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It appears that many classic outdoor childhood games that were played with few or zero toys, gadgets and such are getting lost. Children are not playing about these games as much as they used to, and many don’t know how to play them.

Many of these are great exercise, cost nothing and best of all build awesome childhood memories. Many of my fondest childhood memories are hours and hours of playing these various games with my brother, cousins and anyone else who was nearby.

Here’s some of my favorite games: Red Light Green Light – A person plays the “stop light” and the rest attempt to touch him/her. Whoever touches that person first is the winner. To start all the kids form a line about 15 feet away from the stop light person. That stop light person turns his/her back away from the line of children and says “green light”. Then the kids move towards the stoplight person. At any point, the stop light person calls out “red light” and turns around. If any of the children are seen moving after calling out red light, they are out. This continues until someone reaches and touches the stop light person and wins the game and earns the right to be “stop light” for the next game.

Kick The Can – This is a mix of both hide and seek and tag. One person chosen is “it” and closes their eyes and counts to a number agreed upon my all. Everyone else hides during this time. Then, the person who counted and is in charge of guarding the can tries to find everyone. The tricky aspect is that when a person is found, they both race, to attempt to kick the can over before the “it” person tags them. There always seems to be those trickster kids hide in a dumb close by place, with the sole intent of running as fast as they can, for the can when they’re caught, many times catching the “it” person off guard.

Marbles – Usually is played just on dirt. Take a finger and draw a circle around creating a small playing field, and in the center make a small hole. Each player puts in one of his marbles randomly around the play area. Each player uses a large marble called a shooter to knock a marble into the hole, similar to playing pool. Each person takes a turn, and when someone does knock a marble into the hole, that marble becomes theirs and they get another turn. There are many variables to the rules of of this game, and of course trading marbles can also be great fun.

Duck Duck Goose – In this game, kids sit in a circle facing each other. Someone is “it” and walks around the circle gently tapping each person on the head as they walk by saying either “duck” or “goose”. When some is declared a goose, that person gets up and chases “it” around the circle. If the person who was “it” can run the circle and sit in “gooses” place, then “goose” becomes the next “it”. If goose tags it before they can take their seat, it must then sit in the middle of the circle, for the next round as goose becomes the new “it” person. The person in the middle can’t leave until someone else is tagged and they are replaced.

Stick Ball – No teams are used in this, just a person designated the batter and the rest are in the outfield. Tennis balls are great to reduce risk of breaking windows, and either a bat or stick is used. The batter throws the ball in the air and hits it, then lays the bat or stick on the ground in front of them. Whoever gets the ball first, then rolls the ball to the bat, which causes it to bounce. If the batter does not catch the ball, the person who rolled the ball becomes the next batter. If someone catches a fly ball he/she is automatically the next batter.

Hopscotch – Hopscotch is a wonderful hopping game that can be played on a sidewalk or pavement or on a floor indoors. There are hundreds of variations of the diagram that can be drawn. Use your favorite version to have children play. Use chalk to draw a hopscotch pattern on the ground or use masking tape on a floor. Create a diagram with 8 sections and number them. Each player has a marker such as a stone, beanbag, bottlecap, shell, button, etc.

The first person stands behind the starting line to toss her or his marker in square 1. Hop over square 1 to square 2 and then continue hopping to square 8, turn around, and hop back again. Pause in square 2 to pick up the marker, hop in square 1, and out. Then continue by tossing the stone in square 2. All hopping is done on one foot unless the hopscotch design is such that two squares are side-by-side. Then two feet can be placed down with one in each square. A player must always hop over any square where a maker has been placed.

A player is considered out if the marker doesn’t land in the proper square, the hopper steps on a line, the hopper looses his or her balance when bending over to pick up the marker and puts a second hand or foot down, the hopper lands in a square where a marker is, or if a player puts two feet down in a single box. The player puts the marker in the square where he or previously was and it’s the next person’s turn. Sometimes a rest area is added on the end of the hopscotch pattern where the player can rest for a second or two before hopping back through.

Farmer in the Dell – Participants needs about 15 or more stand in a circle. One person is chosen as the Farmer and stands in the middle. Everyone sings, “The farmer in the dell, the farmer in the dell; Heigh ho, the Derry-oh the farmer in the dell” and walk around in the circle. The next verse is “The farmer takes a wife . . .,” which is sung as the first person chooses another person from the circle to come to the inside. The next verse is “The wife takes a child . . .,” when the second person inside the circle chooses a third person to be the child. This continues with “The child takes a dog . . .,” “The dog takes a cat . . .,” “The cat takes a rat . . .,” and “The rat takes the cheese . . ..” The final verse is? The cheese stands alone . . .,” when all people on the inside of the circle go back to the outer edge of the circle and sing as the last person chosen “stands alone” in the circle, the game is then finished.

Think back to some of your old favorite games. Write them down. Teach and play them with your children and grandchildren. It creates a special bond, makes special memories and gives them a glimpse of what growing up might have been like for you.

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