Stuck-in-the-mud

Here’s a quick and easy game the whole family can play

HOW TO PLAY:

1. Choose someone to be It. His name is Mud.

2. Each player grabs hold of one of Ms. or Mr. Mud’s fingers, and all chant, “What happened to you, Ms. Mud, while spring flowers, they did bud?!”

3. Then, at an unpredictable speed (the point is to trick the players) Ms. Mud chants back, “I slipped into the crud! I got stuck in the…..mud!”  Ms. Mud can say any word she wants at the end of the rhyme:  mmmmustard, mmmmop, etc. but players don’t run until she says the word “MUD”

4. At the sound of the word “mud,” all the players let go of Ms. Mud’s fingers and scatter away while she gives chase.

5. If Ms. Mud tags a player, that player is “stuck in the mud” (that is, frozen).

6. The only way to get unstuck is for an untagged player to crawl under the stuck player’s legs. Players are safe only while they are in those crawling-under moments.

7. You play until everyone is caught. Then name another Mud and begin again.

VARIATIONS:

If a player is tagged twice (once before being stuck, once after being unstuck), he or she becomes the new Mud.

TIPS:

To avoid exhausting Mr. or Ms. Mud, an adult could set a time limit for each round.