By Playing Out Coordinator, Sophie.
Chalk games are one of the most simple but creative way for lots of fun at your Playing Out sessions or street gatherings and they are not just for young people, all ages can get involved!
I have two young girls and these are some of the fun games and activities that we have played out on our street with our neighbours. They are all super simple and easy to play, it is a great way to get people talking and engaged. They keep my children happy for hours whilst I can have a nice cup of tea with the neighbours.
Idea Number 1 – Hopscotch – The first one has to be the good old Hopscotch we all know and love it and it is amazing how many variations there are!
You can draw the usual one with numbers 1 to 10 and the children or adults can hop and jump up and back, you can also use a small stone to throw onto a number and go and collect it.
You can also draw a hopscotch with 10 random numbers on it for example 10, 8, 12, 20 etc and then you shout out maths questions like 5+5 and they must hop and jump to the right number. Both my girls loved this and didn’t know they were practising their numbers!
Idea Number 2 – ‘Sharky Sharky!’ – another firm favourite on our street. You ask the children to draw 3 or 4 beaches on the street (another added activity to design a beach!) the beaches need to be spread out. You then have one shark in the middle and the other children stood on one of the beaches. The shark shouts ‘sharky sharky’ and all the children must run to a different beach. If the shark catches a child, they then become a shark as well, it keeps going until all the children have become sharks. A great fun and a game that adults enjoy playing as well.
Idea Number 3 – Art Gallery – a really simple one, but one of my personal favourites. You just need to draw large empty squares along the street and ask the children to fill them with beautiful pictures of what makes them happy. We had the most beautiful rainbows, unicorns, football games, lions and they lasted after the session as well and all the neighbours commented on how they brightened up the street.
Idea Number 4 – Noughts and Crosses – another oldie but a goodie, just a simple game of noughts and crosses. It’s so easy but it is amazing how competitive it can get.
Idea Number 5 – Obstacle Course – this is a super fun one and keeps children of all ages occupied for quite some time. The obstacle course can go the whole length of the street and can include anything, let the imagination go, some ideas include a hopscotch, into a maze, then a wiggly line you walk along backwards, a circle with the words spin around three times, to a line to hop along, to a circle with the words do 5 star jumps. You can include what you want, the children had great fun going to the start, to the finish, and even started timing each other to see who could go quickest.
Idea Number 6 – Bullseye – think archery board for this one but drawn on the floor. So, a large circle, divided into parts, and each part has a number in it. You then need to throw ideally a small bean bag (can use stones just be careful), you have three tries and the person with the highest number wins.
Idea Number 7 – Word Circles – this is one for the smaller ones aged 3-5ish, draw large circles, and in each circle write simple words such as cat, dog, box then you shout out a word and the children run to the correct circle. My older one loved playing this with her younger sister as she was able to write the words and shout them for her, learning for them both!
Idea Number 8 – Words of Kindness – this is the one I saved for last as it meant so much for some of our elderly residents. With the elderly residents’ permission, we asked if we could write words of kindness or draw happy pictures on their drive or even on their doorstep. The children loved it and wrote some beautiful quotes or asked what pictures the elderly residents would like them to draw. So many commented that they couldn’t leave their house but loved watching the children draw and write messages. Please note this does require adult supervision and to make sure that children know they can only do it when asked, but the joy it brought was so lovely.
I hope you have lots of fun playing these games with all the neighbours on your street. We have plenty of ideas for other activities and games that you can use at your Playing Out Sessions, and we will be sharing these regularly but if you need any in the meantime please do get in touch. And most importantly if you need some more chalk to play all the games above, please do get in touch with Sophie at playingout@sustainablestablans.org.uk