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Maxwell loves to be outside! In fact, "ou-side" was one of his first words. So, when CLIF kid asked me to host a play day at the park for kids, I was absolutely on board! I chose a shady park with a large cement slab so that we could have swings, slides, and creative play time outside. CLIF Kids is all about reclaiming play, and getting kids to Come Out to Play! So, I put together 10 fun games to play outside with kids of all ages. Best part? You don't need a lot of extra stuff for any of these outdoor games for kids.

10 Fun Games to Play Outside

1. Nature scavenger hunt

I set this chalk board up at the entrance to the playground so kids could see it and go on a hunt as soon as they arrived. I had multiple kids bring me their heart shaped rocks, super cute. I love that this game can be structured or open ended. The nature scavenger hunt could easily be a team game with prizes given away to the team who finds the goods the fastest. ( Photograph by Sarah Siller)

This game works really well with the 2-4 crowd. It's also perfect for teaching toddlers their shapes. Best part? All you need is chalk and a cement slab to play!

3. Bean bag tic tac toe

I drew a simple tic tac toe on the ground with a piece of chalk and left bean bags near by. The kids (and adults) knew what to do right away!

4. Side walk obstacle course

I doodled a simple obstacle course on the sidewalk that led to the park. It was fun to see kids and parents skipping, hopping, and twirling into the park! Again, this could be more structured or even have 2 set up next to each other and make it a race!

5. Sidewalk ABC's

This is probably my outdoor game for kids! Although it is not exactly a game, and more of an outdoor activity. All you need is a sidewalk and chalk. Then divide the sidewalk into 26 segments and write one letter of the alphabet in each square. Encourage kids to draw pictures of things that start with the letter in the square. For example, B is for ball, bat, and balloon! C is for cow, cat, and CLIF bar!

6. Hula hoops

Kids (and adults) of all ages love hula hoops! You can roll them, use them as a jump rope or even use hula hoops as stencils for chalk drawings!

7. Jump ropes

Jump rope can be used as props for chalk drawings, and of course for jumping rope! Maxwell is a pro jump roper!

8. Constellation rocks

I printed off these 3 constellation sheets for free, stuck them in page protectors and laid them on the ground next to chalk! Check out the awesome constellations that were made with playground rocks and chalk! Can you guess which one this is?

9. Shadow tracing

This one works best with 2 people, one as the shadow model and one as the artist!

10. Sorting by color

This is a fun game for kids of all ages to do together! You can use whatever toys you have on hand along with items from nature to fill the chalk colored circles! Think: flowers, leaves, rocks, and even the chalk itself!

Outdoor Games for Kids (Ages 4+)

These are classic outdoor game to play with any large group of kids!

11. Four Square

This is a classic game that everyone knows how to play! Use chalk to make a fancy court, and grab a playground ball. Just in case, here are the official rules of four square.

12. Red Light, Green Light

One person plays the stop light and all of the other players are on the start line. The stop light turns their back and the players run until the stop light turns back around and yells red light. The stop light gets to determine if anyone is still moving and those players have to back to start. The first player to reach the stop light wins the games and gets to be the next stop light.

13. Mother May I

One player is the mother and the other kids are the children. The mother lines up at one end of the room and the children at the opposite end. The mother starts the game by requesting a child to move in a certain way. The child must ask, "Mother May I?" after the moves have been said. If the child forgets to say, "Mother May I?" the child has to go back to the starting point. The goal of the mother is to bring everyone to the finish line as equally as possible. Here are some example moves that the mother might say:

Take x# steps forward

Take 1 big leap forward

Take x# sideways steps

Hop forward like a frog x# of times

Take 1 cartwheel

Walk on your hands until you fall over

Take 10 baby steps forward

Take x# of long jumps forward

14. Red Rover, Red Rover

To organize a good game of Red Rover you will need at least 20 kids. Have the kids number off and make 2 lines of 10 kids each. The lines should be about 30 feet apart and the kids will hold hands or link arms. Team 1 starts the game by calling out, "Red Rover, Red Rover let (player from opposing team) come over!" The goal is for the player that was called over to run across and break the link of the other team. If the link is broken, that team member gets to pick one person to bring back with them to their team. If the link is not broken, the child joins that team.

15. Simon Says

One player is Simon and all of the other players stand in front of Simon. Simon tells players to do various moves, but the players should only obey commands that begin with, "Simon Says". For example, if Simon says, "Simon says clap your hands." Players must clap their hands.

What is a play day without food! After all, kids need to feed their adventures with some healthy snacks! I love that CLIF kid snacks have no high fructose corn syrup, synthetic preservatives or artificial flavors. High five to that. Oh and Maxwell approves, I think he ate at least 4 CLIF kid bars that morning. "Bars" are always a winner in our house.

Playing outside was a huge part of my childhood, and I'm pretty excited that Maxwell is an outdoor lover too! How often does your family play outside? Have you ever tried CLIF kid snacks? Check out my co-host, Heidi with Free Fun in Austin's, post with more cute pictures and lots more information about one of our favorite Austin parks, Patterson Park!

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10 Fun Games to Play Outside - C.R.A.F.T.

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Maxwell loves to be outside! In fact, "ou-side" was one of his first words. So, when CLIF kid asked me to host a play day at the park for kids, I was absolutely on board! I chose a shady park with a large cement slab so that we could have swings, slides, and creative play time outside.

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Printable Finger Labyrinths with directions

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Printable Finger Labyrinths with directions

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Write a letter/note of gratitude to someone

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Write a letter/note of gratitude to someone

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Take 5 Breathing: A Breathing Exercise for Kids

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Take 5 Breathing Exercise for Kids_Part 4 of the Managing Big Emotions series for kids

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This garden themed yoga for kids sequence is a fabulous way to celebrate the changing seasons, being out in nature or Earth Day.
"Frogs!"
"Butterflies!"
"Caterpillars!"
My daughter's preschool classmates were all eager to answer after I asked them what we might see in a garden. I visited their classroom recently to read my garden yoga book as part of their study of the garden and nature. The teachers have done a fantastic job of integrating science, language arts, art, music, and math into their garden studies. They've done some wonderful activities, including:

Created a large group garden mural

Planted lima beans indoors to watch the beans sprout

Discussed small creatures that live in and around the garden

Learned to identify the parts of a flower

Read garden-themed books

Talked about what plants need to grow

Planted a garden in their playground

It is also simple to use movement to teach your children about the garden. Children are born to move. They need to move to learn, be active, and have fun! This garden themed yoga for kids sequence can easily be used at home or school, simply print our our the printable version (download instructions below) to guide you.

To get started, clear a space so the children can move around safely, without bumping into any obstacles. Have your little gardeners wear comfy clothes perfect for gardening. They could practice on a yoga mat-or on a towel if you're on a non-slip surface-pretending the mat is their garden. Explain that you're going on a pretend walk through the garden and remind them to bring their creativity and imaginations! Follow along with the five garden yoga poses below. Don't worry about practicing the perfect yoga postures. Just give it a go and have fun!

Garden Themed Yoga for Kids

These five yoga poses have been sequenced to flow from one pose to the next:

Pretend to be a tree
To do Tree Pose: Stand on one leg. Bend the knee of the leg you are not standing on, place the sole of your foot on the opposite inner thigh or calf, and balance. Sway like a tree in the breeze. Switch sides and repeat the steps.

Pretend to be a frog
To do Squat Pose: Come down to a squat with your knees apart and your arms resting between your knees. Touch your hands to the ground. Jump up like a frog and then return to a squat position.

Pretend to be a seed
To do Child's Pose: Sit back on your heels, slowly bring your forehead down to rest on the floor in front of your knees, rest your arms down alongside your body, and take a few deep breaths. Pretend to be a seed in the garden.

Pretend to be a butterfly
To do Cobbler's Pose: Gently come up and sit on your buttocks with a tall spine. Bend your legs, place the soles of your feet together, and gently flap your legs like the wings of a butterfly.

Pretend to be a flower
To do Flower Pose: From Cobbler's Pose, lift your bent legs, balance on your sitting bones, and weave your arms under your legs with your palms facing up. Pretend to be a blossoming flower.

Finish your garden yoga experience by lying on your back with your arms and legs spread out in a Resting Pose. Close your eyes (if that's comfortable) and take a few deep breaths. Think about what you love about gardens and maybe imagine a rainbow arching across the sky above you.
To extend your yoga experience, you can also make your own list of garden visuals and use our list of Yoga Poses for Kids to find matching yoga poses. Think of things like the sun, rain, a rainbow, a tree, plants, flowers, rocks, birds, butterflies, bees, caterpillars, a wheelbarrow, frogs, ladybugs, dragonflies, or seeds.
As the parent or teacher, join in the garden yoga by hopping like a frog, fluttering like a butterfly, and crawling like a caterpillar. You might be surprised how fun it is! In fact, why not grab your friends and family to create a community yoga garden!

How To Download Your Garden Yoga for Kids Poster:

Click here to save the download to your computer: Garden Yoga for Kids Printable Poster. Open the PDF file and print. When printing, select "Fit to printable area" (or similar) to ensure the page fits with your printer type and local paper size (these have been created at A4 size).

Having trouble accessing or downloading the file? Please try a different internet browser.
Please note: All Childhood 101 printables are for personal use only, you may not use any part of this content for commercial purposes-that includes selling the document, giving it away to promote your business or website, or printing the file to sell. You may not share, loan or redistribute these documents. Teachers may use multiple copies for students in their own classroom.

Giselle Shardlow is the author of Kids Yoga Stories. Her yoga books for kids get children learning, moving, and having fun. Giselle draws from her experiences as a teacher, traveler, yogi, and mom to write the yoga stories found in her Kids Yoga Stories store or on Amazon worldwide. Find her award-winning Rachel's Day in the Garden yoga book here. You can also connect with Giselle on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.

Read next:
Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

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Yoga for Kids: Garden Themed Yoga Complete With Printable Poster

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This garden themed yoga for kids sequence is a fabulous way to celebrate the changing seasons, being out in nature or Earth Day. "Frogs!" "Butterflies!" "Caterpillars!" My daughter's preschool classmates were all eager to answer after I asked them what we might see in a garden.

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Artist study is one of my favorite parts of homeschooling. I love studying the works of great artists and recreating art in their style. Most recently we did a Kandinsky artist study as a family.

Vassily Kandinsky was a Russian abstract artist. He was born in Moscow in 1866 and lived until 1944 living the last part of his life in France. He is credited for doing one of the first purely abstract works of art, meaning art that does not try to portray any actual real objects.

Kandinsky loved music and color. He believed colors could express feelings the same way music could.

Color is a power that directly influences the soul. Color is the keyboard. . . the artist is the hand that plays. -Vassily Kandinsky

One of Kandinsky's most recognizable works of art is called the Squares with Concentric Circles. It was painted in 1914. I am sure you have probably seen it around! I have always loved this painting. It's so bright and cheery and is such a fun one for kids to successfully recreate, so that's what we did!

We have a wonderful art book called the Usborne Art Treasury that gave us this idea. We did Kandinsky's painting in mixed medium using oil pastels and watercolors.

We started with a large piece of watercolor paper. It's a much thicker paper and absorbs water better. We folded the paper in half lengthwise, then into thirds to make the sections for the squares.

Within each square you draw circles with the oil pastels in different colors. The circles do not need to be perfectly round. In fact, Kandinsky's are not in his painting. That's part of what I love about it. It is a project that kids really feel successful with because they can create it in their own way! Make each square a little different from each other.

Once you have completed all of the circles, you can paint over them with watercolors. This is a fun thing to do because the oil and water repel each other just as in any other circumstance. Kids really think this is neat to do! Use contrasting colors to paint over each square making it extra colorful!

All done!

Learn More About Kandinsky with These Books:

The Noisy Paintbox by Barb Rosenstock

Wassily Kandinsky- The Life and Work by Paul Flux

Kandinsky and the Blue Rider by Annette Vezin

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Learn about Kandinsky with this mixed medium art project!

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Artist study is one of my favorite parts of homeschooling. I love studying the works of great artists and recreating art in their style. Most recently we did a Kandinsky artist study as a family. Vassily Kandinsky was a Russian abstract artist.

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Everyone loves to play with playdough..

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Easy DIY Play doh recipe without cream of tartar and no cooking. Make the best playdough creations with no cream of tartar and cook free that kids will love. All you need:
4 cups of flour
11/2 cups salt
2 tbsp oil
1 cup water
food coloring

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How to Make Playdough Without Cream of Tartar

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How to Make Playdough Without Cream of Tartar: Easy DIY Play doh recipe without cream of tartar and no cooking. Make the best playdough creations with no cream of tartar and cook free that kids will love.

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Choose an area of your classroom or your school to clean/tidy.

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Paint kind words or phrases: create a Positivity Rocks garden in your classroom.

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A few weeks ago I was over at the amazing Runde's Room, and I LOVED this project she posted where she incorporated poetry into an art lesson. It reminded me of a self esteem-building "I am" poetry lesson that I had done in the past, and I decided I had to combine the two right away! Thanks again to Jen for inspiring this idea!
"I am" Poetry Art
In order to write their 'I am' poems and complete this art project, students normally have to come up with a lot of adjectives describing themselves. But I often have students that have trouble coming up with enough adjectives, or they have poor self esteem and have trouble coming up with any nice words about themselves. To solve this problem I start this lessons by doing this:

1. Give each student a plain white piece of computer or white construction paper, and have them write their first name in large letters in the middle, and circle it. (sorry I forgot to take a pic of this part!)

2. Explain that each student will pass their paper to the right every time I say PASS.

3. With each pass, students will have a new sheet of paper with a new classmates name. They are to write whatever adjectives they can think of to describe this person.

4. The rules are: they cannot write any adjective that are already on the paper, and everything has to be positive.

5. After all of the papers have been passed around, the original students get their papers back.

And that's it! Be prepared for some excitement. You would have thought it was Christmas the way these students were SO excited to read their adjectives. They were lighting up, and laughing, and overall it was a GREAT self esteem booster!

Now that the students have a full sheet of adjectives that describe them, they can choose their favorites, or add their own, and these words will serve as the words for the I AM poem that they will write. Here are the steps for completing the art lesson:

1. Handout an 11×14 white piece of construction paper to each student. Have them draw wavy lanes across the paper from left to right. I left it up to them how many lines they wanted to draw, but let them know that they shouldn't touch.

2. Set up a painting station. You could handout painting supplies to every student, but I found it much easier to set up a painting station where four or five students could paint at once. While the rest of the class waited their turn, they kept busy by working on their October early finisher packets.

3. Students paint in the wavy lines with blocks of bright colors. The bright colors worked better than dark colors, which didn't show the sharpie as well later. Tip: Place some butcher paper on the floor around the room- Students can lay their paintings on them to let them dry.

P.S. Students should not write in the words until AFTER the painting is done. But I was using this example to show my class how the letters would look between the lines, and that's why you see some words written on there before painting. 🙂

4. After the paint is dry, hand out a black sharpie to each student. Students should use the sharpies to divide each section of paint with a nice smooth black line. Then they use the sharpies to write in "I AM" poems.

Directions for writing the poems: Each should start with the words "I am.." then they fill in as many words as they have room for. Then the last word should be their name!

And VOILA! You now have bright and beautiful artwork to seriously brighten up your room!

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Brighten up your room with this "I am" Art Project

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A few weeks ago I was over at the amazing Runde's Room, and I LOVED this project she posted where she incorporated poetry into an art lesson. It reminded me of a self esteem-building "I am" poetry lesson that I had done in the past, and I decided I had to combine the two right away!

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Blow bubbles. It’s no secret that taking deep breaths can help restore a sense of calm when big emotions hit, and a great way to teach this concept is to have children blow bubbles when they’re feeling anxious. Start by giving each child their own bottle of mini bubbles to practice, and once they’ve mastered the concept, have them practice blowing bubbles without the wand. This will give them an effective coping strategy they can use when big emotions threaten to take over during the school day (and beyond)!

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Scroll to the bottom of the website for good introductory activities that can be done outside.

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Mindfulness can boost the quality of our lives in numerous ways.

In today's rush, we all think too much-seek too much-want too much-and forget about the joy of just being.

- Eckhart Tolle

What does mindfulness do to spark "the joy of just being" that Tolle references? And, how can we teach kids to start benefiting from its practice?

This article delves into both of these questions and includes plenty of activities for you to start using today.

Research confirms that for children, mindfulness can:

Mitigate the effects of bullying (Zhou, Liu, Niu, Sun, & Fan, 2016);

Enhance focus in children with ADHD (Zhang et al., 2016);

Reduce attention problems (Crescentini, Capurso, Furlan, & Fabbro, 2016);

Improve mental health and wellbeing;

Improve social skills when well taught and practiced with children and adolescents.

It's also important for caregivers and educators to provide age-appropriate mindfulness practices to children.

For example, fostering mindfulness in preschoolers with tools like pictures, objects, food, simple movements, and music, can help them develop an ability to better focus their attention and stay present.

In a study by Flook et al., (2015), kids were asked to engage in an activity called "Belly Buddies", in which they listened to music while also noticing the sensation of a small tone on their stomachs rising and falling with each breath.

The kids became more attune to their bodies, breath and to the music.

Ultimately, simple activities like these can have long-lasting developmental benefits when practiced regularly.

Want more? We have 25 mindfulness activities designed specifically for children. Plus, they are fun to do.

But, before you read on, we thought you might like to download our three Mindfulness Exercises for free. These science-based, comprehensive exercises will not only help you cultivate a sense of inner peace throughout your daily life but will also give you the tools to enhance the mindfulness of your children, students or young clients.

4 Fun Mindfulness Activities and Exercises for Children

Let's start with these simple ways to attune children with their bodies. At a young age, humans naturally curious about the strength and flexibility of their bodies. It's a great age to introduce body-mind awareness as a valuable way to take care of themselves.

Mindful Posing

One easy way for children to dip their toes into mindfulness is through body poses. To get your kids excited, tell them that doing fun poses can help them feel strong, brave, and happy.

Have the kids go somewhere quiet and familiar, a place they feel safe. Next, tell them to try one of the following poses:

1. The Superman: this pose is practiced by standing with the feet just wider than the hips, fists clenched, and arms reached out to the sky, stretching the body as tall as possible.

2. The Wonder Woman: this pose is struck by standing tall with legs wider than hip-width apart and hands or fists placed on the hips (Karen Young, 2017).

Ask the kids how they feel after a few rounds of trying either of these poses. You may be surprised.

Spidey-Senses

While on the subject of superheroes, this can be a related "next step" to teach kids how to stay present.

Instruct your kids to turn-on their "Spidey senses," or the super-focused senses of smell, sight, hearing, taste, and touch that Spiderman uses to keep tabs on the world around him. This will encourage them to pause and focus their attention on the present, opening their awareness to the information their senses bring in (Karen Young, 2017).

This is a classic mindfulness exercise and encourages observation and curiosity-great skills for any human to practice.

The Mindful Jar

This activity can teach children how strong emotions can take hold, and how to find peace when these strong emotions feel overwhelming.

First, get a clear jar (like a Mason jar) and fill it almost all the way with water. Next, add a big spoonful of glitter glue or glue and dry glitter to the jar. Put the lid back on the jar and shake it to make the glitter swirl.

Finally, use the following script or take inspiration from it to form your own mini-lesson:

"Imagine that the glitter is like your thoughts when you're stressed, mad or upset. See how they whirl around and make it really hard to see clearly? That's why it's so easy to make silly decisions when you're upset - because you're not thinking clearly. Don't worry this is normal and it happens in all of us (yep, grownups too).

[Now put the jar down in front of them.]

Now watch what happens when you're still for a couple of moments. Keep watching. See how the glitter starts to settle and the water clears? Your mind works the same way. When you're calm for a little while, your thoughts start to settle and you start to see things much clearer. Deep breaths during this calming process can help us settle when we feel a lot of emotions" (Karen Young, 2017).

This exercise not only helps children learn about how their emotions can cloud their thoughts, but it also facilitates the practice of mindfulness while focusing on the swirling glitter in the jar.

Try having the kids focus on one emotion at a time, such as anger, and discuss how the shaken verse settling glitter is like that emotion.

Safari

The Safari exercise is a great way to help kids learn mindfulness. This activity turns an average, everyday walk into an exciting new adventure.

Tell your kids that you will be going on a safari: their goal is to notice as many birds, bugs, creepy-crawlies, and any other animals as they can. Anything that walks, crawls, swims, or flies is of interest, and they'll need to focus all of their senses to find them, especially the little ones (Karen Young, 2017).

A similar exercise for adults is the mindfulness walk. This exercise provokes the same response in children that a mindful walk elicits in adults: a state of awareness and grounding in the present.

If you're interested in more information on how to encourage the practice of mindfulness in children and teens, you can check out the other exercises from this website. Otherwise, head on to the next section where we lay out key tips for teaching these concepts.

15 Tips for Teaching Mindfulness to Kids and Teenagers

When you are trying to teach your kids or young clients about mindfulness and its benefit, we recommend you begin with a few guidelines:

1. Make sure they are ready to give mindfulness a try; if they are full of energy and itching to run and play, it may not be the best time for practicing mindfulness for the first time.

2. Explain what mindfulness is and what it is not; give examples of what seems similar to mindfulness but is not (i.e., introspection or chasing thoughts down the "rabbit hole" versus listening to our bodies).

3. Say it in an age-appropriate way, with words they will understand.

4. Offer to practice mindfulness with them; sometimes having a model makes all the difference.

5. Assure them that it's okay to get off track, and how to gently guide themselves back to mindfulness when they realize they lost focus.

6. Finish the practice by doing something they enjoy with them to ensure they have a positive experience.

Megan Cowan, co-founder, and co-director at the Mindful Schools program in Oakland, also has some tips on how to teach mindfulness to kids (2010):

1. Keep the purpose of mindfulness practice in mind. Be sure to engage in mindful practice with children in positive situations, and never use it as a disciplinary tool.

2. Make sure you practice mindfulness yourself!

3. Set a daily routine for practicing mindfulness to make sure you incorporate it.

4. Prepare the environment for successful practice; move the furniture around or have everyone switch positions.

5. Involve students in the process; perhaps designate a different child each day to alert the class when it's time to practice mindfulness or help set up any tools or props.

6. Share your own experiences with the kids; this will help them understand how mindfulness is applied and practiced in everyday life. Feel free to share how you redirect yourself when you feel distracted during a mindfulness session.

7. Encourage the children to share their experiences as well, whether they were good experiences with mindfulness or experiences in which they got distracted. Maybe each session can end with a few students sharing how it went for them.

8. Practice every day. The more you embed mindfulness into the daily routine, the easier it is to engage.

Cowan (2010) also includes a short script if you'd like to use her mini-lesson.

Relay the following instructions to your kids:

"Please get into your mindful bodies-still and quiet, sitting upright, eyes closed."

"Now place all your attention on the sound you are about to hear. Listen until the sound is completely gone."

Ring a "mindfulness bell," or have a student ring the bell. Use a bell with a sustained sound or a rain stick to encourage mindful listening.

"Please raise your hand when you can no longer hear the sound."

When most or all have raised their hands, you can say, "Now slowly, mindfully, move your hand to your stomach or chest, and just feel your breathing."

You can help students stay focused during the breathing with reminders like, "Just breathing in ... just breathing out ..."

Ring the bell to end.

For more in-depth tips and ideas on teaching mindfulness to children, check out the book Planting Seeds: Practicing Mindfulness with Children by Thich Nhat Hanh and the Plum Village Community.

The website from editor and children's book author Annaka Harris also provides some great ideas for exercises that teach mindfulness to children.

8 Mindfulness Games, YouTube Videos, and Apps to Support Your Teachings

Technology offers learning and development for these practices. To ensure that you are using technology to your advantage when it comes to teaching children mindfulness, give some of these resources a try.

Smiling Minds App

Another application that is popular for children as young as seven is the Smiling Mind app. This app is available through the Apple app store as well as the Google Play store. It is free to download and use.

This app offers similar features to the Mindfulness for Children app, including a body scan activity. There are dozens of modules with hundreds of sessions available, each customized for wellbeing, education, and the workplace (for adults).

If you'd like to check out the reviews for this app or learn more about it, visit the website.

Still Quiet Place

If you'd like to use a video to help your kids learn how to practice mindfulness, the "Mindfulness Exercises for Kids: Still Quiet Place Video" is a great resource. This animated video can help students learn how to go to a "still quiet place."

Check out the video here, and scroll down to the link below the video to see more activities from GoZen.com.

Mindfulness Games for Kids

Several interactive games are available on the Kids Activities Blog. Here are just a few:

1. Blowing bubbles. Have your kids focus on taking in a deep, slow breath, and exhaling steadily to fill the bubble. Encourage them to pay close attention to the bubbles as they form, detach, and pop or float away.

2. Pinwheels. Use the same tactics from blowing bubbles to encourage mindful attention on the pinwheels.

3. Playing with balloons. Tell your kids that the aim of this game is to keep the balloon off the ground, but have them move slowly and gently. You can tell them to pretend the balloon is very fragile if that helps.

4. Texture bag. Place several small, interestingly shaped or textured objects in a bag. Have each child reach in and touch an object, one at a time, and describe what they are touching. Make sure they don't take the object out of the bag, forcing them to use only their sense of touch to explore the object.

5. Blindfolded taste tests. Use a blindfold for each child and have them experience eating a small food, like a raisin or a cranberry, as if it was their first time eating it.

If you want to know about more games you can play with children to teach them about mindfulness, check out the book Mindful Games: Sharing Mindfulness and Meditation with Children, Teens, and Families by Susan Kaiser Greenland.

2 Mindfulness Training Classes For Children with Anxiety

Mindfulness practice can be an especially important component of a child's life if they suffer from anxiety. Learning about mindfulness and how to engage in mindfulness can help a child realize that worrying is normal, and there are useful coping methods when we are worrying too much.

Aside from the Mindful Schools program mentioned earlier, there are classes and programs designed especially for children, and even a few that are structured for children with anxiety.

Child Mind Institute focus on education, care and science, and offers various programs. Programs are customised to your needs, so contact them via their website to book for a workshop.

There is also a popular course called "MonkeyMind and Me: A Mindfulness Course for Children." Children learn how to meditate and practice mindfulness over eight one hour sessions held over eight weeks.

The lessons are delivered through stories about MonkeyMind, a friendly puppet who has trouble with self-regulation ("MonkeyMind and Me", 2017). The course includes lessons, opportunities to practice, design of a homemade project, and a graduation ceremony.

The structure of these lessons and exercises transforms teaching mindfulness into an experience everyone might enjoy-and benefit from.

The Basics: Teaching Essential Mindfulness Practices and Skills

Before you delve into the classroom, review these basic skills and you may have better success with students and clients learning mindfulness.

Mindful Breathing

Mindful breathing is a staple of practicing mindfulness. It is the foundation of many other exercises. To help kids learn how to engage in mindful breathing, you can use a video like the one below:

This video guides children through a breathing meditation by instructing them to imagine a sailboat that rises and falls as they breathe; with each inhale and exhale, the boat moves gently on top of the water.

They also get an opportunity to visualize their breath with a color and focus on the experience of their breath moving through their nostrils. Lastly, the video ends with the exercise of the children imagining (with their eyes closed) that they used to be a fish and paying attention to how it would feel to breathe through their lungs for the first time.

Body Scan

The body scan is a key practice in mindfulness, and an easy one to teach to children.

Have your kids lie down on their back on a comfortable surface and close their eyes;

Then tell them to squeeze every muscle in their body as tight as they can.

Tell them to squish their toes and feet, squeeze their hands into fists, and make their legs and arms as hard as stone;

After a few seconds, have them release all their muscles and relax for a few minutes;

Encourage them to think about how their body is feeling throughout the activity (Roman, 2015).

This simple exercise gets kids to be more aware of their bodies and helps them find a way to be present in the moment.

Heartbeat Exercise

Paying attention to one's heartbeat has a role in many mindfulness exercises and activities. To begin, tell your kids to jump up and down in place or do jumping jacks for one minute.

When they have finished, have them sit down and put a hand over their heart. Instruct them to close their eyes and pay attention only to their heartbeat and, perhaps, their breath as well (Roman, 2015).

This exercise teaches children to notice their heartbeat, and use it as a tool to help their focus. These skills will come in handy as they start engaging in more advanced mindfulness activities.

Mindfulness Meditation for Very Young Children

You might be thinking that these tips and exercises are great for elementary or middle school students, but less realistic for young children. This section focuses on children who are toddlers through kindergarten graduates.

One mother explained laid out her five strategies for teaching young children mindfulness-starting with her three-year-old child learning mindfulness.

Her strategies are:

Teach kids to recognize and identify their own emotions. Children need to associate the word or term for an emotion with the actual experience of feeling that emotion. Encourage them to think about how each emotion feels in their body. Does anger feel like they've got steam coming out of their ears? Does love make them feel like their heart is going to burst open?

Validate their emotions. Children often respond with frustration or sadness when told that their pain, however trivial it seems to us, is "not a big deal." When teaching mindfulness, let kids feel their feelings without fear of judgment. Focus instead on teaching them tools to listen to their emotions.

Teach kids mindful breathing strategies. As we noted above, mindful breathing is a building block in all mindfulness practices. Children benefit from focusing on their breathing when confronted with emotions that are hard to manage.

The author of the blog laid out three techniques she has put to use with her children:

1. Noticing the breath: this involves simply paying attention to what breathing actually feels like.
2. Five-finger starfish meditation: this breathing technique has kids holding up one hand in a starfish position (fingers spread wide) while they gently trace up and down each finger with the other hand, focusing on regular breathing at the same time.
3. Counting the breath: this technique is what it sounds like: have your children pause and count their breaths. One breath in is "1", the next breath out is "2," etc. You can have them count to 10 if they're very young, or slightly higher depending on their abilities.

Lead them in a guided meditation. Use a script or an exercise or app like the ones described above for this meditation.

Practice what you preach. As we mentioned earlier, it is so important to actually "do as you say." Kids are intuitive and human nature encourages mimicry, two advantages we can harness when trying to teach (Beach, "Baby Buddhas.")

Guide your kids every step of the way, but make sure you are taking those steps yourself as well. It will make everyone's practice richer.

The Benefits Of Mindfulness In Schools (K12) + Videos

Childhood and adolescence are important developmental stages that will construct the groundwork for mental health in the adult developmental stage.

In recent literature, mindfulness-based school programs have demonstrated a range of social, cognitive, and emotional benefits for elementary and middle-school students.

Cognitive Benefits

Executive function is a set of mental skills that constitutes attention, switching focus, planning, organizing, and remembering details.

Research in education suggests that mindfulness practice can lead to improvements in executive function in children.

For instance, in the study of Flook et al., (2010) conducted on 3 rd graders, students who went through an 8-week mindfulness program showed improvements in behavioral regulation, metacognition, and focus compared to the control group who did not have the mindfulness program.

In another study, students who had a 24-week mindfulness training scored higher in attentional measures in their elementary school (Napoli et al., 2004). Additionally, a study on preschoolers emphasized that children who went through a mindfulness curriculum for 12 weeks earned higher marks on academic performance measures. They also showed greater improvements in areas that predict future success (Flook et al., 2015).

Social Benefits

A social skill is any skill that we use to interact and communicate with others.

Deficits and excesses in social behavior can affect learning, understanding, and classroom climate. Recent research on lower-income and ethnic minority elementary school children highlighted how a 5-week mindfulness curriculum can lead to better participation in activities, as well as nurture a classroom culture of mutual respect and care in 9th-grade students (Black et al., 2013).

Emotional Benefits

Emotional health, which is a positive sense of wellbeing, is an important component of child and adolescent development. Emotional problems such as anxiety, stress, and depression can affect self-esteem, performance, and social interactions.

Mindfulness practice may facilitate the ability to manage stress, and also lead to deeper wellbeing in students.

According to one study by Schonert-Reichl and his colleagues (2010), mindfulness practice leads to higher scores on self-report measures of optimism and positive emotions in elementary school students.

Moreover, in a study conducted by Wall (2005), self-reported findings showed preteens feeling calmer, with an enhanced experience of well-being-and improved sleep-after a 5-week modified mindfulness-based stress reduction program.

Videos on Mindfulness in Schools

These four videos can help students open their minds to the benefits of mindfulness. We recommend pairing any of these segments with a discussion.

Questions for after the selected clip can include, "Has anyone practiced mindfulness, and how has it gone for you?" or "What do you think is the reason most people do not practice mindfulness, and how can we start changing this?"

A Take-Home Message

Research confirms that mindfulness can improve mental health by aiding wellbeing, attention, self-regulation, and social competency. It just needs to be practiced-and encouraged.

Mindfulness-based programs in schools can have a life-long impact on the psychological, social, and cognitive wellbeing of children and teens. Even at home or with clients, how can you incorporate mindfulness into your teachings and own schedule?

Do you have kids or work with kids on a regular basis? Try these tips and activities out, and let us know how they worked in the comments section below.

Good luck, and remember this old saying:

Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don't forget to download our three Mindfulness Exercises for free.

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25 Fun Mindfulness Activities for Children & Teens (+Tips!)

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Here's a list of fun mindfulness activities and exercises for kids that will teach them about mindfulness in a playful way. Enjoy!

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Positive messages or pictures drawn outside.

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Inspiration

"There's so much negativity-they're always tattling and calling each other out. How can we change this? I am open to ideas!" This was a recent plea from a 4th and 5th grade teacher.

As a part of the educational team at a therapeutic school, I'm often called on to consult or provide direct intervention in the areas of self-awareness, self-regulation, and social emotional learning. We serve students who live with mental health diagnoses, have behavioral challenges, and often come to us with a history of trauma. As such, social emotional learning is often the area where they need the most support. Mindfulness instruction, yoga classes, and psychosocial skills curricula are an integral part of our school day.

When I work with our teachers and students, I will often introduce Kindness exercises to help address the "negativity"-you can find three exercises below. But first, let's discuss the science of why and how we experience and remember "the negative."

Why So Much Negativity?

As psychologist Rick Hanson notes, evolution has primed our brain, and specifically the amygdala, to have a negativity bias. At one time this bias was necessary for survival. The amygdala is the brain's alarm center, with strong connections to our emotions and memories. The amygdala uses about about ⅔ of its neurons to watch for negative experiences and once found, these experiences are stored quickly. For children and teens who have had adverse experiences growing up, the amygdala can be even more sensitive and reactive. For then, the amygdala is like a smoke detector that is placed directly over a cooking surface, making alarm bells go off at the slightest hint of perceived danger.

"The alarm bell of your brain - the amygdala - uses about two-thirds of its neurons to look for bad news: it's primed to go negative." - Rick Hanson

Positive memories and experiences, on the other hand, are much slower to store, often have less intense body sensations, and need more repetition to "stick."

Promoting Kindness through 3 Mindful Activities

In order to provide opportunities to notice, practice, and spread kindness within our school, we host a month-long Kindness Challenge.

Our goal is to promote acts of kindness in the classrooms and school-wide and for teachers and students to experience the embodied benefits of sharing acts of kindness as noted in some of the studies cited here. Acts of kindness can benefit the person sharing kindness, the recipients, and also anyone who witnesses these acts. In our mindfulness classes, we talk about how experiencing kindness can feel in the body. Being connected to and aware of how our body feels during positive experiences is an important part of moving our brain's bias from negative to positive. We speak about how kindness is like the reverse of bullying.

Our Kindness Challenge has three main areas of focus: noticing acts of kindness, performing acts of kindness, and being kind to ourselves.

1) "Kindness Detectives"
Begin the month-long Kindness Challenge by brainstorming what kindness might look like in school. You can start by reading the book What Does It Mean To Be Kind? by Rana DiOrio for ideas. Then, give each class a bag of colorful paper leaf cutouts. Tell students that each time they see someone do something kind for a person or the school environment, they can write the act of kindness on the leaf. The challenge is to see how many leaves the class can collect.

At our school, this activity started off slowly, as many students were not used to "looking for the good." However, with modeling by staff, students soon became excellent kindness detectives and we collected over 100 leaves by the end of the challenge. Students also reported sharing this activity at home.

2) "I Am Kind" Flowers
Begin this lesson with a guided mindfulness practice to notice what it might feel like to give and receive kindness. You can read the book How Full Is Your Bucket? by Tom Rath to illustrate how acts of kindness can "fill the bucket" of the giver and the recipient. Then take the brainstorming ideas from the Kindness Leaves activity and let students select their favorites to create "I Am Kind" flowers. Students set an intention to practice these acts of kindness during the challenge.

3) "Self-Kindness" Beads
As part of our focus on kindness, we talk about the importance of being kind to ourselves. Students share how, when they are having a difficult time, it is much harder for them to be kind to others. Discuss ideas of how we can be kind to ourselves and what things make us feel better. With this list, introduce a kindness bead activity. Each bead signifies an act of kindness students can do for themselves. Invite students to add beads to their kindness bead string that reminds them to care for themselves. These beads can be hung on water bottles, belt loops, or backpacks.

Kindness is a Practice

Our Kindness Challenge ran for a full month. Some of these activities were done specifically in mindfulness class and others were taken into the classroom for collaborative work. Throughout the Challenge, I witnessed many occasions where students and staff went out of their way to be kind and to notice heartful acts done by others.

As with any new habit, this Kindness Lens takes practice, reminders, modeling and celebrations of success. We frequently revisit Kindness in mindfulness class. Students are encouraged to continue to notice and share kindness throughout the school day with staff and peers. We celebrate and notice how it feels to be kind and to see kindness in action.

The negativity bias is part of our human evolution, but every day we have the chance to change this, one heartful act at a time.
Gloria Sanford-Breton, OTR/L, RYT, RCYT is an occupational therapist who has worked with adults and children for over 30 years. She has trained with Mindful Schools, ChildLight Yoga, YogaNH to bring mindfulness, yoga, and a more holistic approach to her OT practice. Gloria offers specialized presentations on bringing trauma-informed mindfulness and yoga to youth, staff, and caregivers. She currently works in a therapeutic education program in Massachusetts, where she specializes in trauma-informed interventions, self-regulation, and manages the mindfulness and yoga program.
As for the teacher who was feeling overwhelmed by the negativity-she herself has been able to take a moment to notice "what went right today," even amid the daily challenges of teaching. This Kindness practice has become an integral part of our school culture-our teachers, staff, and students continue to notice and perform acts of kindness. I've seen this shift in our school culture support peace, respect and learning.

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Tip the Scale of Negativity Bias: 3 Kindness Practices for Your School - Mindful Schools

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"There's so much negativity-they're always tattling and calling each other out. How can we change this? I am open to ideas!" This was a recent plea from a 4th and 5th grade teacher. As a part of the educational team at a therapeutic school, I'm often called on to consult or provide direct intervention in the areas of self-awareness, self-regulation, and social emotional learning.

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Empower Your Students with Self-Compassion

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In the fields of education and service professions, you'll find a lot of Givers: those who put the needs of others before their own. They work themselves to exhaustion and self-criticize for the multitude of responsibilities to which they aren't able to attend. I know this because I am one of those teachers.

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Every grade level has a copy of the book :)

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For ISHI activities at home or in a classroom / group setting, click the below button!

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When I was a kid, we played outside with the other kids in the neighborhood with most of our free time. We also made the most of recess at school. We kept ourselves quite occupied without any of today's modern technologies. Listed below are some no-tech games that you may have enjoyed as a kid. I sure did. Some can be done indoors. Some can be done by yourself or with just one friend. But most of them are best when done outside with a group of people. Also, most of these games can be changed or improved by making up your own rules. Use your imagination!

Hide and Seek

Everyone has played this one. Most parents have played with their kids, since hiding and finding is a common interest of small children. I've heard of all kinds of variations on this game. Sometimes you count to twenty, sometimes ten, sometimes one hundred. Sometimes there is a home base that you can run to and tag, becoming "safe," sometimes you just wait to be found. The general idea is that one person is "it," that person closes his or her eyes and counts to a certain number without looking and then he or she tries to find the others. Number of Players: Ideally at least three. Equipment: None.

Kick the Can

This game is a variation of tag and hide & seek. One person or a team of people are designated as "it" and a can is placed in the middle of the playing area. The other people run off and hide while the "it" covers his or her eyes and counts to a certain number. "It" then tries to find everyone. If a person is tagged by "it", they go into a holding pen for captured players. If one of the un-captured players manages to kick the can, the captured players are released. The game is over once all the non-"it" players are in the holding pen. Number of Players: Ideally at least three. Equipment: A metal can.

Capture the Flag

This game is most fun when played with a large group. Split the group into two teams, each team having a flag or other marker at the team's base. The object of the game is to run into the other team's territory, capture their flag and make it safely back to your own territory. You can tag "enemy" players in your territory, sending them to your jail. They can be sprung from jail by a member of their own team running into your territory, tagging them and running back, with one freed person allowed per jail break. It is sometimes played that all the people in jail could hold hands and make a chain back toward their own territory, making it easier for members of their team to tag them. We also played a similar game called Steal the Sticks. It had almost the same rules, but several sticks were used instead of one flag. Number of Players: A large group. Equipment: Two flags or other markers.

Parachute

Fun for kids of all ages, this game involves a large round parachute, preferably with handles, with people holding the parachute all around the edges. It helps if someone is in charge telling people what to do. Players can just ruffle the parachute up and down a little bit, they can go all the way up and all the way down, or all the way up and then run underneath, sitting on the edge of the parachute, which can create a bubble of air with everyone inside. Players can also place light objects such as wiffle balls or beanbags on top of the parachute, and make them jump by ruffling the parachute. Also, one person can sit in the middle of the parachute and everyone ruffles it near the ground. If there is a smooth floor and a light child, the child can sit in the middle on top of the parachute and everyone else can walk partway around still holding the parachute edge. Then everyone pulls backward, spinning the child. There are countless variations. Number of Players: Depends on the size of the parachute, but usually eight to ten. Equipment: A play parachute. These aren't as hard to find as you would think. Try here and here.

Traffic Cop

This game works best on a street with little to no traffic, or in a large paved area of some kind. You need bikes, wagons, pedestrians, scooters or whatever is available. One person directs traffic to make sure kids don't run into each other. It is more fun than it sounds, and helps kids learn about waiting to cross the street and about traffic safety. Number of Players: A small group. Equipment: Bikes, wagons, scooters, anything on wheels.

Four Square

This ball game is played on a square court further divided into four smaller squares, numbered one through four. One player stands in each of the squares, with the highest ranked player in number one, lowest in number four. You bounce the ball among the players, bouncing once in the other person's square before that person catches it. When I played this as a kid, we had countless additional rules to choose from. The person in square one got to choose the rules. Anyone who violates the rules will have to move down in the ranking, or be eliminated with another player rotating in to square four. Number of Players: Four, unless you take turns. Equipment: A four square court or sidewalk chalk, a playground ball.

Hopscotch

Use some sidewalk chalk and make a hopscotch grid. Number the squares from one to nine. Pick a rock that is good for tossing. Small ones can bounce too much, and larger ones are hard to throw. Start by tossing the rock onto Square 1. Hop over the rock and hop with a single foot or both feet (to follow the hopscotch pattern) all the way to the end. Turn around and come back, stopping on Square 2. Balancing on one foot, pick up the rock in Square 1 and hop over Square 1 to the start. Continue this pattern with Square 2. And so on. If you toss your rock and miss the correct square, your turn is over. This game can be played with any number of people, but only one person can go at a time. If it's raining or dark or too cold, you can get indoor hopscotch mats or foam pieces, or just find a pattern on the floor to follow, perhaps using a beanbag instead of a rock. Number of Players: One at a time. Equipment: Hopscotch grid, rock or beanbag.

Jump-Rope and Double Dutch

One of the biggest ways I spent my recess time as a young girl was jumping rope. I got quite good at it for my age, both in speed and in skill. It was fun to jump by myself, but it was even more fun to have a long rope and jump with a couple of friends. That's where jump-rope rhymes come in. They turn a simple exercise into a fun game, to compete against yourself and others. Then there's double dutch. I was always in awe of the older girls who could do double dutch. The first time I tried it, I got tripped up almost immediately. However, once you understand how to do it, it isn't as hard as it looks. Number of Players: One for single jumping, three with a longer rope or for double dutch. Equipment: One or two jump-ropes.

Chinese Jump-Rope

This game requires three people, or just one or two people with really good chairs. It is easily done inside, assuming a sturdy floor. This game resembles regular jump rope in that you jump. A lot. But you jump in a pattern. Two people (or chairs) put their feet inside the rope and stretch them out, standing far enough apart for the third person to jump between them. The third person, or jumper, faces one of the people holding the rope and jumps in a pattern of left, right, inside, outside and on the ropes. What pattern you use is up to you, but all the players should use the same one. The game is started with the rope around the ankles. Once the jumper does the jump correctly, the rope is moved up to the calves. Then to the knees, then the thighs. Usually it doesn't get any farther than that. Once you miss, it is someone else's turn. Number of Players: Preferably three, but it can be done with one or two. Equipment: A stretchy-type rope or 5 to 6 meters of rubber bands tied together in a circle.

Jacks

This game can be played on any flat surface, indoors or out. The player scatters the jacks on the playing surface, often by just tossing them out of one hand, as if rolling dice. The ball is then tossed up, is allowed to bounce once, and is caught before the second bounce. The player tries to scoop up jacks and catch the ball with one hand before the ball's second bounce. The number of jacks to be picked up goes in order. First you pick up one ("onesies"), then two ("twosies"), then three and so on. There are many variations to the rules of this game including things like "pigs in the pen" and "double bounces." Jacks is one game I wish I had played as a girl, but it was much more common when my mom was a child. Number of Players: Any, taking turns. Equipment: A set of jacks and a small rubber ball.

Marbles

The general rules specify that you draw a circle in the sand or on the sidewalk, and then take turns trying to knock each other's marbles out of the circle with your one large marble. As with the other games, there are countless variations. I haven't played this game at length, though, because I always seem to hurt myself flicking the large marble into the ring! You can also use a marble mat which contains different point zones. Number of Players: At least two. Equipment: Chalk, large and small marbles.

Red Light, Green Light

With enough room, this game can easily be played inside. One person is the traffic light at one end, and the other players are at the other end. When the traffic light faces the group, he or she says, "Red light!" and everyone must freeze. The traffic light then turns his or her back and says, "Green light!" while the group tries to get as close to the traffic light as possible. The traffic light turns around quickly, again saying, "Red light!", and if anyone is spotted moving, they have to go back to the starting place. The first person to tag the traffic light wins and gets to be the next traffic light. Number of Players: A small group. Equipment: None.

Mother, May I

This game is set up in the same way as Red Light Green Light. One person in the group asks the person in the front, "Mother, may I take steps forward?" The person at the front then says, "Yes, you may." or "No, you may not." You can vary your requests by including options such as taking baby steps, spinning steps, leaps or whatever strikes your fancy. Again, the first person to tag the person in the front wins and is the next person in the front. Number of Players: A small group. Equipment: None.

Simon Says

This game can be played anywhere, even in a car or other small space. One person is Simon and starts by saying, "Simon says, '[insert action here]'. " Everyone must then do the action. However, if Simon makes an action request without saying, "Simon says" to begin the request, anyone who does that action is out. The last person still playing in the end will be Simon for the next round. Number of Players: A small group. Equipment: None.

Tag

It seems that everyone knows how to play tag, but just in case it wasn't in your childhood game playing repertoire, here is how you play. A group of kids decides who will start out as being "it." That person chases the other people around, trying to tag one of them with their hand. The newly tagged person is now "it." There is often the rule of "no tag-backs" where you can't tag the person who just tagged you. The game ends when everyone is tired of playing. Number of Players: Any size group. Equipment: None.

Shadow Tag

In this fun version of Tag, you tag each other's shadow with your feet instead of tagging their body. Thus, it must be played on a sunny day. The closer to noon, the greater the difficulty. Number of Players: A small group. Equipment: None.

Freeze Tag

This is a variation of Tag where if the person who is "it" tags you, you have to freeze where you are. Another participant can tag you to unfreeze you. Number of Players: A small group. Equipment: None.

TV Tag

A variation of Freeze Tag where the person unfreezing the frozen player has to call out a TV show title. That show then can't be used again during that game. Number of Players: A small group. Equipment: None.

Marco Polo

This variation of tag is played in a swimming pool. Whoever is "it" closes their eyes and yells "Marco!" The other players then yell "Polo!" The "it" person has to tag one of the others, and then that person is "it." Be sure to play in a pool that is not too deep for any of the players. Number of Players: A small group. Equipment: A swimming pool.

Blind Man's Bluff

A favorite game in Tudor and Victorian England, this game is yet another variation on tag. The person who is "it" wears a blindfold and tries to tag the other players. Be sure to play this in an area safe from obstructions and other hazards. Number of Players: A small group. Equipment: A blindfold.

Red Rover

Divide everyone into two teams, each forming a long line, holding hands, facing the other team. The two teams should be around 20 or so feet apart. The teams take turn calling out, "Red Rover, Red Rover, let come over!" That child leaves their team's line, runs as fast as they can toward the other line and tries to break through the held hands. If they break through, they get to take someone back to their team. If they don't, they join the new team. When a team only has one person left, that person tries to break through the other team. If they do not, then their team loses. If they do, they gain a player and play continues. Number of Players: Any decent size group. Equipment: None.

Heads Up, Seven Up

Dating back to at least the 1950s, this game is one we played in elementary school. In my experience, it was usually done in the classroom with everyone at their desk. To start the game, seven players go to the front and the teacher says, "Heads down, thumbs up!" Everyone still at their desk puts their head down, extends an arm and stucks their thumb up. The seven kids that were at the front go around and each press one person's thumb down. Then they all go back to the front of the room and the teacher says, "Heads up, seven up!" The players at the desks raise their heads and the seven whose thumbs were pressed down stand up. Each in turn names the person they think pressed down their thumb. If they are correct, they change places with the presser. Then the game can start again. Number of Players: Minimum of 14. Equipment: Desks at which to sit.

Spud

This outdoor game is a lot of fun. Every player gets a number and crowds around the person who is "it" for that round. "It" then tosses the ball straight up and the other players run away. As the ball reaches the top of its toss, "it" calls out the number of one of the other players and then runs away also. The player whose number was called must run back and catch the ball (or chase after it if it is bouncing around). Once that person has the ball, they yell, "Spud!" Then everyone else must freeze. The person with the ball must try to hit one of the players with the ball. If they do, that new person gets a letter (first S, then P, then U, then D) and is now "it." If they miss, the person who threw the ball is "it" for the next round. Number of Players: A small group. Equipment: Playground ball.

Button, Button, Who's Got the Button?

Played inside or outside, the group sits or stands in a circle and holds their hands together in front of them. One person takes the button and goes around the circle, pretending to put the button in someone else's hands. They actually deposit the button in one person's hands, but then continue the rest of the way around the circle, pretending to put it in everyone else's hands. Then going around the circle, each player tries to guess who has the button now. Before each person's guess, the group asks together, "Button, button, who's got the button?" Then the player can state their guess. Once the player with the button is finally guessed, that person distributes the button during the next round. Because a button is used in this game, be sure that all the kids playing are old enough so as to not choke on the button. In another version of this game (and the one that I am more familiar with), one child stands in the middle of the circle, and the button gets passed around the backs of the rest of the group. Those without the button pretend to pass it. When the passing stops, the player in the middle has to guess as to who actually has the button. Number of Players: Any size group. Equipment: A button.

Cat's Cradle

This incredibly portable game can be played anywhere. If you are playing alone, you can make various string shapes on your own hands. With two people, you can play a bit of a game, transferring the shapes back and forth and creating new ones. Learn from someone if you can, but otherwise there are some good books on the subject. Make your own string, or buy a book on how to do it, which often comes with a string! Number of Players: One or two. Equipment: A string, approximately 36 inches long, tied in a circle (length varies, so find one that works for you!).

Hand-Clap Games

The first hand-clap game most people have played is Pat-a-Cake with their parents. Songs and patterns get much more complicated from there. Usually there are two people involved, doing a series of clap patterns on their own and each other's hands while singing or chanting a rhythmic song. There are many rhymes listed online, but if you can learn from someone else or see it in a video, that is best, so that you can get the notes of the song and the rhythm of the clapping. From "Miss Mary Mack" to "Miss Susie" to "Say, Say, My Playmate," there are countless hand clap games to learn. Number of Players: Usually two, but creativity can allow for a third or fourth person. Equipment: None.

Crack the Whip

Though often played on ice while wearing skates in the winter, this game is much safer, though possibly less fun, when played on grass. All the players hold hands in a line. The person at one end of the line skates or runs around, changing directions quickly. The tail of the "whip" of players tends to get moved around with a lot more force than players closer to the front. The longer the tail, the harder it is to hold on. If the players at the end fall off the end of the tail, they can attempt to get back on, perhaps in a position closer to the front. Number of Players: A small group. Equipment: None.

Musical Chairs

In a circle, arrange chairs facing outward to total one fewer than the number of players. An additional player needs to be in charge of the music. When the music starts, the players walk around the chairs. When the music stops, players sit down in the nearest chair as soon as they can. The one player who does not have a chair is out. One of the chairs is then removed, and the game continues in this manner. The player that sits in the final chair is the winner. This game is traditionally played inside, but it can also be played outside with outdoor furniture and a portable music player. Number of Players: A small group. Equipment: Music player or person making music, chairs.

Telephone

This game is one in which most people end up laughing quite a bit, so if you're in the mood for silliness, give it a go. Players sit in a circle. One person thinks up a sentence or phrase and whispers it to the next person. That person repeats it to the person on their other side. This continues around the circle. When it finally reaches the last person, that person says the sentence out loud. Hilarity ensues. The ending sentence is usually quite changed from the beginning sentence, since errors tend to compound as they go around the circle. Number of Players: A small group. Equipment: None.

Freeze Dance

Choose one person to be in charge of the music. When the music starts, everyone else dances, the crazier the better. When the music stops, the dancers must freeze in their position. Anyone caught moving after that is out. Play continues until there is one person left, the winner. Number of Players: Any number. Equipment: Music player or person making music. You can find more activities in The Dangerous Book for Boys and The Daring Book for Girls, as well as some jump rope and hand clap rhymes.

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From perennial favorites Hide and Seek, Telephone and Capture the Flag to the less common Blind Man's Bluff, Spud and Crack the Whip, this list has something for everyone.