Fox and Geese Outdoor Winter Game

Fox and Geese
Outdoor Winter Game

You might remember playing
this game as a kid in your
own backyard. It is a very
active game of winter tag!







Object of the Game:
The object of Fox and Geese is to be the first Goose to make it to the hen house without getting tagged by the Fox. This person then becomes the Fox for the next round of play.



What You Will Need:

• A Snowy Yard
• 4 or more players

What You Do:

• All the players form a large circle in a snowy yard by walking one person behind the other in a circle to trample down the snow. We like to make our circles at least 20 feet in diameter. If you are playing this game with small children, we recommend making a smaller circle. Although deep snow is not required for this game, the deeper the snow, the more challenging this game is.
• Stand on one side of the circle, and walk through to the other side in a straight line to cut the circle in half. Continue cutting the circle into sections in this way until you have at least 4 sections. The more sections you have, the easier it is for the person who is the Fox to tag the Geese. The center spot is called the "hen house".
• When the playing field is complete, choose a player to be the Fox. The Fox starts by standing in the center of the circle (the hen house), and tries to tag any "goose" that strays from his safety zone. All other players are Geese, who stand at various places along the outside circle.
• To start the game, the Fox calls out "Geese, Geese, gannio! How many Geese have you today?". The Geese reply "More than you can catch and carry away!". Then the Geese run around the outside of the circle or on the spokes while the Fox chases them. The Geese try to make it to the hen house (center) without getting tagged by the Fox. The first Goose to make it to the hen house without getting tagged becomes the Fox in the next round.

Variations:

• This game can also be played with all the Geese starting at the hen house (the center of the circle) and running from there. When the Fox tags a Goose, the Goose must wait in the hen house until all the Geese are tagged. The last Goose tagged is the Fox for the next round.
• This is a fun game to play on the ice, too! Just be careful — we recommend wearing hockey or bicycle helmets and elbow pads when kids play this game on icy areas.
• Encourage your kids to come up with their own rules and game variations.
• Fox and Geese can be played in the Summer by drawing the playing field with chalk on a driveway.

Want More Winter Activities for Kids?

We have lots of fun indoor and outdoor winter activities for kids of all ages in our Play With Your Kids section. Here are the links to these activities:
Ice Ornaments
Icy Bubbles
Snow Bowling
Track and Snow
Ice Spikes
Frozen Faces Treat
Indoor Snowball Fight
Marshmallow Snow Sculptures
Penny Hockey Game
Backyard Bird Buffet