Number of players:

3+

What you need:

• tennis ball
   

Activity:

Set up two bases around five metres apart.

Two of the children stand on each base and are "it" while the remaining children go to one base or the other.

The game starts with the two children on the bases throwing the ball to each other.

The object of the game is for the remaining children to time running from one base to the other without being tagged by "it".

If you are tagged, then you are "it", replacing the child who tagged you out with the ball in hand.

The game continues until the children are too tired to run.

Most kids will love "stealing bases" again and again and hoping that the children on the bases will throw the ball wild, allowing everyone to steal bases all at once.

 

STEPS
 

Find at least four people and a tennis ball. The more, the better. Why four? You need two ends and at least two runners. You could have one runner, but the game would become boring very quickly. If you can't find a tennis ball, another small ball that is not to hard will work fine.

• 2
  Make two bases. You need two bases about thirty yards apart on the ground that multiple people can stand on. You can use a baseball plate, draw a circle with chalk, a sewer lid on the street, or anything else that works as a base.
   
• 3
  Pick two ends. Pick two people to be the ends. Each end stands near, but not on, one of the bases. During the game, they will throw a tennis ball back and forth to each other, trying to get the runners to run.
   
• 4
  Play. The rest of the people are the runners. The runners run back and forth between the bases while the ends try to hit them with the ball. When they are touching the base, the end cannot hit them. They can stay on a base as long as they want. In the beginning of the game, the runners stand in the middle of the playing area. The ends throw the ball back and forth three times, then play begins and the runners run to a base. They can leave the base whenever they want to go to the other base, or, go back to the original base. When a runner is hit or tagged by the ball off a base, they get an out. After three outs, the runner becomes an end. The end that recorded the final out becomes a runner.
   

 

 

• When a runner becomes an end, the runners that still have outs keep their outs.

   
   
•  
• If the runners aren't running, purposely throw the ball off target to your partner to encourage movement between the bases. Let them know beforehand though, or they will become upset. You can also throw the ball unnecessarily high in the air to encourage running.

   
   
• If the end that records the third out wants to remain an end, the other end can become a runner.

   
   
• To make the game more interesting, you can allow running in backyards if you are playing in the street. Make sure the owners don't mind though.

   
   
• There is no score in pickle, but if you want, you can keep track of the number of times you run back and forth between the bases as a runner and the number of outs you record as an end.
  

  WARNING
  

  A tennis ball can hurt. As an end, don't whip the ball if you are close to a runner and don't aim for the head.