Games for the Kids

There are plenty of children’s party games that will be sure to keep the children entertained. And, you just might find that the adults enjoy some of these games too. Ah…how wonderful to bring out the child once more in the older generation.

One great game to play at your family reunion is Simon Says. To help personalize the game even more and to make it more fun, you might want to change “Simon” with the name of someone else in the family. In case you have forgotten how to play this game, you have someone designated as “Simon” (or whatever name you choose) and that person issues commands to those that are playing. If he or she starts the command with “Simon says…” then the participants are expected to do it. If the person does not first say these two magic words, but a participant does what the person said, that person is eliminated from the game. The winner is the last person standing and doing what Simon says to do.

Another fun game to play is Red Light, Green Light. With this game, one person is “It” and stands a good distance away from the other participants with his or her back turned. The person that is It shouts “Green light” and all of the participants run as fast as they can toward the person that is It. It can then call “Red light” at any time and turns around when doing so. If anyone is still running when It turns around, he or she is either eliminated or has to return to the start line. It then says “Green light” and turns around again. This is continued until someone reaches the person that is It and tags him or her. That person then becomes It and all of the participants return to the start line.

Red Rover is another game you might consider playing, though it could end up with bumps and bruises. With this game, you set up two opposing teams. Each team forms a straight line by holding hands side-by-side. Someone from one team shouts “Red Rover, Red Rover, send (fill in a name) right over.” The person whose name was called then runs and attempts to break through the opposing team’s wall by breaking the chain where to people are holding hands. If the person is unsuccessful, he or she joins that team. If he or she is successful, he or she returns to the original team and takes someone from the opposing team as well. One team wins after all of the players are collected from the opposing team.

You might remember some of these games from when you were younger – and, chances are that your relatives do to. If so, they would probably enjoy the opportunity to bring back happy childhood memories by playing these games right alongside the children.