During the summer at our cottage, we are close technological cousins of the Amish.  No landline.  No television.  No computer for goodness sakes.  Wi-fi is a far off dream.

And yet my children survive.  One might even argue that they thrive.  Forced to find something else to do—I know, horrors!—they resort to good old-fashioned fun. And, surprisingly, when their friends arrive to visit, no one ever seems to notice our stunning lack of technological connectedness.  Instead, their friends simply join in the latest game.  It results in the kind of running, laughing, negotiating, and yes, even yelling, that’s music to a parents’ ears.  It’s a unique kind of joy.

Are you looking for a few ways for your kids to have fun without Sponge Bob, iCarly, or Guitar Hero?  Invite some of their friends over and have them try a few of my boys’ favorites:

1. Ghost in the Graveyard.  In this game, which is played at dusk or dark, the kids choose a “base” and a person to be “It,” just like with hide-and-seek.  The person who’s “It” closes her eyes and counts to 12 in this manner:  “One-o’clock, two-o’clock, three-clock…” all the way to “Midnight,” which as far as I can tell must be yelled with extreme vigor. All of the other kids run and hide. (They don’t hide together; each child has their own hiding spot).  Once they choose a hiding spot, they can’t move—no sneaking to a new spot after the person who’s “It” starts looking.  When any child who’s hiding sees the person who’s “It,” they yell “Ghost in the Graveyard!” and everyone runs like crazy for base.  “It” tags as many of them as possible.  Everyone who gets tagged is “It” (together) for the next round.
2. Sardines.  This one’s also in the hide-and seek family, but can be played anytime of day.  It’s sort of like reverse hide-and-seek.  One person is chosen to hide.  Everyone else closes their eyes and counts, together, to 30 (or any agreed-upon number).  Then, they yell, “Ready or not, here we come!” and split up to find the Hider.  When any seeker finds the person hiding, they quietly join them.  The last one to find the group is the Hider the next time.
3. Hide and Seek Tag.  How many hide-and-seek variations are there?  Tons, apparently!  In this one, one child is “It” and everyone else runs and hides.  The person who’s “It” counts to 30 (or any agreed-upon number) and then yells, “Ready or not, here I come!”   “It” seeks out the other kids.  If she sees them, she tries to tag them.  If she’s successful, they become her partner and help find and tag the other kids.  If “It” doesn’t tag the child they find, that child can run off and hide again. There’s no “base” in this game.  Kids keep running and yelling and tagging until everyone has been tagged.  The first person who was tagged is “It” the next time.
4. Cornhole, the Bean Bag Game.  “Corn-what?” you ask.  That’s what I asked, anyway, the first time I heard of this game.  I’m not sure if it’s a game unique to the Midwest, or if I was just out of the Cornhole loop all my life, but this is a recent discovery for us, courtesy of our good friends, now referred to as the Cornhole Pros.  This game is perfectly acceptable to pull out for either kids or grown-ups, and is especially fun on those Sunday afternoons when friends are over for a burger and a beer.  If you haven’t heard of it before, click here for the scoop on what it is and how to play.
   
5. Croquet.  Seriously, you know how to play this, right?  You may not have played since you were 12, but I think just about everyone’s played it at least once.  If somehow you missed it, you can read the instructions here.  This is a good all-family game, and the kids loooove to beat the grown-ups.  Get yourself a set.
6. Bocce ball.  Here’s another game I didn’t know about until after the age of 25.  I’m fairly certain I was introduced to it at a party when my husband’s Italian relatives dusted off an old set from the garage.  The great thing about Bocce is that you can play with almost anyone – young and old alike can be really good or really bad at Bocce.  Even even small kids can play (small like 5, not like, 2, unless they’ve got exceptional throwing skills!)  The gist is that you throw the little white ball and then everyone tries to get their ball closest to the little white one.  How’s that for a generic explanation.  Very detailed instructions, here.  If you don’t have a set, I highly recommend it for lots of Forced Family Fun.
7. Ultimate Frisbee.  The way my kids play this game, it’s kind of like football with a Frisbee.  There are two teams, and each team has an end zone.  The point of the game is to get the Frisbee into your endzone and score a point.  To start, each team lines up in front of an endzone.  The team with the Frisbee yells, “Ultimate!” then throw the Frisbee to the other team.  The player who catches it can take up to 2 steps and then must throw it to another teammate, working their way to the endzone. (I think my kids made up this 2-steps part.  In “real” Ultimate, I don’t think any steps are allowed.  Experts, feel free to weigh in!)  The defense (the team who initially threw the Frisbee), can’t hit other players or take the Frisbee directly out of the opponents hands, but they can block throws, knock down the Frisbee, or intercept it.  If an incomplete pass is made and the Frisbee hits the ground, the opposing team gets the Frisbee at that spot and heads towards their endzone.  The team with the most points wins.
8. Badminton.  Put the net up in your yard & hit the birdie over the net.  That’s the gist of it, although there are all sorts of official rules.  You can read them, here.
9. Traditional games:  football, basketball, tennis, soccer.  All still fun. 

There are a few other games my kids also enjoy, but they aren’t favorites, so I didn’t list them above.  Jarts (aka Lawn Darts) is one. We play with the newer version with the blunted ends, not the kind my brother and I tried to kill each other with.  Ladderball is another, although I suspect they’d like this better if we had a more sturdy set.  Ours is the plastic version with many, many pieces, some of which have mysteriously gone missing.  

How about your kids?  Do they have some favorite outdoor games you could share?  Are these some of their favorites, too?  Let me know what they like or we’re missing and I’ll share the ideas with other moms in a future post!