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Share your stories of youthful springtime games to win Peter Rabbit goodies

140 replies

EmilyMumsnet · 23/03/2015 13:04

Spring is in the air – our noses are a-twitch, our tails a-quiver – and to celebrate, the Peter Rabbit Club are giving one lucky Mumsnetter a fabulous Peter Rabbit book bundle! What’s more, ten runners-up will receive a copy of Peter Rabbit’s Hop To It! sticker book, packed with stickers and fun activities to keep little bunnies busy this Easter.

For a chance to win these goodies, tell us how you enjoyed the spring air when you were but a wee bunny yourself. We particularly want to hear about the classic outdoor games you used to play. Hopscotch anyone?

To enter the competition, just post your top outdoor games on this thread and we’ll pick our favourites. This competition is sponsored by the Peter Rabbit Club.

This competition is now closed
Winner: jeee
Runners-up: KittyFan83, DancingHat, Wotshudwehave4T, itsnotjustaslap, CopperPan, Clawdy, Dollyemi, riverwell, Bostin, buckley1983

Thanks for all your wonderful stories

Congratulations to the winners! We'll be in touch shortly.

Share your stories of youthful springtime games to win Peter Rabbit goodies
OP posts:
DancingHat · 05/04/2015 18:33

As one of four children we had lots of opportunities to make up outdoor games. 3 bad eggs was the favourite where we all ran around the garden and when the person who had the ball said "stop" we all stopped, stood wide legged in a star shape and they would aim the ball between someone's legs. If it went through that person lost a life and if it missed the thrower lost a life. But either way the person aimed at got the ball. We then carried on running round until the person with the ball said "stop". This would continue until one person had lost all three lives by having the ball go through their legs or being a terrible shot! Then that person would be the 'bad egg'. There was a dare involved which was never particularly daring. Like getting jam smeared on your face or eating a teaspoon of mustard. Kept us entertained all day especially when friends were round and there were lots of people playing. There was no limit to the number who could join in.

nutunit · 05/04/2015 19:09

I used to love playing on the footpath with my whip & top. My friend & I used to colour the top with chalk patterns. simple fun, but great pleasure from it.

freefan · 05/04/2015 19:39

We used to play the game 'What's the time Mr Wolf' and I still play it now with my own children and their friend,also 'Wink, Murder' where they all stand in a circle with their eyes closed and you walk round and touch one of them on the shoulder making them the secret murdered, if you are winked at you have to sit down and everyone has to try and catch the 'murdered' before they get winked at.

lhlee62 · 06/04/2015 11:10

I remember playing hop scotch for hours, a bit of chalk or just using a stone to scratch the floor and you'd be good to go. My best friend used to live just around the corner so my mum would let me go out on my own. If it wasn't hop scotch then we would look for worms I don't think we ever found any!!

Funkyferret · 06/04/2015 15:22

I remember Pip, Squeak and Wilfred from my days in the Brownies. It was really noisy with a lot of running around but quite what we were trying to achieve I can't remember!

Legwarmersforboys · 06/04/2015 15:33

We used to skateboard (badly), make pretend mini gardens with rows of Daisy's. Loads of skipping with double ropes (it's amazing how fit we must have been) & finger string cats cradle games.

The fads were always good, yo-yos, hacky sacks Rubix cubes.

MrsSocks · 06/04/2015 20:23

'Tracking' where we split across the whole village and hid, football with jumper goal posts, kerbie, and there was nothing better than being able to play on the field at school at playtime when the grass had been cut and we would collect the cuttings and make giant birds nests, sit in them, and make daisy chains! Grin

TartanTrousers · 07/04/2015 15:56

Curby!

Two-player game, each standing on one side of the curb throwing a football with the aim to get the ball back once it bounces back off the curb - endless hours of fun!

GloGirl · 07/04/2015 22:48

I used to love hide and seek and I still get a little excited and giggly hiding from my DC

Scungybear · 08/04/2015 16:28

We used to put a tennis ball in the end of a leg from a pair of tights and play games with rhymes and bouncing it off a wall under your arms or legs and so on. I also used to make 'perfume' for my mum with rose petals and water!

funkyfish586 · 08/04/2015 19:10

When I was growing up we were a fan of knock door run & Icky Acky.

Icky Acky was amazing!! back in the day when you could play out for hours & no one really knew where you were but they knew you were probably safe :)

It involved hiding somewhere & someone being 'on' & it was their job to find you and catch you whilst not leaving the 'home' exposed. Your task was to run to the 'home' and shout 'Icky Acky 123 in'

Such lovely memories

Ritakd · 08/04/2015 19:38

We played endless hopscotch, 2 ball & elastics, still play hopscotch with our DD's every school morning!

Poofus · 09/04/2015 09:55

Duck duck goose, what's the time Mr Wolf?, hopscotch of course, a strange variant of squash which involved hitting a ball off the side of the house... And at school we played lots of things with a long length of elastic which I was never any good at at all.

lilmiztam22 · 09/04/2015 12:16

skipping ropes and hula hoops were my idea of outdoor heaven when I was little. Skipping games and ryhmes seemed endless and it was so fun

strawberrisc · 09/04/2015 20:06

Oh elastic skipping - when the girls threaded the elastic over their ankles with different rhymes and Double Dutch - skipping with two ropes. Loved them both!

buckley1983 · 09/04/2015 23:23

My neighbour & I used to play badminton over the garden fence all afternoon until the sun set - then we would watch for bats! We also used to pick gooseberries & dare each other to eat them raw.. argh! I remember many self-assembled assault courses involving climbing across the water tank, behind sheds, up trees & other dangerous tasks which I now wince about my son ever trying!

confusedofengland · 10/04/2015 20:20

We used to play games like Scram, Sticky Toffee & What's the Time, Mr Wolf? All of these were variations on a theme, iirc, with one child catching the other children, who could then free each other. I was thrilled to see DS1 (6) playing the last one in the playground after school the other day, it really has stood the test of time.

Other favourites were 45-home (like hide-and-seek, but you had to run away from the seeker & there was a place that was 'home'), hopscotch, group skipping. We also loved British Bulldog 123, but that was banned at school. And then, of course, there was Kiss Chase & Knicker Chase Blush

holdmybeer · 12/04/2015 20:41

This thread is bringing back some great memories Smile tag, oranges and lemons, duck, duck goose and ladders!!
But spring time picnics with my nan where we were sent of to explore were my favourite. She used to take me and my cousins upto some waste land near to where she lived and let us roam. We'd build dens and play hide and seek until she summoned us to go home!

CathBookworm · 13/04/2015 15:59

Ah-happy memories. We played cricket, skipping, roller booting, going for walks, sliding down the hill on flattened cardboard boxes, made daisy chains, looked for 4 leafed clovers, (also mud pie making was popular when we were very young!) We were lucky to live quite near the country side, we spent a lot of time outdoors and left to our own devices..

porridgensausages · 13/04/2015 22:08

Playing rounders :)

Rushyswife · 15/04/2015 14:36

We loved 40:40 out! Kind of like hide and seek but the hiders had to try and run back to a base whilst the seeker wasn't watching! Good times.

compy99 · 15/04/2015 23:25

this takes me back! we used to play What's the time Mr Wolf? Marbles was a fav and it was very exciting when you won a very colourful one, not so good when you dropped your tin of marbles and the other kids would shout out "scramble!" and kids would appear from nowhere and grab them all!

sweir1 · 16/04/2015 08:05

We used to play manhunt with all the kids on the block

MummyBtothree · 17/04/2015 12:00

When I was a girl we used to play 'elastics', where a girl stood either end of a loop of elastic and others jumped over and from side to side to rhymes.

KittyFan83 · 18/04/2015 03:33

I loved any sport - football, athletics, swimming, cycling, cricket, you name it I played it!

My favourites were trying to turn the garden and local area into makeshift Olympics setups - so we'd use the square back garden patio to count the distance of our jumps, hurdle the fences between our garden and next doors, and use the big path on our cul-de-sac as our 100m sprint track, even though it was really closer to 20m!! We'd even use tennis balls for shot put and frisbees for discus, and my mum's garden sticks for supporting her plants got repurposed for our javelin efforts!

A perfect blend of outdoor activity and imagination for us. Just a shame we outgrew our "stadium" in the end ;)