: Enough to sit in a circle
Number of children: 10+
Equipment: Disposable cups, two buckets per team
Split the children into two or more teams with at least five people per team (though the larger the teams, the better). Line the teams up and sit them on the floor, all facing one way. Give each team member a disposable cup. Place one bucket filled with water in front of each team and the other (empty) bucket at the end. The aim is to get as much water from the full bucket to the empty bucket in the allotted time.
The first player in each team dips their cup into the bucket of water. While still seated, they pour the water over their shoulder into the cup of the person behind. They, in turn, pour into the cup of the person behind them and so on. The last person then pours the water into the empty bucket at the back of their line. The person at the front doesn’t have to wait for the water to go all the way along the line, they can refill their cup with water as soon as they’ve passed it to the person behind. When a nominal amount of time is up, the team with the most water in the end bucket wins.
Chain tag
Where: Large hall or outdoor
Space needed: Loads!
Number of children: 10+
Equipment: Cones
Tag is always a great game to get children running around and here’s a version that’s ideal for a large space. You do need some boundaries, so if you’re playing outside, mark out a large playing area with cones.
Line everyone up at one end of the area and place two ‘catchers’ in the middle. When you say, ‘go’ the players have to run to the other end without getting caught by a catcher. If someone is caught, they have to join hands with their catcher and then that ‘chain’ has to try and catch another person and so on.
Say at the start that the chain has to run as fast as its slowest member. You don’t want faster children dragging slower ones behind them or yanking their arms off! Once a chain reaches five people, split it into two separate chains. After a few goes, the chains will start to realise that they can block off the entire area if they get organised, but it’s surprising how often they fail to do this properly!
Steve Mawhinney is the children’s worker for Barnsbury Parish, Islington
