Tag: Group Game

Fishbowl Game

Grade:

Grades 3-5, Middle

Setup:

Two teams sit in one circle, alternate team A and B

Objective:

Each student will get three slips of paper on which they will each write three different nouns (person, place, or thing). Then, students will fold each slip in half and put it in a bowl with all the other words. Students sit in a circle and form two teams (easiest if it’s every other person is on team A and the rest are on team B). The game has three rounds.

  • In round one, a student can talk to their team to get them to guess the word they have picked from the bowl — they can say anything except the word (and no rhymes, either!). They try to get their team to guess as many words as possible in one minute. Then the bowl gets passed to the person next to them who gets one minute to have their team guess as many words as possible. The bowl goes around the circle, alternating teams, until all the words have been guessed. Each team gets a point for each word their team guessed. Once all the words have been said, ALL of the slips go BACK in the bowl for round two.
  • In round two, a student can only act  (like charades) to get their team to guess the word they have picked. (Since these words have already been guessed, it should theoretically make it easier to guess for this round!) They get one minute to have their team guess as many words as possible. The bowl goes around the circle until all of the words have been guessed.  Each team gets a point for each word their team guesses. Once all the words have been said, ALL of the slips go BACK in the bowl for round three!
  • In round three, a student can only say ONE WORD (and one word only) to get their team to guess the word they have picked. (Since every word has now been guessed twice, it should theoretically help with the guessing!) They get one minute to have their team guess as many words as possible. Each team gets a point for each word their team guesses.  Once all the words have been guessed, the game is over and you count up the points to find out which team won!

Note: Depending on the size of the group, you can adjust the number of paper slips each student gets — if you have a small group, you can increase the slips to five.

 

Frog in the Pond

Grade:

Grades 1-3, Grades 3-5

Setup:

Circle game

Objective:

Students are all sitting on the knees in a circle. There are different movements depending on what is said. “Frog in the pond” means students put their hands down in front of them. “Frog in the bank” means students put their hands on their shoulders. “Frog in the tree” means students put their hands on their head. “Frog in space” means students stick their arms above their heads and wiggle their fingers. One student is the leader and they will call out “Frog in the pond” and do a movement — either the correct one or not. Students are supposed to follow what the leader SAYS not what they do. So a student may say “Frog in the tree,” but put their hands on the ground. Students leave the circle if they don’t do the correct movement to what is said.

Video:

Electricity

Grade:

Middle

Directions: Split campers into two equal teams. Have them form a line with one person across from a person on the other team. Then have them hold hands. The AG should stand at the front of the line and hold the first two team members’ hands. At a random interval, the AG will squeeze the hands of the two campers near them. Once they feel the squeeze campers pass the electricity to the next person down the line until the last person feels it and taps the ground (or the second AG if you have one) AG is the referee. Have the last person in the line become the first person and repeat. Keep track of points and make this competitive to keep Middle Schoolers engaged but also deescalate if players get too into the game by reminding them that it is about having fun. Watch to make sure electricity doesn’t jump ahead without passing through everyone.

Video Example:

Darling If You Love Me…

Grade:

Middle

Setup:

Circle Game

Objective:

Seat the players in a circle all facing each other. One player who is chosen as “it” sits in the center of the circle. The “it” player in the middle of the circle goes to a player in the circle, maintains eye contact and without touching them uses their silliest voice and expressions says “Darling, if you love me won’t you please, please smile?” The player who was asked the question responds with “Darling, you know I love you, but I just can’t smile.” without smiling. If the player responds, but cannot do so without smiling they become the “it” player in the center of the circle.

If the player successfully replies without smiling the “it” player moves on to the next player in the circle and again asks “Darling, if you love me won’t you please, please smile?”. The “it” player should go in order around the circle. This prevents them from only selecting their friends or players that are naturally smiley. When a new player becomes “it” they should continue where the previous player left off. To succeed it is highly recommended that as the “it” player you use whatever antics you can during your approach to the player you are about to ask the question. Use of silly body movements and facial expressions may get the player smiling before the question is even asked.

(If some campers are wearing a mask, the goal could be to make them laugh or break eye contact, or you could do an honesty policy on smiling… be creative!)

 

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:

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:

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:

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: