Outdoor Games for Kids

This is very simple play. The ball is thrown into the air by one player, the others standing round him. He calls out the name of the player, for whom the ball is thrown.

This is perhaps the very best game that can be introduced into a school. The principle of it is very simple, that one boy represents the Hare and runs away, while the others represent the Hounds and pursue him.

10 to 100 players.
Parlor; schoolroom; out of doors.

Skittles is played in a manner somewhat similar to the NINE-PINS game, but the number of pins is only four.

This is a very simple sport, but necessarily restricted to those spots where there is a river, or a pond of some magnitude.

This is a capital game when well played, and the antics and grimaces of boys who are mimics cause great merriment.

This game can be played by any number of boys, who must all join hands; the game is begun by the outside players at each end of the line holding the following dialogue:

This is an old English sport, mentioned by Gower and Chaucer, and was at one period common to women as well as men. In the northern parts of England, particularly in Yorkshire, it is practised in the following manner:

This is a capital game for the summer months. The players divide themselves into two parties, one party remaining at a spot called “Bounds,” and concealing their faces, while the other party goes out and hides. After waiting for a few minutes, the home party shouts, “Coming, coming, coming.”

This is a most delightful game, and is a very great favourite among boys of all classes. It is commenced by choosing Captains, which is either done by lot or by the “sweet voices” of the youths.

This game, which takes its title from the names assumed by the players, is played by seven boys, each of whom calls himself after one of the days of the week.

10 to 30 or more players.
Indoors; out of doors.

In this game four or five stones or marks must be placed on the ground, as in the annexed figure, A, B, C, D, E, about twelve or fifteen yards asunder; these marks are called bases, and one of them, as A, is styled “home.”

This is a very good game, and to play it properly there must be in the centre of the playground a small hill or hillock.

A tolerably large ring should be formed by several boys standing in a circle and joining hands;

5 to 60 or more players.
Indoors; out of doors.

10 to 60 players.
Indoors; out of doors; schoolroom.

6 to 60 players or more.
Indoors; out of doors.

Quoits game. The game of Quoits is very excellent. It seems to have derived its name from the ancient discus, and with us in the present day is a circular plate of iron perforated in the middle, not always of one size, but larger or smaller to suit the strength or convenience of the several candidates.