Escape From Prison

Introduce the game by telling the players that there are children who are in prison for breaking the law. It is important to mention that prison should be the last choice and that it may be for a short period of time (in relation to Article 37 of the UNCRC). Therefore, we will play a game to escape from prison.

Put the players all in a horizontal line. The main goal is for the players to run to the other side without getting caught by the police officers.

Ask one player to be the policeman, he or she should face the other players (= the trapped children).

The detained children sing "Police police police, don't be silly, I want to escape from this prison quickly".

The police must think of a way for the players to cross the playing field to get to the other side. He says "all the children who may leave the prison". For example, "all children crawling on knees and hands may leave the prison". If they do this, the police cannot catch them. If they don't do what the police ask, he can catch the trapped child. If the trapped child is caught, he must join the police to catch the other trapped children who do not respect the rule.

When the trapped children have arrived on the other side, the same routine takes place (draw), only here the policeman has to come up with a visible feature, e.g. "all trapped children wearing the colour green are not allowed to escape from prison". The children not wearing green need not worry and can cross the playing field without worrying. The others wearing green have to run to get out of the prison to the other side without getting caught by the police. If caught, they must join the police.

The last child who did not join the police is the winner and gets to escape from jail.