Terrific Tips for Games - Part 2




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Blindfold Games and Ideas
Games - Part 1
Games Just for Fun
Girl Scout Wordsearch

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Blindfold Games and Ideas

(Compiled from the WAGGGS-L list 5/99)
Sharing Walk - Props: blindfolds. Divide girls into pairs. One person will wear the blindfold, the other will be the guide. Discuss safety rules. In silence, the guides take their partner on a local hike, hearing, smelling, feeling nature. After 5 minutes, switch. Have girls share after all have had a turn.

Blindfolded hike
This in done in pairs, one person is blindfolded. The second person must lead the first person around describing the terrain in detail so the first person does not trip, slip or fall. 10 minutes is typically a reasonable time. there are several stages the blindfolded person goes thru - fear, the need to depend on someone else and probably others before the last - trust. then the blindfolded person becomes the leader and the leader becomes blindfolded. this works especially well outdoors - where there are things that have to be stepped over, around or go under. i have done this one with my girls (age's 9-12) and at first they were very hesitant - but once they did it - they wanted to do it again with other partners.

Draw a bear blindfolded.
Have large pieces of paper on the wall. 1st person is blindfolded, they have to draw a head. Each person is blindfolded in turn and has to draw another item on the paper. You could add clothes, shoes, hats, etc depending on how many people are on each "team". This is a fun game, not a game with winners unless you WANT to have judges.

Pin the tail/teeth/honey pot on the bear.
Have drawing of bear on a piece of paper. One at a time blindfold each girl. Have them try to attach the missing piece at the correct position. Hi! My favorite is played with older girls. You give them a long (about 50 foot) rope. They are blindfolded and have to decide on a letter of the alphabet, use the rope to make the letter, and every girl has to agree that they have made the letter before they can take off the blindfolds and look. Make sure there are enough adults who are not blindfolded to keep them from wandering into something or wandering out of the "playing area". This is a great teambuilding exercise as well as a lot of fun!

Have you tried Prui?
The game goes like this. " Prui is a quiet and gentle soul and everyone wants to be a part of Prui. However to become a part of Prui, you must find Prui." At this point, all of the girls put on their blindfolds and one of the leaders chooses a girl and very quietly walks her a distance away from the crowd. When she returns to the group, she announces that Prui is in place and it is time to find her. Prui has taken her blindfold off and remains very quiet. The other girls begin walking about trying to find her. Each time a girl bumps into another girl she asks, "Are you Prui?" If she has not found Prui, then the other girl will also ask, "Are you Prui?" Both know that they have not found Prui and continue walking and bumping. When at last, someone bumps into Prui, she inquires, "Are you Prui?". Because Prui is a quiet and gentle soul, she does not answer. The girl knows that she has found Prui and immediately and quietly links arms with Prui. She may remove her blindfold because she has become a part of Prui. This happens with each girl when she finds Prui and eventually you have a long line of girls standing quietly with their arms linked while the last hapless child flails about still looking for Prui. You do need a few spotters about to make sure that the girls stay in the bounds of the safe area.

Obstacle Course
The room was set up as an obstacle course. Things to go through and under and over, etc. THe kids were paired off , one to do the course blind folded and the other to be their "guide" through the course. The kids to be blindfolded were taken out of the room to get ready and while they were gone the obstacle course was removed and the partner was let in on the secret. Each blindfolded child was led into the room separately by their partner who proceeded to give the child directions on how to make it through the "obstacle course". Of course, now there is no obstacle course and supposedly it is a lot of fun to watch the child maneuver through invisible obstacles. When they were done, the blindfold was removed and had a good laugh. Then that pair waited and watched for the next blindfolded child to be led through.
Variations - Tell the blindfolded child to move ... steps in ... direction. The audience takes turns until the blindfolded child can reach the object that someone has placed. Then the bf child is told to search. This is actually scarier than being led (the "trust"). Make sure there is the option to pass or quit. I did this with 3rd graders and part way through one girl said she had enough (15 kids and only 3 girls!)
- The equivalent of Marco Polo except all but one is blindfolded. They can take their blindfolds off when they get to the caller.

Water Relay
At a campout last fall we played a water relay race with blindfolds. The kids lined up about a foot apart from each other, all facing front, all with blindfolds. There was a bucket of water at the front of the line. There was an empty bucket at the end of the line. The first person in line was to dip a cup into the water bucket and pass it behind her down the line until the last person dumped it into the empty bucket and passed the empty cup back up the line. This played for a given time period and at the end of the time, the end bucket with the most water won. Of course, most of the water never made it to the bucket (so this is a nice hot weather game). I don't see why you couldn't play this with multiple cups. Then you KNOW there would be plenty of mess and no one would be without a cup in hand for long. And it might be funny to see how well the kids could keep straight which cup they were passing.

Blind Birthday Line Up or the Blind Height line up
Depending on the factor used (as I will explain). Basically, the group of girls (usually works best in a group of 10-20) needs to line up in order of either birthday (month and date only) or height without talking to each other. Height is easier because it is visual but birthdays needs a bit more thinking to figure out how to communicate that without talking. One girl is blindfolded and she also needs to be included in the line although I try not to tell them that straight out but make some comment like "All of you are playing and need to be in the line at the end." It is interesting to see how the girl with the blindfold is included or not. Then I usually talk about how the experience was for those w/o the blindfold and the girl with it. This is a game a play as part of doing the Green Circle program if you know anything about that.

Key Game
Girls all sit in a circle with one girl who is blindfolded in the middle. In front of the blindfolded girl is a bunch of keys. The leader points to a girl in the circle. The girl must walk all the way around the circle and into the middle through her space, pick up the bunch of keys and return to her place in the circle. The blindfolded girl must listen carefully and point if she hears any sounds. If she is correct in her guess, she stays in the middle. If the "seeing" girl returns to her place with the bunch of keys, she changes places with the girl in the middle. A bell can be used instead of the bunch of keys.

Jingle Bells Game
Sew some jingle bells on to elastic (you need to make two of these). Sew the ends of the elastic together. Make sure that the elastic is big enough to fit onto the girls' ankles. One girl wears the jingle bells. The others are all blindfolded and spaced out around the playing space. The girl wearing the bells starts to walk around the playing space. The object of the game is for the blindfolded girls to try to catch the one wearing the bells. The first girl to catch the one wearing the bells changes places.

Lighthouse One girl is the lighthouse. She stands on a stool at one end of the playing area. One girl who is blindfolded is the ship. She stands at the other end of the playing area. The remaining girls are the rocks. The crouch down all over the playing area. The lighthouse directs the ship to the other end by calling instructions, eg, 3 paces North, so that the ship is navigated around the rocks. If she crashes into a rock, the ship sinks and the "rock" becomes the next ship. If the ship makes it all the way to the lighthouse, she becomes the next lighthouse.

Blindfolded Kim's Game
Put different foods in film cannisters. You can have as many or as few as you want. Number each container and keep a master list of what foods are in which number. Pass the containers to each girl telling her the number. Using taste, the girls have to guess what flavour is in each container. Make sure there is a washing bowl nearby for fingers after each taste. Examples of food that we have used are chocolate, honey, mustard, different sauces, sour cream, etc. You can do the same thing with smell. Examples of food that we have used are pepper, different herbs and spices, piece of onion, garlic, peanut butter, strong cheese, vinegar, etc. You can also do the same thing with hearing. Either tape record the sounds that you want to use or gather equipment to make them. Examples of sound that we have used are thunder, rain, wind, traffic, truck horn, broom sweeping, water running, etc.

Bat and Moth Game from Sharing Nature with Children.
All but 3 kids form a circle on even ground, holding hands. One is blindfolded (bat) and the other two aren't. All must be very quiet. The bat says "bat" and the moths must both answer "moth." The bat then tries to catch a moth in the circle. They really can do it, just by listening!

"Guess My Partner".
Now, they probably should know each other fairly well for this game.
First, there is absolutely no talking allowed, except by the leader. All participants put on blindfolds. Leader, and perhaps 2-3 helpers, move players around the room and then sit them down again. The idea is to move them around to disorient them, and then sit them in pairs across from each other.
Next, when everyone is paired up, give them directions.
1. If I tap your shoulder, you can take off your blindfold. (You will do this for one person from each pair.)
2. The player with the blindfold on will ask yes or no questions. The player with blindfold off will answer by tapping once for yes, and twice for no.
3. After players understand rules, tap shoulders and begin.

GAMES - Part 1

OK, you want to play a game, but you just want to have fun doing it. These are games that are just for those times when you need a fun time. These games have been contributed by Guiders and Scouters. Many of them have come from the Guiding/Scouting List and the WAGGGS-L list.

RATTLE SNAKE - Number of players up to 30 Ages: Daisies-Jrs.
Equipment:
1.Plastic container with a lid and a few dried beans or macaroni's to make a rattle.
2.A pair of (clean) pantyhose with one leg cut off. The main part of the pantihose should be stuffed into the toe of the cut off leg and tied in there so that it can't move.
3.A blind fold.
Make a circle. Choose one person to be the Snake and one to be the Rattle. The snake is blindfolded and gets the pantihose leg which she holds by the cut end. The rattle gets the container with the beans. The rattle must rattle her beans the whole time! And they must stay inside the circle! The snake is to strike using the pantihose leg by swinging it and using her ears to aim. When the rattle gets hit by the snake, their turn is over and play is passed on. I like to let the rattle pick a rattler and the snake pick a new snake. Get them to pick someone who hasn't been either part of the snake before.

MOUSE TRAP - Age: 5 - 12 years
Number of participants 10-30 (with 30 participants start with a bigger trap!)
4 children become the Mouse Trap. They stand in a circle, facing in, holding hands with their arms extended and up high. The other children are "mice" and they run in and out of the trap. One person facing away calls "Spring the Trap" and the girls of the trap bring down their arms catching (hopefully) some of the mice inside. The caught mice become part of the trap. The game continues until only a few "mice" haven't been caught. Then they become the trap and the game begins again.

WIZARDS, GIANTS, AND ELVES
Divide the girls into two groups. Divide the playing area in half, with a safe zone at each end, and a line in the middle. This game goes something like "Rock, Paper, Scissors". Each team decides to be one of the three things, by consensus. They then meet in the middle and on the count of three each team acts out their creature (wizards point their fingers and go "Zap" or some other spell related noise, giants stretch up tall and go "Grr" and elves crouch down low and stick out their tongues and make silly noises). Giants squish wizards, wizards zap elves, and elves tickle the giants on the ankles, so giants beat wizards, wizards beat elves, and elves beat giants. The team that is beaten has to race back to their safe zone, with the other team chasing them and trying to tag them. Anyone who is caught has to join the other team, and the game continues from there. The game is over when one team is no more. If both teams decide to be the same thing, nothing happens, and they go back to decide what to be again.

DOUBLE SIMON SAYS - Ages 5-8 years old - Number of children from 10 to 30.
Divide the children into two groups. And make two circles. Each circle plays Simon Says (which I'll explain in a moment) and the children who are "out" go to the other circle. Thus no one is sitting off to the side, bored. And the circles do not stay the same size. To play Simon Says (with Daisies, perhaps two leaders should be "it"), pick two people to be "it". "It" stands in the center of the circle and says Simon Says do This and does an action. Everyone in the group is to copy the action as long as "it" has said "Simon says". After a few actions with the words Simon Says in front, "it" tries to 'catch' people by saying 'Do this' without saying Simon says. If someone performs the action they go to the other circle! This game works best if the actions are done quickly and the Simon says are fast. This game will not last for a long time, but is good in an area where you don't have a lot of space for running around. And again, can be done in a large group with more than two circles.

FRUIT BASKET - all ages including adults
Everyone has a chair in a circle (or could have a circle within another circle - as long as chairs in the inside circle were not put too close to each other) You ask the girls to choose a fruit (e.g. apples peaches pears or plums)or you can go around the circle and assign each one a fruit (but with 100 players this might take too much time) The fruit they pick is the fruit they are for the entire game. Then someone in the center calls out one fruit name - all the girls that have chosen that fruit stand up and must change places (and NOT to the chair next to them). Oh yes, meanwhile the person in the center tries to sit down on an unoccupied chair. So - you end up with one person left with no chair - they then are in the center and call out another fruit. Once the game is clear - can call out more than one fruit at a time - or FRUIT BASKET - which means EVERYONE must stand up and run around to find another chair. (I've always told the girls they are JAM - if they just take the chair next to them - but actually they don't - they tend to run to the opposite side of the room squealing and it is bedlam!! but a lot of fun (advise - always stop a game sooner than the girls want to - that way they don't becomebored and they look forward to doing it again)
Variation: In guides we adapted this game to use the 4 world centers instead of fruit

STREETS AND ALLEYS
The girls line up in several rows with an equal number of girls" in each row (as close as possible) they stand just far enough apart that their hands touch when they hold their hands out straight and they do this to form "streets" that are between the lines. Pick one girl to be the "cat" (it) and one the "mouse". The cat chases the mouse through the streets trying to catch them. Meanwhile a leader calls out "alleys" and the girls in the lines do a quarter turn to make "alleys" that run at right angles to where the streets were before. The cat and mouse continue chasing but must change directions to follow the alleys as they must not go through any of the girls arms. Call out "streets" to turn back. Continue chasing and switching streets/alleys until the mouse gets caught and then pick someone else to be the cat and mouse.


GAMES JUST FOR FUN

OK, you want to play a game, but you just want to have fun doing it. These are games that are just for those times when you need a fun time. These games have been contributed by Guiders and Scouters. Many of them have come from the Guiding/Scouting List and the WAGGGS-L list. They can also be found on the Mountain View Neighborhood 2-4 website.

PIP, SQUEAK, AND WILFRED
Divide your girls into teams of three. Arrange the teams into a circle, with the girls on each team standing in a line. The final formation looks like the spokes of a wheel. Girl #1 on each team is the girl nearest the center of the circle, #2's are in the middle, and #3 is the girl nearest the outside of the circle. Name all #1's "Pip", #2's "Squeak", and #3's "Wilfred". Place a ball, beanbag or bell in the center of the circle. The leader then calls either Pip, Squeak, or Wilfred. (In this example, Pip is called.) All the "Pip's" must run all the way around the outside of the circle and back to their own team. Meanwhile, the "Squeaks" and "Wilfreds" make a bridge with their arms. When each "Pip" reaches their own team, she runs under the bridge and dives for the ball/beanbag/bell in the center of the circle. The team of the girl who gets the object first gets a point! Repeat the game a number of times, making sure to call each name.
Variation: tried at a very HOT summer camp was to have a clean garbage can full of water in the middle of the circle, and everyone was holding a cup. So - you guessed it - once the girls reached the middle of the circle their objective was to get everyone else as wet as possible! This was a lot of fun.
Variation: "Pizza". Instead of naming the girls Pip, Squeak and Wilfred, they were named Pepperoni, Cheese and Sauce. If the leader wanted everyone to be running at the same time, she called "Pizza"!

PUPPY AND BONE

Category: Quiet, Indoors
Equipment: A blind fold and a 'bone'
Number of Participants: 8 and up!
Ages: 5 to 15 years
The children sit in a semicircle facing one child who is the puppy. The puppy wears a blind fold and the 'bone' is on the floor in front of her. A 'thief' is chosen by pointing so as not to let the puppy know which direction the thief is coming from to steal her 'bone'. The thief tries to steal the bone from the puppy without the puppy hearing her. (The rest of the group must sit quietly while she tries). The puppy listens, and points in the direction of the thief and barks, if she hears anything. If she catches the thief by pointing at her, the thief has failed and has to go back into the semi-circle. If the thief succeeds in stealing the 'bone' then she becomes the puppy and the puppy joins the circle for the next round.
Variation: Older girls might prefer the spy and the secret papers! Play this one outside in the dark with flashlights. The spy has a flashlight and aims that at the thief, otherwise the rules are the same.

BUBBLE CAR - Indoor/ Outdoor (on grass)
Equipment: 2 chairs per team if possible
Any number can play. The more teams the better. If teams are not even , one girl can take 2 names
Each team stands in a straight line behind a chair. The second chair is placed some distance away. The leader gives each member of the teams the name of a car e.g. all the number ones are Toyota, all the number twos are Ford etc The last person on each team is always Bubble Car. If the leader calls the name of a car the team member who has that name runs from her place, around the far chair and back to her place. The first girl back to her place in the line wins a point for her team. The first person on each team could keep the score. If the Leader calls Bubble car the last person on the team must crawl under the legs of all the members of her team before she runs to the far chair. The first girl back to her position at the end of the team wins the point.
The winning team is the one to get to a certain number of points first e.g. 15

BALLOON VOLLEYBALL- equipment - a balloon already blown up
The girls are seated on the floor in two rows with feet touching. The leader serves the balloon and the players on one side try to get the balloon to fall behind the players on the other side etc. You do not use your feet, but your hands. Remain seated with your feet touching at all times.Have fun. 10 MINUTE TIME LIMIT ON THIS GAME.

BARNYARD BEDLAM
SUPPLIES Peanuts in the shell (enough for a handful for each girl, doubled or so. Lunch bags or similar container
PREPARATION In a large field or lightly wooded area (where you can still see all the girls) shortly before game time, but when the girls aren't around and when they won't be coming back to that spot have a leader distribute little piles of three or so peanuts in obvious and not obvious spots around the field -- at the base of tree, on top of a stump, in the shadow of a rock -- etc. Make lots of piles if you want a long fun loud game!
BEFORE PLAYING Away from the site, divide the girls into two or three groups. Make someone in each group the Farmer (with Daisies and Brownies I prefer having leaders be the farmers) and the rest in each group choose an animal to be (farm, forest, bird, whatever theme you've chosen). Each group must have a different animal. Practice making the animal sound. Explain why you are using peanuts -- if they aren't found, they feed the animals, or biodegrade!!
Explain the rules:
They cannot go out of bounds for safety reasons. (Show them the boundaries, don't just tell them. On "go", the animals (not farmers) from all groups will spread out and look for peanuts hidden around. They cannot talk at any time!!! (for reasons explained below) Once an animal finds a hoard of peanuts, she does not touch them or talk about them. She stands with her toes pointing toward the peanuts and makes her animal's noise *AS LOUD AS SHE CAN* The farmer has to listen for her animals' noises. She hustles over to her animal (there's often more than one at once!) and picks up the peanuts.
The "Bedlam" part comes in because:
1. There are girls everywhere making loud noises (strategy is for teams to split up so there could/should be 3 horses in different spots neighing!)
2. If a horse sees a pile and is neighing, a cow can run over and start mooing: whichever Farmer hears first and gets over, gets the peanuts. The Farmers have to listen well, and judge which pile to pick up first.
PLAYING Bring the girls to the site, and turn them loose! You don't have to have winners if you don't want, but the girls do! If you play it a few times over the day, with only a few piles each time, the different teams have a chance to win. Compost the peanuts that were used in the game, but give the girls the extras that weren't on the ground as a snack.
Variation: This game can also be played as a night game with the Farmer as the only one who has a flashlight. This makes it a little harder to find the little piles, but is a good way to introduce the kids to moving about comfortably in the dark.

BEDLAM
This game requires four teams of equal size. Each team takes one corner of the room or playing field. The play area can be either square or rectangular. At a signal (whistle, etc.), each team attempts to move as quickly as possible to the corner directly across from them (diagonally), performing an announced activity as they go. The first team to get all its members into its new corner wins that particular round. The first round can be simply running to the opposite corner, but after that you can use any number of possibilities, such as walking backward, wheelbarrow racing (one person is the wheelbarrow), piggyback, rolling somersaults, hopping on one foot, skipping, and crab walking. There will be mass bedlam in the center as all four teams crisscross.

FIND THE LEADER
The players sit in a circle, with one person 'it'. This person turns their back and covers their eyes while someone is chosen in the circle to be the leader. The leader starts a motion, such as clapping hands, and all follow by doing the same motion. 'IT' now turns around and tries to guess who the leader is. The leader changes the motion often. So as not to give away the secret, the other children watch the leader out of the corner of their eyes, to know what the new motion will be. 'IT' has three guesses to tell who is the leader. Then the leader becomes 'IT' and a new leader is chosen.
Other motions you can use include: tapping knees, shaking head, shrugging shoulders, snapping fingers, touching nose.


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