Equipment Needed: Boundary markers (cones, frisbees, tapes, ect.)
We start with a cat in the middle of a rectangular field facing a line of mice on one wide side of a rectangle, which is at least 30 feet wide and long enough to comfortably fit all mice. Cat and mice are at least 15 feet apart. When the cat meows or says, Go, the mice must cross the playing area to the other side to a boundary at least 15 feet in back of the cat to be safe. They wait there for the next signal to go. Meanwhile, the cat catches as many mice as possible merely by tagging them, which transforms them into mousetraps. They join the cat in the middle to start each round. Any mice who run out of the boundaries are automatically caught. Once a player becomes a mousetrap, he or she can move about trying to catch and hold mice until the cat tags the mouse and transforms her or him too. If the cat takes no notice, the mousetrap can yell cat for attention. When a mouse is caught by a mousetrap, it can try to get away, but neither the mouse nor the mousetrap can use so much force that they hurt the other. Eventually all the mice are caught, or maybe there is one left, who is invited to become the cat for the next round of the game. And no dead mice.
Watch for kids getting too rough. Stop game and talk about it.