Group Games To Keep Kids Busy, Be Active and Get to Know Each Other
Getting to know you games:
Right/Left: Sit in a circle. Find out the name of the girl on your right and left. One person sits in the middle of the circle and points to a girl saying either “right”, or “left”. The girl must then say the name of the girl on that side before the girl in the middle can count to ten. If she cannot do it, she switches places with the girl in the middle.
My Name/Her Name: Sit in a circle. The first person to start simply says, “My name is Stacey.” The second person says, “My name is Melinda, and her name is Stacey.” The third must say “My name is Clara, her name is Melinda, and her name is Stacey.” If a girl cannot remember a name, the other girls are allowed to help. Game continues until you reach the end of the circle.
3 Minutes: Girls team up have 3 minutes to find out at least 5 things about each other. Where are you from? What are your hobbies? What is your age? Etc. Then each girl gives a brief speech about her partner.
Toilet Paper: Sit in a circle. Pass a roll of toilet paper around and tell the girls to take as many or as few squares as they wish. Once everyone has some, go around the circle and tell the girls that they must tell one thing about themselves for every square they took.
I’ve Never: Sit in a circle. Give each girl enough toothpicks that they could give one to each member of the group. For example, if you have 10 girls, each girl should have 9 toothpicks. Starting at one end of the circle, have girls come up with something they have never done that they think everyone else has. For example, “I have never eaten a green bean.” Go around the circle, and everyone who has eaten a green bean must give her a toothpick. Whoever has the most toothpicks at the end wins.
Knowledge Review Games
Review Relay: Divide into two teams. On a signal, the 1st girl in each team races to leader at the opposite end of the room and receives a paper with a question on it. If she gives the correct answer, she runs back to her team and tags the next player. If not, she rushes to a table with resource books on it, looks up the answer, and then rushes back to the leader to give the correct answer. Once the correct answer is given, she can return and tag the next player.
Team Challenge: Divide the kids into equal teams. You can assign creative team names to add excitement. Mark a playing area using cones or markers. The area should be large enough to accommodate both teams. Prepare a list of quiz questions related to the subject you want to review. Group the questions based on difficulty levels (easy, medium, hard). Set up designated zones for each team within the playing area. These zones will serve as home bases for the teams.
Game Rules:
- Set up several challenge stations within the playing area. Each station will have a quiz question and an associated physical challenge.
- Start the game by blowing the whistle or ringing a bell. Each team starts from their designated zone.
- When a team reaches a challenge station, they pick a quiz question from the corresponding difficulty level (easy, medium, or hard).
- The team collaboratively answers the question. If they answer correctly, they can move on to the next step. If not, they must perform a fun physical activity (e.g., jumping jacks, high knees) before proceeding.
- Regardless of whether they answered correctly or not, the team then performs the physical challenge associated with that station. For example, they might have to pass a hula hoop around the team without letting go of each other’s hands. If possible, make the physical challenge related to the knowledge being reviewed.
- After completing the challenge, the team advances to the next challenge station.
- The first team to complete all challenge stations and reach their designated home base again wins that round.
Other Games
Crossing the River: You will need two pieces of paper per team. Cardstock works best, but newspaper folded into eighths will work as well. Form two lines. The paper represents logs that you will use to cross the “river.” On “GO” the 1st girl puts one piece of paper on the floor, steps on it, then puts the next one ahead of her and steps on it. She retrieves the first piece from behind her, puts it in front and steps on it, etc. Continue to a marked goal and back and then hand the paper to the next girl in line. The first team to finish wins. Otters may have both feet on one piece of paper, but older girls can only have one foot on a piece of paper at a time.
Buddies and Pals: Have everyone choose a partner and form two circles with one partner on the inside circle and one on the outside circle. On a signal, the circles start moving in opposite directions. On a second signal, everyone runs to find their partner and squat. The last couple is out. The game continues. As a fun variation, you can put the “out” couples in the center of the two circles to act as an obstacle.
Indian Princess: Have all players sit in a circle and send one person out of the room. The remaining players choose someone to be the Indian Princess and then invite the missing girl back into the room. When she returns, all the girls in the circle should be clapping their hands in rhythm. The Indian Princess then changes the movement to something else such as waving her arms or snapping her fingers. The rest of the girls in the circle follow her lead as quickly as they can, but without looking directly at her so that they do not give her away. The person who had left the room must try to figure out who the Indian Princess is and the Indian Princess must try not to get caught. When the Indian Princess if finally caught, she leaves the room and someone new is chosen to be the Indian Princess.
Who’s Missing? Have all players sit in a circle. One person is chosen to be “it” and she goes out of the room or hides her eyes. While she is gone, another person leaves the room by a different door or simply hides where she can’t be seen. Have all the other players switch places and then call “it” back into the room. She must look around and as quickly as possible figure out who is missing. Once she figures it out, the missing girl becomes “it”. To make it more fun, use a stopwatch and limit the amount of time the person has to figure out who’s missing.
Heads Up Seven Up: Select up to 7 players to be “It.” Everyone else should put their heads down on the table or cover their eyes if they are sitting on the ground. Have the players who are “It” walk around the room. Each person who is “It” should touch a different person who has his or her head down. Once a person is touched, he or she should stick a thumb up. Once all people who are “It” have touched someone, announce “Heads Up Seven Up!” Have the players with their thumbs up try to guess which of the people who were “It” touched them. If a student guesses correctly, he gets to trade places with the person who touched him. If the student guesses incorrectly, she must remain in her seat and the person who touched her gets to be one of “Its” again.
More games can be found at the following websites:
http://usscouts.org/macscouter/Games/index.asp
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/oxfordtours/games/
http://www.teachers.net/archive/noncompetitive.html
http://www.eldrbarry.net/vbs/gamesrsr.htm
