I remember playing this game as a kid in P.E. I don’t know the original source but I played this recently with my children’s Bible Club and they had a blast, just like I did when I was their age!
Materials:
-Cones
-Hula Hoops
-Tennis or small balls
-Flag Belts (flag football sets-two different colors)
Best played in a large field. Spread out cones in a line down the center from one side of the field to the other to make two sides (territories). Mark four corners as boundaries around the play area with cones (different kind or color cones from the rest to distinguish the boundaries). Divide an even amount of kids into two teams. Each kid will have a colored flag to distinguish their team’s color (usually red and yellow). Each side will have a hula hoop with even amount of balls (to start out with) in the middle of the hula hoop. The hula hoop and balls will be placed towards the back of each side/territory. Place 4 cones towards the back to form a square for the jail. (Not too close to the hula hoop and balls.) Leader blows whistle.
The objective is to steal balls one at a time from the other side without getting caught or rescue their teammates if they do get caught. Once a child steps on the other side of he/she is now in the other team’s territory and they can pull his/her flag and take him/her to jail. Each child that’s taken to jail has to stay there until a set amount of time or until someone from the same team rescues them. To rescue, once a child sets foot inside the jail he/she is allowed to take one child back to their side without having their flag pulled, but both have to walk completely back to their side before crossing back over to the other team’s side again. To steal a ball; once a child has the ball in their hand they are allowed to walk it back to their side and put it in their hula hoop without getting their flag pulled. The team with the most balls in their hula hoop at the end of a set amount of time wins.
Throughout the game, kids will decide if they want to stay behind to protect their balls from getting stolen from the other team, go out to steal balls from the other team to take back to their side, or rescue their teammates from jail.
After the game, ask them what they thought was more rewarding, rescuing their teammates, protecting their territory, or trying to steal a ball for their team to win. Discuss how sometimes we have to make hard decisions and how life-choices impact us daily.