This old Russian game can double as an arts and crafts activity and a fun active game that doesn’t require a lot of space.
Number of players: 4+
Ages: 4+
Materials: Card stock paper or light colored cardboard, markers and light string.
To begin, if you’re following the arts and crafts variation, have each player cut out the shape of a fish between 10 and 12 inches long and three to four inches wide, although the dimensions can vary to allow for creativity. Players then paste white paper to their fish cut out to allow for decoration.
To start the game, each player fastens a three or four foot piece of string to her belt loops or belt. If they’re not wearing a belt, cut a longer piece of string and tie it around the player’s waist. The string should be tied on with a simple shoe knot, so that it unravels easily if, or when the fish that’s attached to the other end is stepped on.
If you didn’t do the arts and crafts part, the other end of the string can be attached to any object that can drag along behind the player that’s easy enough for others to step on, such as twigs or an empty spool.
On the starting signal, each player tries to step on the fish of some other player hard enough to undo the knot and allow her to gather in the other player’s fish. Each player has to be on the defensive though, since other players are trying to do the same thing to her. The players may not touch their own fish line with their hands, or those of the other players until they’ve freed their fish.
As soon as a player loses their fish, they’re out of the game. Of course, the winner is the one with the most fish at the end of the game.