Revisiting Some Old Early Years Activities: Classic Classroom Games

Last weekend I was having a look through the attic and I came across a primary school activity book from 1969 called Come Out To Play by Kamps and Tjoelker. Although some of the games are very out of date (I don’t really think Catch the Chocolate Cigarette would be appropriate anymore!) there were others in there that I thought might be quite fun to try out. I have chosen my 7 favourite games, but if you like the style of the activities and would like me to add to the list then please let me know!

–       The Chair Game: Two teams sit back on back on chairs, and each set of chairs have a number (i.e. two children are number 1, two are number 2 etc.). When the teacher shouts a number both children have to run around all the chairs (in the same direction so they don’t bump into each other!) and whoever gets back to their chair first wins.

–       Who can reach the highest: This game is very simple, each child is given a piece of masking tape and then each of them has to stretch as far as they can and put the tape on the wall. This game can be used as a maths activity if you incorporate measuring the different heights with a ruler, or can just be used a short warm-up activity.

–       Pencil in the bottle: For this activity you will need a pencil, a bottle, a hat (ideally a child’s hat that won’t fall off to easily!) and a piece of string. Attach a pencil to a hat with a piece of string and ask the children to line up one behind the other. In turns, the children put on the hat and try to get the pencil in the bottle by leaning over it. You can add a variety of elements to make it harder, including having a time limit or making it into a relay race. You could also use a very wide necked bottle for younger children.

–       Car racing: Attach pieces of string with a piece of wood at one end (i.e. a pencil) to several toy vehicles with spinning wheels. Line the vehicles up at one end of a long table and ask the children to stand at the other end hold the string. Then children then have to wrap the string around the pencil as quickly as they can and the first car across the line wins. You can make this game easier by just asking the children to pull the car down the table rather than wrap the string around a pencil.

–       Follow the tick: Hide an alarm clock with a really loud tick somewhere in the room and ask the children to be very quiet and find it.

–       Feet off the floor: A variation of ‘It’, except you are only ‘safe’ when your feet aren’t touching the ground (i.e. when you are lying on your back). Depending on the age group, a time limit can be put in place for how long you are allowed to be ‘safe’ for. Stuck in the Mud is also a firm favourite, in which a couple of children are ‘it’ and if you are caught by them then you have to stand still until someone crawls through your legs and frees you.

–       Blind man’s bluff: This is a classic game in which one child stands blindfolded in the middle of the circle and the other children line up in front of them. The person in the middle then points at another child at random and says ‘who are you?’ and the child replies ‘guess who!’ (older children can just make a noise to make it more difficult). The blindfolded child then has to guess who the other person is. A variation of this game is Squeak Piggy Squeak, in which the blindfolded person has to sit on someone’s lap and say ‘squeak piggy squeak’ and try and guess who it is from their animal noise.

If you would like me to have another look through the book and add to the list then please let me know, you can email me at: [email protected].