Celebrating 25 Years of PEEK With 25 Games and Activities to Try at Home
This month, PEEK officially turns 25 years old, a whole quarter century of playing, creating, and growing with children, families and communities.
To mark this special milestone, we’ve put together a list of our 25 favourite games and activities with instructions below, so that you can enjoy them at home. They’re fun and low-cost, proving that the best play often comes from imagination, not fancy equipment.
Active Play Fun:
Disco Tig - Dance to the music, but when tagged, you must freeze until someone else frees you.
Red Light, Green Light - Run on “green light” and stop instantly on “red light” or risk being put out.
Four Corners - When the music stops, pick a corner to stand in before the caller chooses one to do a forfeit task, i.e., 10-star jumps, or a more silly forfeit like sing Happy Birthday like a pig.
Mini Sports Day - Try fun races like egg-and-spoon, sack races, or three-legged races.
Animal Yoga - Stretch and balance while pretending to be different animals.
Vikings and Soldiers - Two teams go head to head, a leader of each group chooses how many steps that team will take by shouting “Vikings take 5 steps”, the closer you get to the opposite team, the leader may choose to say “Viking attack”, and it’s then a chase.
Duck, Duck, Goose - Players sit in a circle while one walks around tapping heads saying “duck” until they choose someone as “goose,” who must chase them around the circle.
Toy Story Tig - Run until someone shouts “Andy’s coming!”, then freeze like a toy.
Parachute Games - Shake, lift, and hide under a big sheet or parachute for group fun.
Chaos Tig - Everyone is “it” and must try to tag each other at the same time.
Floor is Flava - Dance while the music plays, then find a safe spot off the floor when it stops, as the FLOOR IS FLAVA!
Creative Games:
DIY Playdough - Mix flour, salt, water, and food colouring to create your own playdough.
Junk Modelling with recycled materials - Build robots, cars, or castles using cardboard boxes, bottles, and other recyclables.
Salt Painting - Draw with glue, sprinkle salt on top, and paint over it to see colours spread like magic.
Chalk Murals - Use chalk to create giant colourful drawings on pavements.
Homemade Musical Instruments - Make music with spoons, pots, pans, or anything that makes a fun sound.
Den Building indoors and outdoors - Use blankets, cushions, or sticks or sheets to build a cosy hideaway.
Talent Show - Put on a mini performance of singing, dancing, or comedy for your family or friends.
Nature Art - Paint with leaves, sticks, and mud to create pictures inspired by the outdoors.
Classic Games:
Hide and Seek - One person counts while everyone else hides, then they must find them.
Charades - Act out a word or phrase without speaking while others try to guess it.
What’s the time, Mr Wolf? - Players creep forward while the wolf calls out times, for example, “It’s 5 o'clock” Players must take 5 steps forward, but run away if they shout “dinnertime!”
Indoor or Outdoor Scavenger Hunt - Search for a list of hidden objects around the house, or local area.
Musical Statues - Dance to music and freeze completely still when it stops.
Marble Run - Build a track with tubes, boxes, or Lego and see how far your marble can roll.