Hobbies And Interests
Blanket Badminton
Put up the badminton net as you normally would. Divide the children up into two even teams. Put a blanket over top of the net so that the opposing teams cannot see each other. They volley the birdie back and forth as usual, but with the added difficulty of not being able to see when the birdie is coming. The teams cannot look under or around the blanket; that is cheating. When a team lets the birdie hit the ground, the other team scores a point. If a team hits a birdie outside the boundary lines, the other team scores a point as long as it does not touch it. The first team to 10 points wins the game.
Singles With a Team
Divide your children into two teams. You can have any number of kids on a team as long as the teams are even. Line up the children to the side of the court. Put the first child for each team on the court. One side serves and the one player on the other side must return the serve. Once a player hits the birdie one time, he leaves the court and gets at the end of the line. The next person in line takes his place. Keep volleying the birdie back and forth until it hits the ground or goes out of bounds when the opposing team gets a point. Keep playing until one team gets 10 points.
Wild Birdies
Play with more than one birdie. Have six children on a team and each person has her own birdie. However, each child is responsible for hitting whatever birdie comes her way. Divide each side of the court up into six sections, one for each child. To prevent hitting someone with their rackets, the children must stay within their own square. The teams need to keep the birdies in the air. It does not matter if the birdies go out of bounds on this version of badminton. The nearest player goes and retrieves it and hits it back into play. There is no scoring with this game; it's just fun to see which team can keep the birdies off its side of the court.