Ready or Not Here I Come!

It never fails to amaze me how little kids loved to be chased and startled! My son cannot get enough of being chased. He especially loves it if you come out of nowhere and start pursuing him. He screams with delight and inevitably “turtles” somewhere waiting for you to catch up to him and tickle his little toes. My daughter makes you work for even the hint of a giggle from her and the most successful attempts are those involving popping your head from behind something and growling. While going back and forth from both these activities last night it reminded me of a game my brother and I used to play with my mom when my dad was on the road.
It’s basically a version of “hide and seek” but with a few more elements of surprise incorporated into it. To begin with you need to go throughout your house and move major obstacles from the walkways. It’s then time to turn off all the lights in the house. Did I mention that it’s much more fun to play this at night? Once all the lights are out and you’ve determined the off limits areas (such as stairs) you need to pick who is “it”. Have the “it” person go to the counting area while you give each person hiding a blanket.
During the hiding time you need to run and pick a place in the house to hide. It’s a little easier in the dark and with a blanket because technically you could plant yourself in the middle of the floor and the seeker still wouldn’t see you right away.
Now the object if the game is for the hider to scare the seeker before the seeker finds them. It adds a great sense of excitement to the game as you’re pretty much on edge the entire time waiting for someone to pop out and startle you. You can make it a little safer by giving the seeker a flashlight but it makes it a little harder to hide and get the jump on them.
I actually ended up playing this with my son the other night and he had an absolute blast!