This is another classic schoolyard game that everyone should know. It is very easy to understand yet a lot of fun to play. As you might have already guessed, the game is about pretending that the floor is lava.

What do you need?
For this game, you will only need a large space to play on. A playground or similar area outside with a climbing frame or other elevated surfaces or play equipment is perfect. In case you want to play inside, make sure to have some stable furniture to climb on.

Who plays?
Typically, anyone can start the game by shouting “The floor is lava”, and as many players as want to join can join the game . It is most fun with five or more players, but this also depends on the size of the playground and the number of obstacles that you have. If you don’t find anyone who wants to play with you, you can even play alone and convince someone to join you later.

How to play “The Floor is Lava”
As soon as anyone shouts “the floor is lava”, the game starts. Everyone who wants to participate has to climb on any kind of elevated surface to avoid getting burned by the lava. Any player remaining on the floor in the next few seconds is out and cannot rejoin the game for some period of time. You may also want to come up with tasks, items, or places that can “regenerate” the player’s health after touching the floor. This is up to you, and you can come up with a lot of different things here. For example, you could make a certain area a “recovery area” that you have to go to and stay in for 30 seconds to recover. You can also make it a person that you have to touch to be healed, or you can come up with sunny tasks on the spot when someone gets burned in the lava. Just be creative! An important rule for all the players is also that you cannot stay still on one spot, but you have to move from one piece of furniture to the next. This is because otherwise the furniture would sink.

Variations
There are a lot of different games that you can play with the main idea of “The Floor is Lava”.
First, there is the possibility to set up an obstacle course and race against the clock or against each other. Remember that you can’t touch the ground. You can, for example, line up chairs, hoops, towels, tables, and whatever else you can find and make an obstacle course inside. A playground with a climbing frame would be perfect, too. Here, you can agree on a start and end and stop the time. Whoever is the fastest wins.
Another game you can play is called “Hot Lava Monster”. All the players must stay off the ground, and one player, who is the lava monster, must try to tag or catch the other players. It is up to you if the monster is allowed to touch certain obstacles or may only touch objects of a certain color. If you get caught by the monster, the roles change, and you will be the next monster for the next round. It takes turns like this, and you can continue the game for however long you want.
Have fun playing!