Flashlight Limbo and Other Night Games

Kids and flashlights are so much fun in the summertime. Students at Hogwarts will be playing Flashlight Limbo this week. And here are a few other night games for you to try. 

Flashlight Limbo
This game is as easy as it sounds. Simply gather two flashlights and have two people hold them facing each other. Other players then try to Limbo Under the beam of light. Those holding the flashlights can lower the beam of light each round to make the Limbo even more challenging. Turn on Limbo music to add to the fun. 

Ghosts in the Graveyard
Basically this is a game of reverse hide-and-go-seek. Select one or two players to be ghosts. They go and hide somewhere in the playing area. While they are hiding, the rest of the group gathers at the "home" or "safe" area, closes their eyes and counts (loudly), "One, o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock..." all the way up to "Thirteen o'clock". Then the players fan out through the playing area, looking for the ghosts. If a player spots one of the ghosts, she yells "Ghost in the graveyard, run, run, RUN!" This warns everyone to race back to the safe area. At the cry of "ghosts in the graveyard", the ghosts, too, are free to move and chase the players. Anyone they tag becomes a ghost in the next round. So in the first round of the game you only have one or two ghosts, but as the game progresses, you may have many ghosts all at the same time.
Note: Regardless of which ghost is spotted first, once a player yells "Ghost in the graveyard, run, run, RUN!", ALL the ghosts are free to run. This is one of the elements that makes this game scary, since a player could be concentrating on a ghost she can see, only to turn around and find another ghost emerging from a hiding spot!

Firefly

To Play: Gather all the players in one spot. Send two or three players out into the play area with flashlights. These are the "fireflies". These players can either walk around the play area or stay in one spot, but either way they must flick their flashlight on-off, on-off, like a firefly. The rest of the players must try and catch a firefly by sneaking up to her. If one of the fireflies sees or hears a stalker, he or she may stop flashing the light for 30 seconds. Once all the fireflies have been captured, the game is repeated with new players as fireflies.

Here are a few great night games for younger children: 

Flashlight freeze – Get silly and work out the wiggles by dancing and moving until the flashlight beam hits which is the signal to freeze!  Those who move in the light are out!

Flashlight follow – Simply have your kids try to jump into the circle of light while you move it around and watch the giggles.

You could also tell ghost stories while holding a flashlight to your face. And don't forget to take your flashlight to bed so you can read under the covers for History of Magic this week.