Sleeping lions is a children's game.

Rules

All but one or two players are "

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

s", and lie down on the floor, eyes closed, as if they were sleeping. The remaining one or two players (" hunters") move about the room attempting to encourage the lions to move. The hunters can't touch the lions, but may move close to them, tell things to them,

jokes A joke is a display of humour in which words are used within a specific and well-defined narrative structure to make people laugh and is usually not meant to be interpreted literally. It usually takes the form of a story, often with dialogue, ...

, etc. Any person who moves must stand up and join the hunters.

Usage

Sleeping lions is also sometimes used in schools as an exercise. All the children will play "lions" and the

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

will play the "hunter". Usually, in this case, the teacher will make no effort to make the "lions" move, because in this case the real aim of the "game" is to calm the children down after playing other exciting games. Other names for the game include: dead soldiers.

References

Children's games {{Game-stub