The Olympics may be over but it needn't stop your club enjoying games with an international flavour. With these fun ideas you can get your group globe-trotting without even leaving the playground!
Statues (US)
One child takes on the role of a tourist and a second becomes the tour guide. While these children leave the room everyone else strikes a statuesque pose, pretending to be statues in an historic home.
The tour guide is signalled, and they then bring the tourist in and role play showing them around the grand home. Together the pair peer at the statues (they cannot touch them) and the tour guide makes up funny things to say about them. For example, on noticing a child posing with one arm in the air the tour guide may say, 'This is a wonderful statue of a tennis player who lived here 100 years ago; he only wore clothes with stripes on and liked to play tennis in his pyjamas.' If a statue moves, talks or laughs, they too become a tourist and go around peering at other statues, trying to make them laugh.
The tour guide can swap roles with a tourist at any time if they like. The last statue left is the winner and they become the first tour guide in the next round of the game.
King of the court (South Africa)
A grid of four boxes is drawn on the playground with chalk. Each box should measure about 1m square. The first four players are chosen, and these children stand in the grid, one to each box. The rest of the children are the reserves, and they form a line nearby.
One player is given a football that they must pass to any other player.
Kicking and heading the ball is allowed, but players are not allowed to touch it with their hands. The ball should be passed accurately, and the player who receives it must only allow the ball to bounce once before passing it on again. If a player fails to pass or receive the ball successfully they must run to the back of the reserve line and a new player comes on to the court.
You may need a referee to decide who should be out - there could be the odd dispute about whether a ball has been badly passed by one player who overshoots the grid, or simply missed by the receiver! The rules can be adjusted to suit the needs of the group.
As Cobras Vivo (Snakes Alive, Portugal)
You need at least five players for this game, but no more than eight should play in any one line. Players line up one behind the other, each holding the waist of the person in front. The 'head' of the snake (the player at the front) must try to catch the 'tail' (the player at the back). This game is fun, but make sure the children in each team are of a similar size.
Ling Ching Luk (Monkey Run For A Tree, Thailand)
This game is traditionally played outside in a wooded area. One child is chosen to be the monkey. The monkey stands apart from the immediate area of trees, while all other players stand touching a tree - there can only be one player to a tree at any one time. The trees chosen by the children at the beginning of the game will be the only ones in play. On the cry of 'Ling Ching Luk!' the players must begin running to change places constantly, pausing briefly to tag each other's trees as they go. The monkey must scramble to touch a vacant tree while the players are running - if the monkey succeeds, the player without a tree becomes the new monkey.
If a suitable play area isn't accessible, children can substitute alternate objects, cones perhaps, for the real trees and still enjoy the game.
Panuelo (Handkerchief, Spain)
One child is appointed 'it' - they stand in the middle of the play space holding up a handkerchief. The rest of the children are split into two teams of an even number. The teams stand at opposite ends of the playground - each must number their players from one upwards. 'It' calls out a number, and the relevant child from each team must race to grab the handkerchief and take it back to their team. The successful runner scores a point.
However, the child without the handkerchief can chase the other player as soon as they have taken the item and if they can tag their opponent before they return home to their team, no point is scored. The handkerchief is then returned, and another number is called.
Adults can distribute the numbers to team members to ensure that the runners are suitably matched.
Fopbal (Joke or Hoax Ball, Netherlands)
Children stand in a circle with their hands behind their backs. One child is appointed the joker or hoaxer and they are equipped with a ball.
Randomly, the joker throws the ball to children in the circle, who must clap before they catch it, and then throw it back. If children fail to clap or catch the ball, they lose one of three lives until they are out of the game. The joker can pretend to throw the ball to someone (although in this case the ball cannot leave their hands) and if a player moves their hands from behind their back needlessly, they lose a life. Sometimes, more than one child will try to catch a ball - in this case anyone who doesn't actually catch it is penalised.
Coins (New Zealand)
Children are split into two teams - the 'heads' team and the 'tails' team.
An adult spreads an odd number of coins (either real or of the play variety) across the play space, half facing with the head side up, and half facing with the tails side up.
On the start signal the heads team must start turning over the coins displaying tails so that their team emblem can be seen on as many coins as possible. Simultaneously, the tails team turn over the coins displaying heads. There is no limit to the number of times coins can be turned. When an adult signals the end of play, the team with the most emblems on display is the winner.
'Upside Downers' is a similar European game - in this version cones are used instead of coins. Half are placed correctly while half are placed upside down. The 'right way uppers' play against the 'upside downers'.
Appallottolare sur Muro (Ball on the Wall, Italy) One child is appointed the thrower, while all other players line up in front of a wall. The thrower draws a line with chalk at each end of the row of children to show the playing area they must stay within. The thrower stands back from the group and throws or rolls a small soft ball towards them, trying to gently hit one of the children below the knee. The children must jump out of the way of the ball while remaining in the playing area, and must continue to avoid the ball as it rebounds off the wall. The first player hit by the ball swaps places with the thrower and the game continues.
You can extend the game by playing with more than one ball, or by introducing small bouncy balls that will rebound well.
* For further African and Indian games, see 'Indoor and Outdoor Games', Out of School March 2002
Miranda Walker is a playwork trainer who owns Playtime Out of School Club in Cullompton, Devon