'It's rainy out there. Let's play games, kids'

JAKARTA (JP): Playgroups are a wonderful way for children to have early social interaction with a familiar set of friends before they reach school age.

Looking for some activities to keep those little ones occupied?

Whether you run a day-care center or have the neighborhood kids over for the afternoon, here are some activities aimed at entertaining them, and you, which do not require much preparation or an endless supply of materials.

Note: Children should be at least four years old to play these games and all children require constant adult supervision.

Hidden treasure

Two or three children leave the room for a few minutes. Meanwhile, the child or group in the room hides an object, which can be a ball, wrapped present, etc..

When the children return, they can help them locate the ball by saying, "You're getting warmer", when they draw near to the hiding place.

If they move away from the hidden object, they can call "you're getting colder".

Mirror, mirror

Children stand in a circle, and one child is chosen to stand in the middle. The others in the circle observe and imitate what he or she does. More than likely they will all end up jumping.

Beanbag tag

This tag game can be played in groups as small as four children.

There is no talking, running or screaming involved -- only walking.

Two children are the "walkers" and two are the "taggers".

Players walk around the room with a bean bag on their head. (Instead of a beanbag, you can use a small pillow, eraser or soft -cover book).

The walkers are not allowed to touch the beanbag. If it falls down, they have to completely stop and put it back on their head before they can start walking again.

Meanwhile, the taggers are also walking around, trying to tag the walkers. The taggers cannot work together to catch the walkers.

The zoo walk

Children form a line, circle or walk freely around the room imitating an animal.

The adult present can say, for example: "act like an elephant", and the children will mimic an elephant while they walk.

Children can take turns calling out animal names for the others to act out, or a tape of animal sounds could be played while they are doing this activity.

A variation to this game is that a child can pick one favorite animal and act like it, while others guess what animal they are imitating.

Mystery friend

One child talks about another child in the room, without looking at him or her.

They can give clues on what they are wearing or describe their features or actions.

The rest of the children guess as to who they are talking about.

The child who guesses correctly is the next one to choose someone to talk about.

Music freeze

Kids dance to music. When the music stops, the children must freeze in their place.

One child can be appointed to walk around, watching that the players are indeed frozen.

If a person moves before the music resumes, they are "out", and must sit down in their spot, watching the activity continue.

The human knot

This game can be for children of any age and still get a lot of laughs.

Everyone stands in a circle and each child joins hands with a different person, but without taking their hand off the person next to them.

The trick is to undo the knot without letting any hands go.

Caterpillar

Children lay on the floor side by side, and then the child on the end rolls on top of the other children to the other end.

Doggy bone

All children sit in a circle, while one child is picked to leave, or hide their eyes from seeing.

The other children then pass the "bone" (it can be a pencil case, shoe, ball or eraser) around to one person, who hides it. Nobody says anything when the child returns.

The children chant: "Doggy, doggy where's your bone? Somebody took it from your home. Guess who, it might be you!"

The returning child has three guesses as to who has the bone. The next one to go out of the room is the child who had the bone. Tic-tac-toe

You need at least six players for this human tic-tac-toe game. Divide children into two teams, with one as the "X" team, and the other the "O" team.

This can be played standing up or laying down. Masking tape can be put on the ground for the layout, and the children can stand on a particular square during the game.

Alternatively, you can put nine mats on the floor, in the form of a grid, for children to lay down on.

For the symbols, you can draw three Xs and three Os on a large piece of paper and then attach a string to hang around the necks of the players.

One team goes first, with a player from that team placing himself or herself on a square. A player from the other team goes next, with each team taking turns.

If there is no tic-tac-toe when all six players are in the squares, each team can move a player until one team outmaneuvers the other. -- Maria Kegel