Games and Play for School Morale Part 9

CROWS AND CRANES

Players form in two lines, back to back and at about one yard interval.

One line is designated "Crows" and the other "Cranes." If the leader calls out "Cranes," the Cranes will rush forward about thirty feet across a safety line, and the line designated as Crows will turn around and attempt to tag his opposing player before he has crossed the distance to the safety line. If the leader calls "Crows," the Crows will rush forward to their safety zone. Those who are tagged must go over to the other side. The team having the largest number of players at the expiration of a given time wins. The game can be made more intensive by the leader if he drawls out the "r" in either Crows or Cranes.

JUMPING CIRCLE

Players form a circle about 30 feet in diameter. One player in center holds a light rope about fifteen feet long with a soft weight on one end. The player in the center swings the rope around so that players in the circle have to jump it. Player failing to jump the rope has a point counted against him or he may be made to withdraw from the game.

HINDU TAG

The players are scattered in a limited playing area, about fifty feet square. One player is "it". He chases players about and may tag anyone who is in "safe" position (on both knees, forehead on ground). Players ought not to remain in one place, but must move about. Any player tagged is "it". Players should not go out of playing area. Anyone doing so is automatically "it".

SWAT TO THE RIGHT

Any number of players may partic.i.p.ate. Players form a circle, hands behind back, facing in, eyes closed. One player carrying a swatter (belt, knotted towel, etc.), runs around outside of circle and places swatter in someone's hand. The player receiving it immediately hits the player to the right. The player who is being hit, runs around the circle until he is back to his starting position. The player with the swatter follows the runner and swats him until he is back in position.

The player with the swatter runs on and places it in the hands of some other player.

SQUAT TAG

The players are scattered within a limited playing area. One player is "it". He can touch anyone who is not in a full squat position. The player touched becomes "it" and chases about after some other player.

Players who for fear of being made "it" remain in the squat position should be pushed over. The squat position consists of knees full bent with hands on hips.

TEN STEPS

One player who is "it" blinds his eyes and counts ten while all the other players run for hiding places. As soon as the one who is "it"

says "ten," the players must stand motionless wherever they may happen to be while he turns at once to look for them. Any player whom he sees moving must come back to the goal and start over again. The "blinder"

repeats this five times, and any player not entirely out of sight the fifth time the blinder turns must change places with him, while the original "it" becomes a spectator.

After counting "ten" and turning to look for moving players five times, the hunter counts one hundred to give players chance to reach their final hiding places and the game continues as in regular I Spy.

HANG TAG

One player is chosen chaser or "it" and changes places with anyone whom he can tag. Players may escape being tagged by hanging from anything overhead which will enable them to lift their feet from the floor.

Played out of doors, players will naturally save themselves by catching hold of the branches of trees. If played in a gymnasium or playground pieces of apparatus may be used for the same purpose. Players are also considered safe if instead of hanging by their hands, they throw themselves across some obstacle such as a fence, which enables them to lift their feet from the ground. No two players may hang from the same piece of apparatus. The last one taking possession may keep his position, the one before him being obliged to find another place. This keeps the players constantly on the move and the game becomes more interesting.

CLUB s.n.a.t.c.h

A goal is marked off across each end of the playground. An Indian club is placed midway between the goals. A starting base is marked on each goal line in line with the club. The players are divided into two equal teams, each having a captain. Each party takes its place in one of the goals. The object of the game is for one of the runners to s.n.a.t.c.h the club and return to his goal before a runner from the opposite side tags him, both leaving their starting bases at the same time on a signal.

The players on each team run in turn, the captains naming the runner each time.

INDIAN CLUB WRESTLE

Players come up in files not more than eight in a file. Each file forms a circle. In the middle of each circle four Indian clubs are placed. At the signal "go" each circle joins hands and pulls. When the umpire sees that any player in any circle has knocked down a club he calls "Out One." That player withdraws from the game. All stop playing and wait for the signal "go" and the play is repeated. When any one of the circles has been reduced to one player, the game ends, the circle scoring that has the largest number of players left.

Pa.s.s ROUND

Players are in circle formation about four feet apart. They number off, odds forming one team and evens the other. A ball, eraser or some object is given each team on opposite side of the circle. At a signal the teams pa.s.s the object to the right to members of the same team only. Each player must catch the object in his turn. The team which pa.s.ses its object so that it catches up with the opponent's wins. Any player dropping object must regain it himself and pa.s.s it on fairly.

HUMAN TUG OF WAR

Players form in columns of files facing each other. Players stand close together, arms placed about the waist of the player in front (grasping the left wrist with the right hand is the strongest grip). Leading player of each team grasps the opponent about neck or shoulders, team breaking first or having one or more players pulled over the line after thirty seconds is the leader.

VOLLEY BALL

Ten to thirty players may play at one time on playground or gymnasium.

Equipment consists of volley ball and tennis net.

For large teams this game is best played on a ground measuring fifty feet in length and twenty-five in width. A tennis net or a net two feet wide is stretched across the center of the ground from side to side, extending one or two feet beyond the boundary on either side. The upper edge should be from six feet and one-half to seven feet and one-half above the ground. The players are evenly divided into two teams. They scatter over their respective courts without special arrangement. A captain is chosen for each side. An umpire is desirable.

Each team tries to keep the ball in lively play toward its opponents'

court, as each team scores only on its opponents' failures to return the ball or keep it in the air.

The ball is put in play by being served by a selected member of either team, who should stand at the rear of his court with one foot on the rear boundary line behind the line. From this position the ball is tossed upward lightly from one hand and batted with the open palm of the other hand over the net and into the opponents' court. The server has two trials. A served ball may be a.s.sisted on its course by any other player on the server's side using one or both hands (open palm), no player so a.s.sisting the ball on the serve may strike it more than twice in succession, and the server under such circ.u.mstances may not strike it more than once.

Should the ball then fail to land on the opponents' court, the server loses his second serve. In serving, the ball must be batted at least ten feet by the server before being touched by any other player on his side. If a return ball hits a player on the server's side and bounces into the opponents' court, it is considered no play. The players on a side take turns in serving. A ball which bounds back into the court after striking any other object except the floor or ceiling is still in play.

In sending the ball across the net, players should aim for an unprotected part of the opponents' court or try in other ways to place them at a disadvantage. The service changes to opposite side when the serving side:

1. Allows the ball to touch the floor.

2. Knocks it out of bounds.

3. Fails to return it to the opponents.

4. The ball hits the net during the service.

5. A served ball falls outside the opponents' court.

6. A player on the serving side touches the net at any time.

Score. The game consists of twenty-one points--only the serving side scores.

One point is scored when:

1. A good serve is unreturned.

2. Any time when the opponents fail to return the ball which is in play.

3. When the receiving side touches the net.

(Should the serving side fail to return a ball to the opponents' court, they are put out. The serve pa.s.ses to the opponents and no score is made.)

Scoring on Fouls.