"Butcher Paper Tag"

"I'm bored!" What parent hasn't heard that complaint? It's even more challenging for a grandfather who doesn't have the energy or pain-free body to keep up with a seven year old. I have two seven year old grandchildren: Owen, from Long Island, and Kaylee from near by.

When Owen was visiting us, we invented a game called "Butcher Paper Tag". All that's needed is a roll of butcher paper, all the coloring instruments you have, crayons, pencils and markers, and the active imagination of a child. (My generation calls it "butcher paper"; they call it "banner paper", and it's available in 32 inch by 8 foot rolls at office supply stores.) I let him choose whether to be "it", or to be chased; he chose to be chased, and I chose to be "it", in this case, a T-rex, bane of all active little boys. Away we went, unrolling the paper as the story unfolded.

The child takes the lead in telling the story. Let them run free. When Kaylee and I played the game, she chose to be a fox being chased by a coyote (me). Kaylee asked me what her fox should do: I replied "She's your fox, honey; this is your game and your story. Anywhere you want to go, anything you want to do is what we'll do. You just have to draw it."

Away she went! First, her fox hid in some bushes, with just his tail sticking out! That saved her drawing the whole animal, and was kind of cute. My coyote came after it with a weed-eater. Then her fox hid in a field of flowers and butterflies, and, like the poppy fields of Oz, they put my coyote to sleep. I fixed that by giving my coyote a butterfly net and a vase for cut flowers.

Owen started in a castle which my T-rex blew up with dynamite. Then he grabbed a ship to outer space where he left me stranded to melt down on the sun. I overcame that with very dark sunglasses, and extra-strength sunblock. Do coyotes eat foxes? Can dark sunglasses and extra-strength sunblock overcome the heat and light of the sun? This isn't a time for high science; just have fun and accommodate the imagination of the child.

When Kaylee and I played, her mother, Jen, suggested using stencils. That might be a good idea, at least for the main characters in the story. I got a bit tired drawing my T-rex, which looked a lot like my coyote, over and over again.

It's an amazing thing, when children have the means to brainstorm and develop a story, how talkative, imaginative and creative they can be. These are both video-game generation kids who we worry about vegetating with pre-programmed entertainment.

The game is over when the child says it's over. The only hard and fast rule is they have to draw the action they express, and so do you! It doesn't have to be tag, though chasing and eating games are popular with little boys, of course. You could also try, "Let's make a reef of tropical fish, and see if we can use every color we have", or, "Let's take a road trip: first we'll draw a road for the full length of the paper, then we'll take turns drawing stops along the way; places we'd like to see, and events or attractions that we'd like to go to on a vacation."

This could also be an enjoyable activity for disabled adults, bound to a wheelchair who long to run and play with their children.

As the child's narrative unfolds, the butcher paper unrolls. Both kids wound up with about an 8 foot length of illustrations, mine and theirs, showing the developing story, their developing imagination, and our developing bond of love. They now have the butcher paper rolled up and tucked away in their closets, where, in the future they can pull them out and remember the time they played "Butcher Paper Tag" with grandpa.

Learn more about this author, Eric Hazelle.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Games that inspire imagination and creativity?
We want to hear your view. Write now!