Play hide and sheep

Before you begin

• Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Additional help to carry out your risk assessment, including examples can be found here. Don’t forget to make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
• Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers.

Setting up the area

• Find an area with plenty of safe hiding spaces, without people leaving the agreed boundaries. 
• Set boundaries with your group for during the game, which you could mark out with cones or natural features, such as walls and hedges.
• Remember to check the terrain and make sure the game area is free of hazards. For example, hazards could be roads, dips in the grass, steps, rocks or rivers if you’re playing outside. 

Introducing the playing area

1. Explain the boundaries of the playing area and where the no-go zones are. Tell people how they can use the space respectfully, without disturbing the wildlife or other people enjoying the site if you're in a public space.
2. Tell everyone where adults will be around the site and what people should do if anyone in their team needs help. This should include setting memorable spot where an adult will always stay.
3. Explain the signal to stop play and how long the game will go on for. A long blast on a whistle works well as a signal to stop the game.
4. If playing in a public space, young people should be paired up so no young person is left alone, and they should run or move together. The sheep should be paired up to hide together and shepherds should search in pairs.

Getting ready to play

1. Divide the group into sheep and shepherds. A fifth of the group can be the sheep and everyone else will be shepherds. For example, in a group of 25 young people, 5 will be sheep and 20 will be shepherds.
2. Find a way to identify the sheep - they could be the players wearing neckers or they could wear a hat.
3. Mark out a space with cones or put out a hoop to be the farmer's den. This is where the sheep need to get back to, once they've found another sheep (or pair of sheep).
4. An adult volunteer or young leader can monitor the den to make sure sheep are arriving with another sheep.

Instructions for sheep

1. When the game begins, the sheep must hide in separate places, without seeing where each other hid. They could be sent off to hide in different areas. 
2. Don’t hide together (unless you’ve been paired up).
3. There'll be a delay before the shepherds can start finding the sheep.
4. The sheep's goal is to find at least one other sheep and go together to the farmer’s den, while avoiding capture by the shepherds.
5. Sheep can't reach the farmer's den individually. 
6. Sheep can leave the farmer's den once they've arrived there, but to get back in they need to be with at least one other sheep, who isn't already in the den.
7. To help find each other, baa like a sheep as loudly as possible.
8. If playing in pairs, a pair will need to be with at least one other pair of sheep, so four minimum, to enter the den.

Instructions for shepherds

1. Players acting as shepherds should close their eyes to give the sheep a chance to hide. When everyone’s ready, the shepherds can start looking for the sheep.
2. The shepherd’s goal is to round up and tag all of the sheep.
3. Listen out for the sheep baaing in order to find them. Remember to be as quiet as possible, so you can sneak up on them.
4. Once a sheep is in the den, you can't tag them.
5. If any sheep leave the den, you can tag them.
6. Shepherds can't guard the farmer's den.

How the game works

1. Once a sheep is caught (by being tagged), they should freeze and stay where they are.
2. A sheep can free another sheep by tagging them if they’ve been caught. Sheep can leave the farmer's den to rescue and untag another sheep, but they may be caught too.
3. The sheep win if time runs out before all the sheep are caught or if all the sheep find other sheep and get back to the farmer’s den together.
4. The shepherds win if all the sheep are caught before the time runs out.