Games From Kildegaard Gymnasium
Copenhyagen, Denmark

If you say that you are France and you want to be at war with the USA, you throw a tennis ball down into the ground while you say: "I declare war with the USA. While the "American" (the USA-player) runs after the ball to catch it, the other players run away from the circle. When the "American" gets the ball, he says stop, and the others stop. The "American" may take 4 steps, as long as he/she can, and then he/she have to throw the ball down between the arms of the closest person (who is making a circle by folding his/her hands and spreading his/her arms as much as possible). If the ball goes through the person's arms, the American can take some of the person's country by standing in the stop-circle (and later land you have already taken) and with a piece of chalk, draw a line so that he/she gets as big a part of the other person's country as possible. The winner is the one who gets the most land, and you have lost if all of your land is taken by others.

PS. A simple graphics file to illustrate this game is available. Send us a message if you want it please!

You have to use a soccer ball and a wall. The wall has to be 3-5 meters wide. You can be from 2-16 people. You stand in a line behind each other, and each person gets a number like 1 2 3 4........16. The first person (number one) kicks the ball and has to hit the wall at the length you have decided, at least 2 meters from the wall. Then the 2nd person kicks the ball, right after the first shot. HE/SHE CAN'T STOP THE BALL, but has to hit it while it bounces back to him/her. Then number 3 kicks, and so on. If one person misses the wall, he/she dies and can't play the game any- more. Then you play the game until there is one person left, and the person who is left has won.

Some kids like the game a lot, others don't like it.

You can be 8 players and only have 4 squares, but then 4 of the players have to stay in a line, waiting for their turn.

Rules:

• You need a ball.
• Whenever you come from the line, you have to start in the square numbered 1.
• If you have 4 squares, the one in square number 4 has to serve to square number 2, so that the ball touches the ground there. If you have more than 4 squares, the person in the square with the highest number serve to a number he will decide and mention.
• The ball can touch the ground in each square only once, and the player in the square can touch the ball only once before it must go to the next square.
• If the ball touches the ground twice or more, if a person touches the ball twice, or if the ball goes outside the big square, the person "dies" and has to go to square number 1, or at the back of the line, waiting for it to be his/her turn to enter square 1, as others "die" and go at the back of the line.
• If a player "dies", the other players move 1 square/number up.
• You need a circle in the middle of the squares called "Cheese".
• If the ball touches the cheese spot, you "die".

PS. Also for this game a graphics file is available.

The whole game is about being on the top of the castle. All tricks are accepted!

From Emil and Kim

The game is most fun for kids at the age of 5-9 years.

Sincerely

The clever kids: Morten, Christoffer, Esther and Jacqueline.

The first person takes the ball and throws it to the wall, and when it comes down and touches the ground, the first person jumps over it and the next person catches it. And so it goes on, but if you don't catch, it you are gone... but it's just for fun.

From
Niels and Jesper

1. You mark the field. The field is to be square (put something in the four corners!), with about 15-20m between each corner.

2. You choose two teams, with 6 or more kids on each. After that you choose which team is going to be "in" and which team is going to be "out". The kids that are "in" line up in a row, outside the field, but along one of the sides. The kids that are going to be "out" each chooses a place to stand, most of them within the 4 corners, perhaps one or two behind the back line (in case somebody from the "in" team shoots the ball really far), opposite the side where the "in"-team has lined up.

3. When you have done this, one of the kids from the outer team is sent in to be a kind of pitcher, who must stand before the lined up inner team. He or she catches the ball that is shot out by the "in"-team and then thrown back to the pitcher by the "out"-team. The pitcher also throws the ball about 1 meter vertically into the air for the players of the "in"-team to hit, when it is their turn, or they can do so themselves, if they prefer that.

4. When having hit the ball, the player goes to base no. 1 and perhaps runs further (first to base 2, then 3, then 4) if he/she has time to do so before the ball is in the hands of the pitcher again. Otherwise he/she must wait for another player to hit the ball so that he/she can try to reach the next base. If a player doesn't make it to one of the four bases before the pitcher catches the ball and shouts: "Stop!", he/she "dies". Two-three "dead" persons leads to the teams changing places. When you have run around all of the field, you get back in line again and wait until it is your turn to hit the ball with the bat again. If you want, you can count how many people get in, and at the end see who got the most points, but usually we just play without counting, as it is fun anyway.

5. If when hit, the ball gets caught by one of the kids from the outer team, the teams change places. You may try to hit the ball three times when it is your turn, but when the bat touches the ball, no matter how little, you must stop and go to base one, likewise if you do not hit the ball at all in all three attempts.

Teacher's note:

I will try to draw the field for you:

                  The numbers are the bases
                  x'es are the team who is "in"
                  o's are the team who is "out"


                                    o


                  3                                   2
                           o                   o

                                     o
                                                   o
                      o


                                     o


                  4                                   1

                   x x x x x x x     x    o (=pitcher)

To point 5) I want to add that "when I was a kid..." we played a more complex version, which many kids still do. We did not let the teams change places when somebody from the outer team caught the ball, only if there were the 2-3 "dead" persons then. The one who had hit the ball which was caught, AND anybody who might have run then to try to get to the next base, would "die". Also there is a rule that you may not hit the ball across the left or right side line (seen from the pitcher's and inner team's point) without it having touched the ground before it crosses the line. If you do, you are "dead".

To avoid people from just sitting down being bored when they are "dead", a rule has been invented that they can still play, but count as "dead", so when one or two more people die, the teams change places.

Before playing you should be sure to agree on the precise rules, for example as to how many "dead" persons will lead to the change, what will it mean if a ball is caught etc.

We hope you will enjoy this game. It is played here a lot in spring, summer and autumn, at recess too... or as soon as a teacher can be talked into going outdoor to play for a change! The game is enjoyed by people of almost all ages.

Have fun!

Mrs. Lisbeth Roeder
Kildegaard Gymnasium
Copenhagen

It is most fun from 8-? years.

From you friends in Denmark
Signe, Ditte Marie, Andreas and Rasmus