Outside Circle Games for School Kids

Bubble Gum

• In a circle, all children make a fist with both hands and extend their fists out in front of them. The "it" child stands in the circle, takes one of her fists and taps everyone's fists while the other kids say, "Bubble gum, bubble gum, in a dish; how many pieces do you wish?"

  When the rhyme concludes, the last kid the "it" child tapped chooses a number from one to 20. The "it" child again taps everyone's fists, counting each fist as a number until she reaches the selected number. The tapped child must remove one fist from the circle and put that hand behind his back.

  The process repeats. Once the "it" child taps a player's two fists, that player is out of the game. The game continues until one player remains.

Chase the Cat

• One child passes a stuffed cat around the circle. After five seconds, another kid passes a stuffed dog in the same direction. Kids make the appropriate animal sounds as they pass a toy around the circle (barking when passing the dog, meowing when passing the cat).

  Eventually the dog "catches" the cat, and one child ends up with both animals. That child sits in the middle of the circle. When just a few kids remain around the circle, players start a new game.

Dodgeball

• Two children stand outside a circle and throw balls at kids in the circle, who may dodge the ball or catch it (kids who catch the ball switch places with the thrower). If the ball hits someone and bounces off her body, she's out of the game. Play continues until one player remains in the circle.

Doggy, Doggy Where's Your Bone

• One child--the "doggy"--lies in the middle of the circle, eyes closed, with a bone nearby. Another child grabs the bone, returns to his spot and places the bone behind him. All the children put their hands behind their backs and say, ""Doggy, doggy, where's your bone? Somebody stole it from your home. Wake up, doggy." The doggy opens her eyes and guesses the thief's identity. If she guesses correctly within three attempts, the child with the bone becomes the new doggy.

Duck Duck Grey Duck

• In this variation of "Duck Duck Goose," the "it" player walks around the circle, taps player's heads and announces whether they are a "duck" or "goose." Rather than remain "it" is caught by the goose, the "it" player must sit in the center of the circle. The goose becomes "it," and the person in the middle of the circle must remain there until the new "it" player tags another goose and gets tagged herself.

Hot Potato

• As uptempo music plays, children pass a potato to the person next to them in the circle. When the music stops, the kid holding the potato exits the circle. When the music starts again, kids repeat the process, until just one player remains.

Statue

• With music playing, kids stand in a circle and dance, exerting as much energy as possible. Once the music stops, kids freeze in place and make like a statue. After five seconds, the music starts again and the process repeats.

  Each time the music stops, players freeze in place for lengthier periods of time. Eventually, some kids will have trouble standing still in place, and exhaustion may force them to take themselves out of the circle.