Jump Rope Water Splash

Required: Jump rope, plastic cups, and water

Players: Small to large groups

Give each child a plastic or paper cup full of water. While two players twirl a large jump rope, jumpers one by one attempt three consecutive jumps. They do this while holding onto their cup of water and trying not to let any water spill. The child who has the most water left is the winner. You can keep playing until only one person has water left in their cup.

Hole In The Bucket

Required: One large trash can or 30 gallon tub, two receiving buckets, water source and two large juice, bean or coffee cans

Players: Small to large groups

Prepare the cans by punching several holes in the bottom and the sides using a hammer and a large nail. Do this from the outside to prevent sharp edges on the outside. Make sure there are no sharp edges around the top of can. You can do this by hammering around the inside edge while resting against a hard surface. You can spray paint your cans with car paint ahead of time for different colored teams.

Fill up a large clean container of water at starting point. At the other end of the play field have a receiving bucket the same size for each team. Divide into teams and have one child at a time from each team do the relay. Each child goes to the large container, dips their can into it, and runs down the field to their team's receiving bucket. Pour whatever water is left into that bucket. Once they have done this they can run back to starting point and give the next child the can to do the same. The first team to fill their receiving bucket is the winner.

Pass the Sand

Divide the group into 2 teams and line them up facing each other. Have the person in each line grab a handful of sand from a container. They must pass the sand to the next player, who passes it to the next, and so on down the line. When the sand reaches the last player, he/she pours what is left of it on a plate. The team with the most sand wins the game.

(You may have to weigh the sand on a food scale if it's close!)

BEAN COUNTER RELAY

Objective: A relay race where you fill an egg carton with beans.

Players: 6 or more players.

Needed: Beans, Two bowls, Two egg cartons

Setup: Determine a starting line and a turn back line about 15 feet apart. Divide into two even teams and have them line up at the start line. Place a bowl of beans at the turn back line for each team. Or you can place one bowl of beans at the turn back line in between both teams. Just make sure the distance for each team is the same. Place an egg carton at the midway point between the two lines.

Rules: Players race to the turn back line, pick up one bean and run back to the egg carton and put it in. In one version, players simply fill the carton (usually 12 egg) with one bean per cup. In a second version, you write a number from 1 to 5 in the bottom of each cup and players must fill each cup with beans so that it matches the number written in the cup.

Winning: First team to complete the task wins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BODY PART TAG

Objective: A tag game where you can only tag specific body parts.

Players: 6 or more players.

Rules: Choose a tag area. Select one player to stay outside the tag area and be the "chooser." Everyone else is in the tag area and one player in the tag area is chosen as the "tagger." The chooser chooses a body part such as arm, leg, nose, head, chin, foot etc. and yells that part to the group. The players try to avoid being tagged by the tagger on that specified body part. So, for example, if the caller says "foot," the players try to keep their feet away from the tagger. When the caller says another body part, that becomes the tagger's new targe, the original body part becomes off limits again. Players who are correctly tagged join the tagger in pursuing the remaining players. The chooser acts as judge in case of questionable tags.

 

AMOEBA

Objective: Navigate the "amoeba" group around obstacle to a destination.

Players: 15 or more players

Rules: This is for a very large mixed group.

Divide the group into two smaller groups, not quite half-and-half. One group links arms in a circle facing outward. The other players stands freely inside the circle. It is best if the inner group is rather tightly packed inside the circle. Adjust group sizes to fit. One child is chosen to be the "nucleus" of the "amoeba." This child should be tall to see over other heads. The "nucleus" then has to navigate the "amoeba" through and around the play area, or building, to a pre-selected finish line, perhaps from outdoors to indoors, or upstairs to downstairs, room to room, etc. The "nucleus" MUST remain in or near the center of the "amoeba". This game is most fun if there are obstacles to navigate, the more difficult the better!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sponge Toss Contest

Required: Large car sponges, large containers of water, receiving buckets, warm weather

Players: Small to large groups

Divide up into teams. You can have as many teams as you have equipment. Each team forms a line with teammates a little more than an arm's length away from each other. At one end of the line is a large container of water with large sponges in it. The other end has a small bucket, which you could mark with a fill line where you want the finish point to be or just fill to the top. When signaled to start, teams are to race. The child at the large container is to throw a sponge to next teammate and that person to the next until it reaches the end of the line. The last person is to squeeze the sponge out and then run to the start of the line, dip the sponge in the large container and pass to next person. If sponge is dropped while being passed, it is to be thrown back to the start of the line and you are to continue again. After full rotation of line, meaning everyone has taken sponge out of large container and passed, the team with the most collected water is the winner.