Well, I like to teach the game a little differently. I call it Musical Shares. You put a bunch of hula hoops on the floor; at first, there are more hoops than kids. Each time the music stops, you take away a hoop. When there are more kids than hoops, the kids have to share a hoop. Eventually, you might have as many as 10 kids in a hoop. To make it work, they have to cooperate, solve problems, maybe even hug each other.

Duck Duck Goose is a similar elimination game. These are what I call “focus on failure” games. You want everyone to have a turn, so if there are 25 kids playing for 30 minutes, it means each kid gets to run around the circle for maybe six seconds. You’re sitting for more than 29 minutes. No much exercise there. And for each turn there’s one winner and one loser; the loser gets to sit in the middle, and so everyone knows that Johnny was the loser.

Instead, I play Duck Duck Goose with two lines of kids facing each other, with a safety line 18 feet back. Everyone has a partner. One child taps the other on the shoulder and says, “Duck, duck,” and at some point, “Goose,” then runs away.  Her partner has to chase and try to tag her before she runs behind the safety line. Only the two partners know who won or lost each time--and it doesn’t really matter. Plus, everyone is playing at the same time, either chasing or running away. It’s more fun and more exercise, and it improves the children’s skills.