Inside: Description of a super fun tag game.
School just started for us here in Canada (this is just the second week) but I’ve already had several days of subbing.
I was filling in for a relief teacher which meant I had all sorts of different classes and different grades throughout the day.
We ended up reading lots of stories, playing some fun indoor games and having gym classes.
Today I want to share with you a “new to me” tag game.
It’s called “Rock, Paper, Scissors Tag”.
When I got home I looked it up online to see how popular it is. I got lots of hits but all the games I looked at were played much differently than the version the kids taught me.
ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS TAG
Needed:
A whole bunch of energetic kids who already know how to play Rock, Paper, Scissors. I think this game would work with Grade 2s up to Grade 10, although I played it with a Grade 3/4 class.
Directions:
- Ensure that everyone knows how to play Rock, Paper, Scissors.
- Everyone is “It”.
- On “go” the kids run around the gym or designated outdoor play area and try and tag each other.
- When one child has tagged another, both kids stop running and play a quick game of Rock, Paper, Scissors. The person (A) who loses the game sits down. The person (B) who won the game keeps running.
- A sits on the floor or grass and carefully watches B. As soon as B loses a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors and sits down, then A can jump up again and play.
- If the teacher sees that there are too many kids sitting down he/she just yells, “Rock, Paper, Scissors” and everyone jumps back up and starts running around again.
Why I Recommend This Game:
- Every single child LOVED playing this tag game — engagement was extremely high.
- There’s a good balance of running and rest. Hardly anyone was sitting for very long.
- The kids who were sitting had to be alert (no daydreaming here) to know when it was their turn to jump back up,
- The game was fast moving with some great vibes — no whining or complaining whatsoever!
I hope you give the game a try.
PS I’d LOVE to hear in the comments what your favourite gym game is!
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This game sounds really awesome. Thanks for posting. My daughter (9) has just told us that her class is playing it all the time. We live in Berlin, Germany. I'd really like to know where the idea originated.
That's so cool to hear that it's being played on the other side of the world! I have no idea where it originated but it's fascinating to know that kids everywhere are playing it:)Thanks for stopping by!
This is a great idea. We play “Everyone is It Tag” that’s very similar, but the kids just wait until their tagger gets tagged before they can get up. This ends up with a lot of kids sitting quickly and for a while if they were tagged by one of the more athletic students. Your version gives them the fun of everyone is it, but evens the playing field a bit with the non-athletic challenge. Thanks for sharing!
Yes, it definitely helps with those super athletic kids. It adds that element of chance. Thanks for stopping by, Cassandra!
The kids at school call it Chaos. They loved it.
That’s a great name for it! Thanks for stopping by:)
I’m a student teacher in New Zealand and we play it with my placement class and my own kids play it at school but they call it Tricky Tag
Isn’t it funny how many names there are? I was in a school last week and they were playing the same game but they called it “Everyone’s It Tag”.
Thanks for reading the blog!