#275. Playing red rover at VBS.
Jun 5th by Jon
Like any good youth retreat, Vacation Bible School usually has its fair share of accidents and injuries. It’s just kind of what happens when you combine a few dozen children, massive amounts of sugary orange drink and then set them loose on a playground. But for my money, if you really want to go home from VBS with a battle scar, you need to play a game of red rover.
If you’ve never played red rover, please let me enlighten you. In red rover, kids form two lines facing each other. They hold hands and then yell, “red rover, red rover send Matt right over.” Matt then runs as fast as he can into the arms of the other kids. If the force of his body causes two people to release their hands, he wins. If instead he gets clothes lined and falls down, he gets to go to the hospital and have 7 stitches in his head.
It’s so dangerous that it is absurd. Most of my life I spend trying not to get close lined. It’s a painful experience and is actually used pretty effectively in professional wrestling. And yet, it’s a game we used to play on the playground. Which made me think, are there any other awesomely dangerous games we should be playing at VBS?
My new games:
1. Badger in a bag.
Lets hide pieces of caramel in a bag and then put a really angry badger in that same bag. To win, you have to successfully grab a piece of candy from the bag without losing a finger.
2. Corn kernel balloon fight.
Filling balloons with water is for wimps. Let’s get balloons and fill them with kernels of corn. Getting hit by one will certainly leave a bruise, but what a great way to remember VBS.
3. Samson hair salon.
Although not physically painful, I think this would cause a good deal of mental stress. Let’s play Samson Hair Salon and give the kids dull scissors to cut each other’s hair with. How happy would you be to see your kid come home with a reverse mohawk that another kid gave him at VBS?
I doubt any of these games will ever take the place of red rover, but if you send your kid to VBS at my church, please know you will have to sign the “my kid might come home as bald as Britney Spears” waiver.
Comments
Ben: Thanks for the diagnosis.
To the anonymous person who wanted me to enlarge the [horrifying] badger photo: That was mean, but your hilarious bumper sticker makes up for it.
Gina Marie: We played that with our youth group too, but always called it “Underground Church,” and you could get out of going to jail by reciting a Bible verse.
We couldn’t get out of jail, except for the few squirrelly kids who were able to make a break for it when they let in new prisoners.
I was only in jail once, but I never found the hiding place either. I was a big chicken who basically hid in the woods until the game was over. Hopefully if it comes to that someday I’ll exhibit a little more courage.
I’m responsible for a sweet little girl named “Brianna” having her two front teeth chipped, because I was overzealous in a game of Red Rover.
I was bigger than she was, and a boy from the other team tried to ram his way through us. I didn’t let go of Brianna when I should have. I stopped that boy, but Brianna whipped around and her teeth hit the back of his skull.
Youcha.
Ooh well, haven’t played it since. I’m scarred for life.
Badger in a bag…..LOLOLOLOL
You are TOO funny, Jon. Keep ‘em coming!
Can someone explain WHY we played Red Rover on asphalt/concrete? The last game of Red Rover I played happened in 4th grade after I tripped while running to the other side and ripped my knee open. (Sorry for that visual…but just sharing my war story.) It is so funny to see this post, too, b/c I was just commenting to my husband the other day about Red Rover and asphalt.
in China…
its CHICKEN IN A BAG!!!!
i have pictures to prove it!
I realize I’m a month late to this conversation, but I just discovered this blog and I have to say I love it!
A great variation on the Sampson’s Hair Salon is to have your leader of choice (it was the way-metro worship leader at the camp I worked. But for VBS the pastor might be better) do the kids’ hair with neon color spray, stiff gel, as many bottles of Aqua Net as you can afford, lots of rubber bands, and often those paper cone cups as infrastructure. The kids loved it enough to pay a dollar everyday to get their hair done. All the money went to missions!
did anyone ever play “steal the bacon”… ?? 2 kids go out in between a circle of the rest of the kids… and there’s a sock, or a ball, or something in the middle and you try to steal it and run to your team on the other side without, basically getting KO’d by the other kid.
it sounds ridiculous now… like a kid-size version of gladiators. adults were present, mind you.
i was responsible for kid almost breaking his nose when we were in 5th grade playing that game.
i don’t think we ever played it again… :/
Marni: Kind of late, but “Big Bunny” is a good church-friendly alternative to Big Booty.
Some of my friends were on a Big Bunny kick a few years ago… all the fun without the awkwardness!
I'm late to this, too; but just wanted to say that my daughter broke her arm playing Red Rover. She & her friend held on tight – a kid from the other team ran hard – my daughter & her friend didn't let go; next thing I know, the school is calling me to get there quick. My daughter required surgery & pins placed in her elbow. Bad memories! Needless to say, my kids don't play Red Rover anymore.
I’ve never heard of Buck Buck so I googled it and I love the pick that Wikipedia has http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_buck
I remeber once we played a good ‘ole game of tag. We got bored, so the VBS game guy yelled,
“Kids! Freeze Tag- last one standing gets an extra (bootleg) snack!” I started middle school that year with a broken leg. good times….
Yet another moment on this site where I go "wow, we were not the only kids doing that!" I could trip over lint, but at this game, I was invincible, skinny spoolie arms and all. You'd avoid linking to the sweaty-handed kids, and the ones who would unlink out of sheer terror before any physical contact was made and after a few games, not even a whispered strategy exchange was needed; you knew what you had to do. Then, perhaps a nice bout of Slide Down the HUGE Metal Banister On the Side of the Building as a cool-down. Never a harsh word about any of this; as long as we were not starting fires or swearing or just being generally despicable, the reins were very loose. Neat memories this site bring back.
at one of our church camps, we had one of those tarps with washing detergent all over it, so you could slip and slide….also included…LIVE MOUSE TRAPS. no joke, I refused to play. lol
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No lie. I had a friend break her arm playing red rover, it got so intense.
that badger in a bag game is comedy gold