How to Win a Game of Leap Frog
Any child who's ever set foot on a playground has probably played the game of leap frog. All you have to be able to do is bend down on the ground or jump a little in the air, so the game is often played by children from age 3 up.
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Instructions
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Tell all players except one to form a single-file line, standing about a foot apart from one another. Have them kneel down onto their knees, bend slightly and rest their hands on their knees.
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Tell the one player who is not kneeling to go to the start of the line and place his hands on the first kneeling player's shoulders. Have him try to vault over the bent player, using the player's shoulders as support. He then does the same with the next player, and on and on down the line. Once he has leap-frogged everyone, he too kneels down in the same position.
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Tell the first player who was vaulted to now stand up and begin leap-frogging the players in front of him. Once he gets to the end, he too must go back into the kneeling position. This continues indefinitely, with each player taking a turn leap-frogging, then going back into the kneeling position.
Explain to the players that what they've just played is basic leap frog, and that technically there can be no winner. Then offer them one of the following alternatives to play to find a champion leap-frogger. -
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There are a couple of ways to alter the game so that a winner emerges, depending on the ages and skills of the players. One way is to have each player continue until he is too tired to go on. Instead of stopping and kneeling when he leap-frogs the last person in line, the player must race back to the start and begin again. If at any point he must rest for more than a second or two, his turn is over. The player who can go the longest--that is, leap the most players without stopping--is the winner.
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For more skilled or bigger players, make the game harder as it goes along by raising the height of the leap each time through. The basics are the same: Each player takes his turn leap-frogging through the line until he gets to the end, then goes into position for another player to leap him. However, after everyone has gone through the line once, tell each of the kneeling players to now straighten his back, so that the person doing the leaping will have a tougher time getting over the top. If anyone can't make it, he's out of the game. The next time through, players can put their hands together at the top of their heads, either in fists next to each other or on top of each other, or with their hands open side by side or on top of each other. Have players experiment with different ways to make the leaps tougher each time. The game ends when only one player can successfully make all the leaps.
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References
- Photo Credit Creative Commons
