Skipping is probably the most popular game in the playground at the moment.
Skipping Tricks
Can Can
Jump on your left foot while raising your right knee. Then do a two-foot jump. Jump on your left foot again while kicking your right foot. Then do a two-foot jump. Repeat with the other leg.
Pretzal
Place your hand under your knee and turn the rope around with the support of your other hand and jump.
Double Dutch
Two ropes in an eggbeater motion around one or two jumpers.
Windscreen Wiper
One person turn the rope and the
other jump round and round waving to other people.
We play this game with a really long piece of elastic, about 2cm wide and 3 metres in length. We tie the ends of the elastic together to make a loop.
Two children stand inside the loop so they are stretching it relatively taut around their ankles. A third person performs a series of hops and jumps, chanting appropriate rhymes. When finished, the height of the elastic is raised to knees, then thighs, then waist.
Start with left foot inside the elastic loop and right foot just outside. Jump over to to the other side so right foot is inside the loop and left foot is outside.
Here is one of the rhymes we say:
'Chocolate cake, when you bake,
How many minutes will you take?
One, two, three, four.'
On ONE: jump up and land with left foot outside the elastic loop and your right foot inside.
On TWO: jump up and land with both feet together inside the elastic loop.
On THREE: jump up and land with both feet outside the elastic loop.
On Four: jump up and land sideways to the elastic, with your left foot on top of the back elastic and your right foot ahead (in front) of the front elastic.
If the current player fails to execute the correct jump their turn is over and play passes to one of the people inside the circle of elastic, who then tries to out do the previous player.
Here are more of the rhymes we use:
'England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales
Inside, outside, inside, on!'
'Old Mrs Mason broke her basin
On the way to London Station.
How much did it cost?
One, two, three, four.'
'Charlie Chaplin sat on a pin
How many inches did it go in?
One, two, three, four.'
Oranges and Lemons
This is how it is played
Two children form an arch with their arms. They determine in secret which of them shall be an 'orange' and which a 'lemon'.
Everyone sings the 'Oranges and Lemons' song (see below).
The other children in the game, take turns to run under the arch until one of them is caught when the arch falls at the end of the song.
The captured player is asked privately whether they will be an 'orange' or a 'lemon' and then goes behind the original 'orange' or 'lemon' team leader.
The game and singing then starts over again. At the end of the game there is usually 'a tug of war' to test whether the 'oranges' or 'lemons' are stronger. The game is similar to 'London Bridge is Falling Down'.
Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St. Clement's.
You owe me five farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin's.
When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey.
When I grow rich,
Say the bells of Shoreditch.
When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney.
I'm sure I don't know,
Says the great bell at Bow.
Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
Here comes a chopper to chop off your head.
Chip chop chip chop the last man's head
(The arch comes down tapping one player)
M
A
R
B
L
E
S
This is one of the oldest marble games, described by the Roman poet Ovid, and played by Augustus, who founded the Roman Empire. The first player shoots one marble onto the playing field, which can be any area. The second player tries to hit the first player's marble. If they hit it, they collect both marbles. If the two marbles are close enough, he or she can attempt to 'span' them. He places his or her thumb on his or her own marble and his or her index finger on his or her opponent's marble. He then draws his or her hand up while bringing his or her fingers together. If the two marbles hit, he or she collects both marbles. If he or she misses, the first player may shoot at either marble on the field. If a player collects the last marble on the field, he or she must shoot a marble for the next player to shoot at.
Mark off a taw line five to ten feet away from a wall. The first player throws a marble against the wall to serve as a target. On each first shot, players shoot from behind the taw line, aiming to hit the mib after rebounding against the wall first. The shooter must hit the wall before it hits the target marble. If a player misses the mib, she leaves her marble where it lands. If a player hits the mib, she collects it along with all the marbles on the ground. She then throws out a new mib, and the game continues.
If all the players have taken their first shot and none have hit the mib, the game continues, but each player shoots her marble from wherever it landed on the last turn. The game is over when one player wins 10 marbles, or a previously determined namuber of marbles.
Variation: When all the players have shot and missed, any marble between the wall and the line is a target. Players still shoot in order, from where their marbles lie, but hitting a mib only wins that player that one marble. The game continues until all the marbles are gone. Whoever won the most marbles wins.
How to Play Conkers
During the months of September and October, a favourite playground game is conkers. It is a game which has been played every autumn for generations but nowadays fewer children are playing it. We hope to revive this British custom by telling you more about it.
Conkers is also the name given to a game played between two people at a time.
How to prepare your conker for playing.
The best conkers to play with are uncracked, firm and symmetrical.
Make a hole through the middle of of your chosen conker.
Thread a strong piece of string about 25cm long, through the hole and tie a knot at one end, so that it doesn't pull through.
How to play conkers?
Each player has a conker hanging on its string. Players take turns at hitting their opponent's conker. text taken from and copyright of projcetbritain.com
Unwritten rules or playground football...
I will get things started with...
The height of the goal will vary depending on the size of the kid and the general concencous that the ball looked like it would be going over.
If it could not be agreed that a goal was scored or not, a penalty would be awarded to decide the outcome.
If someone asked you to play, you would instantly say I don't know its not my ball.
The team with one less player could have a rush keeper, where as the opposing goalkeeper had to stay put in goal.
Skip it Ball Game
Queenie Queenie Who’s got the ball?’
You all stood round in a massive circle with your hands behind your back and passed a tennis ball around behind you whilst chanting ‘Queenie, Queenie, who’s got the ball, I haven’t got it, it isn’t in my pocket, Queenie, Queenie, who’s got the ball’
At the end of the song who ever had the ball would simply hurl it into the face of who ever was stood opposite them. Then the whole game just involved who ever got their nose broken by the ball next had to chase everyone else trying to break their noses and on it went until the bell went or the ball was too bloody to continue with. What’s not to love about that game?
Hopscotch is a children's game that can be played with several players or alone. Hopscotch is a popular playground game in which players toss a small object into numbered spaces of a pattern of rectangles outlined on the ground and then hop or jump through the spaces to retrieve the object.