What time is it, mister wolf?
One person leads the game and stands at one end of the room like the wolf, with his back to the others. The other players stand at the other end of the floor and call out “What time is it, Mr. Wolf?”. The wolf then announces the time, say one o’clock, and the other players take a big step towards the wolf. They call again and take as many steps as the wolf calls. However, when the wolf calls “Dinner time”, he turns and chases after the other players who have to make it back to the end of the floor without getting caught. The one who is caught becomes a wolf and the game starts again.
pirate treasure
The children are organized into teams of five. Team members sit one behind the other in a row of chairs, facing the game leader. (for example, 35 chairs arranged in 5 rows deep and 7 wide). The teams are numbered and one child from each team is selected to be the spokesperson. The leader begins, “Row number (x) stole the pirate’s treasure?” That whole line stands up and says together”No sir, we don’t sir…” and the spokesperson ends by saying “Test Row (x).” That row then stands up and repeats itself, and so the game continues until one row messes up by not standing up fast enough or saying the wrong thing, etc. (The more pedantic you make the rules, the better.) Any row that is wrong goes to the final row, while the other rows move up to fill the space, changing their number.
Mrs McGinty’s shopping bag
Boys are placed on a minimum of two teams, but may be more dependent on numbers. A leader should start with the first member of each team giving everyone something that he would buy in a store, ie bread, milk, washing up liquid, etc. once everyone has received an item, the leader goes to the other end of the aisle and sits on a meat. The leader tells a story using the items they just mentioned, each time their item is mentioned they have to run to the leader and tie it back to his seat before the other teams return. The story can be as long or as short as necessary, but everyone must have a turn. It usually ends with everyone running at once.
bring to me
Divide the children into teams and then number them from 1 to 10, etc. A leader then stands at the end of the hall and yells “number 1, bring me a white sock”, so all number ones have to bring the leader a white sock. The item brought in can be anything within the room or in an easily accessible area, ie bathrooms, stage area, and sometimes the kitchen.
Dwarves, Knights and Giants
This game is like a giant version of rock paper scissors. There are actions that are required for this game. Dwarf is crouching, for a knight you have to imitate riding a horse, and the giant action is simply stretching your arms above your head. Dwarves beat giants, giants beat knights, and knights beat dwarves. The group splits into two and each team is assigned one end of the hall. They meet and decide what action they are going to take (the whole team does the same). The teams then meet in the center of the room. They line up facing each other with a meter between the lines. The leader then yells “3,2,1, GO!” Each team performs its action. The team whose action wins chases the other team. Trying to fool as many people as possible. Those who are caught become part of the other team. The game just repeats itself.
cat and mouse
Make a grid with the children, ask them to extend their arms (touching the fingertips of the neighbours) so that this forms a maze of alleys that the children can run through. The leader chooses a boy to be a mouse and a boy to be a cat, the cat chases the mouse through the alleys until he catches them. As the cat and mouse run around, the leader yells change to the children lining up the alleys. This means that the children have to turn around (90ยบ) to now form vertical corridors instead of horizontal ones.
Indiana Jones
Two children’s rings standing. One inside the other with both rings facing each other, creating a circular corridor. The Earth ball on one side (interior hallway) and a boy playing Indiana Jones on the other. The kids have to roll the ball down the hall chasing Indiana Jones.
donkey bombers
Two teams choose a (leader?) donkey (or two) who sit about 10m apart balancing a plastic cup on their heads. The remaining team members sit in random rows facing “their donkey”. The teams are given a huge stack of newspapers. Teams score a point by knocking over the opposing donkey’s cup. Children must remain seated and can throw paper however they like! – it’s a bit messy but it’s a lot of fun – play loud music during the game too.
living on an island
Give a sheet of newspaper to each team who must have all members stand on it simultaneously with no one touching the ground. They are then allowed to tear off a piece of their sheet and repeat. The team with the smallest leaf wins.
balloon burst
Seat the children in two rows of chairs facing each other. (Number them along each row “1-2-1-2…etc”). Place the captain of team #1 at one end of the row of chairs and captain #2 at the other end. The children must bat a balloon with their hands (remaining seated) towards their respective Captain who is standing with a pin. (ie each child is seated between the players of the opposing team).
blind man face to face
The teams are numbered so that each has an opposite number on another team. The leader chooses a number…they both have to blindfold each other and then get to a squirt gun in the middle of the room (which you can move after the blindfolds have been put on) the teams yell at their own players. The player who finds the water gun and then hits another player wins one point (time limit).
