Shark Tank, Treasure Hunt

This game is a bigger and better version of the playground classic “Sharks and Minnows”.

I was subbing as the P.E. Teacher at Lin Howe Elementary the other day. The game “Shark Tank” was planned by the regular teacher and a nice diagram was drawn to illustrate it. I had never heard of the game Shark Tank before but the diagram showed a large circle in the middle of the playing field that served as the tank. I asked Coach Doug what the purpose of the tank was and figured out that there was no real purpose for it. In other words, this was about to be a big field game of Sharks and Minnows. I thought about adding something to the tank area that gave it a reason for being there. We spread out a bucketful of bean bags within the tank boundary and told the minnows that in addition to getting safely to the other side they needed to pick up one, and only one, tresaure from the tank. That day, we had 100% participation from the students which is a rare occurrence.

Special thanks to Coach Doug and Coach “G” for helping make this game come to life and for working out the bugs in the game until the rules made sense. 

Area: Soccer field or half football field

Number of Participants: 50 – 100 participants; 3 referees.

Materials: Three long ropes tied together to make one large circle; about 15 large pylons (two colors) to delineate the playing boundary and the shark tank; about 50 bean bags; field whistle.

Set-up: Tie three ropes together and lay it in a circle out in the middle of the field that is desginated as the shark tank. Stretch the rope with 4 – 6 cones of one color (we used blue) so there is a clear boundary. Arrange other cones around field boundary. Choose 3 – 7 participants to be “sharks” who will do the chasing and have them stand in the tank area at the beginning of each round. All other participants go to one end of the field to start off as a group of “minnows”. Designate one referee in the center to organize the sharks; one referee stays on one end of the field and the third referee goes to the other end of the field fo start the minnows during each round. All referees watch for fair play.

How To Play: When the referee blows the whistle, the round begins. Minnows try to get to the other end of the field without being tagged by the sharks. If they get tagged, they must freeze where they are, even if they have a bean bag treasure. Minnows may choose to go into the shark tank and steal one of the bean bags (treasures) and make it to the other side. They may only steal one treasure each round. If more than one treasure is taken by any one minnow during a round, all minnows forfeit their treasures for that round and they are re-dispersed in the shark tank area.

Minnows who successfully make it to the other side without being tagged, whether or not they’ve picked up a bean bag treasure, are safe for that round and live to see another round. All the minnows who were tagged during the round are called in to the shark tank (I like to call out “Shark Swarm! Shark Swarm! and clap whie motioning all sharks and tagged minnows to the center for a huddle). That’s where the shark swarm gets a chance to plan their strategy for the next round. At this time also the minnows can plan their strategy to outwit the sharks. When referees see that both the sharks and minnows are ready to begin again, they blow the whistle to signal the start of the next round.

Play continues, round after round until either all the treasures are taken (minnows win) or five minnows are left (sharks win). Once a winning team is determined, the last five minnows can choose to be the next sharks or they can choose a person to replace them.

ReST Method, abbreviated

The ReST Method of Conflict Resolution is a great and thorough resolution process. But when you’re supervising a busy playground, how can we be assured that we are doing as good a job when we don’t have the luxury of spending a lot of time on the issue?

I’ve had the luxury of having a nice quiet office where kids in conflict can workd through their issues using the ReST Method. The problem is, when you’re on the playground with a busy group of kids and a conflict breaks out, how do you handle the conflict thoroughly? Lately, I’ve been doing an abbreviated version of the ReST Method which has been just as effective in getting over the conflict. The jury is out on whether it has the same lasting effects as the longer version, where the same conflict won’t break out again. This abbreviated method is like meatball surgery– it gets the kids off the bench and back on the field.

Here’s what I’m doing:

Two students come to me who have a problem with each other. Their stories about who started it or who is to blame are different. The big picture is that they need to air their grievances. I need them to know that I’m not taking either side and that sitting down and trying to figure out who did what and who is to blame is going to take a lot of time and may produce some hard feelings. Rather than that, I tell them to go to the bench or to the table or some other quiet spot where they can talk. I tell them that I want them to come to me with the same story as well as a resolution. I tell them that until they have a solution to their issue they must stay and work it out together until both are completely satisfied with the outcome. Before they go, I ask if this is something that can be solved by playing Ro-Sham-Bo (Rock, Paper, Scissors), best out of three.

In most of the times I’ve done this, not every, students have solved their own issues and it takes less than one minute. They really want to get back on the playing field so they try and rush it. The solution isn’t always perfect. Perfect is when they forget about it and play the rest of the game without incident. But the solution is mostly effective.

Many times, kids choose to play Ro-Sham-Bo to solve their issue. I use the word “choose” because there is sometimes the case where they Ro-Sham-Bo for the resolution but the loser doesn’t like it. That’s when I need to step in and remind them that they chose to solve their issue in a way that really wasn’t going to satisfy them. They were going for the quick fix and it didn’t go their way. In these rare cases, I have to spend more time with the one child and talk about “choices”.

Pac-Man

Like the action-packed video game from the 80s, this playground game is sure to make you just as anxious when you get trapped by the Pac-Men coming at you. I learned this game while substitute teaching for a PE coach. I worked with groups of 30-35 kids, all in grades K – 2nd. I taught this game in steps, introducing the “options” at the bottom later once the kids mastered the game and could handle opening it up more.

 

Object: Pac-Men try to tag all other players while all non-Pac-Men try not to get tagged.

Number of Players: 10 – 50, depending on size of court and number of “outlets” you draw.

Area: small size = volleyball court, large size = basketball court

Materials: chalk to draw “outlet” lines if you choose this option. 4 vests or jerseys to distinguish Pac-Men from “food”.

Set-up: Show players the boundaries. Choose 4 Pac-Men to be it.

How To Play: Pac-Men stay at center court until “go”. Other participants (the “food”) must stay on the lines of the court they are on. No jumping lines. And no running, ever. Both Pac-Men and “food” must walk the entire game. “Food” participants use the lines as their highways to roam around on. When they are tagged by a Pac-Man, they must sit down. As a first option, I have them sitting off the lines so all players can continue to roam freely. Once all “food” has been tagged, all players return to the center to restart the game, picking new Pac-Men.

Options: To make the game much more interesting and to accommodate more people, try these options. First, use chalk to connect playground lines. For example, if the basketball court you are playing on is next to the four-square or volleyball courts, draw a line using chalk to connect the lines, providing a new outlet for the “food”. Second, to make it harder on the “food” and easier on the Pac-Men, instead of sitting down off the lines when you get tagged, sit down on the line to create a roadblock that no one may pass.

Blind Man’s Bombardment

Junkyard games are games that are made out of the materials and area you have at hand. When kids at the YMCA in the late 1800’s had a bouncy ball and a peach basket nailed up high to a post, they began the first basketball game. Blind Man’s Bombardment was invented on the spot at Camp Sunshine at Lindberg Park in Culver City. We had a soccer ball and a volleyball and used a handball court with a high backboard wall (20 ft.). It kept some older, sports-minded campers very busy for a good hour or so.

 

Objective: Land the ball in the other team’s court before they catch it. First team to lose 16 points loses the game.

Area: A double-sided handball wall or practice tennis court wall.

Equipment: Two balls that participants can successfully throw over the wall.

Number of Participants: 8 – 12

Set-up: Divide up teams evenly. Send each team to opposite sides of the wall. Give each team one of the balls.

How To Play: Each team starts with 16 points. On “go”, teams throw their ball over the wall, trying to land it in the other team’s boundary area. When a ball hits the court inside the boundary area, that team loses a point. If a ball is thrown out of bounds, there is no penalty and there is no score; it is a non-issue. When a team has been unable to catch 16 balls that land on their court, they lose.

Adaptation: For younger players who don’t have the strength to throw the ball that high, use a tennis court. The rules need to be adapted to the ability of the players involved. Kindergarteners through 2nd graders, for example, are allowed to let the ball touch their court but they lose their point if the ball goes off their court. 3rd – 5th graders on a tennis court might have the rule that only one bounce is allowed.

 

Mushpot

When I was growing up, one of the consequences for losing in Duck, Duck, Goose was going to the Mushpot. Nobody likes to lose. But nobody ever died from going to the Mushpot. I always come across one extra-sensitive camper who gets overly-emotional about losing– even if the game was non-competitve or there were no real prizes. I thought about how to desensitize kids like this to give them a thicker skin and show them it’s OK to lose. I mean, what’s the worst that can happen, right? 

Play this game early on in the camp season to show campers that losing a game can actually be OK. 

In a culture where everybody gets a trophy just for participating we may have created a generation of entitled kids who won’t try too hard to get the payoff. Enough said. No more preaching. On with the game!

 

Object: To learn how to deal with the feelings associated with losing.

Materials: None.

Area: Half-volleyball court.

Set-up: Gather participants around in a circle. Choose one person to be in the middle (the “Mushpot”).

How To Play: On “go”, all campers on the circle look at the person in the middle and shout “mush! mush! mush!” while squashing the air in front of them, pretending to mash the camper in the middle into a fine pulp. The camper in the mushpot can pretend to feel the pain and do his/her best impression of a dying cockroach (“AAAAAaaaaaagggghhhhhEEEEEEEEeeeeeee!!!”).

After all campers have gotten mushed, sit them down in their circle and talk to them about how they felt being in the mushpot. Did they die? No. Was it uncomfortable? Maybe. Did they want to cry? Probably not. Focus on the fun they had when they were in the mushpot. Later, when camp is in full swing and you’re playing games in which people get out, you can send them out via the mushpot so they can leave with a smile on their face.

Variation: Use this game when you have to get your campers to group-up or line-up. Whoever is last to the group has to be in the mushpot.

Wind In the Willows

Ever trust a group of people to have your back? It’s a rare real-world experience that everyone should have. I read about this in a book called “Games”. That’s all I remember about it. At the time, I didn’t give this game much thought but now I see it’s value as a group-building and trust exercise with lots of potential. 

 

Object: To support the person in the middle without letting them fall. To trust that your group will support you and will be gentle about it.

Materials: None.

Area: Small. 7′ x 7′

Number of Participants: 8-12

Set-up: Choose one person to be the “willow”, standing in the middle of the circle. Have all other campers circle around in a very close and tight circle so that they are less than one arm’s length away from that person.

How To Play: Have the person in the middle (the “willow”) close their eyes, fold their arms across their chest and keep their legs stiff. Huddle everyone else around the willow within an arm’s length of them, making sure there are no gaps in their huddle. On “go”, the willow will fall in any direction while the circle catches them and pushes them gently around the circle or back and forth. Think of it as a reed swaying in a gentle wind. Pushes must be gentle and on pre-approved or “safe” body areas such as shoulders, back and arms only. Nobody should be touching the willow on their stomach or waist or head or chest. Take turns so that everyone gets to be a “willow”.

Praise Circle

It’s nice to feel wanted, loved, respected, admired and get a bunch of positive feedback heaped on you from a group of people, even if they are just acting. Here’s a way to make everyone in your circle feel special. Try using it as a game early on in your camp so that campers feel comfortable giving praise freely to others. This will work well in a group of 8 – 14 but it can get interesting in a large group of 50 or more. 

 

Object: To make someone feel special.

Materials: None.

Number of Participants: 8 – 14. Try larger groups too!

Area: Half-volleyball court

Set-up: Arrange campers in a circle, with one chosen person in the middle.

How to Play: On “go”, all campers in the circle say something nice about the person standing in the middle. The statements don’t have to be true but they do have to be positive. Examples are “You’re awesome!”, “Everyone likes you”, “I like your shirt”, “Your shoes are cool”, “I want to be just like you”, “Great job”, “Woo-hoo!”, “Way to go!”, etc.   Heap on the praise for about 10 – 20 seconds then have the person in the middle choose another camper to be in the middle. Of course, they need to choose someone who hasn’t been in the middle yet.

Variation: Use this frequently in camp for a special reward such as a replacement for prizes when someone wins a game.

 

Bedbugs

I’m sure this game already exists in some way and it is called something different but I dreamed this one up the other night when I realized I have a parachute and don’t really use it that much at camp.

 

Object: Get rid of all the bedbugs so you can go to sleep!

Materials: Parachute or large blanket/sheet. About 10 – 20 balls of different sizes.

Area: Half-volleyball court

Number of Participants: 10-16

Set-up: Choose two “bedbug masters” whose job it is to make sure the bedbugs stay on the bed. Everyone else is holding the parachute at equal distances around the edges, stretched out. Place all the balls (bedbugs) on the parachute.

How To Play: On “go”, the campers holding the parachute must shake all the balls (i.e. the bedbugs) off the parachute while the players not holding the parachute (bedbug masters) throw the balls back on it. When the parachute team has successfully shaken all the balls off, they call out “Get In Bed!” and they quickly  go under the parachute before any more bedbugs can be thrown on top of it. Play continues by rotating teams so that each camper gets a chance to be a bedbug master.

 

Yummy-Yum

Here’s a game for campers who like to act silly, say silly things and still have to get to know each other better. Try using this at the beginning of camp so your campers can see how crazy every other camper in their group can be. This game will help campers come out of their shy-shells and start to participate.

 

Object: To get shy campers communicating.

Materials: None.

Area: smaller than half-volleyball court

Number of Participants: 4 – 20

Set-up: Get participants in a circle, facing inward

How To Play: One person starts by saying in a rhythmic manner: “I ate a ______” (fill in the blank). The person to their left picks up the rhythm by saying “Yummy-Yum, I ate a ________” (fill in the blank, not repeating what anybody else has eaten). Play passes until the rhythm gets dropped or someone repeats what another has eaten. The participant that messes up will suffer a consequence (e.g. sit out of game, mush pot, start new rhythm). See explanations below for consequences. Basically, when you get a good rhythm going and everyone in the circle is prepared, it goes something like this: “I ate a rock”, “Yummy-Yum, I ate a pig”, “Yummy-Yum, I ate a toad”, “Yummy-Yum, I ate a chair”, “Yummy Yum, I ate a …..” etc. Play can continue until everyone gets bored or, if it is an elimination game, when one person is left.

Consequences: I don’t like games where people get “out” but there are times when it is called for. If the consequence is “sitting out” you might want to make it fun. For example, when a person gets out, maybe they can be dismissed to wash their hands for lunch/snack. If the consequence is “mush pot” the person stands in the middle of the circle while everyone else says “Mush! Mush! Mush!” while they make a squashing motion with their hands. After the person is “air-mushed” they are allowed back to the game. The consequence I like best is to let the person who messes up, start the new rhythm. Maybe after they’ve gone to the mush pot, they can come back to the circle and start the game up again.

Magic Wish Bean Bag Toss

This is a simple game for the very young elementary school age camper. It’s a basic bean bag toss with rules that make it a creative exercise more than a physically challenging test of skill. If you don’t have the equipment, substitute trash for the bean bags and other targets for the hoops and buckets.

This game helps campers who might have a hard time listening to instructions. It also can help staff identify those campers early on.

 

Equipment: Beanbags (if you don’t have beanbags, a crumpled up piece of paper will do fine), hula hoops, buckets.

Area: Basketball court or an area long enough to accommodate all the kids in the group standing on one line. For 20 kids, you might need 50 feet.

Number of Participants: Any

Set-up: Arrange hoops and buckets or any other targets on one side of the line about 10 feet away. If campers are 8 or older, you can make this farther away. If they are under age 6, targets should be closer. Hand out one bean bag to each camper. Whatever beanbag they get is the one they get because what makes the bean bag magic is that “the magic bean bag chooses the camper”. This way, you don’t have fights over someone not getting the pretty blue beanbag that they wanted so badly.

How To Play: Line up campers on a line. Campers hold their beanbags and toss them all at the same time, on the count of 3. If a camper makes it in the target area, they get a magic wish. The magic wish only comes true if all the  following conditions are met:  a) campers all throw their beanbags at the same time,  2) no camper crosses the line to retrieve their magic beanbag until the “all clear” whistle is blown,  3) each camper retrieves their own magic bean bag, nobody else’s, and gets back behind the line. Campers keep track of the number of magic wishes they get. Downplay the role of “who got the most” wishes. Point out anybody who has not crossed the line before the whistle was blown or who threw their beanbag right on time. Let campers know you will try and trick them to crossing the line so they learn to listen.

Variation: Try this game in a big circle with one target in the middle. Instead of tallying wishes individually, make it a group effort.

 

 

 

TableBall

When kids have very little equipment to play with and lots of play time, they get pretty creative. Here’s a game I watched evolve over the course of the last three months at Farragut Elementary School in Culver City, CA.  It’s active, fun and addictive. Give it a try if you’re looking to add a new active game to your repertoire.

 

Materials: One picnic table, one playground ball (a handball works best)

Area: A picnic table that is unobstructed on the long ends by about 30 feet.

Number of Participants: Two teams of 2 – 3 players each.

Set-up: None

How To Play: Teams stand opposite each other at the long ends of a picnic table (“long end” means the part you don’t sit at). One team starts by bouncing the ball off the table top towards the other team. If the other team doesn’t catch the ball before it hits the ground on their side, the throwing team gets one point.  If the ball doesn’t hit the table top first, the receiving team gets the point. Players may throw the ball as hard or as soft as they want. Play continues until one team reaches 15 points.

I’ve seen kids throw the ball as hard as humanly possible without injury. I’ve also seen spectators sitting at the table on the bench part without incident. Once a team wins, the next challenging team may step in to play against the the winners.

Earth Day Relay

I played this with some younger P.E. classes one day, Kindergarten through 2nd grade, and it kept them enthusiastically engaged for a good 15 minutes each round. It happened to be Earth Day week so I stuck in the theme. Really, it is appropriate to play this anytime you need to keep a large group of campers busy. Special thanks to Coach Fletes at Farragut Elementary in Culver City for showing me this one.

 

Objective: Get more beanbags in your hoop than the other teams.

Area: half soccer field

Number of Participants: 20-50

Materials: 5-6 different color hula hoops; about 100 -150 plam-of-your-hand-sized beanbags

Set-up: Lay out hula hoops in a row on the ground with about 5 feet between each. Scatter bean bags in open field (farther away for older children). Divide participants as evenly as possible with at least 3 standing in a row behind each hula hoop.

How To Play: On “GO”, participants run out into the field one at a time from each team and pick up only one bean bag and bring it back, dropping it into their hula hoop. Once they have delivered a bean bag to the hula hoop, the next person in line goes out and does the same thing. Play continues in relay fashion until all bean bags are picked up. A winning team is decided by who has the most bean bags in their hula hoop.

Variation: If you have bean bags that match the color of the hula hoops, you can make the rule that each bean bag matching the color of the hula hoop is worth 2 points while all other bean bags are worth 1 point.

Band-Aid Tag

This is a lot like Hospital Tag but much more active. Nobody gets out and, therefore, no feelings are hurt. I learned this game during a training given by PlayWorks (www.playworks.org). 

Objective: Remain untagged for as long as you can while tagging other players.

Equipment: Pylons for boundary markers if necessary.

Area: Full volleyball court for about 20 participants. Basketball court for 20 – 50. Soccer field for 50+.

Number of participants: At least 3 – 5 minimum will make for a fun game.

How To Play: All players are “it” and are also eligible to be tagged. On “GO”, players must try to tag as many others as they can while they have at least one functioning arm. If a player is tagged once, they take their right hand and place it across their chest and on their left shoulder. This is called “single sling” position. It is a signal that a person has been tagged once. A person with a single sling may continue to tag other players as well as avoid being tagged. When a person with a single sling gets tagged a second time (must be by a different player) they take their left hand and place it across their chest onto their right shoulder. This is called the “double sling” position and it signals that this person has been tagged twice.  A person in the double sling position may not tag anyone. Rather, they must  avoid being tagged a third time. When a double-slinged person gets tagged a third time (again, not by the same person), they walk out at the nearest boundary and perform 5 jumping jacks (or toe touches or push-ups, etc.) at which point they can come back in completely cured, that is, they have no slings and are able to tag others.

The game continues until most people get tired. There is never a winner since anyone who gets tagged three times can reactivate and come back in.

Remember these rules: You are not allowed to tag the same person twice in the same round. In case of a tie, resolve the conflict with Rock,Paper,Scissors. Set a tag area on the body such as “arms and upper back area only” so nobody gets tagged in the face or private parts.

Variation: To play as an elimination game, once a person gets tagged three times, they are out.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

I attended a training given by PlayWorks this week. If you ever have a chance to go to a PlayWorks training, I highly recommend it. Check them out at http://www.playworks.org. They have an interactive website for games that is far superior to anything else I’ve seen. Just enter the number and age of participants, the type of game you are looking for and hit ‘enter’. It pops up a list of playground games to choose from. Easy!    The following game is from the PlayWorks training given by Kristina. Obvious Dr. Seuss reference. 

 

Object: Get the token back to the Island side of the court without getting caught.

Number of Participants: 10 – 30

Area: half volleyball court-size

Equipment: a token about the size of a tennis ball

How To Play: One person is chosen to be “it”, stands at one end of the court (Fishy Side) with the token on the floor at the line.  Everyone else stands at the other end of the court (Island Side), behind their line.  “It” turns her back to the other players and calls out “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish”. During this time, the participants try to get to the token, take it and sneak it back to the other side of their Island base line. When “it” finishes reciting “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish” she turns around. If she catches even one person moving, the entire group goes back to the their Island starting line. If she doesn’t catch anyone moving, play continues from that point, while she turns around again and calls out again “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish”, and then turning around to try and catch people moving.

If the token gets nabbed the game is only half over. Players still must stop every time the chant ends, but “it” gets three guesses as to who is holding the token. If she guesses correctly, the token is returned to the Ocean starting point and all the participants must re-start from their Island side of the court. If “it” doesn’t guess who is holding the token, play continues as before (“it” turns around with her back to the participants, says “One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish”, and then turns back around to try and catch the token holder, again with three guesses.

Play ends when the Islanders have successfully nabbed the token and gotten it back to their Island.

Variation: This game can end pretty quickly if you don’t use this simple variation. Once the token has been nabbed but before it has made it back to the Island, it must be passed to at least ten people. This is what makes the game a cooperative initiative.

Conflict: Our Most Precious Resource

CONFLICT:

OUR MOST PRECIOUS RESOURCE

 

It’s always been interesting to me that conflict and play seem to go hand in hand. Wherever there is play, conflict usually emerges in some way, shape or form. Call me silly but I’ve learned to love it. The name calling, pushing, brawling, etc. all leave a bad taste in our mouths but there’s actually some really good stuff that goes along with it too.

 

Conflict can be a positive experience.  But we’ve got to take a trip back to the pre-school playground to grasp what’s really going on.

 

LET THE CHILDREN PLAY!

 

My daughter went to a play-based cooperative preschool. Most people understand that a “cooperative” type of preschool means that parents work at the school as part of the staff. Not many truly understand what is meant by “play-based”. At first glance, a play-based preschool is mayhem with a bunch of activity centers set up so that children might choose what they want to explore without a set curriculum being forced onto them.

 

Sounds pretty much like a hippie commune, doesn’t it?

 

One objection that inevitably arises at a play-based school is “the students aren’t learning anything so they won’t be prepared for Kindergarten”. While many preschools pride themselves on producing children that can recite and write their ABCs, count to ten in multiple languages, identify shapes and colors and perform some impressive advanced tasks for a 3 – 5 year-old, the play-based kids seem to be left behind. You can tell who they are when they get to Kindergarten because they never learned to march in line like the academically-advanced students.

 

Conflict is at the heart of every play-based school. Conflict is what drives the learning process. It is the curriculum. The activity centers are a conduit to bring students who are age-appropriately playing side-by-side into a soft collision with those around them. When these little worlds collide at a play-based center, students learn appropriate ways to express their emotions, avoid causing physical harm and negotiate a solution. How many adults can do that for themselves?

 

The basic premise behind a play-based pre-school is to give children the tools they need to resolve their own conflicts so that they can negotiate the Kindergarten and elementary school arena effectively. Once they have conflict resolution skills in their repertoire they can focus on abstract language and math concepts at a time when it is age-appropriate to do so. In contrast, children who have an academic head start will be floundering on the playground and the social arena because those concepts aren’t being taught and they never will be.

 

All too often, the only conflict resolution skills a student learns are when a playground supervisor has to break up a fight and then benches them or sends them to the principal’s office where they end up writing standards or are forced to apologize to someone they have no intention of helping to feel better.

 

Plenty has been written about the virtues of play-based learning. The scope of this piece is not about play-based learning but rather focusing on the virtues of conflict, which I consider to be a by-product of play.

 

WHAT IS PLAY?

 

A loose definition for play is “the opposite of work”. Work involves purpose and preparation, as does play but play goes a bit deeper. To achieve its purpose, improvisation is called upon. Play must involve improvisation.

 

Let’s take a football game as an example. The purpose of football is to get the ball into the end-zone. That is achieved by moving the ball down the field. The ball is moved down the field through a series of practiced and pre-determined actions. Much like a hammer hitting a nail, if executed properly, the effect is easy to predict. But, no matter how much a play is practiced, there are always extenuating circumstances that make the outcome of each action different. This is the point where improvisation enters the equation.

 

A receiver whose job it is to run a simple down and out pattern and look for the ball must also effectively get around his defender. This involves a series of moves that occur in the moment. These are things that can’t be pre-determined. The receiver needs to read his defender at that moment and decide what is going to trick him. This is the point at which the work of football turns into play.

 

WHERE IS PLAY?

 

Play can be found on a school campus at recess, a local park with playground equipment or an organized sports team. It can take place on a plot of grass in front of your own home or in a swank casino. It can be inside or outside; it doesn’t matter. Play could be in the form of an organized game or event such as a soccer match or a pick-up basketball game. It could also be improvised such as a tag type of game or play-acting superheroes. And since play is “the opposite of work” then you can also find play when people engage in a light-hearted conversation or discussion. There is no required equipment for play; anything or nothing at all can be used to incite a playful interaction.

 

 

WHAT IS CONFLICT?

 

As previously stated, I think of conflict as a by-product of play. Here’s why: Play involves a goal in mind such as “tag the guy” or “make a touchdown” or “throw the ball through the hoop” or “make someone understand my side of a story”. There always seems to be some challenge that must be overcome whether it’s chasing a fast runner, getting around a defender, aiming correctly at the hoop while being guarded by a tall guy or striving to relate to another. This is the conflict or the challenge. Overcoming that challenge involves trying different things that may or may not work. We call this improvising. In music when we improvise, we can hit the wrong note but sometimes, if we are practiced, we hit more right notes. In football, we get tackled but sometimes we gain a few yards and make a touchdown. In basketball, we get blocked or we make the shot. In discussion, our audience understands us or they don’t.

 

THE BENEFITS OF CONFLICT

 

Every time we engage in play, conflict arises. When conflict arises, we must necessarily improvise, that is, use the practiced responses we have learned from experience to answer the challenge in front of us. If we know some basic maneuvers and practice them and learn more advanced maneuvers and practice them, we will have improved our chances of not falling into frustration. We thrive. The point is, we have a choice to either address a conflict with a practiced and polished response or we can get frustrated, give up and let it crush us.

 

Conflict presents an opportunity for growth. If we address conflict the right way, with an attitude of willingness and openness to learning, we thrive. Conflict can actually benefit us. It challenges us to be better. It proves to us that there is hope; there is usually a way to work around the problem. Finally, we feel engaged in life and empowered to create our own destiny. On the flip side, when we don’t view conflict as an opportunity and we run away from them, let them go unresolved or let others resolve them, we learn hopelessness, powerlessness, fear and become closed off to the possibilities around us. We put our destiny in the hands of others and blame them when things don’t go our way.

 

THE CASE FOR CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN CURRICULUM

 

Handling conflict, resolving it to our liking, makes us feel good about ourselves.  For this reason alone, an efficient and effective model of conflict resolution that both empowers and validates conflicting parties to resolve their conflict in a manner that it doesn’t erupt again is necessary and prudent. Teaching conflict resolution in schools and on playgrounds will do much more than lower the reactivity of the student body during recess. It will help people at a young age internalize a coping mechanism that will serve them in their daily lives as they face tougher and tougher challenges.

 

Why aren’t our young people being offered something more substantial?

 

Are we really going to let our children grow up to learn advanced mathematical concepts, how to structure the perfect essay, become business professionals and enter into Ph.D. programs but never learn how to resolve their own conflicts in a satisfying way? These emotionally unaware adults will be ill-equipped to handle problems handed down from previous generations such as global climate change, international diplomacy issues, economic strife and dwindling natural resources. Our generation is doing all it can to kick the can down the road. The emotional awareness gained through the ability to resolve one’s own conflicts is worth investing a little extra time teaching conflict resolution (CR) techniques in the play spaces when and where the need arises.

Greyhound and Rabbit

And they’re off, folks. Round and round and round she goes. This offers all the excitement of greyhound racing without the side bets.

Object: Don’t be the person that ends up with both the rabbit and the greyhound.

Materials: Two distinctly different playground balls.

Area: Half volleyball court.

Number of Participants: 10 – 20.

Set-Up: Have all players sit in a circle, knee to knee. Give a ball to one of the players.

How To Play: On GO, the first ball (the bunny) gets passed around the circle clockwise. When it gets halfway around the circle, the second ball (the greyhound) is given to the same player who started with the first ball. They start off by passing the greyhound clockwise again, chasing the bunny, trying to catch up. In the meantime, the people with the bunny don’t want to get caught so they try to get rid of it as quickly as possible. Once they don’t have the bunny they want to pass the greyhound on quickly so as to catch the bunny. After the greyhound has made it clockwise around the circle one time, it may switch direction and go counter-clockwise. The person who has the bunny and is being handed the greyhound at the same time, is the loser. Depending on how you want to play, this person can be eliminated or can become the ball starter in the next round.

Cat and Mouse

Ah yes! That old game of cat and mouse. We know that the cat chases the mouse but we forget the fun part: the mouse tries to trap the cat. Here’s how you actually play it.

Object: The mouse tries to trap the cat before the cat catches him.

Materials: None.

Area: Half volleyball court.

Number of Participants: 10 – 20

Set-up: Choose on person to be the cat and one to be the mouse. Have everyone else stand in a cirlce about arms distance away from each other.

How To Play: On GO, the cat chases the mouse who must stay within the boundaries of the half volleyball court. They  may run in and out of the circle of people. As the mouse runs out of the circle, the players she/he ran between must hold hands, forming a closed space that the cat may not pass through. The mouse taunts the cat in and around the circle trying not to get tagged. If the mouse gets tagged, they are caught and the cat wins. If the mouse successfully traps the cat in the circle the mouse wins.

Ball Tag #1

This is what happens when you add a ball to a game of tag. It’s just automatic.

 

Object: Don’t get tagged by the ball.

Materials: A soft playground ball that still has some weight behind it for throwing.

Area: Large wide open space like a basketball court or a park playground that has some obstacles to hide behind.

Number of Participants: 2+

Set-up: None.

How To Play: One person is chosen to be IT. They must throw the ball at other players in order to get them. Anyone tagged or hit by the ball is IT.

Variation: When you get hit by the ball, you are eliminated from the game. Play continues until all players have been eliminated by the person who was chosen to be IT.

Lizard’s Tail or Lizard Tag

Did you know that when lizards lose their tails they can grow a new one? Of course you did. But losing your tail in this game will get you eliminated.

 

Object: Be the last “lizard” with a “tail”.

Materials: clothespins or some material you can hang out of the back of your pants as a “tail”.

Area: Basketball court for a large group; half volleyball court for smaller groups.

Number of Participants: 10 – 60. Maybe more if space allows.

Set-Up: Have participants pair up with a partner, standing one person in front of the other as if they were in a line, person in back places their hands on the hips of the person in front. Person in the rear wears the clothespin “tail” on the middle of their shirt tail. If clothespins aren’t being used, strips of material should be hung out the back of their pants so that it hangs down about 12″.

How To Play: On GO, players try to eliminate other teams by pulling off their tail. The person in the front is the “tail puller” while the person in the rear must keep both their hands on their forward partner’s hips. If hands come off, they are eliminated. The one team that has stayed together (hands on hips, tail intact) is the winner.

Ball Tag #2 (Holding Variation)

 A lot of camps are cracking down on dodgeball type of activities because too many kids go home unhappy when they get beaned with the ball. While I’m a firm believer in dodgeball games, especially for older kids, I can say from personal experience that nobody likes getting hit with a ball. 

Try this variation on ball tag when you want a fast-paced game. It combines tag with Kick the Can.

 

Object: Don’t get tagged.

Material: a soft and squishy ball that anyone can hold in one hand.

Number of Participants: Any

Area: either a nice wide open space or try it with a playground that has obstacles.

Set-up: None.

How To Play: choose someone to be IT. On GO, IT tries to tag anyone with the ball. The only thing to remember is that in order to be tagged, IT may not throw the ball at their target person, rather, they must have possession of the ball when the tag is made. Once the tag is made, the person who was IT throws the ball somewhere within the boundaries. The person who was just tagged must shag the ball and have it in their possession before they can tag anyone.

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Slide

Ever find yourself begging for mercy at the end of a Rock, Paper, Scissors bout? Cynthia Bailey from Culver City’s “Just 4 Kids” camp showed us this game at a recent training. At first, players thought, “Oh Brother!”. Once people started losing, those sentiments turned into an anguished “Oh no!”  The neat thing about this game is that you might win 3 in a row but the other person only needs to win at the right time to win it all.

 

Object: Be the last in the pair standing.

Number of Participants: 2

Area: small

Set-up: Have players stand toe to toe, left foot toe touching left foot toe. Now have players put their own right foot toe up against their own left foot heel.

How To Play: Players engage in a series of games of Rock, Paper, Scissors. The winner will take their front foot and place it behind their back foot, toe against heel. The loser must slide their front foot forward until their toe is touching the toe of their opponent. Play continues until one person falls over or gives up.

3, 2, 1

You don’t want to be in possession of the ball when the clock runs out of time. This fast-paced basketball game is just what you need to prevent one person from hogging the ball all the time.

 

Object: Make a basket before time runs out.

Number of Participants: 3+

Materials: Basketball and hoop

Area: half-basketball court

Set-up: None

How To Play: One person starts at the top of the key. They shoot the ball as the rest of the group counts down from three (i.e. “3, 2, 1…”). If the shooter misses, she/he doesn’t get the ball back, rather, whoever rebounds the ball may shoot from anywhere as long as it is within 3 seconds. Each time someone gains possession of the ball, they have three seconds to shoot. All other players should be counting down to make sure the shooter knows how much time is left on the shot clock. When  shooter makes a shot, they get two points, and they go to the free-throw line and have three seconds to shoot a free-throw. If they miss, play continues. If they make it, they get one point and they get to shoot from the top of the key. If they make it, they get 2 points and get to shoot again from top of the key. Play continues until they miss, all time they accrue points until they miss. There is no set amount of points to reach, so, play continues until players get tired.

If the shooter is unable to get the shot off before time runs out, their shot doesn’t count. If they still have it, they throw it in the air and let the other players scramble for it.

Variations: Also see “Tip In”

Who Am I?

Suffering an identity crisis has never been so much fun. I found this game on Kim’s Korner (http://www.kimskorner4teachertalk.com/classmanagement/icebreakers.html) which has some camp standards and other games I’ve just heard of. 

 

Object: Figure out what character you are.

Materials: Sticky notes and pens

Area: small

Number of Participants: 8+

Set-up: Write the name of one famous person, fictional or real, (can be cartoon characters too) on a sticky note and distribute to participants without letting them see who they have. Ask them to attach it to their back or their forehead, wherever it may stick.

How To Play: Have participants mingle with each other. They may only ask three “Yes” or “No” questions from each person they meet to ensure that people get around.  The questions are to determine their identity. Once a person finds out who they are they either become a “consultant” by offering clues to the more difficult characters or they can sit out in the winner’s circle.

 

Dumping Ground

What happens when two (or more) companies who produce toxic waste happen to be neighbors? A great game breaks out! I’d hate to think that this was inspired by true events.

 

Object: Have less toxic waste on your property than the other company.

Number of Participants: At least 8 per team. At least two teams.

Area: Soccer field

Materials: Use about 50 – 100 or more of the same token such as tennis balls or pieces of paper wadded up into balls.

Set-up: Establish “company boundaries” by taking a 50′ rope and tying it into a circle. This will define the area for each “company”. Set each company at least 50′ apart from each other. Spread “toxic waste” evenly within the boundaries of the two “companies”.

How To Play: On “GO”, the employees of each company may take only one piece of toxic waste from their company and dump it on the other company. Once they have done that, they may go back for more toxic waste, only taking one piece at a time. At the end of a specified amount of time, a whistle is blown and play ends. All players freeze and the referee counts the toxic waste on each company lot. They must also count the employees with toxic waste in their hands. Waste on the company grounds counts as 1 point while waste in the hands of an employee counts as 2 points. The team who has the least points (i.e. the least toxic waste in their possession) wins.

Variation: Instead of 2 teams, add a third or fourth team to make it interesting. See what alliances naturally form.

Nuclear Tag

I grew up playing this game. It had no name at the time but I’m sure my sisters called it “Everyone Against Jimmy” because, for whatever reason, I always seemed to be on my own team trying to get whatever it was they were keeping from me. Really, it’s just another way of playing Keep Away.

 

Object: Keep “it” from tagging the person with the “nuclear material”.

Number of Participants: 3+

Materials: a ball or something you can toss among players.

Area: Open

Set-up: Choose someone to be “it”.

How To Play: On “GO”, “it” tries to tag everybody. When you get tagged, you become contaminated and must sit where you got tagged. To be cured, (i.e. to get back into play), a player who has the ball must pass it to you. If “it” intercepts the ball, he/she calls out “Nuclear Explosion!” and the game ends. “It” must now pick someone to be the new “it” and start a new game.

Wheelbarrow Tag

Getting your campers to cooperate is important if you want summer to run smoothly. This simple tag game helps them reach out to others in need.

 

Object: The tagger wants to tag everybody while the taggees want to remain free.

Number of Participants: 8 – 20

Area: Volleyball court size and larger.

Materials: None

Set-up: Define boundaries with visible lines so you know when someone has gone out of bounds.

How To Play: On “GO”, the person who is “it” tries to tag everybody. Whoever gets tagged, stops where they got tagged and puts both hands on the ground and one foot in the air, waiting for someone to reactivate them by “wheelbarrowing” them out of bounds (i.e. they walk on their hands while the driver holds their legs) to the boundary. If the person who is “it” tags the driver before they make it over to the boundary, then both driver and wheelbarrow are down, waiting for someone to drive them wheelbarrow style out of bounds. A driver may, in order to save themselves, abandon their wheelbarrow at any point if they feel they are in danger. there are no consequences for abandoning a wheelbarrow; it just helps them get closer to the boundary. When a wheelbarrow gets over to the boundary safely, both wheelbarrow and driver have 5 seconds of safety out of bounds but then they must come back in the boundary and reactivate. They may run around the outside of the boundary at this time in order to avoid being tagged, and the person who is “it” may chase them but may not step out of bounds to get them. If after 5 seconds a wheelbarrow or driver has not come back in bounds, they become wheelbarrows at the center of the playing field. If “it” happens to step out of bounds, all wheelbarrows are reactivated as if the game started over. Play continues until “it” has made everybody a wheelbarrow.

Suggestion: When “it” is a slow runner, appoint another person to be “it” so that there are two taggers.

Trash Wrangler

Sometimes picking up trash can be fun. Try this when your campers have really let their trash get out of hand.

 

Object: To have picked up more trash than any other team at the end of the time allotment.

Number of Participants: At least 2 per team, at least 2 teams. Best with a full camp of 50+ to get everybody involved.

Area: Cafeteria or whatever the eating area is.

Materials: Any and all objects that do not belong left behind in the eating area such as paper bags, apple cores, straws, etc.

Set-up: After lunchtime institute this game. Have one representative from each group (preferably a counselor or someone who can be impartial) stand near a trashcan  as their base with their foot touching it. Call them the “guards”. The rest of the group can be started from wherever they happen to be.

How To Play: On “GO”, all participants who are not “guards” must kick any trash they see to their group “guard”. The “guard” must stand with one foot touching the trash can and may not leave that area. As their group kicks the trash their way, the guard counts all the pieces his/her group is responsible for wrangling. Then the guard picks up each piece that is counted and stows it safely inside the trash “corral”. After 3 – 5 minutes, play ends and trash guards tell their scores. Winning team has the most trash.

Kick the Stick Relay

Talk about making something out of nothing… This is a typical Junkyard Game a la Bernie DeKoven. When you find stuff laying around, make a game out of it!

 

Object: Be the first team to complete passing the stick to all your team-mates, along a relay course.

Number of Participants: 5 – 10 per team, at least two teams

Area: full volleyball court

Materials: one “stick” per team (A stick of about 18″ long by 1/2″ in diameter will do). Broom handles work well.

Set-up: Divide up teams with half at opposite ends of a the course. Set one stick in front of starter on each team.

How To Play: On “GO”, starters kick sticks down the field to the team-mate on opposite end. Once they get it there, team-mate kicks it back to starting end. Play continues until One team has transferred the stick back and forth the pre-determined number of times.

Variation: Try kicking the stick along a relay course that is not straight or is fraught with obstacles before it is handed off to a team-mate.

Volcanoes and Craters

Some people like volcanoes, others like craters. Whatever your preference, this game will tire out the most energetic of campers. 

 

Object: Be on the team with the most discs displaying your side.

Materials: About 20 low mound pylon markers (also called disc cones). They are about 10″ in diameter, rise about 3″ off the ground and have a 2″ hole in the center. Sitting right-side up, they look like a low-lying volcano. Upside-down they look like a crater.

Number of Participants: two teams of at least 3 on each. Up to 10 on each if you have up to 50 disc cones.

Area: Half volleyball court or a circle of about 20″ in diameter.

Set-up: Place half the cones as craters and the other half as volcanoes, scattered randomly around the inside of the boundary. Divide participants up into two even teams, name one the “Vulcans” and the other the “Moonies”, and have them start around the outside of the boundary.

How To Play: On “GO”, all players go into the circle. Moonies try to turn all the discs to craters; Vulcans try to turn all the discs into volcanoes. At the end of a specified time, all players get out of the circle and the winner is determined by the team with the most discs turned in their favor.

Kick the Can

This game always reminds me of summer right around dusk. I was about 4 years old when I first encountered this game. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me at the time. Now I realize that the other kids who were about 7, 8 and 9 years old, were all cheating and trying their best to not be “it”. 

 

Object: To stay hidden and try not to be “it”.

Materials: a tin can of any size, empty.

Area: large

Number of Participants: 4 – 12

Set-up: Start off with one person chosen to be “it”. Mark a spot in the middle of the playing area where the can will be placed. All players start at the center, around the can.

How To Play: On “GO”, one person kicks the can as hard as they are able. Everyone should go and hide at this point. Once the person who is “it” gets the can and puts it back on the center spot, they can begin looking for all the other players. When someone is found and “it” is standing at the base, “it” calls out their name and hiding place and that person must come back to the center and wait for the game to end. If “it” is away from the base searching for players, they may tag players in lieu of being at the base and calling them out. While “it” is looking for other players, those players try to get back to the center and kick the can off the base before they are tagged or called out. When the can is off the base, all players who were previously captured may run and hide again while “it” returns the can to the base. Play goes on until “it” has found everyone without the can being kicked away. Last person found may choose who is “it”.

 

Dragon Race

Celebrate the year of the dragon every 12 years? No way! Here’s a relay race that is fun (and challenging) anytime.

Object: Be the first dragon across the finish line

Materials: None

Number of Participants: At least 8 per team, any number of teams can compete against each other.

Area: Basketball court size

Set-up: Establish starting line at one end of the course and a finish line at the other. Add obstacles as desired and depending on the age of participants. Line up all teams at starting line. Have people on each team stand a little less than arm’s distance behind the team member in front of them. Everyone crouches over and puts one hand (let’s say their left hand) between their legs, reaching out to the person behind them. The person behind them holds that hand with their right hand. We now have a train with a very fragile link.

How To Play: On “GO”, the teams move toward the finish line as fast as they can without breaking a link. First team across the finish line wins.

Adaptations: Depending on the agility and age of the participants as well as the purpose of this exercise, you can try one of two adaptations:

1) add obstacles
2) make it a relay whereby each team is split in half (half the team on the starting end and the other half at the other end) and have one person start by running down to the other end, connect “dragon-style” with the first person in line, move back to the starting area and pick up the next person “dragon-style”. Play continues going back and forth, linking up sections to the dragon until a complete dragon makes it down to the other end of the court.

Golstrom

Like Maelstrom combined with a Goal in mind, this game is a great mixture of different sports and the respective equipment. I found it here: http://www.junkyardsports.com/golstrom/
and have adapted it accordingly to minimize injury… Play on!

 

Objective: Score as many goals as possible.

Materials: Various sports equipment… in this case to demonstrate we’ll use a plastic baseball bat, whiffle ball, soccer ball, football and kicking tee, frisbee, handball and a volleyball. Use either pylons or a soccer goal to mark the goal area.

Area: At least 25′ length by 20′ width… the area appropriate for a penalty shot in soccer.

Set-up: Lay out sports equipment in order on a line parallel to the goal about 20′ away.

Number of Participants: Unlimited, however, only one Goalie at a time and one Shooter at a time may interact. All other players stay in a line in the safe zone until the equipment has been reset for the next round.

How To Play: The Shooter steps into the firing zone and delivers each piece of sports equipment as it is naturally delivered, trying to make it past the Goalie, into the goal. For example, the bat is used to hit the whiffle ball into the goal. The soccer ball must be kicked into the goal. The Football must be kicked into the goal from a tee. The frisbee must be thrown into the goal. The handball must be hit into the goal. The volleyball must be spiked into the goal.

The Goalie scores a point for each blocked or missed shot. The Shooter scores a point for each goal.

After all equipment has been exhausted, it is reset for the next player. The Shooter becomes the Goalie and the old Goalie goes to the end of the line to await their turn as a Shooter.

Variations: There are any number of variations with the equipment. For instance, instead of using a bat and whiffle ball, use a tree branch and a plastic bottle. Whatever you use, remember to be safe! These are dangerous projectiles being launched at the Goalie and could cause serious injury. Maybe back up away from the goal for harder objects. Use good judgment.

 

Balloon Relay Race

This is a nice end to the Trilogy of balloon-oriented activities.

 

Object: Be the first team to move your balloons down to the opposite end of the field with all balloons popped and picked up.

Materials: As many inflated 9″ balloons as you can get (at least one per participant).

Set-up: Either hand out an equal number of balloons to each participant ahead of time or have them in bags at each team’s starting line.

Number of Participants: 20+ (works well with about 10 players on each team, so you could have multiple teams depending on the number of balloons and players.)

Area: Basketball court

How To Play: Teams line up on same end of field, behind the starting line. On “GO”, first player in each line takes a balloon, places it between their legs and either hops or runs down to the other end of the field (no fair using hands on the balloon), sits on their balloon to pop it, picks up the pieces and puts it in their trash can, then runs back and tags the next player in line to go. If the balloon should come loose, the player must stop and put it between their legs before they can continue in the race. Play ends when one team has popped all their balloons at the other end and picked up their trash.

Before a winner is declared, a count must be done as follows: Count the number of balloons that were successfully shuttled to the proper end of the court. Subtract one point for each piece of balloon trash found that wasn’t successfully placed in a trash can.

Variation: Rather than having one person run down with a balloon between their legs, have two people run down together with a balloon squished between them. No fair using hands. At the other end, the balloon must be popped by the two squishing up hard against each other. This won’t work well with smaller participants.

 

 

Balloon Inflate Race

Play this game when you need a bunch of balloons inflated and then bagged. Transition into Balloon Foosball or Balloon Relay Race or more. 

 

Object: Blow up a specified number of balloons in the amount of time given.

Materials: Enough for each person to have ten balloons.

Set-up: Hand out uninflated 9″ balloons to all participants. Divide group into two teams. Line up facing each other.

Area: Half volleyball court.

How To Play: Players have 5 minutes to blow up balloons. When they blow up a balloon, they need to run it down the line to the person on the end whose job it is to count their team balloons. It gets tricky with people running to and from their places so the counters will need to act more like impartial referees.

Balloon Foosball

Got a big group of people who are looking to have some fun without exerting a lot of energy. This just might do it. I found this game in Sam Sikes’ Executive Marbles book. Play this game right after you have a Balloon Inflate Race, making everybody blow up 10 balloons as fast as they can.This game can transition into other games that require balloons such a Balloon Relay Race.

Object: Get as many of your team’s balloons into your goal before time runs out.

Materials: As many balloons as you can (at least 1 per participant); the largest trash can liners you have (one for each goal); pylons or rope or tape to mark the goal area.

Set-up: Blow up balloons as described in Balloon Inflate Race and pass them out to all participants in the play area. If you have three goals, you should have an equal number of three different color balloons. If you have four goals, you will need an equal number of four different color balloons. Mark a 5′ x 5′ square goal area on each end of the court that only the goalie can move around in. Hang a paper sign in each goal area to denote which color balloon goes to which goal. Line a large trash can with at least one trash can liner (if you have a lot of balloons, consider having multiple trash can liners to fill up with balloons.

Area: large. A full basketball court for a group of 60 – 100. Volleyball court for 20 – 60.

Number of Participants: 20+ (Best with 60 – 200)

How To Play: All balloons should be in the hands of players at the start. Participants scatter themselves about the play area as well and choose a space to pivot around in. On “GO”, players “bop” the balloons to their team-mates towards their goal. Players must keep one foot planted in one spot throughout the whole game (like a pivot foot in basketball). The only people who may move freely are the goalies, and they may only move within their 5′ x 5′ area. Participants “bop” the balloons (no handing or passing) towards their goal and attempt to get it to their goalie who stuffs the balloons into the trash liners. Play continues until one team has more balloons in their liners at the end of the time limit or when all the balloons are used up.

Adaptation: If there is more space than balloons you may want to designate one “floater” on each team who roams around the floor bopping their balloons towards their team-mates. Or, you may want to allow goalies to roam throughout the entire room, except for the other goalie area, so that they may push balloon towards the floor participants and get more balloons into play.

Hula Hoop Pass

Ever try one of those really frustrating group initiatives that take hours to get through? This is not one of them. Here is a low-level teambuilding exercise that will allow groups to feel successful before they try the tougher initiatives and get really frustrated.

Object: Pass the hula hoop to every person in the group without breaking the chain.

Materials: a hula hoop

Area: half volleyball court to half basketball court

Number of Participants: 10+

Set-Up: Have all participants stand in a circle holding hands. Put a hula hoop on one person’s arm before you close the circle.

How To Play: On “GO”, have participants pass the hula hoop to the neighbor on their right by stepping and ducking through it. Play continues until the hoop has gone around the circle once.

Variations: 1) Try passing it without letting it touch the ground. 2) Try to beat the clock or go for a personal best record. 3) Break large groups into two groups and have them race each other.

Assassin #2 (Who Is It?)

This is a variation on the game Assassin (see “Assassin” post). This version protects the identity of the culprit even more, just in case you discover that people aren’t willing to wait 5 seconds to die.

Make sure that players know how to pass a “pulse” around a circle before you play this (see “Pulse” post).

Object: Guess who the killer is before you are eliminated.

Materials: None

Area: small; half volleyball court for a large group

Number of Participants: 8-50

Set-up: Have participants sit in a circle, knee to knee. Everyone puts their left hand behind their back, palm out. Everyone puts their right hand into the left hand of the neighbor on the right.

How To Play: One player is secretly chosen to be “it”. They pass a pulse around the circle with “x” number of squeezes. Let’s pretend that the assassin passed a pulse of 7 squeezes to their neighbor. Instruct players to count the number of pulses they receive and pass it on minus one pulse. Each subsequent person who receives a pulse will pass on the pulse they receive, minus one, until a person receives one pulse only. If a player receives one pulse, they are eliminated.

Since the object is to guess who the assassin is, only players who have not yet been eliminated may guess who the assassin is. If a player guesses wrong, they are eliminated.

Line of Sight

This game will get people mixing without having to speak to each other or touch each other. Great for early mixing activities. Lots of bumping and path-crossing occurs during this game.

 

Object: Keep your Unknown between yourself and your Known.

Set-up: Circle up. Have participants look around and quietly identify one person in the group whom they know best (“Known”) and one person they know least (“Unknown”). By “best” we mean someone they’ve known the longest; by “least” we mean someone they’ve known for the shortest amount of time.

Materials: None.

Area: Half basketball court.

How to Play: On “GO”, campers try to line up so that the person they know least is between them and the person they know best.

Zombie Threat

Will the earth return to its Human state or will complete Zombification occur? Here’s another great game to play before people really have a chance to get to know each other. It’s silly and it’s not competitive so your shy campers will not mind getting involved.

 

Object: To end up with all participants either being zombies or humans.

Materials: None.

Area: half basketball court

Number of Participants: 15 – 50

Set-up: Clear an area of all obstacles and establish boundaries.

How to Play: All players walk around within area blindfolded [or on the honor system with their eyes closed] arms out in front of them so they don’t hurt each other when they meet. It may help to make scaredy-cat whimpering noises so they can hear one each other approaching. When a Human bumps into another person, they greet the other with a loud “WHEW!” Nothing happens when two Humans bump into each other; they continue being Human and go on milling about blindly inside the boundaries.

One Zombie is quietly chosen by the leader with a secret pat on the back. The Zombie also walks around blindfolded but when he/she bumps into another person he/she yells out “BRAINS!” really loud. This changes the Human into a Zombie. So, Zombies are changing Humans into Zombies but, there is a good thing… When two Zombies greet each other, they turn each other into Humans. Play continues until the entire group has been returned to their Human state or Zombified forever.

Virus

This game will help quiet people come out of their shell a little bit. People get to ham it up and will feel more comfortable by doing silly things in front of a large crowd. This game is also known as “The Tick” in camping circles.

Object: To not let the virus infect you.

Materials: Clothespin, (brightly colored)

Area: n/a

Set-up: Make a list of up to 20 silly “tasks” such as “Run around the room three times and squawk like a chicken”, “Everytime you talk with someone, look one foot to their right”, “Every 5 minutes shout out “YES!” as loud as you can”, “Speak like a robot when it’s your turn to talk”. Explain rules to campers at the beginning of the day.

How To Play: This game can take place over the course of a day. At the beginning of the day explain this to your campers:

“A nasty “virus” has been detected by the CDC. This is what the virus looks like [hold up clothes pin]. Every so often during the day there will be a check to see  if someone is infected. When you hear the words “Virus Check” you should freeze in your tracks and check for a virus. Whomever is wearing the virus at that time must complete a task to inoculate themselves from it. If you discover you have the virus, you must pass it on to an unsuspecting recipient before the virus check. Remember who you passed it to in case we will need to follow the path of the virus. You may not pass the virus once the virus check has been called.”

With that, the leader will covertly place the “virus” on an unsuspecting camper at some point during the day. Every 30 minutes or so, the leader should call out “Virus Check”. The camper with the virus must perform the inoculation task for the next hour while the cure takes effect.

Snail Round-up

Here’s a way to get a large group gathered in a tight, organized group that’s ready to listen.

 

Object: To get your campers used to being close together in a way that makes it easy to listen to instructions.

Materials: None

Number of Participants: 8+ (Works well with up to 50).

How To Play: Tell the entire group to fall in behind you in a single file line as you walk. When everyone has gotten in line behind you, start to make a big circle about the room. As you come close to the last person in the line, make sure you lead the line inside that circle so you can get a tighter and tighter group. As the leader, you want to end up in the middle with the entire group wrapped around you, like a snail’s shell. At this point, you can give clear directions to your next activity without needing to yell.

Quick Change

Here’s a nice way for people to deepen their experience of each other after initially getting past knowing their name.

Object: Notice the changes your partner has made to their appearance.

Materials: Nothing more than the clothes you are already wearing.

Area: Small

Number of Participants: 2+

How To Play: Have people partner up and face their partner. Give them one minute to notice everything they can about each other, then have them turn so they are not facing each other. During this time, give them one minute to change three to five things about their appearance (facial expression, untied shoe, shirt tucked in, sunglasses on, one eye closed, hair parted on different side, etc.). After one minute, have them turn back around to face each other. Take turns guessing who has done what to their appearance.

Name Line-up

Here’s a quick game to add to your list when you need your campers to get to know each other. It’s a great game for early on in camp.

Object: Get campers to line up alphabetically by name.

Number of Participants: At least 8. Try it with a large group of 100 or more and let me know how it turns out.

Materials: None.

Area: Depends on group.

How To Play: Ask campers to line up (or form a clockwise circle) alphabetically by their first names. When they think they have done it, have them raise their hands.

Variation: For groups who know each other, use middle names instead.

Name Roulette

Here’s a great game when you need groups to get to know each other. Rohnke and Grout are credited with this game from their book “Back Pocket Adventure”.

 

Object: Be the group to end up with all the players in your circle.

Number of Participants: Minimum 20, Maximum 50.

Area: Half basketball court size

Materials: None.

Set-up: Split group into two. Have both groups form their own circle, facing inward and holding hands.Place circles next to each other so that one person from each circle is back-to-back.

How To Play: On “GO”, both groups spin in a clockwise rotation until the word “STOP” is called out. At STOP, the two people who end up back-to-back must turn around to face each other. The first person to call out the other’s name is the winner of this battle. The loser of the battle joins the winner’s circle. Play continues until one circle has all the players.

Pairs Clothespin Tag

This tag game was inspired by the book “99 of the Best Experiential Corporate Games We Know” by Priest, Sikes and Evans, 2000. I took a couple of their tag game ideas and blended them together to come up with this new tag game. 

 

Object: Eliminate all other pairs of players by pulling the clothespin off of them.

Materials: Clothespins, one for each person. (If you don’t have clothespins you can create a tail out of paper or string to tuck into clothing).

Number of Participants: At least 10.

Area: Medium to large, depending on number of participants.

How To Play: Everybody holds hands or link arms with one partner. Attach clothespins (or flags) in a conspicuous spot. On “GO”, try to take the clothespin off of other pairs. If your pair loses both of their clothespin, you sit down right where you are to create an obstacle (we call these obstacles, “mushrooms”). Play continues until only one pair is left with at least one of their clothespins.

Variation: “Mushrooms” can reactivate… To make the game more interesting for the players who have become mushrooms, try this…  If a mushroom acquires the clothespin of an active pair, that mushroom can get back in the game (or reactivate). A mushroom can reactivate either by taking a clothespin off of an unsuspecting active pair or a generous active pair with two clothespins can give up one of theirs on purpose. Note: Mushrooms may not stand up or leave their spot until they are reactivated so, if you are allowing mushrooms to reactivate, have all players wear their clothespins at their wasteline.

Battle Odds and Evens

This game is similar to “Running With Scissors” but, instead of playing Rock, Paper, Scissors with a two-way battle, you will need enough players for a three-way battle. This game is ideal for larger groups and getting groups to mix it up in a friendly manner.

 

Object: Get all the players in one line by taking the other lines players.

Number of Participants: 18 – 36 split up into three teams… 6 – 12 on each team.

Materials: None.

Area: About as large as half a volleyball court.

Set-Up: Divide up 3 teams as evenly as possible. Have the first person in each line stand facing the two other line leaders so that the three of them form a small circle. Have the teams line up behind their leader so that it ends up looking like a 3-armed starfish from above.

How To Play: Line leaders say “1-2-3-Throw” and on “Throw” they put out either one finger or two fingers. No other fingers are allowed. If all three have thrown out the same number of fingers they do the 1-2-3-throw part again until one person of the three has thrown something different than the others. In other words, two people will have thrown a 1 while the “odd-man-out” threw a 2. The odd-man-out is actually the winner in this case. The other 2 get in line behind the odd-man-out, thereby adding players to his arsenal. Players go through this again and again until only two teams are left. When two teams are left, they switch from Odds and Evens to Running With Scissors (see post). In this part, the loser of a Rock, Paper, Scissors battle joins the winner’s line until there is one declared winning line with all the players.

Hide the Button

Here’s a nice quiet circle game that is a standard among day camps.

Object: Find out who has the “button”.

Materials: a button or any other small object that can easily be hidden in a child’s hand.

Set-Up: Get group to sit in a tight circle.

Number of Participants: 5 – 20.

How To Play: Choose one person to be the “seeker”. They will sit in the middle (or mushpot) and try to guess who has the button once the rhyme has ended. One person in the circle is given the button. They put it behind their back and, when the rhyme begins, they pass it to the person to their left. The button keeps getting passed until the rhyme stops. When it stops, whomever has the button holds onto it. Everyone in the circle pretends that they have it. The person in the mushpot tries to guess who has it. Once they have guessed correctly they are out of the mushpot and back in the circle. The person who had the button then goes to the mushpot. After three incorrect guesses the mushpot person picks someone from the circle to be in the mushpot.

Toe Wrestling

When kids want to wrestle, try and redirect them with this one or with Alligator Wrestling. There is a small chance for a bruise but a lot less chance of a real injury if the kids actually get to wrestle how they want.

Object: Step on the toe of your opponent to win.

Materials: None.

Area: Small. The size of a hula hoop.

Set-up: None.

Number of Participants: 2

How To Play: Face your opponent. Place your hands on each other’s shoulders. On “GO”, players try to step on each other’s toes. Careful not to kick and watch for knees coming up too high.

Quidditch

Yep. I watched the entire Harry Potter series and tried to understand the game of Quidditch in order to translate it to a playground game. Different than the Quidditch described in the HP series, attaining the Snitch doesn’t mean your team wins. I thought “What’s the point of playing if only the Snitch decides who wins?”.  In this version of the game, the Seekers can enhance the Field score by their actions, but they don’t necessarily win the game when they find the Snitch. Instead the game ends and we start totalling points. 

This is dedicated to those people who can actually pretend they are riding around on broomsticks playing at Hogwarts. This game requires a lot of advance preparation and set-up. It is totally worth it. Try it out and let me know if there are some tweaks that would make it better.

Object: To be the team with the highest score at the end of the match.

Materials: 2 trash cans; 6 tall pylons; 6 tennis balls; one playground handball; one small superball; index cards with the “7 Feats” written on them as described in the How To Play section; two pencils; two large pieces of bubble gum; 10 Ritz or saltine crackers; something to keep score with.

Area: For a smaller game of 5-on-5, use a basketball court. For a larger game of up to 10-on-10, use a soccer field.

Set-Up: On opposite ends of the field, mark a 10 ft. diameter area as the “Goal Box”. This is where you will set up one Major Goal and two Small Goals in the following manner: Place an upside-down trashcan in the middle of the Goal Box. Set one pylon on top of it and balance one tennis ball on top of that. This is your Major Goal. Then, set up two Small Goals (one tennis ball balanced atop a pylon) about 5 feet apart on either side of the Major Goal. This “goal box” is off limits to all players, except the goal keepers. Write down the 7 Feats of the Seeker on index cards and prepare the Feats as necessary. Choose your teams and assign your positions: Goal-keeper, Seeker, and the rest of the Field Players.

Number of Participants: 10 – 20, depending on the size of the field.

How To Play: Two things happen when play begins.

First, the Game Ball (Bludger?) is tossed high up into the air at midfield (Starting Toss). Field Players are after  this ball. They want to knock down one of the goals on the opponents team with it. When that happens, the goal is re-set and the Referee performs a Starting Toss from mid-field. Field Players may only possess the ball for 5 seconds at a time. Before that time runs out they need to pass the ball, preferably to one of their team-mates. If they violate the 5-second rule they must do a Witches’ Pass (throw the ball high and straight up into the air from where they stand). Anyone doing a Witches’ Pass may not catch the ball when it comes down. If a person is tagged by an opponent they must do a Witches’ Pass.

The Second action that is happening as the Field Game is going on is that Seeker’s must complete the 7 Feats to unlock the Map that leads to the Snitch. These 7 Feats include 3 Feats of Strength (3 laps around the field, 50 sit-ups, 20 push-ups), 3 Feats of Intellect (solve a long division problem, add a list of 20 numbers together, solve a riddle by asking up to 20 questions), and 1 Feat of Bravery (eat 5 crackers then blow a bubble with bubble gum). Once the Seekers have completed all Feats to the best of their ability, the Map to the Snitch is released and players have up to 30 seconds to find it. Play ends when the Snitch is attained by a Seeker.

Scoring for Field Players:

3 points per Small Goal; 5 points per Major Goal

Scoring for Seekers:

Strength (100 possible pts. as follows): 10 points per lap, up to 3 laps; 1 point per sit-up, up to 50 pts.; 1 point per push-up, up to 20 pts. (Note:

Intellect (50 possible pts. as follows): 10 points for addition problem; 20 points for the long division problem; 20 question riddle: count how many questions were asked and subtract from 20, (e.g. 17 points if they get the answer after only asking 3 questions);

Bravery:  (0 points): Unlocks the Map to the Snitch.

Attainment of the Snitch: up to 30 points.

The Map to the Snitch is a direct command to “Go to this place and look in…”. It should take them less than 10 seconds to be able to read the Map and run to the Snitch hiding place. When the Map to the Snitch is given, the ScoreKeeper says “GO” and time begins to tick away. The Seeker has 30 seconds to find it. They get awarded the number of points for the Attainment of the Snitch, based on how long it took them to find it (i.e. 30 possible points minus 12 seconds to attain it = 18 Snitch points).

End Tally: Once the Snitch has been attained, all play ends and all points are tallied. The winnning team is the one with the most points; it may not be the one that found the Snitch.

Strategy: Finding the Snitch does two things: it ends the game and it awards a few more points to the Seeker who found it. Field Teams should try to score as much as they can while Seekers complete as many of the Feats as they are able. Knowing the score and projecting the outcome may make a Seeker decide to not complete all the Feats and get right to the Snitch.

Name A Game

Looking for a game idea when you’ve just about played them all during the day? This game will conjure up a wicked amount of ideas for you. And all you have to do is play… As an added bonus, this game will help your campers remember everyone else’s name in their group.

Object: Stay in the middle of the circle as long as you can.

Area: An undefined area large enough to accommodate your group sitting or standing in a circle.

Materials: A token object that can be easily passed around the circle quickly.

Set-up: Get group in a circle, sitting or standing, with one person in the middle.

How To Play: On “GO”, the object starts getting passed around the circle. The person in the middle with their eyes closed says “STOP” at some point. Whoever has the object holds it up and says their name out loud (e.g. “Andy!”). Once they have uttered their name, they pass the object clockwise around the circle as fast as they can. The person in the middle must name a playground game (i.e. not a video game) that begins with the same letter sound as the person who called out their name*. They must name a game before the object makes it all the way around the circle. The game they name must not have already been named before. If they can do this, they get to stay in the middle of the circle. If they can’t do it, they are replaced by the person on the circle who called out their name.

Example: The object gets passed around and stops on Andy. Andy calls out his own name and passes the object. The person in the middle calls out a game named “Alligator Wrestling” before the object makes it back to Andy. The person in the middle stays in the middle.

*If a person named Ximena calls out her name, the sound of the “X” in her name sounds like an “H”, so the person in the middle has to name a game that starts with the letter “H”.