Swiss Children's Games

Children the world over love to play games, whether organized or simply made up on the spur of the moment. While many of their games are similar, such as tag which is called a variety of names but played by children all over the world, there are a number of Swiss children's games that are especially popular in that country.

The chocolate game can be played by any number of children who sit around a table and take turns rolling a pair of dice. A large wrapped chocolate candy bar is placed in the middle of the table for all to see, as are a beanie hat, a long scarf and a pair of thick gloves. The first person to roll a double quickly dons the hat, scarf and gloves, then opens and begins to eat the chocolate with a knife and fork. The child can continue to eat the chocolate until another player rolls a double and then must release the clothing and chocolate to that child. Play continues until the chocolate is gone.

Don't Look Back, The Fox Walks Around can be played by any number of children who sit in a circle facing each other. One child plays the fox and walks around the outside of the circle behind the other children. The fox carries a piece of fabric, a small stone or another object. The fox drops the item behind one of the children in the circle. As soon as that child knows the object was dropped behind him or her, he or she jumps up and tries to catch the fox. The fox runs and tries to get back around the circle and sit in the seat of the child who was tagged. If the fox makes it back to the child's seat, the other child becomes the fox. If the fox is tagged, however, he plays the fox again and chooses another child to tag. If the child who is tagged doesn't know the item was dropped behind him or her, and the fox can run around the circle before that child realizes it, the tagged child becomes a "lazy egg" and must sit inside the circle until another child becomes a lazy egg.

I Spy Something is played with a group of two to five children. The person who is "it" spots an object in the room, and the others have to guess what the object is based on the color of the object. For instance, "it" says, "I see something green." Each player then takes a turn asking "it" questions to determine what the object is, such as "Is it the green rug?" Instead of giving yes or no answers, "it" answers by telling the player whether he or she is warm (close to guessing) or cold (not close at all). The first person to guess the object wins.