They will still enjoy "looking for" the object. Some younger childen may be reluctant to close their eyes.that's okay. Pretend as if you are searching for something and ask, "Where's Spot? Where's Spot? He's hiding! Let's find Spot!"ģ) After finding the hidden object, have the children close their eyes and now hide the object again. I'll usually hide a laminated cutout of Spot or Maisy. Kids adore these books and they lead naturally into searching activities of your own.Ģ) Ask the kids to find an object (or two or three) that you've hidden in classroom. Here's how I usually introduce the game with young learners:ġ) Preface the game by reading a book like Where's Spot? or Where is Maisy? to introduce the concept of hiding. Once kids reach 4-5 years old, they love hiding together and will often hide in the same place over and over, yet never tire of the anticipation of being found. 2-3 year olds will generally hide in their own hiding places.behind someone or something, or simply by laying face down and covering their eyes (if they can't see you, you can't see them!). Young learners will happily hide behind parents, or under towels or sheets you bring into the classroom.
Plus the kids LOVE it and it's another very simple activity for teachers to prepare.ĭon't worry if you have a small classroom without many places to hide. It's fantastic for developing spacial awareness and awareness of object permanence, as well as practicing the language, "Where is _?" and counting to ten. Hide and seek is of course a perfect game to play outside in the summer, but it's also great game to play in the classroom with young ones.
When the Oni finds someone, he/she shouts, みいつけた (Miitsuketa! - I found you!) If the response is "Mada da yo," then the Oni waits a couple seconds and yells again, "Mo ii kai?" When the response is "Mo ii yo," the Oni then goes and looks for everyone. The "hiders" either respond まだだよ! ( Mada da yo! - Not yet!) or もういいよ ( Mo ii yo! - Okay! Ready!) In Japan, the Oni counts to ten and then calls out もういいかい? ( Mo ii kai? - Okay? Are you ready?). When the "seeker" finds someone, he/she usually yells, "I found you!" After counting to ten, he/she yells "Ready or not, here I come!" If the "hiders" aren't ready, too bad! You have to hide by the time the "seeker" counts to ten. In America, the person who is " it" covers his/her eyes and counts to ten while everybody hides. In Japan, that person is called おに (Oni - literally Demon) and is almost always selected by playing Janken (rock, scissors, paper). That's the person who is going to try to catch the other players. In America, when we play games like Tag or Hide and Seek we choose one person to be "It".
How do you play Hide and Seek! Here in Japan, Hide and Seek is called かくれんぼ (Kakurenbo) and it's a little bit different than the version I grew up playing in America.