Sprucelands tag night includes something new.

Counting off 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Tag night always gives us some kind of new challenge. First of all, the kids love to run. Second of all, they find all kinds of reasons to laugh. And third, they love a new game added to the mix of old versions of breathless fun.

This time around a game called Spokes in the Wheel was inserted into the summer. The kids lined up and counted off from 1 to 5. Then they gathered in their groups and were told to sit in a straight line facing the middle, creating a big wagon wheel, if you can go with that vision.

Spokes in the Wheel...looks tame doesn't it?

So here's the game. The person who is 'it' walks around the outside of the wheel. When they tap the last person in a line, they say either "Go!" or "Come with me!" If 'go' is the command, then everyone in that line stands up and runs in the opposite direction, jumping over all the other spokes, and sitting back down in their original line. The person on the outside is supposed to run as fast as possible to get a seat in that original line. Object: Last person standing becomes the next 'it'.

If the command is 'come', then everyone goes in the same direction as the 'it' person, jumping over all the other spokes. Of course, everyone ducks their head and there is some wild and crazy fun as bodies leap over bodies.

Get ready!

Go!

Run! Run! Oh my gosh! Duck! Duck!

It's always hard to get photos of a game like this, but I snapped a few so you can see the kids in their active mode. Quite frankly, this game was the hit of the evening. In addition however they played about eight other versions of actual tag, each version having a different name like Fox and Hound, doctor tag, you name it; they played and played until dark and then laid in the grass and laughed and laughed.

Comments always welcome. Don't you wish this energy could be bottled?