Field Games

JAMAQUACK

Put a third of group in center of the circle. These are the jamaquack. They reach over and grab their ankles. They start in the center of the circle with their heads touching. On the count of three they close their eyes and start quacking and moving backwards toward the outer circle. The rest of the group has formed a “pen” by holding hands. When the quacking starts, one couple drops their hands to form a gateway for the jamaquack to get out of the pen. As the jamaquack move out toward the circle, the pen players can quietly bump them back into the pen by slightly bending their knees. Once a jamaquack finds its way out the gateway they can stand up, open their eyes and quack for the rest of the flock to follow.

BARNYARD BEDLAM

You need a paper bag for each group and a bag of peanuts* in shells. Scatter the peanuts through a large meadow or playing field. Divide the group into teams. Each group must represent a barnyard animal and must practice making the noise of that animal. Each team selects a captain to carry the team bag. Explain the boundaries of the search area. At a signal the teams rush to the area with the scattered peanuts. If a peanut is spotted, the team member must stand and make only the noise of the animal and point to the peanut. Only the captain can pick it up and put in the bag. Play until all the peanuts are picked up. Have each team count its peanuts to determine the winner. * - or PomPoms

BLOB TAG

As always, the game begins by identifying the player who is “it.” When that person tags another player, the two become “stuck” together. The resulting “Blob” runs around, tagging other players and adding them to their blob. Once the blob is made of four people, it splits into two separate blobs that begin chasing the others. The game continues until the last person is caught.

GUESS THE LEADER

Gather the girls together and ask one player to leave the room. The rest of the girls choose one player to be the leader. The leader performs actions and the rest of the girls follows. For instance, if she hops on one foot, so will the rest of the troop. When all of the girls are performing the action, bring the absent player back into the room. She observes the troop. The leader must change actions every few moments. It is up to the troop members to keep a close eye on the leader so they can also change actions as quickly as possible. After three or four actions, the player who is observing must guess which girl is the leader. If she guesses correctly, she chooses the next guesser and joins the troop. If she guesses incorrectly, she must leave the room again and come back to try and guess the new leader.

SHEEP AND HYENA (Sudan)

See if you can keep the sheep away from the hungry hyena! Get a least ten (10) people to play. Players join hands and form a tight circle. The hyena stays outside the circle. The sheep stays inside the circle. The players in the circle have to try to keep the hyena from breaking through the circle to get to the sheep. The game ends when the hyena get the sheep or get too tired to go after the sheep anymore. Two other people become the sheep and hyena.

BROWNIES AND FAIRIES

You have two equal teams, Brownies and Fairies. The two teams line up and face each other. Behind each team, about 20 feet away, is its Safe Place.

Suddenly, the leader may call, "Brownies are coming." Fairies run to their Safe Place with Brownies chasing them. A Fairy caught joins the Brownies.

Next time, the leader may call, "Fairies are coming." Or she may say again, "Brownies are coming." You never know. The team that ends with the most players wins.