10 Tag Games for Kids with Tag Game Ideas Printable

What is more fun than a game of tag? How about a game of Blog Tag? Or Hot Dog Tag? Or even Octopus Tag! I’m sharing 10 fun tag games for kids below and have included a printable games sheet (download instructions at the bottom of this post) so you can keep the ideas handy.

These tag game variations are great for school, youth groups, scout troops and birthday parties, and the ideas are suitable for children from kindergarten right through elementary/primary school.

Want to add even more variation to your tag game? Why not try;

• Varying the speed of a tag game by allocating different footwork for each round – for example, bounce like a bunny, walking only or side stepping.
• Switching the person who is It often to continue the fun.
• Including multiple Its for large groups of players.

For more tag games plus ideas for races, relays and more, check out our list of 45 group games in Birthday Party Games for Kids (P.S. these games are great for school and community groups too!)

10 Tag Games for Kids

1. Blob Tag

Two players are designated as It and link arms as The Blob. Whenever they tag another player, that player joins arms with The Blob. The Blob players need to work together to navigate and tag others. Once The Blob captures all of the players, start over again.

2. Band-aid Tag

One or two players are designated as It. One area is designated as the “hospital.” Whenever a player is tagged, they put a hand over the spot where they were tagged as a “band-aid,” and continue to play without removing the hand. This action is repeated when the player is tagged a second time, with the other hand. Once a player has no hand band-aids left (third time tagged), they run to the hospital to get healed. Once they are at the hospital, the player must do 10 jumping jacks (or another pre-determined movement) before re-joining the game.

3. Watch Your Back Tag

In this game everyone is It! All players are trying to tag another player before they are tagged. If two players tag each other at the same time they play a round of rock/paper/scissors to determine who stays in the game. If you are tagged without tagging your tagger, you sit down.

Variation for older kids: A player can get back in the game if the player who tagged them is tagged by someone else.

4. Cowboy Tag

One player is designated as It. All of the other players pair up and link arms as teams of two. To tag another player, It must link arms with his/her partner. Once you link arms, the player on the other side of the pair becomes It and runs off to try and hook to another pair.

5. Octopus Tag

One player is designated as the Octopus. All other players line up on one side of the playing area. Octopus stands in the middle. When the Octopus says “Go,” all of the players try to reach the other side of the playing area without getting tagged. Any player that is tagged, sits on the ground and becomes seaweed. During the next round, the seaweed can help tag from their place on the ground, moving only their arms. Once all players are seaweed, a new round begins.

6. Barnyard Tag

Designate the playing area as the barnyard. Two farmers (It) start in the middle, the rest of the players – the farm animals – line up along one side of the barnyard. Each player is given a type of animal, with three different farm animal types in total. The farmers (or supervising adult) calls out an animal, for example, “Cows,” and all the cow must try to run across to the other side of the barnyard without getting tagged. If tagged, the player must run around the entire barnyard before re-entering the game. If the farmer calls “Barnyard,” then all animals run across to the other side of the playing area.

7. Toilet Tag

It is the plumber. If tagged by the plumber, the tagged player must kneel on one knee with one arm held out to the side. Tagged players must stay frozen in this position as a toilet until a free player comes and sits on his knee and pushes down on his arm to flush the loo. The flushing unfreezes the toilet player to rejoin the game. The player flushing cannot be tagged while ‘sitting’ on a toilet. Play until all players are frozen or until time is called and a new plumber is nominated. Very large groups may wish to start each round with two or three plumbers.

8. Hot Dog Tag

One player is designated as It. When a player is tagged they lie down on the ground as the hot dog. In order to get back in the game, two free players have to lie down on either side of the hot dog as the bun. No one can tag the players who are a hot dog or buns while they are lying down.

9. Critter Tag

One player is It. A stuffed animal acts as a safety. Any player holding the stuffed animal can’t be tagged. The fun of this Tag game is passing the animal around to help each other to keep from getting tagged. Whoever is tagged is the new It.

10. Beetle Tag

One player is It. Players who are tagged must freeze in place, but players close to being tagged can lie down on their back and wiggle their arms and legs like a beetle to avoid being tagged. They can only do this for 10 seconds. It cannot stay next to a player as they count to 10. A frozen, tagged player can be unfrozen by a free player. Once all players are frozen, a new It is chosen.

How to Print Your Tag Games Sheet

Click here to download: 10 Tag Games for Kids . Save the PDF to your computer. Open the PDF and print the pages you require. When printing, select “Fit to printable area” (or similar) to ensure the page fits with your printer type and local paper size.
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Please note: All Childhood 101 printables are for personal use only, you may not use any part of this content for commercial purposes-that includes selling the document, giving it away to promote your business or website, or printing the file to sell. You may not share, loan or redistribute these documents. Teachers may use multiple copies for students in their own classroom.