Racing Colors (indoor game)

Players: 10 or more in two teams; referee
Materials: Construction paper, pack with many colors; fruits and vegetables in many colors, such as yellow banana, red apple, purple grapes, orange, green lettuce, and brown potato. Substitute a crumpled ball of construction paper for any color for which you can’t obtain a fruit or vegetable.

In this relay game, the racers have to step across a path made of different colors of sheets of construction paper, but they can only step on the color called by the referees.

Each team prepares the construction paper path for the other team. Divide the pack of construction paper so that each team has an equal number of sheets and colors. The paths should be about 10 yards (9 m) long, and the colors should mix evenly so that it’s possible to walk along the path on any one color without jumping too far. It doesn’t matter which end of the path you choose for starting, but both teams should agree.

Divide your team in half so that the same number of players stands at opposite ends of the path. Lay out an equal number of fruits and vegetables on opposite ends, too. The first player of each team stands beside the fruits and vegetables. His teammates line up behind him and stand in a line at the opposite end of the path.

The referee begins the game by calling “1, 2, 3…” and then a color. For example, if the referee calls out “Yellow!” the first players must pick up the bananas and then step only on yellow sheets of construction paper as they walk across. When they reach the opposite end, players hand their bananas to the next player in the relay line. However, if the referee calls out “Red!” the next players must put down their bananas and grab the apples before stepping on only red squares. Of course, the referee may choose to call “Yellow!” again, in which case the next in line keeps the banana.

As the race continues, the referee watches to make sure that the players pick up the correct fruit and step only on the named color. Any racer who gets “color confused” must go back to the beginning of the path. This is also true for any racer who stumbles off a color.
The first team to completely switch sides wins the game.

Collected from The Little Giant Book of Kids’ Games by Glen Vecchione