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5) Wide games: these seemed to follow a similar theme. Kids dropped off in a remote area, leaders go for a cup of tea and hope everyone gets back safely. And you know, nine times out of ten they did.
4) Pass the orange under the chin: an experiment in the 80s to see if awkwardness in children could be dispelled with citrus fruit. If anything, it added to the problem.
3) Conkers: this needs to be immediately followed by the phrase, ‘health and safety gone mad’.
2) Walking over someone: a very odd game that seemed to involve lying on the floor and looking up while someone walked over you. Was this ever okay?
1) British Bulldog: this playground favourite was the clear winner. Alas, as hospital waiting times increased over the years we became less accepting of a game that involved at least one trip to A&E per session. But the good news is that there is a version you can play with your group today. In case you missed it, we covered it way back in issue eight.
Pirate crossing
Where: Indoors or outdoors
Space needed: 5-10 metres
Number of children: 8+
Equipment: Squashed cardboard boxes and markers
One of the things I’m often asked for is games for specific times of year. So this issue I’m going to focus on three important days in the calendar, starting with ‘International Talk Like a Pirate Day’ (19th September, obviously).
So: Arrr! Avast me hearties and set yer tiller to the first game, Pirate crossing. I’m not going to keep this up so let’s leave it there. Anyway, split your group into two teams and tell them that the aim of the game is to get across the sea without losing anyone overboard. Mark out two lines about 5 metres apart in the hall – this is the sea. Give each member of the team a squashed cardboard box (or piece of newspaper) to stand on in a row behind the start line. Each team needs to get everyone across the ‘sea’ (to the far line) without anyone stepping off a box into the ‘sea’. How do you do that? The person at the back of the line moves onto and shares the box of the person in front of them. The person at the back then picks up their box and passes it up the line to the front. The team then places this box in the sea at the front of the line and everyone shuffles forward. Keep doing this until the whole team has made it across the sea. If anyone touches their foot on the floor (man overboard!) then the team needs to stop for 30 seconds while they rescue them. Once your group gets used to this game you can make it harder by taking away a cardboard box or two from each team or placing ‘islands’ in the sea that they need to steer around.
The chocolate game
Where: Indoors
Space needed: Space to sit in a circle
Number of children: 4+
Equipment: Large chocolate bar, die (the bigger the better), hat, scarf, gloves, plate, knives and forks
July 7th is Chocolate Day so you can break the rules and let the kids eat sweets. Get the kids to sit in a circle and in the centre of the circle place a plate and put a knife, fork and a large unopened chocolate bar on it. Next to the plate place the hat, scarf and gloves.
To start, one child takes the die and rolls it; if they roll a six they get a chance to eat some chocolate. Otherwise they pass the die to their right and the next child rolls and so on. When someone rolls a six they come into the centre of the circle, put on the hat, scarf and gloves, and try to eat the chocolate using the knife and fork. This will be harder at the start as they have to open the wrapper first. They are only allowed to put a single square of chocolate on the fork to eat it, not a whole slab, and they must cut it up first.
While the child in the centre is trying to eat the chocolate keep passing the die round the circle and rolling. If someone rolls a six they take over from the child in the centre and try to eat the chocolate. Keep going around the circle for as long as you want and at the end of the game give out chocolate to those who didn’t get any. I like to keep several pairs of knives and forks handy so each child gets to use a fresh pair rather than everyone sharing the same set. As ever with food games, check for allergies first.
Simple game: Counting game
Where: Indoors
Space needed: Space to stand in a circle
Number of children: 6+
Equipment: None
At this time of year, the kids are no doubt asking, ‘What are we going to be doing for Number Day?’ Well now you can say, ‘Playing the counting game of course!’ Get everyone to stand in a circle and close their eyes. The aim is to get the group to count from one to ten. Anyone can call out the next number but if two people say a number at the same time you have to start again. It sounds easy but try it and see. Make sure you stop the kids using strategies such as going round the circle or each person taking a number – it’s meant to build up teamwork, patience and trust. When you first get to ten it feels like a real achievement and then you can build up to 15, 20 and so on.
Get in some practice now and your group will be all ready for the Number Day on 5th December. (I’m sure it’s in your diary already.)
