Kids Games for Two Players

Sprinkler Game

• On a hot summer day, set up an oscillating sprinkler (a sprinkler that moves back and forth) on the lawn. To play the sprinkler game, the two children stand on opposite sides of the sprinkler. Each players must stand on her own side of the sprinkler and hold a single cup in her hands. When the water comes in a player's direction, that player must try to collect as much water in her cup without moving. If the player moves a foot, then she must spill out the cup of water on her head. Whichever player fills her cup the fastest wins the game.

Coin Game

• To play the coin game, place a penny on the ground. The two players stand facing one another about 10 feet apart with the penny on the ground between them. One player begins by bouncing a tennis ball to the other player. The player with the tennis ball tries to bounce the ball so that it touches the penny on the ground on its way to the other player. If a player gets the ball to touch the penny during the bounce, he earns a point. If a player can flip the penny over during the bounce, he earns two points. Players alternate bouncing the tennis ball back and forth to each other while keeping track of their points earned. The first person who earns 21 points wins the game.

Pyramid

• Kids have to use a checkers board and checkers pieces to play this game. Players arrange their checkers on the dark squares on their sides of the game board. They must arrange their colors in a pyramid shape. The row closest to the player should have four checkers, the second row three checkers, the third row two checkers and the fourth row one checker. The person with the dark checkers goes first, and players play the game following the same rules as checkers. On a turn, each player must move a checker piece forward diagonally on dark squares. A player can "jump" over and capture another player's piece if the other player's piece is diagonally adjacent and there is an empty space behind it. The player who moves her pieces to the other side of the board and configures her pieces in the shape of the other player's starting pyramid wins the game.

Pick-up Sticks

• For this game, players will need a set of Pick Up Stix, which consists of 41 long colored sticks. One player grasps the sticks vertically in a bundle in one hand. The player should put his fist on a table and open his hand in one quick motion to let the sticks fall on the table. Each player takes a turn trying to pick up a stick from the pile. The object of the game is to pick up a stick without touching or moving another stick. Players can pick up a stick by grabbing the two points of a stick with two fingers or by using their index fingers and thumbs to pick up a stick. When players have picked up all the sticks, they can count their sticks to see who has the most. The player with the most sticks wins the game.