Top 11 Elementary School Games

 

Throughout the years at Brookdale, Forest, F.N. Brown and Laning, we played some “legendary” games on the playground, field, blacktop and even in the classroom. Here is a look back at the Top11 (there were too many good ones for a Top Ten list), which will undoubtedly bring back some memories.

  1. Red Rover

Students separate into two equal teams. Have each team stand in a straight line, holding hands. The two teams should be facing each other, about ten yards apart. Team A decides who to call over from Team B by singing, “Red Rover, Red Rover, we call (name) over!”. The player from Team B who was called must run to Team A and try to break through the arms of two Team A players. If the player from Team B doesn’t pass through, they are a part of Team A now. But if they pass through, they go back to their original team. They continue to play until only one person left on one team and the game is over.

  1. Silent Ball

Students sit on their desks and toss a ball to each other around the classroom. No one can talk or make a sound. If a student makes a bad throw, talks or drops the ball they are out and must sit down in their seat. The students continue to play until there are only two left and they are the winner.

  1. Spud

Choose one player to be “it” to quietly give each player a number, including him or herself. “It” starts with the ball, while the other players circle around him/her. “It” then shouts out a number while throwing the ball in the air. All players, including “it”, must run away from the ball except for the person whose number is called. That person must catch the ball and yell “Spud!” When he or she says “spud”, everyone has to freeze. The player with the ball, takes three giant steps towards any player and throws it at that player. If he or she misses, or the player catches the ball, the thrower gets an “S”. If the player gets hit, they get an “S”. The player that got the ball thrown at is the next thrower. For each letter a player gets, spell out S-P-U-D, the last player standing is the winner.

  1. Running Bases

On “GO”, the catchers with the ball, tosses the ball back and forth to each other.  The players must run to the opposite base about 25 yards away.  If the catchers throw the ball back and forth three times all the players have to run to the opposite base. The object is to get to the opposite base without getting tagged by the ball. If the player gets tag they are out and the last player still running is the winner.

  1. Freeze Tag

Begin by choosing a person to be “it.”  The person who is “it” is the player who can “freeze” other players.  When the game begins, everyone runs away from the person who is “it.” “It” chases after other players, trying to tag them. If a person is tagged, he or she must “freeze” in place. Frozen people cannot move until another player un-freeze him or her by touching them or crawling through their legs. The game is over once the all the players running around are frozen.

  1. Seven Up

Seven students go to the front of the class and the class lays their heads on their desk and stick up their thumbs. The seven goes around and each touched a person’s thumb down, then returns to the front of the room Then the seven would say “heads up seven up” and each student whose thumbs were pushed down get a chance to guess which of the seven touched him or her, if they guessed right than they change places.

  1. Four Square

The object of the game of four square is to eliminate players in higher squares so that you can advance to the highest square yourself. Four square is played with a rubber playground ball on a square court with four players, each standing in a quarter of the court. The ball is bounced between players in squares until someone makes an error, by letting the ball pass through their square or hit the ball out of bounds. The person is then eliminated. Eliminated players leave the court and go to the back of the line. Then all players on the court advance to fill the empty squares, and a new player from the line joins at the lowest ranked square.

  1. Capture the Flag

The game composed of two teams with their own territory. The object of the game is to capture your opponent’s flag. If caught in an opponent’s territory, players are brought to jail and can only be saved by a teammate who can free them by tagging them.

  1. Garbage Ball

The class is broken up into two teams and assigned as side of the gym floor. Rubber balls are lined up alone the centerline on the gym. At the sound of the whistle the teams run for the balls and proceed to through them onto the opponents’ side. The players continue to throw the balls until the whistle. The team with the least number of balls on their side at the end of the game wins.

  1. Wall Ball aka “Sui”

The basic activity of the game is throwing the ball up against the wall, letting it bounce on the ground if you want, then catching it. The person who caught it then throws it back against the wall allowing someone else to catch it. If a person throws the ball and it touches the ground before hitting the wall or a person drops the ball, the dropper/bad thrower must run to the wall, while another player tries to throw the ball so that it hits the wall before the runner can touch the wall. If the runner can make it to the wall first, the game play continues. If the ball gets there first, the runner is out.

  1. Kickball

A game very similar to the game of baseball except the pitchers rolls a rubber ball to home plate and the “batter” kicks in into the field. This game can be played with how ever many people present.