British Playground Games

British Bulldog

• In British Bulldog, one player is the "bulldog" who stands in the middle of a playing field. The other players line up at the end of the field. The "bulldog" yells "British Bulldog!" and the other players try to run across the field without being caught. The bulldog tries to catch as many players as possible by tagging them. The tagged players have to stay in the middle and be bulldogs. The last player who is not a bulldog wins.

London Bridge

• London Bridge is one of the oldest and most familiar of British playground games. The premise of the game is to avoid being caught between the arch of two people's arms while they are singing the song about London Bridge falling down. Oranges and Lemons is a variation where the children chant the singing rhyme about the sounds of the bells in London churches. The same arch is used, but with the twist of having a tug-of-war between two teams divided into Oranges and Lemons by those who make the arch.

Mulberry Bush

• This is an activity game without winners of losers. Children form a circle and sing, "Here we go round the mulberry bush,/The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush,/Here we go round the mulberry bush./On a cold and frosty morning." Following this, they sing and pantomime other daily activities, such as tying shoes, washing clothes, or coming home from school. The game is also known as Ivy Bush, Bramble Bush, Holly Bush, or Gooseberry Bush.

Stuck In The Mud

• Stuck In The Mud is also known as Freeze Tig, Scarecrow Tig, Sticky Touch, Statues Tig, or by the American name of Statues. Two people who are "it" run after the other players, with the goal of touching them to make them stand still or "freeze." The only way that these children can become unfrozen is for another participant who remains in the game to tag them. This goes on until everyone is "stuck" or frozen. The last two people who are the statues have to be the pursuers in the next round of the game.