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Not the Same Old Simon Says

I believe children need to learn how to lose gracefully. But that doesn’t mean that most of the games they play should teach them that there’s only one winner – and that the kids they’re playing with are what’s standing in their way of coming out on top.

In a previous column I told you about turning traditional Musical Chairs into Cooperative Musical Chairs by challenging children to find a way to share the remaining chairs. Here are two more possibilities for keeping kids in the game:

• Turtle Tag. This game is played just like the traditional game of Tag, with two exceptions: If a child is being chased, she can be “safe” by lying on her back like an upside-down turtle. Also, the game is timed. If “It” hasn’t tagged someone in a certain amount of time (say, a minute and a half), at your signal, “It” gets into the turtle position. You then choose another child to be “It.”
  
  
• Duck, Duck, Goose. Usually this game involves physical activity for only one or two players and a lot of waiting for the rest. In the modified version, the children stand, rather than sit, in a circle and walk in place. One child, who is “It,” walks around the circle, tapping the other children’s shoulders and saying either “duck” or “goose.” When she taps someone and says, “Goose!” that child chases “It” around the circle, trying to tag her. If he does tag her, she stands in his original place and he gets to be “It.” If he doesn’t tag her, he returns to his spot and she gets to be “It” again. An important rule: “It” can’t choose someone who’s already been a “goose” until everyone has had a chance!