Gwyn ap Nudd

Ancient British God & Hero

Games for Little Gods & Heroes!

The following listed are games I used to teach children at Brooke and

Brundall Primary Schools in Norfolk. Their response was always of

total enthusiasm. All the games I once loved to play. However,

because so many children have died or been hurt on roads since I was

a child, the street games handed down through time are almost never

played. As a result most are becoming lost to memory.

Like all things of the past that were past to down through big sisters,

brothers, our parents and theirs, we could do no worse than try to

consider why they were ever passed down to us at all. The inheritance

we leave to our children enables them to keep passing it on and down

to the families of the future. Like the words of oral tradition that can be

told in stories to be remembered, the games we allow our children to

enjoy as we did enables them to run in the footsteps of their ancient

families, all who once were little children too.

Please look through these games and teach a child one, a few or all of

them. Take copies and hand them out to schools. If children cannot play

safely on their streets anymore there may be schools, parks, gardens and

play areas where they can.

Dips:

Before a game begins it is often necessary to pick out

a side, leader, or simply the format in which turns will be

taken. The idea of dipping is to allow for fairness in the

decision process.

Err’ie, orr’ie, round the table

Eat as much as you are able

If you’re able, eat the table

Err’ie, orr’ie, out!

Old Father Christmas

What do you think he did?

He upset the cradle

And out fell the kid

The kid began to bubble

He hit it with a shovel

O-U-T spells out!

Gipsy, gipsy, lived in a tent

Couldn’t afford to pay the rent

When the rent man came next day

Gipsy, gipsy, ran away.

Two, four, six, eight

Mary’s at the cottage gate

Eating cherries off a plate

Two, four, six, eight!

Dip! Ickery, ahry, oary, ah

Biddy, barber, oary, sah

Peer, peer, mizter, meer

Pit, pat, out one.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven

All good children go to heaven

Penny on the water

Tuppence on the sea

Threepence on the railway

Out goes she.

Boy Scout walk out,

Girl Guide step aside.

Paddy on the railway

Picking up stones

Along came an engine

And broke Paddy’s bones

Turn the dirty dish cloth

That’s not fair

Pooh, said the engine-driver

I don’t care!

Paddy on the railway

Picking up stones

Along came an engine

And broke Paddy’s bones

Oh, said Paddy

That’s not fair

Pooh, said the engine-driver

I don’t care!

Hibble Hobble, black bobble

Hibble hobble out,

Turn the dirty dish cloth

In-side-out.

Look upon the mantelpiece

There you’ll find a ball of grease,

Shining like a threepenny piece

Out-goes-she

Have a cigarette sir?

No, sir.

Why, sir?

Because I’ve got a cold, sir.

Let me hear you cough, sir.

Very bad indeed, sir.

You ought to be in bed, sir.

O-U-T spells out.

As fair as fair as it can be

The king of Egypt said to me

The one that comes to number three

Must be he. One-two-three.

Dip, dip, dip

My blue ship

Sailing on the water

Like a cup and saucer

Dip, dip, dip

You’re not it!

Oh deary me

Mother caught a flea

Put it in the kettle

To make a cup of tea

The flea jumped out

And bit mother’s snout

In comes daddy

With his shirt hanging out!

Red, white and blue

The cat’s got the flu

The baby has the whooping cough

And out goes you!

I went to a Chinese laundry

To buy a loaf of bread

They wrapped it up in a table-cloth

And this is what they said

Air, I, dominacka

Chicka, walla, lollipopa

Ompompush!

Inky, pinky, ponky

My daddy bought a donkey

The donkey died

Daddy cried

Daddy cried

Ink, pinky, ponky

Participation Dips:

For everyone to join in.

Old Mother Ink

Fell down the sink

How many miles

Did she fall

----- Three

One, two, three

Charlie Chaplin

Sat on a pin

How many inches

Did it go in?

----- Four

One, two, three, four.

Dic-dic-tation

Cor-por-ation

How many buses

Are in the station?

-- Five

One, two, three, four, five.

Dic-a dic-a dation

My operation

How many stitches

Did I have?

---- Six

One, two, three, four, five, six.

Engine, engine, on the line

Wasting petrol all the time

How many gallons does it take

Five, six, seven, or eight?

---- Eight.

E-I-G-H-T spells eight

As I went down the Icky Picky Lane

I met some Icky Picky people

What colour were they dressed in ---

Red, white or blue?

--- Red

R-E-D spells red.

And that’s as fair as fair can be

That you are not to be it.

My mother bought me a nice new dress

What colour do you guess?

---- Green

G-R-E-E-N was the colour of the dress

Father Christmas

Grew some whiskers

How many inches long?

--- Four

One, two, three, four.

And if you do not want to play

Just take yourself and run away

With a jolly good smack across your face

Just like this

Up the ladder, down the ladder

See the monkeys chew tobacco

How many ounces did they chew

Shut your eyes and think.

--- Six

One, two, three, five, six

And out you must go for saying so.

Engine, engine number nine

Running on Chicago line

If the train should jump the track

Do you want your money back?

---- Yes.

Y-E-S spells Yes

So if you do not want to play

Please take yourself and run away.

My mother and your mother

Were hanging out the clothes

My mother gave your mother

A punch on the nose

What colour was the blood?

Shut your eyes and think

---- Blue

B-L-U-E spells blue and out you go

With a jolly good clout upon your big nose

Mickey Mouse bought a house

What colour did he paint it?

Shut your eyes and think.

--- Red

R-E-D spells red

And out you go for saying so

With a clip across your ear-hole

As I climbed up the apple tree

All the apples fell on me

Bake an apple, bake a pie

Have you ever told a lie

No

Yes you did, you know you did

you broke your mother’s teapot-lid

What colour was it?

Blue

Not it wasn’t, it was gold

That’s another lie you’ve told.

Chasing Games:

Ball He (Kingy):

Game requires a light ball
6 to 20 players
A large levelled area of ground, then
Someone who has been chosen to be chaser bounces ball ten times whilst others run off
The chaser has to bounce the ball while running but after catching someone, who then joins him, he has to stand still whilst holding the ball
He can run when he has passed it on to another and whilst throwing it
A player is out when the ball hits him between the neck and knees
Players being chased can use ‘fisting’ to fend off the ball
They may also pick up a ball between fists and throw it away but if a chaser catches it or touches a player whilst holding the ball in his fists, they are out
Kicking the ball and handling it in any other way than between fists is a disqualification
Running out of bounds is also not allowed
The last player is the new ‘King’ and can choose the next chaser

Poison:

Players hold fingers of chaser
The chaser has to say “I went to a shop and I bought a bottle of vinegar ... etc, continue to make a list of items until he includes the word POISON
When everyone hears the word, POISON, they have to run
An alternative to ‘I went to the shop etc’ is for everyone to say ‘What is in the bottle when the cork goes pop?’
The chaser replies with a list of items until he reaches POISON!
If anyone run before the chase word is said that player becomes the new chaser

French Touch:

When a chaser catches a player, their positions get swapped over and the new chaser must keep a hand on the area where he was touched. For extra fun make the area touched an awkward one for the touched player to keep their hand covering it!

Off Ground He:

Players are safe if they can stand on an object that is off the ground

Line Touch:

Usually played on chalked/painted out courts, ie tennis, netball etc
Ends of lines, previously decided, are the home ground to head for
Players have to keep going directly in a straight line, including catchers
Semi circles are safe ground to collect in when catchers have you blocked off

Cross Touch:

Game starts like ‘Touch’
However, when the chaser is running after a player and another crosses between, the chaser has to run after that one, and so on.

Stuck in the Mud:

Players touched have to stay ‘stuck’ with their arms raised
The have to shout ‘Releaso! Releaso!’ or ‘S.O.S!’ until a free player touches them.
The game ends when the chaser catches all the players or if a player is caught a third time.

Underground Tig/Sticky Glue:

Player is released by another player crawling between his legs.

Tunnel Touch:

As ‘Tig’, but players have to stand with an arm raised against a wall or tree for free players to pass under and release them.

Ticky Leapfrog:

Players caught have to crouch until another has freed them by leaping over him.

Witches in the Gluepots/Release:

Players caught are put in marked out circles (gluepots)
They can only be rescued if someone touches them.
Free players have to be careful not to enter the circle or they will become sticky too and therefore caught.
An alternative is that captives stretch out of their circles to grab at others running by, if they touch anyone they have to join them in the pot or go to another one.
The last caught is the chaser next time.

Cat & Mouse:

Cat: Is the mouse at home?

Mouse: Who wants to know?

Cat: The cat wants to know.

Mouse: Yes, the mouse is at home.

Cat: What o’clock is it?

Mouse: Time the mouse was gone!

One player is chosen as ‘cat’ and one ‘mouse’
The rest form a circle holding hands
The mouse within the circle and the cat without!
The cat attempts to catch the mouse, but the players forming the ring are on the mouse’s side
No one wants the cat to get into the ring so whenever he attempts to break through they push up against each other to stop him
If the cat succeeds and breaks the link, the mouse is let out and then the cat is kept in the ring until he breaks out
Now the circle has to let the mouse back in and so it goes on until the game is over, ie if the cat finally gets bored or catches the mouse!

Running Across:

Players split into two groups, one group going to one side of the road or playground and one to the other with a catcher in the middle.
When the catcher shouts ‘Change’, the two sides rush across the ground to change places
Players often get in each other’s way or get caught
Eventually all those caught become the new catchers
They form the thickest line and the game ends when the last player is caught
The first player to be caught is the new catcher in the next game.

Chinese Wall:

Two parallel lines, a yard wide, are drawn across the middle of a play area
The lines are the Chinese wall
One or two players stand in-between and do not go outside.
All the other players have to run across the wall without being touched
If anyone is touched while crossing through they have to become catchers or ‘sit-outs’ in that they sit on the wall until the game is over

Wall to Wall:

Players first agree on boundaries the game is to be played in.
One player stands in the middle of two walls
All the other players line up at one wall and have to run across to the other keeping within the boundaries
If a player touches another while running from wall to wall he has to join the catcher in the middle
Players running can only stay at a wall side for less than ten seconds
Players cannot return to a wall they have just left until they have been to the other side

Stag:

Like ‘Wall to Wall’, but when the catcher shouts ‘Cross’
When the catcher has caught a player they hold hands until they catch another, growing into a line as all the players get caught

Black Peter:

Like ‘Wall to Wall’, but the catcher is known as ‘Black Peter’
Black Peter has to stand in front of the wall and players run past him when he says:

BP: Who’s afraid of Black Peter?

Response: Not I!

BP: Who’s afraid of Black Peter?

Response: Not I!

BP: Who’s afraid of Black Peter?

Players then rush to the other side of the play area.

British Bulldog:

Players line up on a pavement within agreed boundaries and on a quiet road
A strong player or two people, face the other players who are in the middle of the road
When signalled to, the players rush across the road to the sanctuary of the other pavement and the ‘bulldog’ tries to stop one of them
Players are only caught when they lifted off the ground
The catcher also has to say: ‘British Bulldog, one, two, three!’ or an agreed number.

Walk the Plank or Join the Crew:

One player stands in the middle of the road
The remaining players stand on the edge of the pavement
The player in the road calls out a name of a player and asks them ‘Walk the plank or join the crew?’
If the named player agrees to ‘join the crew’ they go to the middle and another player is then asked to choose
If a player is confident that they can make it they may reply ‘Walk the plank’
They then have to run fast to reach the other side of the road without those in the middle catching him
Players who succeed in getting across shout ‘Schoolie’ or ‘Overboard’
Everyone then rushes over the road to catch the escaped player
If that player is caught, he is ‘tortured’ by the first middle of the road player until he agrees to be a crew member

Kings, Queens and Jacks:

The catcher has to stand in the middle of the play area and call out ‘Kings’, ‘Queens’ or ‘Jacks’
If he calls ‘Kings’, players run across to the other side without being grabbed and dragged back to the place where they started
If the catcher shouts ‘Queens’, players hop across with the catcher hopping after them
If the catcher shouts ‘Jacks’, players who move have to join the catcher in the middle
The remaining player is the winner

Prisoner’s Base or Chevy Chase or Chivy:

For this game there are 2 bases on one side of the play area
On the other side, about twenty yards away, there are two prisons mirroring the bases
All 4 are outlined in chalk or sticks etc
Two captains choose teams and each takes ownership of a base, but it is the prison where they will take their captives on the other side and diagonally opposite
The captain of one team begins the game by sending out one of his players into the middle to taunt the others
The captain of the other sends out one of his players to catch him
The first player has to get back to his own base and gets helped by a fellow team player who has been directed to chase the chaser of the other team
Each player ends up chasing whilst they are also being chased.


Base A				Base B

Prison B				Prison A

French and English:

Two leaders choose their teams
They agree the boundary lines that divide their territories
Each player places a possession like an article of clothing
Something has to represent a flag
Players of each team then make attempt to get the other team’s possessions, one at a time
As players have to invade their enemy’s territory, they can use all means to distract, allowing for a less noticeable member to rush forward
Single players m