{"id":6455,"date":"2023-09-18T14:18:55","date_gmt":"2023-09-18T18:18:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/?p=6455"},"modified":"2025-02-21T17:53:15","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T22:53:15","slug":"step-up-your-tag-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Step Up Your Tag Game"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #438bc5;\">What is Tag like at your school?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Ideally, Tag is a great way for kids to release energy, build resilience, and learn about respectful touch during play. If Tag at your school is too rough, try these modifications to keep it safe and inviting so that it can continue to be a timeless recess option.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #8b3e7f;\"><strong>Boundaries<\/strong>:<\/span> Use boundaries like painted lines or cones to keep tag games contained, minimizing collisions and interference with other games. Select a level spot free from hazards so kids can play safely. Review the game location and boundaries at the beginning of recess.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #8b3e7f;\"><strong>Butterfly Fingers<\/strong>:<\/span>\u00a0Butterfly fingers are a light and gentle way to tag others &#8211; a soft touch like a butterfly landing. Demonstrate Butterfly Fingers and have kids practice tagging themselves before starting the game.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #8b3e7f;\"><strong>USA Tagging:<\/strong><\/span> Teach respectful touch through Tag. Kids should only tag others on the Upper Back, Shoulders, and Arms.<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #8b3e7f;\">Movement Modifications<\/span>:<\/strong> If running isn\u2019t safe in your space, adjust the movement. Try skipping, moon bouncing, or firefeet. Movement Modifications are great on concrete and other hard surfaces, in small spaces, or as a reset if a game is getting too rough.<\/li>\n<li><strong><span style=\"color: #8b3e7f;\">Introduce Teamwork<\/span>:<\/strong> Promote cooperation with Tag games that include teamwork or helping others. Try <span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #438bc5;\"><a style=\"color: #438bc5; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/game-library\/wolves-and-bunnies\/\">Wolves and Bunnies<\/a><\/span> or <span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #438bc5;\"><a style=\"color: #438bc5; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/game-library\/magic-tag\/\">Magic Tag<\/a><\/span>.<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #8b3e7f;\"><strong>Make Everyone It<\/strong><\/span>: Eliminate constant cries of &#8220;Who\u2019s It?\u201d with games that make EVERYBODY It. These options keep everyone engaged and prevent conflict &#8211; or meltdowns. Try <span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #438bc5;\"><a style=\"color: #438bc5; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/game-library\/watch-your-back-tag\/\">Watch Your Back Tag<\/a><\/span> and <span style=\"text-decoration: underline; color: #438bc5;\"><a style=\"color: #438bc5; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/game-library\/bandage-tag\/\">Bandage Tag<\/a><\/span>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Remember, Tag is <em>fun<\/em>, so kids may still get caught up in the moment and forget to use Butterfly Fingers or firefeet. Just pause the game and review the rules, asking kids to demonstrate the correct behavior before returning to game play.<\/p>\n<h3>How to: Play Magic Tag<\/h3><div class=\"video-gallery\"><div class=\"video-gallery__video\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Games: Magic Tag\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/szNKICMQBoM?feature=oembed&rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is Tag like at your school? Ideally, Tag is a great way for kids to release energy, build resilience, and learn about respectful touch during play. If Tag at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":6457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"region":[],"class_list":["post-6455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Step Up Your Tag Game - New England<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ideally, Tag is a great way for kids to release energy, build resilience, and learn about respectful touch during play. If Tag at your school is too rough, try these modifications to keep it safe and inviting so that it can continue to be a timeless recess option.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Step Up Your Tag Game - New England\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ideally, Tag is a great way for kids to release energy, build resilience, and learn about respectful touch during play. If Tag at your school is too rough, try these modifications to keep it safe and inviting so that it can continue to be a timeless recess option.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"New England\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-09-18T18:18:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-21T22:53:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2023\/09\/SLC_AltaView_Toned_HighRes_028-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jglasser\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jglasser\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"jglasser\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/#\/schema\/person\/5f265d8dc79df4f39e79135a9d81958b\"},\"headline\":\"Step Up Your Tag Game\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-18T18:18:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-21T22:53:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/\"},\"wordCount\":314,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2023\/09\/SLC_AltaView_Toned_HighRes_028-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Updates\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/\",\"name\":\"Step Up Your Tag Game - New England\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2023\/09\/SLC_AltaView_Toned_HighRes_028-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-18T18:18:55+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-21T22:53:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/#\/schema\/person\/5f265d8dc79df4f39e79135a9d81958b\"},\"description\":\"Ideally, Tag is a great way for kids to release energy, build resilience, and learn about respectful touch during play. If Tag at your school is too rough, try these modifications to keep it safe and inviting so that it can continue to be a timeless recess option.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2023\/09\/SLC_AltaView_Toned_HighRes_028-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2023\/09\/SLC_AltaView_Toned_HighRes_028-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Step Up Your Tag Game\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/\",\"name\":\"New England\",\"description\":\"Just another Playworks site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/#\/schema\/person\/5f265d8dc79df4f39e79135a9d81958b\",\"name\":\"jglasser\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47a9e59fa3b6679c126980c73405a01456eb8b2203b0d9ba5075dcdcdd053322?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47a9e59fa3b6679c126980c73405a01456eb8b2203b0d9ba5075dcdcdd053322?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"jglasser\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/author\/jglasser\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Step Up Your Tag Game - New England","description":"Ideally, Tag is a great way for kids to release energy, build resilience, and learn about respectful touch during play. If Tag at your school is too rough, try these modifications to keep it safe and inviting so that it can continue to be a timeless recess option.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Step Up Your Tag Game - New England","og_description":"Ideally, Tag is a great way for kids to release energy, build resilience, and learn about respectful touch during play. If Tag at your school is too rough, try these modifications to keep it safe and inviting so that it can continue to be a timeless recess option.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/","og_site_name":"New England","article_published_time":"2023-09-18T18:18:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-21T22:53:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2023\/09\/SLC_AltaView_Toned_HighRes_028-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"jglasser","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"jglasser","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/"},"author":{"name":"jglasser","@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/#\/schema\/person\/5f265d8dc79df4f39e79135a9d81958b"},"headline":"Step Up Your Tag Game","datePublished":"2023-09-18T18:18:55+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-21T22:53:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/"},"wordCount":314,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2023\/09\/SLC_AltaView_Toned_HighRes_028-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Updates"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/","url":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/","name":"Step Up Your Tag Game - New England","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2023\/09\/SLC_AltaView_Toned_HighRes_028-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2023-09-18T18:18:55+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-21T22:53:15+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/#\/schema\/person\/5f265d8dc79df4f39e79135a9d81958b"},"description":"Ideally, Tag is a great way for kids to release energy, build resilience, and learn about respectful touch during play. If Tag at your school is too rough, try these modifications to keep it safe and inviting so that it can continue to be a timeless recess option.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2023\/09\/SLC_AltaView_Toned_HighRes_028-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2023\/09\/SLC_AltaView_Toned_HighRes_028-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/2023\/09\/18\/step-up-your-tag-game\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Step Up Your Tag Game"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/","name":"New England","description":"Just another Playworks site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/#\/schema\/person\/5f265d8dc79df4f39e79135a9d81958b","name":"jglasser","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47a9e59fa3b6679c126980c73405a01456eb8b2203b0d9ba5075dcdcdd053322?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/47a9e59fa3b6679c126980c73405a01456eb8b2203b0d9ba5075dcdcdd053322?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"jglasser"},"url":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/author\/jglasser\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6455"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7108,"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6455\/revisions\/7108"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6455"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/new-england\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=6455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}