Gym Class Games in Denmark

Gemme

• Gemme is a traditional hide-and-seek game, generally played outside. One person is "it" and counts aloud to 100, while everyone else hides in a predefined area. The seeke keeps searching until all of the children are found. The child found first is "it" for the next round of Gemme.

Traditional Tag

• Tag is a game played around the world, and Denmark is no exception. One child is "it" and chases all the other children. Whoever is tagged by the chaser becomes "it" and then chases all of the other children. The game continues for a set amount of time, or until the children lose interest.

Laenkfange

• Laenkfange translated into English means "capturing chains," which is a good description for this game. Laenkfange is a variation of tag. One child is "it." When she tags another child, they join hands and, as a pair, they are both "it." When this pair tags another child, the chain grows to three taggers. When a fourth child is tagged, the chain must split into pairs of taggers. The game continues until everyone is part of a chain.

Ti-bold

• Ti-Bold means "ten balls" in English. In this game, two children stand facing a wall with a tennis ball. One child throws the ball at the wall. The other child must clap once before catching the ball. On the second round, he must clap twice, and on the third round, clap three times, and so on. If the children miss a step, the game starts over. This game can be made more complicated for advanced players by adding more steps, such as turning around or squatting before catching the ball.

Danish Longball

• Danish Longball is a combination of dodge-ball and baseball. It is played on a field or in a gym with a marked rectangle, using bats and one ball. Begin by making two even teams of children. One team will start as the fielders, and the other team will start as the batters. The batters each have a bat and spread out on the field. A pitcher rolls a ball to one batter at a time. Each batter has three tries to hit the ball. When the ball is hit, or on the third pitch, the batter must try to run to the opposite side of the field and back. The fielders try to hit the batter with the ball, before he makes it back across the field. The batter can stop on the opposite side of the field, and wait until the next batter goes. This way multiple batters are running at one time. If the batter successfully makes it back and forth across the field, she can rejoin the batting line. If she is hit by the ball, she must sit out until the teams switch. Score is kept, and the innings are generally timed.