Category: Troop Time Games

Materials for Adventure Guide.

Clapping Game

Grade:

Grades 3-5, Middle

Setup:

Circle Game

Objective:

Everyone stands in a circle. There are three claps students can do: one clap keeps the clapping going in the direction it started / two claps reverses the order of the clapping / and three claps skips a person in the direction it was going.  It’s important to keep pace. Students sit out if they make a mistake or are off beat.

Video:

Beans

Grade:

Grades 1-3, Grades 3-5

Setup:

Campers spread out 

Objective:

The Adventure Guide calls out the name of a bean and the campers respond appropriately. Possible beans might include:

  • Runner Beans – children run into spaces
  • Jumping Beans – children jump into spaces
  • Kidney Beans – children (kids) hop around holding onto a knee
  • Baked Beans – children lay flat on their backs as if they are baking in the sun
  • Broad Beans – children move around making broad shapes with their bodies
  • String Beans – children move around making skinny, string-like shapes with their bodies
  • Chilli Beans – children act as if they are chilly

The Adventure Guide may also like to call out ‘Freeze’ from time to time for which the children should freeze in the position that they are in.

 

Alan Sells Apples in Albania

Grade:

Grades 3-5, Middle

Setup:

Circle game

Objective:

Students stand in a circle, with a moderator in the middle. The moderator points to one student and gives them a letter from the alphabet. The student chosen has to quickly fill in the blank of the sentence ” _______ sells _______ in  _______” with a name, an item, and a place that all start with the letter they were given.

Examples: Barbara sells bananas in the Bahamas / Harry sells hammocks in Havana / Zane sells Zebras in Zimbabwe

If a student pauses too long or can’t think of items quickly, they are out.

Video:

Shipwreck

Grade:

All

Overview:

Nautical mayhem!

Setup

Before starting: Identify the playing boundaries, and make sure all the players understand all the commands. Have all the players line up on a clearly marked line in the middle of the playing area.

Commands:

  1. Roll call: the crew must line up at the midline of the playing area, feet together, toes on the line, salute and say “aye-aye captain!” The crew may not lower their salute until the captain salutes and says “at ease.”
  2. Crow’s nest: players act as if they’re climbing up a ladder to the crow’s nest, the top of the main mast, an area at the highest point of the ship to lookout.
  3. Swab the deck: players act like they’re mopping the deck.
  4. Shark attack: the captain becomes a shark and tries to tag the crew. Those tagged go to the “brig” to dance or perform an designated exercise.
  5. Break time: active crew members can run to the “brig” and tag as many people as possible. Those that are tagged can come back in and play again. Make sure everyone gets let out of the “brig” during break time.
  6. Sailor overboard: crew pairs up and decides which one gets on their hands and knees and which one stands a places a foot gently on the other’s back while acting like their using a spyglass to find the sailor in the water.
  7. Drop anchor: crew lies on their backs with legs up and acts like an anchor.
  8. Pirates: crew closes one eye, puts up a hook finger, hobbles around like they have a pegleg and say “Aaargh!”
  9. Row to Shore: crew gets in lines of 4; players act as if they are rowing to safety, while singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”

How to play:

  1. The leader explains that s/he is the captain of the boat/ship and is going give commands to the players/crew to perform a specific movement or sound.
  2. Explain that the crew is sailing treacherous seas and need to work together and follow the captain’s commands to survive.
  3. If crew members does not follow the commands correctly or is the last to follow the command they must go to the “brig” or break-room.
  4. Explain the playing area and designate which end is the “bow” of the ship and which end is the “stern.” The goal is to be the last crew member standing.

Video:

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Poison Frog

Grade:

1-3

Overview:

Detective vs Poison Dart Frog

Setup

  1. Have players circle up.
  2. Choose a player to be the Detective, then have them leave the circle (still within sight and able to hear when you call to them to return but not close enough that information will be spoiled)
  3. Secretly pick a Poison Dart Frog without the Detective’s knowledge (Point to them but don’t say it aloud and kindly remind louder students that the Frog will not be someone who calls out)
  4. Bring the Detective back and have them stand inside the circle.
  5. The Poison Dart Frog will try to eliminate all the other players by sticking their tongue out at them without being seen by the Detective.
  6. When a player is eliminated, they say “OH! You got me!” and sit down.
  7. The Detective has 2 chances to guess who the Poison Dart Frog is.

Video:

Giants/Wizards/Elves (Full Body Rock Paper Scissors)

Grade:

All

Overview:

A team spin-off of ro-sham-bo

Instructions:

  1. Split players into two team, standing on opposite sides of a linear boundary.
  2. Before each round, each team will collectively decide whether they want to be giants, wizards, or elves. (wizards beat giants, giants beat elves, and elves beat wizards).
  3. During the round, each team will line up facing each other by the boundary, then all chant “giants, wizards, elves.”
  4. After chanting, each team will act as whichever character they chose (giants wave their hands in the air, wizards stick their arms out and get low to the ground like they are casting a spell, and elves squat and use their hands as elf ears).
  5. Whichever side has the character that is winning, chases the other team and tries to tag them before they cross the far boundary. Any member tagged has to join the other team, and the round starts over.

Video:

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Fruit Basket

Grade:

1-3

Overview:

A fruity fun active game

Instructions:

  1. Make a circle of chairs with 1 less chair than the number of players.
  2. Assign each player a fruit (apple, orange or banana).
  3. The student who does not have a seat, calls out a fruit, and the players assigned that fruit must try to change seats, while the caller tries to sit down as well. This switch will leave a new player standing.
  4. The new player may call another fruit, or say “FRUIT SALAD” in which case all of the players will have to switch seats.

Video:

Evolution

Grade:

All

Overview:

Ro-sham-bo with a twist

Instructions:

  1. Players will be competing with each other in ro-sham-bo at different stages in their “evolution.” The stages are egg (player squats on ground), chicken (players squawks and flaps like a chicken), dinosaur (player rawrs and has arms like a T-rex), rockstar (players jams on air guitars), and superhero (player poses like superman).
  2. To play a game of ro-sham-bo, players must play with people on their same level of evolution (eggs play eggs, not dinosaurs). All players begin as eggs, and winning a game makes a player “evolve” up to the next stage. Everyone will eventually evolve into a superhero!

Video:

Bridge Ball

Grade:

All

Setup:

Circle, large group (10+)

Objective:

A funny ball game

  1. Have all players circle up with their feet touching the feet of the players next to them, leaving space between everyone’s legs.
  2. Using open handed, low-five hits, pass a ball along the ground and try to get it through someone’s legs.
  3. When the ball goes through a players legs, that player then has to turn around and play the game backwards.
  4. Once every player is playing backwards, then the game restarts.

Video:

Bob the Bunny

Grade:

All

Setup:

Circle, large group (10+)

Objective:

An interractive guessting game

  1. Have campers circle up.
  2. Have one camper stand in the center and close their eyes.
  3. Campers in the center pass an object behind their backs for 10 seconds while chanting “Bob, the bunny, Bob, Bob, the bunny!”
  4. The camper in the center opens their eyes and has three tried to guess who is holding the object.

Video: