Tell Unicef UK the playground games you loved as a child - £300 voucher to be won!

[EmmaMumsnet]

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Unicef UK are launching this years Soccer Aid Playground Challenge and would love to hear about the playground games you used to play at school and what games your children play now. The playground is the highlight of the school day where children can burn off all their energy and play with their friends; share below what you loved to play when you were at school and if any of the games have passed down generations.

Here’s what Unicef has to say: “This year, we’re asking all schools across the UK to join us for the Soccer Aid Playground Challenge to help raise money to help give more children around the world a childhood full of play. The idea is simple – teachers team up with their pupils, design an obstacle course that they will take on together, and fundraise to help children in danger in June 2019. Ask your school to sign up here and we’ll send everything you need for kick off - including fundraising and teaching resources to bring Soccer Aid to life for the whole school.”

Alex, Head of Sports for St Dunstan’s RC Primary School, Manchester says: “The Playground Challenge was the perfect way to get the whole school together for a great cause. Everyone (including staff!) had the best time raising money to help children all over the world.”

So what playground games did you love as a child? Were you Queen of hopscotch? Or perhaps you practised your circus skills with stilts? Maybe you created your own playground football league or were seriously skilled at skipping? Do you know if your children still play the same games now at school?

Everyone who posts below will be entered into a prize draw where one Mumsnetter will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list)

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Terms and conditions apply

I love marbles on the drains and British bulldog! Still remember my heart pumping to avoid getting caught! Redrover was a good one too. Burnt off a lot of energy!

I loved playing Mr Muddle where a row of kids would hold hands and muddle themselves together without letting go of the hands you’re holding. Another child would turn away so can’t see how they’re muddled and would have to try to undo the muddling to get them back to a straight row.

Also we played Mr Crocodile but only using the letters in your name, if the letter called was in your full name you could step forward for how many times letter was in your name. I loved it if L was called 😄

Just remembered another which was great in the summer when we were on the grass. We’d gather up all the grass cuttings and use them to make a floor plan of our dream house. This could take many break times to make perfect!

Mainly Double dutch skipping but I also vividly remember playing What time is it Mr Wolf alot!

Bulldog, Red Rover and Ladders
All unsurprisingly banned in today's playground. I'm not really shocked, every single one of those games in my childhood resulted in at least one broken bone related injury. Bulldog was terrible, we used to bundle (run, jump and land on some poor soul, usually with the odd punch thrown in, woebetide you being the one at the bottom of it) at the end.
I'm actually considering hiring a hall for my 40th and playing a few of these as adults.

The ultimate classic has to be tag but with a twist if you were tagged you had to stand with your arms out like a scarecrow you would remain like that until someone would run under your arms to allow back jnto the game.hours of fun. Grannys footstops was anither favourtie sneak up behind granhy and try and get to wephere she was but if she turnes around you had freeze in postion but if she say you move back tk the start you went. Hide and seek was always fun especially outside lots of places to hide undercars in backgardens behind shubberry. I loved building my own forts and huts with friends the freedom to built your own hideout gathering wood sticks and twigs tarp anything you thought of,it was brilliant and you had to have a password to get in.

Bulldog we had this massive shelter and everyone in the playground would get involved. All of us at each end and then 'charge'. They banned it.

We did skipping and elastics. Oh, and British bulldog.

Hopscotch.! An absolute playground favourite! :)

Hopscotch & Skipping were two of my favourites.

Hopscotch, skipping, rounders. Tag.

Used to love playing hopscotch and was very good at it too.

We used to play jump rope games and we even managed double Dutch. My mom taught me and the other kids in the neighbourhood how to play hopscotch.
Sometimes we’d play football or kickball which was like baseball but kicking a big rubber ball instead.
Sometimes, we would make up dance routines.
We would play chasing games like TV tag and freeze tag or cops and robbers. Other times we would play hide and seek.

The game that stood out for me didn’t have a name. It was in impromptu act on windy days, where we would grasp the hem of our coat and flip it up and above our head in a mock sailboat fashion. We would all face into the wind and attempt to defeat nature by pushing forward until we had successfully reached the edge of the playground. Then stand glorious in our achievement. We would believe we were the masters of the world with suprisingly little effort!

Bulldog all the way! Yup, banned at my school too.
Also something that didn't have a name but was equally violent. It was kind of everyone for themselves where there was a tennis ball and you just ran round with it until someone jumped you and everyone piled on to gain ownership of the ball. And repeat - with a ten second start.
Also, Dobbie (a bit like hide and seek). Genius. Excellent for transferring to cul-de-sac I lived on. We also played rounders with folks' gatepost as the posts. No cars in them days!

I loved playing King ball or Ace ball, I don't know if they were made up at our school but that's what everyone claimed!

We loved skipping, marbles, sprinting and sleeping tigers :)

Its gotta be british bull dog for me. Always reminds me of my primary schools days.

DH thinks I am being unreasonable, would you be annoyed if your hubbie was away on a business trip for 7 weeks and planned to take a female colleague to a work related concert tonight?! Perhaps it’s just that I’m 2000 miles away, at home, with the kids that it’s bugging me? 😒

British bulldog.
Marbles.
It.
What's the time Mr wolf....

Hopscotch, scarecrow tig, Jacks, what’s the time mr wolf

We used to play a game called British Bull Dog!! You had to run from one end of the playground to the other (normally a lot of you) and the Bull dogs used to have to catch you and then you were out!! Last one running was the winner!! Shame there isn't enough playground space these days to play such games!!

I loved hopscotched skipping, what time is it mr wolf and polo but I can’t really remember how you played that now

I used to love a game we played but I don't know if it has a name! It's kind of like What Time is it Mr Wolf? but different. One child stands at one end and all the other children line up opposite. The one child shouts a letter of the alphabet and if you have that letter once in your full name then you take one step forward. If you have that letter twice in your name then you step forward twice, and so on. The winner is the first child from the line to reach the caller. I have really fond memories of playing it!

I sent a letter to my love
And on the way I dropped it
Someone must have picked it up
And put it in their pocket
Thief, thief drop it!

Everyone standing in a large ring, sings that with their eyes closed. One person is the letter-writer, who goes round the outside of the ring with a small stone (or whatever) and drops it next to one person 's feet. The moment everyone finishes singing they open their eyes, and the person who has the stone (the thief) has to pick it up and run round the ring to get to the empty space left by the letter-writer. In the meantime the letter-writer is Running from their Space to get to the space left by the 'thief'. The first person of the two to get to the other's empty space is the winner and ... hmm, can't remember what happens then. The winner gets to be the next letter-writer? Can't remember what we called it either- late 70s.

Other than that, it was long-rope skipping, elastics and hopscotch. Of course. British bulldog was banned and hence hugely desirable - but it did lead to anextraordinary number of broken arms.