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10 Timeless backyard games for warm weather fun

Try these 10 backyard games to make the most of warmer weather.

5. Duck Duck Goose

Raya Zimmerman/St. Paul Pioneer Press/AP
Duck, ducklings, no goose: After two and a half hours of rescue efforts by neighbors and members of the fire department, a mother duck was reunited with her 12 ducklings after they fell in a storm drain in St. Paul, Minn. on Saturday, May 17.

South Asians know it as Kho Kho, Ghanaians as Antoakyire. German children play a version called Plumpsack, which involves dropping a handkerchief at one player’s spot. Young children play this timeless game around the world.

Players sit in a circle, facing each other. Choose a player to be It. That person walks around the outside of the circle. As they walk around, they tap each person on the head and say, for the first few or many, “duck”, “duck”, “duck”. Finally, It taps a person on the head and says, “goose” and begins to run around the outside of the circle. The person who is tapped as a goose gets up and chases It around the circle. If the goose is able to tap It before he or she sits down in the goose’s spot, then It goes into the center of the circle. If the goose does not tag It, then the goose is the next It and the last It returns to the circle. Players can only come out of the middle once a new player gets tagged and goes in.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

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