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Sustainability also means consuming less. To prove that keeping kids entertained doesn’t require the latest game console or an expensive bike, we revisit the classic outdoor games our grandparents played.
With no equipment required, these three outdoor games deliver fun, movement and togetherness almost instantly — in the park, the backyard, or at the beach.
Some games are simply universal — the kind we all learned from our parents, or even our grandparents. To keep these wonderfully timeless games, handed down from generation to generation, from being crowded out entirely by the Wii, PlayStation and DVDs, we’ve picked out our three favorites: a nostalgic trip down memory lane for you, and pure playground fun for your kids.
What makes these games so special? They deliver plenty of movement and, above all, plenty of fresh-air fun, with almost no setup required. All you need is a handful of friends, a bit of space, and ideally decent weather. One person explains the rules, and you’re off:
Musical Trees
Minimum 4 players
How to play: For this classic, you’ll need an outdoor space with several trees that aren’t too close together, plus chalk or ribbons to mark which trees are in play — you’ll need exactly one fewer tree than the number of children playing.
One child is chosen to stand in the middle, surrounded by the marked trees. Everyone else claims a spot at a marked tree.
The child in the middle now has one goal: claim a tree of their own. The moment they call out “trees, change!,” everyone scrambles to find a different free tree.
Whoever is left without a tree takes their turn in the middle, and the round starts again.
Drop the Handkerchief
Minimum 5 players
How to play: This one can be played almost anywhere, with almost no preparation — all you need is a small bag, a ball, or even a balled-up handkerchief. All the children but one, “it,” sit in a circle and sing:
“Don’t look back, the runner’s on the prowl — whoever turns or laughs gets a smack on the back!”
The child who’s “it” circles the group with the ball or cloth and tries to drop it behind one of the seated children as secretly as possible. The moment that child notices the object behind them, they must grab it, jump up, and give chase around the circle. If they catch the runner before it reaches their now-empty spot, the runner takes another turn as “it.” If they don’t catch it, and the runner reaches the empty spot first, the chasing child becomes the new “it.”
Variation: If the seated child never notices the object at all, and the runner makes a full lap back to tap them on the shoulder, that child becomes a “sleepyhead” and has to sit in the middle until the next “sleepyhead” takes their place.
Fisherman, Fisherman, How Deep Is the Water?
Minimum 5 players
How to play: This game, too, needs nothing but an outdoor playing area, ideally with its edges marked (chalk, sticks, ribbons — whatever’s on hand). One child is chosen as the fisherman and stands facing the others from about 15 meters away.
The other children call out: “Fisherman, fisherman, how deep is the water?” The fisherman can answer however they like — for instance: “very deep, 3,658 km deep, quite shallow, one meter deep,” and so on.
The children call back: “And how do we get across?” Again, the fisherman answers however comes to mind — perhaps: “you have to hop, walk sideways, jump on one leg, walk backwards, dance,” and so on.
As the children make their way across following the fisherman’s instructions, the fisherman tries to catch and tag as many as possible. Anyone caught joins the fisherman’s side and helps catch the others in the next round. The last child left uncaught becomes the new fisherman.
You’ll find more wonderful game ideas for children of every age in the book “Schöne alte Kinderspiele: Ideen für Kinder aller Altersstufen” by Gisela Dürr and Martin Stiefenhofer.
