Games to play whilst walking
Playing games whilst walking can re-energise the kids and make the walk fun for all. Below is a selection of games of different types we have played during various walks. All of the games selected need no equipment.
- Thinkers – to occupy their minds
- Energisers - to rejuvenate tired legs
- I spy
- When I go on holiday
- String of words
- Once upon a time
- Scissors, paper and stone
- Forbidden words
- Long sentences
- What am I
- Heads and Tails
- Tell us a story
- Hunter and Prey
- Funny Walks
- Go find
- Cops and Robbers (for groups)
Health & Safety – please ensure that the kids take care whilst playing these games and are not distracted from the walk and following the country code rules.
1. I spy
- A favourite thinking game whilst walking, simple and effective.
- A player chooses a visible object and says, “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with…”.
- The player fills the blank with first letter of the name of the object (e.g. “T” for Trees).
- The rest guess the object and the player can only answer with a yes or a no.
Alternative for young players:
- The blank is filled with the colour of the object rather than the first letter.
- The player says “I spy with my little eye and it is…..” (e.g. “Red” for Letterbox)
2. When I go on holiday
- The first player says, “When I go on holiday I pack…” and states an object, for example, “hairbrush”.
- The second player repeats the sentence and adds another object. For example, “When I go on holiday I pack a hairbrush and a t-shirt”.
- The players keep adding to the list until nobody can recite the list correctly.
- The same rules but replace the words , “When I go on holiday I pack…”, with “When I went shopping I bought.....”
3. String of words
- The first player names a country, for example England.
- The next player has to name a country which starts with the last letter of last named country, for example, Denmark
- Play continues until a player can not name a country or a country is repeated.
Alternative suggestions for word strings – girls names, boys names, cartoon characters or animals.
4. Once upon a time
- The aim of the game is to create a story
- Everybody in turn makes up a sentence of the story.
- The player who can not add a sentence loses the game.
- The funnier the story, the better.
5. Scissors, paper and stone
- Each player chooses one of three signs. Two spread open fingers are scissors, an open palm is paper and a clenched fist is stone.
- On the count of three each player makes their chosen sign at the same time.
- Stone beats scissors because stone sharpens scissors, paper beats stone because paper can wrap stone and scissors beats paper as scissors cut paper.
- Do take care not to trip whilst walking and playing this at the same time. Look ahead when making the sign – this helps prevent cheating and tripping.
6. Forbidden words
- Pick a word that can not be said during the game. Start with the words “Yes” or “No”.
- Make the game harder by using words such as “there” or “where”, or funny words.
- Ask questions to try and get the other plays to say the forbidden word.
- The loser is the person who says the forbidden word.
- Note – saying “yeah” is also forbidden when “yes” is the forbidden word.
7. Long sentences
- Try and make the longest sentence with words that all start with the same letter. For example, S, “Samantha sang something silly so she sat sulking somewhere sunny”.
- All players use the same letter.
- The winner is the player with the longest sentence.
8. What am I?
- A player chooses any object and says “What am I?”.
- The other players ask questions to guess the object but only yes or no responses can be given to the questions. For example, Can you be eaten? Can you be found in a house? Do you use electricity?
- The winner is the player that guesses the correct object.
Alternative for young players:
- A player chooses any object and says “What am I thinking of?” and then describes the object without naming the object. For example, to describe a pea - “It is a type of food, it is green, it is…”
- The players continue to describe the object until a winner calls out the correct name of the object.
9. Heads and Tails
- The first player says a compound word (a word made up of two words), for example Blackboard.
- The next player takes the second part of the word and forms another compound word, for example, Boardroom.
- Play continues until the next player can not follow on with a compound word.
Alternative for younger players:
- Rather than strictly using compound words, use linked words. For example, car park and park ranger.
10. Tell us a story
- The aim is to tell a story which has to include five words chosen by fellow players.
- The five words are chosen before the story commences.
- Try to make the story as funny as possible.
- Then switch roles.
The games will rejuvenate the most tired of legs, but be careful not to play these games too early in the walk!
1. Tig (otherwise known as ‘Tag’)
- This is the most simplest of games but it has saved us so many times when our kids have had enough of walking, that it has to be the number one game on the list.
- A group of players (two or more) decide who is going to be 'it'.
- ‘It’ then chases the others to get close enough to ‘tig’ them with a touch of their hand.
- A ‘tig’ makes the ‘tigged’ player ‘it’
- The game resumes with the new ‘it’ chasing the others.
2. Hunter and Prey
- One player is the hunter. The others shout out an animal name and the hunter needs to remember who says what.
- The hunter then decides which animal he is going to hunt by saying, for example, “I am going to catch the lion”.
- The hunter then chases the player who is the lion.
- The lion then needs to shout out another animal’s name before the hunter reaches them.
- The hunter then needs to hunt the other animal instead.
- Once a player is caught by the hunter or calls out an animal that nobody has chosen, they become the new hunter.
3. Funny Walks
- Kids love to do silly walks. This is a simple game of taking of it in turns to decide how to walk until reaching the next landmark (e.g. gate, stile, tree). Make sure nobody is watching!
- Suggested walks:
- Monkey – swinging arms and bandy legs.
- Lion – fingers clawed and strong movements
- Horse – nodding head and galloping
- Crocodile – arms stretched out in front, opening and closing to imitate jaws.
- Sound effects are optional (eg. Roaring like a lion) but do consider other walkers and wildlife which may like a slightly more peaceful afternoon!
4. Go find
- A player chooses an object on the walk pathway and says, “First one to find a …”.
- The player fills the blank with the object (e.g. Pink flower).
- The rest run to find the object and the winner then chooses the next object to find.
5. Cops and Robbers
- Cops and Robbers, sometimes called "team tag", has players split into two teams: cops (the "it" team; the team in pursuit) and robbers (the team being chased).
- The cops arrest the robbers by “tagging”, and put them in "jail". One of the robbers can stage a jailbreak by “tagging” one of the prisoners without getting “tagged” himself.
- Unlike ordinary “tag”, there is a possible conclusion when all the robbers are in jail.
Details of other favourite games to play whilst walking are welcomed. Please let us know the games and we will try to include them.