It is no longer the time when playing tag games came naturally to kids. Those were the days when playing outdoors was a part of the growing-up culture.
Ever since technology has intercepted the way of life, our kids have gotten tuned to the blue screen vis-a-vis the outdoors. Even though the opportunities are limited, tag games certainly make PE classes more interesting and lively.
These games enhance engagement between players on the field and help develop physical stamina. But more than anything else, it is the joy and glee with which these tag games are played by children that make tags so much more valuable and essential during PE classes.
Presenting here 25 such fun-filled tags, the best ones for the young ones. Ready to play? Let’s get started!
1. Amoeba Tag or Chain Tag
This one is really fun, and the players will love it. To begin the tag game, let two kids hold hands. These two will start by tagging others. When they tag another child, that person has to join this team of two. These three will then try and tag a fourth person, and so on and so forth.
Watch the fun as the tag team grows, just like multiplying amoeba.
2. Everyone’s a Tagger
This is one of the classical tag games. Children love it because everyone in this game is a tagger. The moment players hear the word ‘go’, all the children start running. The motive is to tag others on the way. So, everyone is trying to tag everyone else.
In this chaos, anyone who is tagged has to freeze and raise their hands. Only when another child comes and does a hi-five does the frozen child unfreeze? The surprise element is that the untagged child can immediately tag the one who unfroze them.
So, it is an amusing back-and-forth game!
3. Bandaid Tag
In this tag game, when one person tags you, you need to hold the place where you were tagged, like a band-aid. Next time another person tags you, you cover the spot with the other hand. This continues thrice, and after the third time, you will have to go to the ‘hospital.’ There you need to do ten jumping jacks so that you can heal and join the game back.
4. Team Tag
In this tag game, the group is divided into two. One group becomes the cops, and the other group is the thieves. Cops need to tag the thieves. When a thief is tagged, the person must go and wait in a pre-determined location. The game ends when the cops complete tagging all the thieves.
The thieves themselves can untag fellow thieves by tagging them and taking them out of the designated place for thieves.
5. Stickit on Tag
In this tag game, too, players are divided into two groups. You will need some colorful balls for this game. Players of one group get similar colored balls. So, Group A gets blue balls, and Group B gets yellow balls. Each player is required to stick one ball to their back.
The objective for each player from each group is to take out the player from their back and stick it on the back of another player from the opponent team. When the game ends, the team leaders will count the total number of balls. The team with the least number of balls in their kitty is the winner.
This game involves a lot of running around, dodging, throwing, and more.
6. Flashlight Tag
This is a great PE game outside the school during the nighttime. All you need to play this tag game is a flashlight. Each participant has a flashlight. The way to tag in this game is pretty simple. Just point the light on someone, and that person gets tagged.
7. Zombie Tag
This is one interesting tag game that people of all ages enjoy with equal fervor. To play this game, you will need to arrange for a few hula hoops. When the game initially starts, two participants become zombies. Their task is to infect and tag as many as possible.
The hula hoops are required by the zombie taggers. They have to keep the hula hoops on the ground, with one foot inside the hula hoop and one outside. As they move, their movement replicates the typical movement of zombies.
All tagged participants need to run and fetch their individual hula hoops and walk like zombie taggers.
8. Bug Tag
To play this tag game, you will need to arrange for large-sized soft foam mitts. Played in a group, some of the players are in possession of the Tag-it mitts. Wearing these mitts, these players need to run behind the other players and tag them. Tagged players are the dying bugs. They have to immediately lie down on the floor with their hands and arms up in the air.
These dying bugs can be brought back to life by the untagged players. These players need to tag on all four limbs of the players lying down to bring them back to life and join the game.
9. Octopus Tag
In this tag game, you can use some funny octopus hats or customize hats for children. One of the players is the octopus and wears the marked hat. The rest are fish. Like the traditional tag game, the octopus needs to tag the fish.
The tagged fish then becomes a crab, but it cannot move and has to remain fixed on the place where they are tagged. These crabs will then help the octopus tag the fish and convert them into crabs. The last player left becomes the octopus for the next round.
10. Cookie Monster Tag
In this tag game, one child has to take on the role of a cookie monster. All the other players are cookies. When the game starts, the cookies have to ask the monster, “Cookie Monster, are you hungry?” If the monster says yes, everyone has to run for their lives because tagged cookies mean that the cookies have been eaten.
If the monster says, ‘No,’ then the other players need not run and stay in the same place.
11. Hot Dog Tag
In this tag game, the first player who gets tagged assumes the role of the hot dog. The next player that gets tagged becomes the first bun, and the third player tagged becomes the second bun. The hotdog and both the buns lie down to complete the hotdog. Once completed, the kids can join the game.
12. Blindman Tag
Kids love this tag game; after all, blindfold games are so much more fun! One of the kids is blindfolded and has to tag another child when the game begins. This is classical! All the players can keep calling out to the blindfolded child or indicate their location.
13. TV Show Tag
The way to play this tag game is to start by tagging one player. The player has to name one TV show. The next player tagged has to name another TV show. This way, the game continues where each tagged player has to name a show on the television but cannot repeat it. Any repetition means that the player is out of the game.
14. Toilet Tag
This is a popular tag game version. It starts off as the conventional tag game, with one player responsible for tagging others. However, when a player is tagged, the game takes a different course.
The tagged player has to squat on the floor, like in a toilet. When an untagged player touches the hand of this player, he can return to the game, but before that, he has to flush and make the ‘whoosh’ sound.
This one is a sure-shot fun game!
15. Soccer Tag
A change to the conventional tag game is this one. Since soccer is just a craze the world over, this game really gets exciting for all. What you need for this game is a soccer ball. Players cannot use their hands to tag others. Instead, they need to use the ball to tag the feet of other players. Tagged players can help in tagging other players.
16. Shadow Tag
A bit of science education can be blended with this PE game. Kids know about shadows and how light is important for causing shadows. So this tag game involves the ‘It’ kid tagging the shadows of the other players. So, the untagged kids need to avoid the ‘It’ kid and keep their shadows away too!
17. Dragon Tag
This is a team tag game requiring a good amount of cooperation amongst team players. The players are divided into groups. Team members need to link their arms with one another.
The last player has to tuck a scarf or a handkerchief to replicate the dragon’s tail. The objective of each team is to steal the tail of the other teams. This game attracts a lot of giggling and laughs!
18. Flour Sock Tag
This tag game involves the use of a sock full of flour instead of the hands of the designated ‘It.’ The game can turn messy as the flour pours on others as they get tagged. But that’s exciting and fun! Remember, the more flour the sock contains, the more fun you have!
19. Water Gun Tags
This is a deviation from the simple tag game that kids are used to playing. There are water guns involved that can be great fun during the hot season. The water guns are used for tagging untagged players. Parents can join in, too, for extra fun!
20. Ghost Tag
For the best experience, play this tag game at night or midnight, maybe. And it can be played indoors too. So, the ‘It’ dresses up as a ghost who has to hide in the dark, behind corners and shadows. On being discovered by the untagged players, the ghost has to run behind them to catch or tag them. The untagged players need to cry out, “Ghosts in the graveyard.”
21. Triangle Tag
This game is a great way to bond. So, the leader has to group all the players into teams of three in this tag game. Each team will then designate a player that the other two will protect from the tagger. It is simple, and players can take turns protecting the other players.
22. Animal Tag
In this tag game, you need first to identify a zookeeper and a monkey. All the other players are designated as animals. Before you start the game, mark the corners as the zoo cages. The job of the zookeeper is to get all the animals inside the cages, while the monkey is naughty and will try to tag the animals and release them from the cages.
To make this game even more exciting, ask particular animals to move in a certain way. For example, kangaroos can hop, bears can scramble using all their limbs, or horses can prance about.
23. Underwater Tag
This tag game is played in a pool. The identified ‘It’ has to stand at one corner of the pool. The untagged players have to be in the water, on the same side as the ‘It.’ The untagged players need to tie colored ribbons on their ankles.
The ‘It’ has to call out a color, and the players with this color ribbon have to start swimming. This is when the ‘It’ will dive in and try to tag one of these players.
24. Skunk Tag
This is a wonderful tag game for PE classes. You need a couple of hula hoops. One hula hoop is in the center of the field. The other hula hoops are placed at the four corners of the field.
The center hula hoop is the home to the skunks. When the game begins, there are two skunks. These skunks go out and try to tag others and convert them into skunks. After tagging, the former skunks become players.
The players can step into the four hula hoops at the corner to save themselves from being tagged. Only one person can occupy the corner hula hoops at a time, and they can stay there for more than 10 seconds.
25. Pizza Box Tag
For this game, you need lots of empty pizza boxes or frisbees. All the kids need to have the frisbee or the boxes flat on one of their palms. No one can grip or hold the box or frisbee.
When the game begins, players have to do two things – one; they need to knock off the frisbee or the box from the hand of the other players, and second, ensure that their frisbee or box does not fall. In either case, when the frisbee/box falls off, the player is out. The last standing player is the winner.
Conclusion
These tag games are full of fun, surprises, and thrill. Most kids and adults bond and engage with their friends, siblings, and other family members with amazing results.
For kids, it is a great way to pick up fundamental and basic movements that help them embrace an active life. Tag games also encourage kids to spend a good deal of time outdoors in natural settings.
Next time, try out a few of these games and witness how everyone bonds during these activities. Let us know in the comments below about other such fun tag games that you would love to share with others.
