Well fear not, because this issue is for you! I’ve brought together some of my favourite games to play with a small number of children in limited space. (Sorry all of you with large groups and lots of space, you can now throw this issue in the recycling.) As well as these four games, you could look up the following ones on the Premier Childrenswork website: cup turn, suck-askittle, find the word and pairs.
With a small number of kids there are many other options open. You could play a card game together, something simple like ‘snap!’ or ‘happy families’. Or try a fun, short boxed game like Jenga, Connect 4 or Downfall.
Paper airplane challenge
Where: Indoors
Space needed: Enough to throw a paper airplane
Number of children: 1+
Equipment: Paper and a target
Give everyone a sheet of paper and ask them to make a paper airplane. Give them as much time as they want, but if it looks like they’re taking too long, set a time limit.
Set a challenge for the children to complete with their planes, for example, how far they can throw it or how long it can stay in the air. A more suitable version for small spaces is putting up a target that they have to throw a paper plane at or through. Those that love this challenge will probably want to try it again using a different design and see how that works. This really can fill as much time as you allow, so be prepared to limit paper and the number of throws!
Mystery box
Where: Indoors
Space needed: Enough to sit down
Number of children: 2+
Equipment: A box with something inside
This is a version of the game ‘20 questions’. Before the session, get an object and place it in a box. For younger children, choose a common object such as a banana or a cricket bat. For older children, try something more obscure such as fairy lights or a birdhouse. Show the box to the children.
The children have to guess what’s inside the box in 20 questions or fewer, otherwise you win. They can only ask yes / no questions. Give clues as needed. For example, you could allow the kids to shake the box first and then get them to guess what it is.
And if you’re one of those people blessed with a large group, you can have two boxes with a different object in each. Then split your group into two teams and the first team to guess correctly wins.
Matchbox nose
Where: Indoors
Space needed: Enough to kneel down
Number of children: 2+
Equipment: Two matchboxes
The aim of this simple game is to put a matchbox on your nose! Start by placing the sleeves of two matchboxes on the floor. Then get two children to kneel down beside a matchbox. When you say go, they need to get the matchbox on their nose without using their hands. The winner is the first to do so. And erm, that’s it. The only real variation I have for you is if you have three children you can do it with three matchbox sleeves!
Spoons
Where: Indoors
Space needed: Enough to sit down
Number of children: 3+
Equipment: Pack of cards (or any cards containing sets of four, such as happy families), spoons (one fewer than the number of children)
Sit all the players in a circle and place the spoons in the centre. Shuffle the cards, deal four cards face down to each player and then place the rest of the cards beside the dealer. Each player picks up their cards and looks at them without showing them to anyone else. The players have to get four of a kind. You start with the dealer taking one card from the rest of the deck, looking at their cards and then discarding one to their left so they have four cards again. The person on the dealer’s left picks up the discarded card, looks at it and discards a card to their left. The person on their left picks it up and so on until you come round to the person to the right of the dealer who discards their cards in a separate discard pile. The game is played at speed so the dealer takes a new card as soon as they have discarded their old card, and so on.
As soon as any player gets four of a kind, they grab a spoon in the middle. Once a player grabs a spoon the other players must also grab a spoon. The last person who doesn’t have a spoon loses. You don’t have to eliminate them from the game, as it’s usually more fun to keep playing with everyone.
Steve Mawhinney is the children’s worker for Barnsbury Parish, Islington
