What playground games do your children play?

[peepeelongstocking]

After a shed clearout DD18 found her old long skipping rope. Last night my niece (10) came over, so DD18 asked if she'd skip with her as she was sat about not really doing anything. DN wasn't very good and so DD18 jokingly asked her if she'd never skipped before and she replied she hadn't!

On further questioning it appears that at break all they do is stand and talk, occasionally chase each other about but that's mainly babyish and for lower school kids. No hand-claps, no dob, no skipping, no singing games. Apparently it's always been like that, not just because of the pandemic. My same age DD agrees that that's all they do.

Is this the norm in primary? I'm surprised!

didn't mean to enable voting

My son (6) tells me they play zombies, which is a tag/ it game.

Dd is 12 and at secondary so I don’t think they play. There’s been a lot of just standing talking for years I think.

@TheDowagerDuchessofMwwwahaha

I'm surprised! I can't imagine what they find to talk about at that age, I remember my elder DD coming back very disappointed when she discovered no one played games at secondary.

Our primary school has lots out for the kids at lunchtimes - skipping ropes, hula hoops, bean bags, balls, chalk, colouring. Group games are also played such as what's the time Mr Wolf, duck duck goose etc.

Pre-covid when the kids didn't have to stay in their class groups we also had music for kids to dance to and tuff trays.

The kids love it and definitely is more engaging for them

My eight yr old says sometimes they play tag or similar, sometimes they don’t. I think it varies by school as we saw a difference when we moved house a few years ago.

My boys appear to play large chase games and hide n seek variants. There is usually a football game somewhere and they have stuff painted on the ground like hopscotch and the like. There might be skipping ropes, mine have never mentioned them though.

Chicken or hero. 🤷🏻‍♀️
I don't know what it is. It makes little sense to me. Sounds British bulldog-esque

Mine play:
Four square, with a tennis ball
Elastics
Floor is lava
Zombie tag

(In NZ)

No one does skipping, says my daughter

My DD7 talks about playing Floor is lava, mums and dads, zombies, stuck in the mud - that sort of thing. The school has some equipment available and a park type play area but there are such a lot of pupils at the school it’s rare they get a turn with it. They also have a ‘small world’ box (dinosaurs/ cars/ characters) but not sure my DD ever uses it.

DD5 just talks about chalk so I think she draws a lot!

That's sad. There were so many singing games when I was at school, some of them dating back centuries. Has French skipping been banished for fear of kids getting their legs twanged by elastic? A washing-line skipping rope could give a good whack, too. But no amusements were provided by adults; the playground was for children.

@Guineapigbridge
I wonder why skipping’s gone so out of fashion? It’s such a shame since it’s healthy and so fun.

@RIPworkingmums
My DD’s school has a park play-area thing, but as she’s in year 6 they only get to use it once a month

@katy1213
I agree it’s very sad, I wonder why they’ve died out? I think it’s partly to do with children of different age groups rarely/never mixing.

Don't they mix in the playground at break time? You're probably right - because the games/songs were handed down and the younger children picked them up from the older ones.
I'm sure it was more inclusive, too - the more children, the better it went, so we didn't just play with best friends.

@katy1213

From what I’ve found out they all seem to hang around within their little groups in the class, they don’t even speak to the children in the other year six class (!)

When I was 10 I think I played with a group of children probably aged between 6 and 14 or 15, not to mention ‘grown-up’ (who were probably about 18) cousins who’d play with us when they came over.

I definitely agree about inclusivity.

DD5 plays Floor is Lava, Zombie Tag, Mummies and Daddies, Baby Lions (which I think just involves crawling around on all fours roaring), and Secret Messages (finding rocks in the playground and hiding them).

I would imagine that, sadly, skipping ropes have been banned for health and safety reasons.

We have skipping, elastic, ball games(champ,table tennis, football, hot potato etc) ,hopscotch, adventure trail type thing,racing track.
Most of them are off limits now due to corona.

The kids play it,stuck in the mud, mother may I,splat, what's the time mr wolf, and chicken,hero or twin(which I still don't fully understand). That's off the top of my head.

Or they recreate online games like among us.

Lots of running and screaming going on.

"I would imagine that, sadly, skipping ropes have been banned for health and safety reasons."

That is such rubbish. No, they haven't been banned.

Tig every day and they dance too

My teenager skipped. I remember her coming home from Reception desperate to learn and in a few days she could skip. I taught her the songs that I knew and her friends taught her the songs that their mums new. By y2 ish it was more tag and bulldog than skipping. She's never jumped elastics like me.-1

Ds (14) played Tag pretty much all of primary. Many boys preferred football but he couldn't care less about it but enjoyed a good run around.

This thread is half sweet, half sad.

I used to love skipping.

Don’t think the schools have skipping ropes any more actually.

My DS’ (11 & 7) play football, zombies, shark attack, British bulldogs and the like. They seem to play with the girls in big groups as well from what they come home and tell me.

I’m dying for a game of kerby/curby now

I’m inspired to get my daughter into skipping now
Bumper car bumper car number 48

We used to play games at infant school and at junior school, but by the time we were 10 we were "big girls" and talked rather than running around. So it may be that not much has changed.

DD5 talks about Tag, Hopscotch, What’s the time Mr Wolf, Floor is lava, mummies and daddies. They also have climbing frames and scooters to play with.

This week she asked me to help her learn to skip and every child was sent home a bag of PE kit to keep at home (skipping rope, ball, ban bags). She was also asking me to teach her cats cradle and some clapping songs.

I walk or drive past the playground fairly often and the kids are all running around, hardly any just stood about.