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Indoor International Children's Games

International children's games can provide a fun way to educate children about different cultures, which will in turn help them to be more open to ethnic differences. Besides the cultural education, the games encourage both camaraderie and friendly competition among peers, and perhaps more importantly, laughter.

France
- France has its own variation of musical chairs, only without the music and with a blindfold. Children are seated in chairs in a circle and one child stands in the center of the circle. The child in the center of the circle is then blindfolded and calls out the name of one of the children. The child who is called yells out, "One!" The child to his left yells out, "Two!" This pattern is followed until each seated child has counted off loudly enough for the child in the center to hear. The seated children must remember their numbers. The blindfolded child then yells out two numbers, 1 and 7, for example, and the children in seats one and seven must quickly and quietly exchange seats. While they̵7;re trying to switch seats the child in the center tries to occupy one of the empty chairs. If the blindfolded child beats one of the other children to his seat, the one left standing is blindfolded and the one now seated assumes his number.
China
- China has children̵7;s game called Chase the Dragon̵7;s Tail that can be played indoors or outdoors. The number of players can be as few as three, but the fun of the game is increased with a greater number of children. The children line up and hold on to the shoulders of the people in front of them. The first child in line is the head of the lion, the last person in line is the tail of the lion, and everyone in between is the body. The head of the dragon must try to capture the tail of the dragon, and the body of the dragon has to protect the tail. The end result is a slithering line of laughing children. If the head catches the tail, the head is out and the tail takes his place. The game continues until there are only two players left.
Italy
- Italy has an indoor children̵7;s game called Strega Comanda Color, or Witch Calls Color in English. One player is designated the ̶0;witch̶1; and calls out a color, blue, for example. The other children then rush to touch a blue object before the witch can touch them. If the witch succeeds in catching a child before she locates the appropriate colored object, she becomes the witch, and the previous witch joins the other children.

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