Tag: Middle

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.

 

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:

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:

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:

What are you doing?

Setup:

Partner all campers and if an odd number, partner with AG. Then give an example.

  1. Player 1 starts miming an activity.
  2. Player 2 approaches Player 1 and asks `What are you doing?`
  3. The first player answers something that has nothing to do with what they are actually doing. E.g. if Player 1 is cutting someone’s hair, when asked what they are doing they might say “I’m reading the newspaper”.
  4.  Second player starts miming the activity stated by the previous player (reading the newspaper.) and Player 1 now asks, “What are you doing?
  5. Repeat steps 1-4 until game has peaked (should be 6-8 quick rounds depending on the group and work as a short warm up game to get laughs)

Note to AG – Really exaggerate/be silly with the “What are you doing?” sometimes to make campers laugh. Also choose fun or funny activities for your example to get the kids interested. If you do not have a partner, walk around and encourage (Wow! Oh my! That’s cool!) and provide suggestions if needed.

Video:

Story, Story, You’re Out

Grade:

4 – 5

Setup

Everyone forms a line on “stage”

Objective:

Tell a story with a beginning, middle, & an end flawlessly

Players form a line on the stage. A title for a story, and a story genre is obtained from the audience. The MC starts the game by pointing to a player, who needs to start telling the story. At any point in time the MC can switch to another player, who needs to continue the story flawlessly, even if the switch happened in the middle of a sentence or even in the middle of a word.Players that hesitate, or whose sentences are not grammatically correct or don`t make sense, are “out.” The last player left ends the story.

Video:

Rabbit Tag

Setup:

Open space with cones to mark hutches

Grade:

2-5

Instructions:

  1. One player is designated as the “Hunter.” Everyone else is a “Rabbit”
  2. Set up “hutches” (cones) around the playing field. There should be two less hutches than there are rabbits. The hunter can only tag rabbits who are not at a hutch
  3. All but two rabbits start the game at a hutch. The hunter chases these rabbits.
  4. When a rabbit enters a hutch, he or she is safe, but the rabbit who was previously at that hutch must then leave the hutch. Only one rabbit may be in each hutch.
  5. When the hunter tags a rabbit, that rabbit becomes the new hunter

Video:

Pass the Name Game

Setup:

circle

Grade:

all

Everyone stands in a circle and the teacher will go first, saying their name and making eye contact with someone else while saying their name. Then the teacher will start heading over to that person and that person will then have to say the name and make eye contact with someone else in the circle and start to head over to take their place. You can make this game more complicated by starting another circuit while the first one is already in motion.