I cannot believe it’s mid-August already. The kids day camp ended just a few days ago as most members have already gone home for the season. But, for us Northern Michiganders, it’s still summer! We have several more weeks of warm weather, sunshine, campfires and beach days a head and I can’t wait. Even through mid-September we often go to the beach or take the boat out trying to savor the days.

During the summer time, the kids love being outside and so do I. They love staying up late during the summer and think it’s cool to be outside while my husband and I entertain friends around the campfire. What do they love to play with outside when it’s dark? Flashlights, of course! During the summer months, I swear we go through an endless supply of batteries and mini flashlights but the kids love them. The flashlights are also practical during our cold winter months, especially when we lose power, so I always have several on hand throughout the house.

Today on the blog, I’m introducing you to flashlight tag. We recently introduced flashlight tag to the kids. When I say ‘we’ it was more my husband’s doing. I’d never played before but my husband grew up, living in town, apparently played a lot as child. The kids were eager to learn and even more excited to use the flashlights in the dark.

What do you need to play flashlight tag?

• 3+ people
• flashlight
• extra batteries (always good to have some for back up)

How do you play flashlight tag?

1. Wait until evening or dark. If you don’t feel comfortable letting the kids play in the dark, evening will work or play along with the kids and have some fun!
2. Choose one participant to be ‘it’ for flashlight tag. If more than one person wants to be ‘it’ first, flip a coin.
3. The ‘it’ person gets the flashlight, covers their eyes and begins to count to 50 or 100. The higher the number, the more time participants have to hide during flashlight tag.
4. After the ‘it’ person counts to the designated number, they can begin looking for the hiders using their flashlight.
5. Once someone it found , the ‘it’ person must shine their flashlight beam on the hider and call their name out loud.
6. Once hiders are tagged with the flashlight beam, they are out and must go wait at a designated spot (tree, mailbox, porch, etc) until all the hiders are found.
7. Once everyone is found and back at the designated meeting spot, choose a new ‘it’ person and start a new game of flashlight tag.

Have you ever played flashlight tag?