Games in involving movement

Age: from 3 years
Min. no. of players: 5

This fun game can be played indoors or outdoors. The leader of the game whispers the name of an animal in every child’s ear, two or three players always receive the same name according to the size of the group and the children may not give away the name.
On a signal from the adults, all the children have to move around the room or garden in all different directions. They imitate the sound of the animal in order to find their fellow animals. The game continues until all animals have found each other and no player is left on his or her own. The game can be made more difficult when the children look for their fellow animals with their eyes closed or blindfolded.

Age: from 5 years
Players: min. 2
Material: plastic or jute sack

Each player gets into a plastic or jute sack, pulling it over their head and holding it tight. On signal the players line up and start jumping towards the finish line.
Goal: the first to finish the set distance of around 10 to 20 metres without falling over is the winner.

Age: from 4 years
Players: the more, the better

An adult or a child has to catch the other players. Whoever is caught sits on the floor. Another child can release him/her by touching him/her and shouting ‚free’. The game gets exciting when quite a lot of children are already sitting on the floor and only a few can set them free. The player who is ‚it’ could manage to get all the children, so that they are all sitting on the floor at the end.

Age: 4-12 years
Min. no. of players: 4

The player who is ‘it’ stands on one side of the playground with the rest of the players on the other side. ‘It’ asks the question: ‘Who’s afraid of ‘it’? The group answers ‘No one!’. The player who is ‘it’. then replies ‘….and if he comes to get you?’. The group answers ‘Then we’ll run away!’. Then everyone in the group runs as fast as they can to the other side. ‘It’ runs towards them and tries to catch as many players as possible, who then have the task of helping him/her.
This question and answer exchange is then repeated, as well as the running away and catching. The last player to be caught becomes the new ‘it’.

Age: children who can swim

The game can be played in a large paddling pool, swimming pool or on the bank of a lake.

Every child thinks of an animal that all the others know. Each player then imitates his/her animal in the water. The other children guess which animal it is.

Examples:
Slithering like a snake
Hopping like a frog
Paddling like a duck
Waddling like a penguin
Bathing like an elephant and spraying water from its trunk
Galloping like a horse
Strutting around the water’s edge like a stork on its long legs.