Five Games Every Kid Should Know How to Play

I recently stumbled across a sociology project to preserve classic school yard activities from South Africa. It featured a short video of kids playing games that had been passed down from generation to generation.

Someone in the comments asked, "I wonder what games would make the list for American kids?" Naturally, it got me thinking. What would make the list? What games were passed along to me that I have passed along to my children? What classic games should every kid know how to play?

Here's my list of top five games: 

5. War. This card game is a classic for two or three players. The dealer starts with dealing out all the cards in a stack. Once cards are dealt, each player takes his or her stack in his/her hands, (all the cards should be facing down), and flips one card over and lays it on the table. Whoever has the highest card gets to take both cards laid down. If both players flip over the same card, they both yell "War!" and lay down three more cards face down. Then they flip over the next card. Whoever has the highest card wins all the cards laid down. Continue playing until one player holds all the cards. He or she is declared the winner.

4. Kickball. This classic field game is similar to baseball or softball and follows the same rules. But instead of hitting the ball you kick the ball. The pitcher rolls large bouncy ball and a kicker kicks it in front of home base and then runs bases just like in baseball.

3. Rock, Paper, Scissors. This is a hand game for two or more people. Start with making a fist. Then everyone chants "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Shoot!" When you say "Shoot!" you throw one of three hand signs: a fist indicating rock, a flat hand indicating paper or scissors which basically looks like a sideways peace sign. Paper covers rock. Rock crushes scissors. Scissors cut paper.

2. Mother May I? For this game, one child is selected to be the Mother (or Father or Captain). He or she stands at the end of the room or a length away if playing outside. The rest of the children line up at the other end, with the objective of each player trying to reach Mother. Each one takes a turn asking, "Mother May I (number and action)?" (e.g., Mother May I take three steps forward?) The Mother can then say, "Yes you may," or "No, but you may (suggests another action that can be favorable or unfavorable)." The child who reaches Mother first wins and then gets to be the Mother.

1. Tag. This versatile game comes in at number one on my list. In its most basic form, a child is chosen as "It" and tries to tag the other kids in the group. This tops my list because of the many forms it can take: TV tag, freeze tag, blob tag, flashlight tag. And the list doesn't stop there. Kids have continued to modify it reflect each generation's pop culture. I'm sure there's a Justin Bieber tag game being played on a school yard somewhere right this very minute.