Number of Players: 2+
Ages: 4+
Space: Outdoors
Materials: lots of potatoes, oddly shaped blocks or other similarly sized objects, enough buckets or baskets for each player.
This is a very simple, but very fun game to play with everyone’s favorite tuber. You can actually use any object the size of potatoes, but using the old fashioned potato gives the game a more nostalgic feeling. There’s a product on the market in toy stores that’s really squishy and bouncy, and usually comes in a plastic tube that flies out of your hands. I don’t know what it’s called but it would be a perfect substitute for a potato.
To begin, make a starting line on the ground, and then place a row of potatoes perpendicular to the line for each player. Eight potatoes should be on spots marked two yards apart. The first potato should be two yards from the starting line and the player’s potato basket. You can use whatever receptacle is handy, but it shouldn’t be too big.
With the potatoes in place and the starting line ready, the game is ready to begin. After the go signal, the game consists of picking up the potatoes one at a time and placing them in the receptacle. The potatoes can be picked up in any order. If a player drops a potato, she has to pick it up before touching another potato, or be disqualified. Also, if a potato misses the receptacle or bounces out, it has to be replaced before the next potato is touched. Players can also toss their potatoes into the receptacle, but they might bounce out depending on the size of the container and the age of the potato.
When all the potatoes are picked up, the players make a dash for the finish line. As with all races, the players can’t interfere with one another’s potato picking. If there are a lot of players, the races can be run in heats, with the winners of each heat squaring off in a potato race championship.