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Teams of 2-3
Students are in pairs or triples and the teacher or student leader gives them “10 seconds to make…_______” (an object or two of their choosing) and the students have to make what was said using their bodies. The teacher chooses the one they like best/is most useful.
Examples: “You have 10 seconds to make a tennis ball and racket!” / “You have 10 seconds to make a banana pie!”
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Campers spread out
Ask everyone to take off one of their shoes (only one of their shoes). Have everyone throw their shoe into a big pile in the center of the circle. Explain the rules of the game. Once everyone takes off one shoe and throws it into a big shoe pile, have everyone randomly grab a shoe. The goal is to mingle and go around introducing yourself and talking to many people and trying to find the person whose shoe you are holding.
Grades 1-3, Grades, 3-5
Campers form a line
Directions:
In this game, one person plays the “Stoplight” while the other players try to cross to the other side. At the start, have the campers form a line across from the Stoplight. The Stoplight will give a series of color commands that control how the players move. Teach Campers these Colors and Meanings beforehand and gradually add more complexity!
Basic: Green Light – Run or Skip/ Yellow Light – Move Slow Motion/ Red Light – Stop and Freeze
Expansion: Blue Light – Dance/ Orange Light – Hop, If campers like Dinosaurs or Minecraft or Purrmaids you could add a related light and moves!
If a camper does not follow the command they are kindly told they are caught and they return to start. The goal is for all the campers to make it to the other side!
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Cones for start and finish line
Have each person stand on starting line while a leader lists off general facts. (For example, I have a dog.) If the stated fact is true for any of the students, those students must move forward a step. Whoever crosses the finish line first wins! (You can decide the length of the “track” depending on if you are indoors or outdoors. A cone could establish the starting line, while the student leader could be the finish line.)
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Circle game
Students sit or stand in a circle and you time how quickly everyone can say their name immediately after the person to their right. The person on the left can say their name the second the person on the right next to them starts to say their own name. (Variations: you can have students say their favorite animals or colors, etc.)
Grades 1-3, Grades 3-5
Circle game
Have the group sit or stand in a circle and have “It” stand in the middle. You will want to start as “It” the first time you introduce the game. Explain that if It is going to tell them to “move their bum” if whatever It says applies to them. For example, It might say “move your bum if you have a pet,” or “move your bum if you had cereal for breakfast,” or “Move your Bum if your favorite food is pizza.” When It calls the command, all players who have a pet (or had cereal or like pizza) must switch spots with someone else who also has a pet (or had cereal or likes pizza).
While players are switching spots, It tries to steal the open spaces. The person who is left in the middle becomes “It and must think of something different to get people moving.
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Two lines facing each other
Assign each player a partner. Have campers sit in two long lines, partners facing each other, legs outstretched and feet touching. Their legs are the “ladder rungs.” Assign each pair a number and then call out one of the numbers. The pair with that number must stand up and race each other down the center of the ladder, avoiding the rungs. Once a player reaches the bottom of the ladder he must run around the outside of the ladder to the top and then head back down the center until he returns to his original space. The partner who arrives at his space and sits down first earns his team a point. The game finishes when players on one side of the ladder have earned a set number of points or when the game has peaked.
Grades 3-5
Circle Game
Have the group stand in a circle. Ask a player to help you demonstrate what a jumping double high0-five looks like: you should jump at the same time and high-five with both hands while they are in the air. Have the first player pick another player and demonstrate what a jumping double high-five looks like, only this time ask the players to shout “ho!” (or some other monosyllabic word of excitement) as their hands meet in the air.
The game begins when one player runs across the circle to another player and does a jumping double high-five with a “ho!” in the air. When both players land, they switch places so that the second player is now running across the circle toward another player. And then that player will run across the circle to high-five another player, and so on.
Encourage the other players to stay on their toes and watch for players coming at them. Eye contact is important in this game — if someone approaches you, ready to jump and switch places, you need to be ready or else you might get jumped on!Also a jumping double high-five can be a tricky skill to master, and eye contact helps ensure that both players jump at the same time and the same height (which is particularly important when playing with children of different sizes). Keep going until everyone has been picked at least once.
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Circle Game
Rules: All students stand in a circle and put their heads down looking at the ground. When the moderator says, “heads up” each student looks up at someone else in the circle. If the person they choose to look at is also looking at them, the two of them are both out. If the student they look at is looking at someone else, they get to play another round. The idea is to start slow and then speed up quickly!
Feel free to adapt this game to your group. It could be the Wild West and if you meet eyes with someone you both get taken out. Or if they like Percy Jackson/Greek Mythology, it could be the Medusa effect.
Grades 3-5, Middle
Circle game
Have the group stand in a circle and ask each player to say his or her name out loud. The game starts when the leader points at a person across the circle and orders that person to Go. For example, if Annika begins by pointing at Karsten and saying “Go, Karsten,” Annika then has to walk toward Karsten. But before Annika gets to Karsten, Karsten has to pick someone else around the circle and order him to go. Karsten must not leave his spot until he orders someone else. After Karsten has said, “GO, Hans” (for example), he then may leave his spot in the circle, walk toward Hans, and Annika takes Karsten’s spot. Once the ordering has gone around the circle a few times and each person has been picked at least once, you may increase the difficulty by adding a second “Go!” energy so that two orders are taking place at the same time.