When I got home from work tonight, Wren and Rei begged me to go outside and “play Nancy Drew”, where I run around the back yard and creek and nature trail chasing them in circles, trying to “kidnap” them and tie them up. Last time we played, I managed to convert the game into a cannonball shoot, where they would run and I would hurl a large ball of string at them to “break their legs” and “smash their heads”. :>
This time, I told them it’s hard to think up fresh ways to capture them, and I’m a bit embarrassed to run around the yard yelling like a thug with the neighbors in their yards, wondering if I really am crazy. So we agreed to try something structured – a game of baseball! Nicholas and Jay joined in. If you want a great way to play ball with 5 or 6 people, try this:
- rotate the batter through the whole group;
- after you bat, if you get on base, stay there and run the bases until you score or get out;
- if you’re not at bat and not on base, play the outfield
This worked out great! Everybody was always busy. And everybody played whatever position they felt like – pitcher, shortstop, 3rd, 1st, even catcher. Highly recommended! Next time everybody (except Nicholas, a die-hard baseball fan) wants to try soccer – we’ll see if we can’t come up with something good there.
