Hide and Seek
When was the last time you played the game of hide and seek with your kids? If it takes more than a couple of minutes to answer this question, it has been too long. Hide and seek is simple, it doesn’t cost anything to play and, it is fun!
Children love to play hide and seek. The suspense of looking behind doors and furniture or standing still behind tall trees seems to excite them in ways unlike any other playtime activity.
In the warm summer months, hide and seek can be played outside in the yard or at the park if you live in an apartment. If this is the case, be sure to not leave small children without supervision as you always want to keep them safe. One suggestion would be to pair adults with children as a way of protecting them and getting in on the fun. It is also a great way to exercise with kids without having to make too big of an effort.
The rules to hide and seek are simple. As a matter of fact you can make them up as you go along. To make it interesting, think about ways in which you can incorporate other learning into the game. For example, it is a standard rule of the game to have to person who is seeking count from 1 to 10 while the others are hiding. To turn it into a learning experience, think about changing the counting rules to count by 2’s, i.e. 2,4,6,8, and so on. Of course this can be expanded to other number combinations as well.
Here are a few more tips to get you going!
- Incorporate tagging the person who has been found as a way of adding additional activity to the game.
- Make it a battle of the sexes with boys and men competing against girls and women.
- Establish rules to list places they cannot hide in order to encourage creative thinking.
- Pair a younger child with an older one in order to teach them the game.
- Add time limits to the amount of time a child can seek and have an adult supervise “keeping time”.
And remember, it is all about having good fun.