When I was in elementary school, our neighborhood was jammed with kids. When the time changed and we could stay outside longer, or go back out after dinner, we played Kick the Can. I don’t mean we played it occasionally. We played it religiously, every spring, summer and fall. We were masters at hiding, masters at sneaking in to kick the can and free our friends from jail, masters at searching for those who were hiding. We had a very specific bucket we used for the “can” which was placed at the end of my neighbor’s front walk. At the other end of the front walk, the front steps were the “jail,” giving the person who was “it” the ability to manage both can and jail at the same time. Our well-thought out can and jail placement gave us access to three solid yards, front and back, in which to hide, numerous hedges in which to sneak around to access the can for kicking and superior places to analyze success of kicking the can itself.
Kick the Can is only one of many outdoor games which seem to be on the verge of becoming extinct. As spring and summer rapidly approach, this is the time to bring these classics back! Think Red Rover, Ghosts in the Graveyard and SPUD to name a few. Can’t remember how? No worries we have got you covered!
Kick the Can: A coffee can is placed in a designated spot that is easy to access (like the end of a front sidewalk!) The child chosen to be It counts to 50, eyes closed, while standing next to the can. This is when the other children hide. The It child then searches for the other children attempting to tag them if possible. If he tags a child, that child goes to “Jail” another strategically chosen spot. Any child who is not in jail and still hiding will then attempt to kick the can before getting tagged which will then release the jailed children to run hide again.
SPUD: Children are numbered sequentially starting with 1 until each child has a number. One child holds a ball and stands in the middle of the other children who have made a circle around him. The child in the middle throws the ball straight up into the air, yelling a number of one of the other children while everyone runs away from the ball. The child whose number is called runs to get the ball as fast as he can. When he has the ball, he yells “SPUD!” which means that everyone has to freeze. The child with the ball then takes 5 giant steps to the closest player and tries to hit the player with the ball. The player can dodge and duck, but the player cannot move his feet. If hit, the player gets a letter, starting with “S.” Eventually, one player will end up with all 4 letters spelling SPUD and is then out. There are various ways to choose how to throw the next ball, but we found that it was easiest to either have a designated ball thrower, to go in numerical order or have the child who had the ball thrown at him be the next thrower.
Red Rover: Children divide up into two teams and stand facing each other, holding hands with their teammates, making a line on opposite sides of the playspace. One team calls one of the other team’s players by saying “Red Rover, Red Rover Send [Janie] over!” Janie must then run from her team to the other team and try to break through their line by running where players are holding hands. If Janie is successful and breaks the chain, she takes one of that team’s players back to her team where they will join the chain. If she is not successful, then she must join the team whose chain she couldn’t break. One team wins when all the players are on their side.
Ghost in the Graveyard: One player is the ghost. While the rest of the children are standing at home base and counting to 50, the ghost runs to hide. Then all the other players go searching for him. If the ghost is found, the players who found him yell “Ghost in the Graveyard!” and all players try to get back to home base before being tagged by the ghost.
Kids are craving outdoor time, though they don’t know it! Getting them outdoors for some vital Vitamin N (Nature) will help build social skills, team work and cooperation, while developing strategic and creative thinking. These games will also help strengthen classroom skills like hand-eye coordination, core strength, upper and lower body strength and endurance. But mostly, let’s be honest, these games are plain FUN!
