Games for Kids: How to Play Duck, Duck, Goose

I cannot even imagine how many hundreds of times I have played this popular game with groups of young children in school, kindergarten, preschool and even child care. It certainly is an Australian classic! Here’s how to play…

Duck, Duck, Goose

Number of players: 6+ (the more the merrier!)

Recommended Age: 4+ years

Equipment needed: None

To play:

Sit the children in a circle, facing each other.

One child is chosen to be ‘It.’ It walks around the circle, gently tapping each other player in turn on the head or shoulder, naming each player as a ‘Duck.’ Choosing one player to be the ‘Goose,’ It taps that player on the head (or shoulder) and says, ‘Goose.’

The player selected as ‘Goose stands up and chases ‘It’ around the circle, trying to tag her before she gets all the way around the circle and sits back in the spot where Goose was originally sitting.

If the Goose is not able to tag It, then Goose becomes It and the game continues as per the previous steps.

If the Goose does tag It, the tagged player sits in the centre of the circle and Goose becomes It for the next round. The player remains in the middle of the circle until the next time a Goose is tagged to replace them.

Check out the other games in the Games for Kids series;

Have you played Duck, Duck, Goose before? Do you have another version of the game where you live?