Kid's Games

Do you have kids?  School's out; what are you going to do with your kids now? Play games! Kids love to play games and they will love it if you get a group of kids together and teach them some fun games. Our article below will get you started with some fun games that you can play this summer, or any time! For even more ideas on Children's Games, buy a few books on the subject.  Amazon.com is a great place to buy books and many other things!  Have a look at the books below.  If you don't see one that interests you, just click on the Amazon logo and search for more.

How to Present Games for Groups by Robin Stears    5/26/07 Children love to play games. Games like "Tag," "Duck, Duck, Goose," and "Musical Chairs" have endured because they are relatively easy to play with only a few simple rules. They can be played by a small group, but are more fun with a large group, and they possess an element of silliness. With a little imagination, it's easy to create a new game or adapt an old game to suit your purposes. In choosing a game, it's important to note girls and boys play games differently. Girls tend to like cooperative games, such as relay races, and games that test their physical and mental skills. Boys prefer more physical games with a competitive edge, and enjoy testing their skills against other children. If you start your activity with a game, it sets a fun tone for the rest of the event. Gather everyone into a circle so that all the players can see one another. A terrific icebreaker game is for the leader to introduce him/herself, then the player on the leader's left says, "His/her name is (Leader's Name), and my name is (Player's Name)," and so on around the circle, with each player adding his/her own name to the list. The player to the leader's right will have the monumental task of naming every other player. A similar game that can be tailored for any theme is "I'm going to ______ and I'm going to pack my ______." Fill in the blank with whatever fits your theme, such as "I'm going to Outer Space and I'm going to pack my teddy bear," or "I'm going to the rainforest and I'm going to pack my insect repellent." Circle games are great "getting-to-know-you" games because everyone gets a turn. Children of all ages like to act goofy, and younger children are especially delighted with games that let them be a little silly. "Excuse Me, What Are You Doing?" is a circle game that lets the children get as silly as they want. In this game, players form a circle, and the first player mimes an action, such as eating pizza. The second player says, "Excuse me, what are you doing?" The first player can reply anything except eating pizza, such as "I'm brushing my teeth." The second player then mimes the action the first player said, not what she's doing. The third player then says, "Excuse me, what are you doing?" The second player can reply anything except what she is actually doing. Think, "Do as I say, not as I do." The game stops being fun when you're out! Try variations that allow a player to get back into the game, such as answering a trivia question, singing a silly song, or telling something about your theme. Some games, like "Simon Says," can have two sessions going on simultaneously if you have enough players, so that if the players are out at one session, they can move over to the other one. In "Musical Friends," a variation of "Musical Chairs," the chairs continue to be removed at every turn, but instead of a player being out each time, they all still have to find seats-even if it's on a friend's lap! The only thing children like to do more than play games is talk! Boys and girls love to engage in conversation and they especially love expressing their opinions. "Refrigerator Tag" is a fun way to get the conversation going, or to start a conversation about healthy food, and it'll wear them out, too. Since there are no clear winners in this game, it can go on indefinitely. The bases can be easily adapted to fit your theme. Pick four objects to be bases and give each base a name: "Don't like it," "Love it," "It's OK," and "Never tried it." You can make signs for each base if you like. Pick someone to be It. It stands in the middle and the players stand on any base they want. It calls out the name of a food. Players then have to run to the base that describes how they feel about that food. It tries to tag a player before he/she reaches the base. The player who is tagged then becomes It. Physical and mental skills can be demonstrated easily in something as simple as seeing who can chew up a piece of bubble gum and blow a bubble first or as in "Kim's Game," a traditional Girl Scouting game. Let the players carefully look at a tray with 12-15 ordinary household items on it for a minute or so, then cover the tray and see how many items they remember. Items could include a rubber band, paper clip, fork, book of matches, pack of gum, or anything the players can easily identify. Even players who cannot read or write can draw pictures of what they remember. It's very simple to take a game that is familiar to children and add a new spin to make it more difficult. Get small cups and put distinctively odorous things in them. Let the players smell them for one minute, then try to identify as many as they can. Suggestions for stinky stuff are coffee, fingernail polish (on a cotton ball), peanut butter, peppermint (extract on a cotton ball), vanilla, onion, crayon shavings, lemon, vinegar, etc. This game can even be done as a hike; just use extremely smelly items and let the players follow their noses! Relay races are the easiest of all games to plan. Dividing the players into two teams can be a little tricky, especially if the players want to be with their friends. Picking two captains and letting them choose is most often disastrous, since no one wants to suffer the indignity of being picked last. Let the players count off by twos ("One," "Two," "One," "Two," etc. around a circle or in a line). All of the "Ones" are on one team, and all of the "Twos" are on the other; or put two different colored stones, buttons, or milk jug caps into a bag and let the players each pick one; or play units against one another to create a sense of teamwork. Once you've got them into teams, any activity at all can but turned into a relay race. A relay race can be as simple as moving something from one place to another, getting from one place to another in a funny way, demonstrating a skill, or as complicated as an obstacle course. In moving something from one place to another, players pick up a water balloon, run to a designated area, break the balloon, then return to "tag up." Players walk with a penny or other object balanced on their toes or noses or heads to a designated area then drop it into a bucket. "Egg and Spoon Race" is a classic example of this game. In getting from one place to another in a funny way, players crabwalk to a designated line, then run back. Players walk backward, balancing a book on their heads. "Three-Legged Race" is a classic example of this type of game. In demonstrating a skill, players run to a designated area, unroll a sleeping bag, then run back. The next player in line runs up and re-rolls the sleeping bag. Players compete to see who can tie a bandanna into a neckerchief the quickest. An obstacle course is simply several relay races, one after another. Using the games listed above, this is an example of an Obstacle Course: The first player picks up a water balloon, runs to a designated area and breaks it. He or she then crabwalks to another spot and picks up a bandanna. He or she ties it into a neckerchief, then returns to his/her team to "tag up." Hiking is always more fun with a goal other than just getting from one place to another. Singing songs is a great way to pass the time, but nothing beats a good game. Scavenger hunts are easy in the out-of-doors, and you could assign point values to make things more interesting. Players could also hike with Bingo cards, pre-printed with things to find. Let the players hide things for each other to find using camouflage techniques. Even if you don't know any games, you can use these techniques to invent games of your own and adjust them to fit your theme. Tailor a simple game of "Freeze Tag" to your rainforest theme by allowing players to unfreeze if they can name three rainforest animals. Turn a relay race into a learning experience by challenging players to spell their names, or match world capitals with their countries. Allow children to share their feelings and dreams or use their imaginations with "What If" icebreaker games. Or simply have fun with a rousing game of "Simon Says, Not!" where players have to do anything except what the leader is doing. The most important thing to remember is to create challenges that are not too difficult for the age level of the players. For example, anyone can break a water balloon, but young children may not have the fine motor skills necessary for catching one. Games, above all, should be fun! Comments

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