Outdoor Games for Children in Primary School

Camouflage Fun

• Gather a variety of different-colored pipe cleaners. Place the pipe cleaners on and around trees, bushes and grass. Divide the children into two teams. When you say "Go," the teams compete against each other to find more pipe cleaners. As the game goes on, the children should find that the more natural-colored cleaners are harder to find than colors like hot pink and neon green. The team with the most pipe cleaners at the end of 10 minutes wins.

Caboose on the Loose

• Select one child to become the "loose caboose" at the start of the game. The rest of the players become the train. As such, they line up single-file, putting their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them. The front player in the line becomes "the conductor." When you say "Go," the conductor leads his group away as the loose caboose tries to tag the last player in line. Once the loose caboose succeeds, the conductor becomes the new loose caboose and the previous loose caboose forms the end of the train.

Beware the Blob

• Pick two children out of the group to hold hands and become "the Blob." The rest of the players get 30 seconds to get out of the Blob's path. The Blob then chases the rest of the children, tagging as many as they can. Once a player gets tagged by the Blob, they become part of the Blob and have to hold hands with the remaining Blob members. The last player standing wins the game.

Octopus

• Gather the players to one end of a large outdoor area. Pick one player to become the Octopus. He stands in the middle of the space for the entirety of the game. When you say "Octopus," the kids at the end all try to race past the Octopus to the other side. If tagged by the Octopus, a player becomes a barnacle and has to stay seated in the middle cross-legged and try to tag people to turn them into barnacles as well. The last player standing wins.