Our Own Chase Game
What you need
- a blanket for the safe base
- a scarf for a tail, if you like
How to do it
- With a friend, a cousin or the family, ask the children to make up a chase game: who's the chaser, and where is safe?
- Spread the blanket on the grass as home base, and let them decide the rules: safe on the blanket, or frozen when caught?
- Play a few rounds, then ask if anything needs changing: a new rule, a new chaser, a funny way to run.
- Finish with a round where everyone chases you, and you get caught.
Why it matters
Making up a game together means agreeing the rules before anyone runs, and changing them halfway keeps everyone talking.
What they're learning
- Making up rules
- Deciding together what's safe and what's caught.
- Running and dodging
- Changing direction fast to get away.
- Taking turns to chase
- Everyone gets a go at being the chaser.
What to look for
Notice them reminding someone of a rule they made up.
A tip
Play on grass in the garden or a park, away from roads, with no slopes or steps to run on.
Make it easier or harder
Easier: play a simple chase with you as the chaser, and let them choose where home base is
Harder: add tails: tuck a scarf into the back of everyone's waistband, and the chaser pulls them out
