Game: Poison Ivy Tag

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This is a variation on the Loonie game.

Supplies:

  • a loonie (coin)
  • some silk or plastic ivy leaves

Instructions:

  1. Choose one or two girls to be "it".  The "it" girls start on one side of the playing space, the rest start on the other side of the space.  In this game, "it" is the poison ivy that the girls brush against as they are out hiking.  We brought some silk ivy leaves from home and hung them around the girl who was "it".
  2. The leader flips the coin.  If the coin comes up HEADS, then the "it" girls can take one giant step in any direction.  The other girls must not move.  If "it" can reach out and touch someone from where she ends up, then whoever she touches now has "urushiol oil" (from the poison ivy) on her, and also becomes "it" and can pass the oil on to other girls.  For example, if we start with two "it" girls and they take giant steps and are each able to tag another girl, then the next round will have four "it" girls.
  3. If the coin comes up TAILS, then the "it" girls remain where they are and all other girls can take two bunny hops in any direction.
  4. The game continues until there are only one or two girls remaining who have not been affected by the urushiol oil remianing.
This game demonstrates that even if just one girl touches poison ivy, if she does not thoroughly clean it off, she can transfer it to other people, and they can transfer it, etc.