Children's Games

The following are some examples of games that Thai young people like to play. Of course, they can also be enjoyed by children anywhere.

Cock fighting - a good game for young people with lots of energy. Best played indoors on a soft carpet or outdoors on a grassy area.

• Mark out a circle of about six feet diameter (masking tape on rugs works well or a hose on the grass).
• Have everyone find a partner of approximately equal size and remove their shoes.
• Have the first couple squat down in the middle of the circle. They should be touching side to side but facing in opposite directions.
• Have each squat down flat footed and clasp their arms below the knees.
• At the word "Go" the object of the game is to jump up and down and knock each other sideways (like cock fighting) and try to push the other person out of the circle.
• They must NOT let go of the arm clasp!
• If they fall down and are still clasping arms (and they can get up) they may continue until the first person is driven out of the circle.
• No shoes on please or someone might get hurt.

"E" tag - can be played by all ages outdoors or indoors in a large open area.

• Divide the group into two teams of equal size
• Have each half line up on opposite sides of a designated area (opposite sides of a room or delineate boundaries on a lawn)
• Mark a dividing line down the middle
• The object of the game is for each team to send one member over to the other side and tag as many people as she or he can while say "EEEEEE" the whole time.
• The person must not stop to take a breath or stop saying "EEE". If they run out of "E" then they must return to their own side and the other team gets to send someone over.
• If anyone is tagged by the person saying "E" they must go to the opposite side and become a prisoner of the tagger's team.
• Of course those on the "other" side try to avoid being tagged and can run all around within their designated side to avoid the person saying "EEEE"
• However, if the "tagger" runs out of "E" while still on the opposite side he or she can be grabbed and then stays on the opposite side in the back as a prisoner until another fellow teammate is able to run over and rescue him or her.
• Those that are prisoners are freed when their fellow teammates are able to rush over while saying "EEE" and tag them free.
• The person saying "EEE" has to anticipate how much breath they have and also avoid being held by a gang of people who force him to run out of "E" on the wrong side.

One-two-three-FOUR - a fun non-strenuous game for all ages.

• Everyone sits on the floor in a circle.
• One person "starts" by patting either his left or right hand to his opposite chest. This points the "direction" of the game. As he, for example, pats himself with his right hand on his left he says "one".
• The person on his left (to whom his hand pointed) then decides to point either left or back right again and says "two". If, for example, #2 decided to point back to the same person on his right then that person must also pat left or right and say "three".
• Whomever he points to next must then say "four" but instead of patting his chest he pats the top of his head on "four"! If he uses his right hand on his head it will point to the person on his left and then that person must continue but starts counting "one" again. If he points to the right then that person, and so forth.
• The object of the game is to go quickly and confuse people so that they forget to pat their head on four but pat their chest instead.
• Anyone who does it wrong is eliminated until only two people remain.
• If it looks like people are too smart and you won't be eliminated then have them count from one to four in Thai (Nung song sam see) or spanish or ???? instead.
• Or you can change the number on which you pat your head if you want to get really tricky.