Cat and Mouse

Number: best with a lot of players - the more the merrier
Age: 7-10
Time: at least four rounds
Adult supervision: needed to call the 'changes'
(Equipment: possibly a whistle or gong - something loud that will be heard over the noise made by the players)

This game originated in Central Africa and has been adapated lots of times.

In this version of the game, the players form three or four parallel lines of equal numbers, after two have been chosen as cat and mouse.

The players in the lines form arches by raising their arms and holding hands with the players standing next to them. At the given signal (by voice, whistle or gong), the mouse starts dodging between the arches and down the rows with the cat in hot pursuit.

On the order to 'change', the players in the lines turn to their left through a quarter of a circle and form new arches with the players now standing next to them.

The lines need to change position very quickly when the command is given. This is meant to confuse the cat in its pursuit of the mouse.

The game continues in this way until the mouse is caught. Then two more players become cat and mouse and the game continues for another round.