Maslenitsa games for children

The ancient Slavic holiday is many hundreds of years old, but every year everyone looks forward to Maslenitsa. We tell you what games in honor of seeing off winter can be played with children indoors and outdoors

A week before Lent, we joyfully chase away winter and call for the long-awaited spring. The annual celebration is eagerly celebrated on the streets and in parks, in families, kindergartens and schools. A fun holiday is not only traditional pancakes and folk festivals. On Maslenitsa people sing songs, dance in circles, ride ice slides and burn a straw effigy. If you want to pass on folk traditions to your child, it is best to do this in the game. ” Healthy Food Near Me” has compiled a selection of interesting amusements that will appeal to children of all ages.

Outdoor games

It is cold in winter, so the main task of playing outdoors is to keep children from freezing. It is good to invite parents to a fun holiday.

Taking snow town

All participants build a snow fortress together, and then they are divided into two teams. One defends fortifications, and the other attacks. Noisy and cheerful assault lasts until the fortress is completely destroyed. For safety, it is worth setting rules in advance: for example, you cannot throw snowballs in your face.

Tug of war

It is interesting to carry out the old carnival fun in mixed teams of children and parents. Instead of a rope, you can use a plastic or rubber hose. It is important to mark a dividing line on the snow and make sure that all participants are wearing mittens or gloves.

Belt carousel

On a pole or a hoop held by an adult, long colored ribbons are fixed according to the number of children. Each child takes the ribbon and runs in a circle to the music. On command, the participants of the carousel change the pace, direction and perform different tasks – they jump on one leg, jump in place, squat and rotate around themselves.

snow shooting range

For the game of accuracy, targets and prizes are prepared in advance. As a target, you can draw concentric circles on plywood or knock down toys on posts.

Wheel

Previously, burning wheels were rolled from the mountains on Maslenitsa. With children, you can arrange relay races with hoops. Skittles or other stakes are placed on the site. Children are divided into two teams. The task of the participants is to run with the wheel without hitting the pole. The faster team wins.

indoor games

If you are celebrating Maslenitsa at home or with friends, prepare some entertainment so that the little guests do not get bored.

Round dance with a scarf

In the center of the circle stands an adult or a child dressed as Maslenitsa with a handkerchief in his hands. He pronounces the words: “I go with a handkerchief and drive the winter away. Whoever takes a handkerchief will call spring! At this time, the children, holding hands, walk in a circle. At the signal of the leader, the round dance stops. Maslenitsa shows with a handkerchief two participants. They stand with their backs to each other and, on command, begin to run around the round dance. The winner is the one who runs to Maslenitsa faster and takes a handkerchief.

“Fist” fights

For children, traditional Shrovetide fights are held in a safe manner. “Wrestlers” fight with long inflatable balls, strike and try to make the opponent fall off the bench or step over the boundary line.

Darn!

Each child should come up with a short rhyme with “holiday” words – pancake, winter, spring and sun. Children can ask their parents for help, and then there will be a competition for the most interesting poem between families.

Chain

Pancakes and flatbreads

Children are divided into two teams. Each one shouts out her word – “pancakes” or “flat cakes” and performs a movement at the command of the host. Everyone wins, because a funny chant immediately creates a cheerful mood.

Kindergarten games

Educators come up with various entertainments, competitions and hold a colorful holiday for children and parents in the music room.

Skomorokhi

Fun fun for younger kids. The kids put on buffoon hats with bells and begin to “amuse the people.” They dance, depict how a bear stomps, a bunny jumps, the sun walks across the sky and a cockerel sings.

draw a pancake

Each child in the group receives a black round sheet of paper – a “frying pan”, to which a smaller yellow circle – a “pancake” is glued. In 10 minutes, you need to decorate your “pancake” in an original way with the help of felt-tip pens and pencils. Then all the works are hung on the exhibition.

Bring the pot

Rays

There are two tables to play. They put on a sheet of whatman paper, which depicts the sun without rays. Children are divided into two teams, stand 5 meters from their table and receive one orange marker. At the signal of the teacher, the participants one by one run up to the sheets and draw one ray at a time. The team that completes the task faster wins.

Snowdrops

Maslenitsa meets spring, so the children make paper flowers in advance at a lesson in kindergarten. To the music, the teacher lays out homemade snowdrops on the floor. Then, at the command “to the forest,” the children begin to quickly pick flowers. The winner is the one who collected the largest bouquet.

Music games

It is impossible to imagine a wide Maslenitsa without cheerful music, dances and round dances.

Cheerful musicians

All children, except for one – the conductor – receive musical instruments: a tambourine, spoons, a small harmonica, a pipe. While soft music is playing, everyone plays. At the signal of the conductor, the music becomes louder. Then the participants put their instruments on the floor and start running in a circle. When the music stops, you need to take any instrument. Who did not have time, becomes a new conductor.

Festive broom

Children stand in a circle. While the music is playing, they pass a broom decorated with ribbons to each other. When the music stopped, the child, in whose hands the broom turned out to be, must sing a children’s song, tell a rhyme or guess a riddle about Shrovetide.

Bell ringing

The teacher divides the participants into 5 groups. Each speaks their own words. One is a long “bli-n-n-n-n-n”, the second is “half a pancake”, the third is “a quarter of a pancake”, the fourth is “pancakes-pancakes”, and the fifth is “no pancakes, one sour cream”. Participants must pronounce their phrase in the same tone and with a certain frequency, then the effect of a bell ringing will be created.

Dance winter

“Winter” words are written on sheets of paper – blizzard, snowman, Snegurochka, sled, skis, skates – and fold them four times. The participant chooses a note, reads a word and performs an impromptu dance to the music, trying to play with his word.

Show Maslenitsa

While the music is playing, the children frolic and dance freely. As soon as the music ends, the participants in the game must stop in place and try to portray one of the symbols of Shrovetide – winter, spring, a pancake or a scarecrow.

Games from an expert

Ksenia Lukina, blogger and founder of the Supernova English school shared the ideas of developing team games that she learned from foreign colleagues during her internship in China and adapted to realities.

pancake race

To play, you need themed cards with words and “pancakes” made of corrugated cardboard. The group is divided into two teams. Two children from different teams put pancakes on their heads and cover the distance to the finish line, where a common stack of cards awaits them. At the end, you need to exchange the delivered pancake for a card. To receive it, the child says the written word aloud. The team with the most cards wins.

Pancake round dance

You can play outdoors by drawing a pancake with chalk on the pavement, or indoors using a round mat. Children are seated around the circumference of an impromptu “pancake” on chairs, which are one less than children. An adult takes cards with words on the topic “Shrovetide” and puts them in a pile in the center of the circle. The teacher opens the first card and shows it to the participants. He asks one child to go around the circle outside, saying words from a category that is close to the word from the card. For example, if the card says “orange”, the child names any fruit and at the same time touches the heads of other children. When the “magic” word (orange) is pronounced, the participant whose head was touched by the child at that moment must stand up and follow him in a circle. At the signal of an adult, the participant must quickly sit down in an empty seat. The one who is left without a chair chooses the next card and becomes the leader.