Games and Toys International School Project
We discussed how playing games can promote:
 Responsibility. Hold up your end and don’t let down friends.
 Self-esteem. Take turns as leader and follower.
 Sociability. Remain friendly and polite under pressure.
 Self-management. Plan activities and control behaviour to meet a goal.
 Integrity. To play fair and abide by the rules.
The children played a variety of games that originated from all over the world.
Before playing the games, the children located the country on a globe and after
each game they evaluated it, for example saying what the like about it, whether
it was hard or easy to play and whether it was like any games they already knew.
These are some of the games that we played:
AUSTRALIA Rabbits in the Burrow
Players form a circle and count off. The first six players go inside the circle.
One and two join hands making a burrow with three, the rabbit, inside. Player
four is the dingo, an Australian dog. Player five is another rabbit who stays as
far away from the dingo as the circle will allow. When everyone is set, player six
calls out, Begin! The dingo runs after the rabbit out of the burrow. If the dingo
gets too close, the rabbit runs into the burrow and the rabbit in the burrow
must leave. This continues until the dingo catches a rabbit. That rabbit becomes
the dingo. From time to time the game begins again from the beginning. That
way everyone gets a turn.
CHINA Chase the Dragon’s Tail
All the players get in line, the longer the line the better. The line is the dragon.
Each player holds on tight to the shoulders of the player in front. The first
player in line, the head, tries to catch the last player, the tail. Everybody tries
to keep the head from catching the tail. When the head manages to catch the
tail, the head is out and the tail becomes the head. When everybody is out
except two players, the game starts all over again.
FRANCE Swap by Numbers
Players are seated on chairs in a circle. One player remains standing in the
centre. The standing player picks a seated player and begins to count off. The
players must remember their numbers from that point. The standing player is
blindfolded and calls out, .two . six. and those players change seats very quietly.
The blindfolded player tries to get one of the seats before it is filled. If the
player gets a seat, the number comes with it. The displaced player is blindfolded
and the game continues.
GREECE Pebbles
Players need a base, which can be a tree, wall, or post. They need a pebble,
which can be a stone, a marble, or a button. Players stand in line shoulder to
shoulder facing IT. IT has the pebble in one hand and moves down the line
pretending to place the pebble in each hand. When the pebble actually changes
hands, the player with the pebble runs to the base and tries to touch it. If the
player makes it to base, the player then becomes IT and the game starts all
over again.
INDIA Cheetahs and Cheetals
The cheetah is a spotted cat and a cheetal is a spotted deer. To begin the game
three parallel lines are drawn on the ground about twenty feet apart. A leader is
chosen and the other players divide into two teams, the cheetahs and the
cheetals. The two teams stand back to back along the center line. The leader
calls out loudly, .Chee-ee-ee. and then suddenly ends with .tals. or .tahs.. If the
word is cheetahs, the cheetahs run to the line they are facing with the cheetals
in hot pursuit. If the word is cheetals, they are pursued. Those tagged are out.
The game is over and can begin again when all but one have been tagged.
ISRAEL Shemot, Names
A group of players gather in a circle. One player holds a ball. The player with
the ball throws it high in the air and calls out the name of one of the players.
The player who is named, runs to catch the ball. That player throws the ball high
in the air and calls another name. That continues, throwing, calling, and catching.
When the game is over, the players know each other a lot better.
JAPAN, Crab Race
Two teams line up facing a goal line. The first player in each line gets into the
upside down crab position. Faces look up, tummies are up, and feet and hands
support bodies. At the starting signal, the crabs crawl head first to the goal
line. Then they turn around and crawl back to where the next crab waits,
already in position. When all the crabs in one row have crawled to the goal line
and back, they win.
At the end of playing the games, each child voted for their favourite game. The
most popular was Pebbles from Greece, followed closely by Swap by numbers
from France and Cheetahs and Cheetals from India. Playing the games really
helped the children to see that many children are exactly the same and enjoy
doing exactly the same the things, for example playing games and it doesn’t
matter which country you are from, what you look like or how much money you
have because playing games is free and enjoyable for all!
After playing these games, Class 2 all learnt how to play Chess which originated
in India. The children taught each other the rules and we held tournaments. We
even have a chess club which a parent kindly helps to run.
After enjoying so many different games, the children decided to type up the
rules for their favourite games that they have enjoyed playing for many years
so other children in different parts of the world could have a go at playing them
too! We hope you enjoy them!
Detective, Detective
By Finlay, Toby and Henry
First you sit in a circle and you choose the
detective and send them out of the room. Then
you secretly choose who the murderer is and
call the detective back in. The murderer has to
blink or wink at any person in the circle and the
person has to fall over like they die. the
murderer carries on doing this until the
detective runs out of the 3 guesses or if he {or
her} guess’s the murderer and then the
murderer is the detective and the detective
sit’s back down and you carry on doing this until
everybody has had a go.
Fox and hounds
By Bethany, Max and Todd
What you will need:
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
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6 people to be foxes.
10 people to be hounds.
A base.
A hiding place.
1. First someone pretends to be a fox.
2. Someone pretends to be a hound.
3. The fox has to try and get to a base [This could
be a bench or tree] and the fox has to hide.
4. The hound tries to tag the fox before it gets to
the base.
5. If the hound tags you the Fox becomes a hound
and the game starts again.
Hide and seek
By Ava, Grace and Isabelle
What you need:
 You will need a ‘seeker’ and at least 3 or more people
to play.
How to play:
1. One person counts to 10 or 20.
2. The other people hide somewhere they think they won’t
be seen.
3. When the seeker has stopped counting he/she tries to
find them.
4. When the seeker has found everyone, a new seeker is
chosen and the other players go and hide and the game
starts again.
How to play Poddy 123:
By Edward, Reuben and Ty
You will need:
 1 base
 3 or more players
 Hiding places
1. All the players run to the base and the last person to the
base is ‘it’.
2. Next, ‘it’ counts to 30 and then tries to tag everyone
else as they try to get to the base.
3. If anyone gets to the base before they are tug they
shout “In.”
4. After `it’s 3 goes the last one to the base is ‘it’ and the
game starts again.
Keeper of the keys
By Noah, Zara and Harrison
You will need:
 A chair
 Some keys
First somebody puts some keys under a chair
in the middle of a circle and sits on it. The
other children sit in a circle around the chair.
Then the person in the middle closes their
eyes and one person from the circle steals the
keys.
When the person has stolen the keys all the
people in the circle put their hands behind
their backs and the keeper tries to guess who
stole the keys .The keeper has three guesses
and the person who stole the keys swops on
to the chair.
Pass the parcel
By Harriet, Sophia and Amy
Items you will need:


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Wrapping paper
Prizes
Music
Friends
 First you need to wrap a gift up in layers and layers of
paper.
 When you are ready to play, everyone sits in a circle.
 Ask an adult to play some music. The parcel starts to be
passed around the circle when the music starts.
 When the music is stopped the person holding the
parcel takes one layer of paper off.
 When the music is started again, the parcel continues to
be passed around.
 This continues until the gift is unwrapped by the lucky
winner.
 Sometimes a sweet might be put between each layer of
paper so that everyone gets a little present.
Stuck in the mud
By Phoebe, Stella and Rowan
How to play:
People run around inside a square or
pitch. Two people are chosen to be
‘on’. The people who are ‘on’ run
around to try and tag the other people.
If the players get tagged they have to
stand with their legs apart (they are
stuck in the mud). The other players
who are not ‘on’ can free the caught
people by crawling under their legs or
arms. You can swap the people who
are ‘on’ whenever you like.