• Outdoor games can be fun and healthy.kids playing football image by sonya etchison from Fotolia.com
  
  With the advancement of technology and proliferation of electronic games and the Internet, it seems like the youth of today has all but forgotten some of the simpler pastimes. True, computers can be educational and entertaining, but even what we know as social media has become more and more about the individual. Outdoor and backyard games may be something the youth of today should experience a little more often to be more social in the real sense of the word.
  
  

Hide and Seek

• Hide and seek is a timeless game that can be played both indoors and outdoors. The basic principle of the game is to have one player be the seeker and the rest be hiding. The goal of the game is to last the longest without being found. The person found first becomes the one who will be the seeker in the following turn. To play this game, make sure the location has ample spaces for hiding, such as sheds, shrubs, bushes, trees, etc.
  
  

Marco Polo

• Marco Polo is a game often played in a swimming pool, but it can also be played in a backyard with lots of open space. To play the game, there have to be at least three players, ideally more. One of the players gets blindfolded or is told to keep his eyes shut. The objective is for the blindfolded person to tag or catch the rest of the players, one by one. During the game, the blindfolded member shouts out the name "Marco" and the rest of the players must shout back "Polo." The sounds serve as a hint to the players' locations. As with hide and seek, the first person caught becomes blindfolded in the next round.
  
  

Duck, Duck, Goose

• Duck, duck, goose is a simple game similar to musical chairs. All the players sit in a circle, while one person, known as the fox, walks around the circle. As this person is walking, he or she taps the heads of the people sitting down and says the word "duck" upon each tap. At some point the fox decides to call one person a "goose," who must then jump up quickly and chase the fox around the circle. If the fox gets around the circle once and makes it to the goose's place without being tagged, the goose becomes the fox. If the goose tags the fox, the fox must try again until he or she is replaced.
  
  

Tag

• Tag is probably one of the simplest games that can be played outside. Tag requires at least two players, but the more the better. The game consists of a tagger who tries to tag another player, who then becomes the tagger. When the tagger reaches one of the other players and touches him, the tagger simply says "Tag! You're it!" and the roles are reversed. The first player to be caught is always the one who becomes the tagger.
  
  

Manhunt

• Manhunt is a game that uses the same principles as Hide and Seek and Tag. One person becomes the hunter, and must count for a few seconds when the game starts. The so-called fugitives are told to hide. Once a fugitive is caught, he or she also becomes a hunter. Over time, the group of hunters becomes larger and larger, and the last player to be found and caught is the winner of the game. The winner then becomes the hunter next round.