Community Corner

Teaching the Boys How to Play SPUD in the Park

It didn't require batteries, or anything that inflates. It was just a simple afternoon in the park.

What to do with a small group and a ball?

It was amazing that the two 11-year-old boys in our company didn't know how to play SPUD. They spent the night and most of the morning building castles on Minecraft and creating worlds out of their imagination, but they didn't know how to play the simple game that took me through most of my childhood. 

By 11, I was a SPUD champion! They learned the simple rules: everyone circles the person with the ball, that person throws it straight up and calls a name, others scatter. The person retrieves the ball, calls "Freeze" and everyone stops running. Then, the person with the ball can take three giant steps in any direction and tries to bean someone. If the person catches the ball, the thrower loses, if the person is hit, that person loses and gets a letter—S, then P, then U, then D. Those who spell SPUD are out until everyone else is eliminated.

When the Valley View Elementary School first held their Old Fashioned Back-to-School Picnic three years ago, parents were amazed to realize that many of their children don't understand a picnic without a Bouncy, or without a paid superhero doing magic, or without electronic devices. (See: No Batteries, No Fundraising, Just an Old Fashioned Picnic). They never did an egg toss, three-legged race or sack race. Some of the kids didn't know a simple game of tag. And so, that event became a tradition.

Our afternoon was wonderful (I lost every game), and we went for giant Slurpees after and the for dinner at Joe's Falafel in Studio City. (Joe's Falafel Cooks Up a Simmering Memory to His Parents )

What are some of the simple games you like(d) to play in the park? Tell us in the COMMENTS below.


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