What To Do
The players form a circle and create a space large enough to represent a door for the chil- dren to run through. A leader is chosen. The leader chooses another player to be the keeper of treasure.
This player then sits in the middle of the circle with her eyes closed and the treasure placed behind her back. The leader then silently selects a robber by pointing to a player. The robber then tip toes as quietly as possible up to the keeper and steals the treasure from behind the keeper’s back.
Once the keeper realises the robber has the treasure she leaps to her feet and chases the robber in a clockwise direction around the circle with the intent of catching him. The aim of the game is for either the keeper to catch the robber or for the robber to get back to the keepers home base in the centre of the circle.
While the players wait for the robber to steal the treasure they chant, ‘The robber is com- ing, the robber is coming, the robber is coming,’ and then as the robber picks up the trea- sure and runs out of the door they shout, ‘The robber has come!’ If the keeper catches the robber then she is the keeper again, and a new robber is chosen. If the robber gets back to the home base in the centre then he is safe and becomes the keeper and a new robber is chosen.
If you find when playing this game that players run through gaps in the circle other than the door, it may be helpful at the start of the game to create a rule which says players can- not jump or run out of the windows (the gaps), they can only run out of the door.
