England · United Kingdom / Australia / North America (variant of Tag, widely known by mid-20th century)
Stuck in the Mud
Also known as Freeze Tag, Statues, Frozen Tag
A chaser freezes players by tagging them; frozen players are freed by teammates crawling under their legs.
5+ playersAges 5-12OutdoorsHigh energyBig spaceNo kit
The rules
How to play
1
One or two players are 'it' and try to tag everyone.
2
Tagged players freeze in place with legs apart and arms out.
3
A frozen player can only be freed by an untagged player crawling through their legs.
4
The game ends when it has frozen everyone.
5
The last player frozen becomes It next round.
6
With a large group, start with two Its.
Keep it fair
It cannot hover next to a frozen player waiting to retag them the instant they're freed, agree on a '5-step away' rule to keep the game moving.
Good for building
runningteamworkdodgingspatial awareness
What you need
Nothing at all, just the kids.
More to play
