Indoor Group Games for Elementary Kids

Tag Games

• Play a game of octopus tag by selecting one player to be the octopus. The octopus stands in the middle of the room and all the other players are the fish. The fish must stand on all sides of the room. When the octopus says, "Run," the fish must run from one side of the room to other side while trying to avoid the octopus. If the octopus tags a fish, the fish becomes seaweed and must freeze. Seaweed can try to tag players as they run by and freeze them as well. The game ends when all the fish turn to seaweed and the last player tagged is the octopus for the next game.

  Another tag game is tail tag. Give each player a string or long piece of paper to hang from the back of his pants' waist. When you say, "Go," all the players must try to grab each other's "tails." If a player loses his tail, he is out of the game. The last player with a tail wins the game.

Balloon Games

• Divide the children into two teams and give each team an inflated balloon to practice hitting it in the air. When you say, "Go," the children have to keep their balloon in the air. If a team's balloon touches the ground at any time, they lose. To make this game harder, keep adding balloons to the team circles every 30 seconds. For an individual game, allow the children to keep their own balloon in the air.

Ball Games

• Divide the players into two teams and draw a line down the middle of the room. Give each team 30 balls of yarn. Set a timer for five minutes and tell the players to toss all the yarn balls to the other side. Both teams must keep throwing the balls of yarn back and forth until the timer goes off. The object of the game is to have the fewest yarn balls on your side when the timer goes off.

  For another ball game, try a ball pass relay. Divide the players into two teams and give each team a ball of the same size. Have the players stand in single file. The first player in line should have the ball. When you say, "Pass," the first player must pass the ball over his head to the second player in line. The second player must pass the ball through her legs to the third, and so on. Players must keep this pattern all the way down their team line. The first team to get the ball to the last player in line wins the game.

Hula Hoop Games

• Have all the children stand in one large circle and join hands. Two players' hands go through a hula hoop. The children must pass the hula hoop around the circle without letting go of each other's hands. They must work together to get the hoop all the way around the circle. For another variation, time them each time with a stopwatch and tell them to try to beat their fastest time.