Terrific Tips for Games - Part 3
Contents
Teamwork Through GamesWind-down Games
The December Wright Stories(now includes a Chanukah story)
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Teamwork Through Games
from Serena Bowman White, Cad/Sr/Outdoor Training, Girl Scouts of Milwaukee AreaDid you know that games can be a terrifically effective way to build team spirit, communication, and trust? Getting girls to work together is an essential part of being an effective troop or group. Team games help motivate individuals while improving group communication, cohesiveness and overall group productivity. Team games that require participants to work together and appreciate the talents of the other members also help build a sense of identity. With a sense of identity, individuals work better towards common goals. The bottom line is games have to be FUN! There are many books and resources for Team Games. The challenge for leaders will be finding the games they feel are the most effective for their group. The following are some games to get you started!
Any group size up to about 20 or 25. For safety reasons, remove all shoes for indoor play!
Line players us in single file, one behind the other. Now reach between your legs with your left hand and grab the right hand of the person behind you. Meanwhile, the person in front of you is reaching back to grab your right hand. Once the chain is formed you're set to go.
At the starting signal, the last person in line lies down on her back. The person in front of her backs up, straddling her body, and lies down on her back right behind her. (You're all still holding hands, of course.) This continues as the whole team waddles backwards down the growing line of prone bodies and slips into place. When the last person to lie down has touched her head to the ground, she gets up and starts forward again, pulling everyone else up and along. What just got done, gets quickly undone as everyone "Skins the Snake."
When the last person is back on her feet and everyone is in the original chain, still holding hands, get set to run. The winner is the first team that gets all its members across the point where the head of the line started. IF anyone breaks hands during any part of this process, you must stop, go back to that point, and reconnect before proceeding.
TIPS: You'll be less likely to trip over your teammates if you all take off your shoes. When the line is backing up to lie down, bunch close together so you're all touching. Lie down as close as you can to the person in front of you and put your feet close to her side with toes pointed in.
Diminishing Load
Challenge: The object is to move all members of a group across an open field as quickly as possible: all but the last person must be carried across. The distance may vary according to the estimated strength of the group.
Rules:
* To be counted as having crossed the open area, a person must be carried.
* The carrier must return and be carried across
* The only person allowed to walk or run across the open area (except when carrying a person or returning) is the last person
* If the person being carried touches the ground while being transported, both members must return to the start
* The number of people being carried and carrying others may vary with the strength and imagination of the group; one-to-one is not the only way
Variations: The object can be to move the entire group across the distance in as few trips as possible. (Changing emphasis from speed to efficiency) To emphasize trust, require that everyone wear blindfolds. Have a least three people available to act as spotters.
NAME WAVE
Have participants sitting in circle (standing if necessary). Using the same motion as a football game wave, each participant says his or name as the wave motion travles around the circle. Go around the circle a number of times; vary the speed or ask participants to add "personal expression" as they say their name.
TEACH ME
Get in random pairs; ask everyone to think about something that is a favorite pass-time, hobby, or something they are passionate about! Tell them it is a timed activity; each person will have one minute to teach their partner something they do not know. (Examples: a quote, verse to a song, dance step, something about a foreign culture, etc.) or whatever they would like to teach.
Signal after a minute or so; partners then reverse roles so that both have taught each other something. Go around the room and find out the fun & interesting things that people have to teach one another! Go around the room and find out some of the fun things we can learn from each other!
FOOTWALK
Line participants up in a straight line; ask them to be sure their feet are touching the feet of the person on either side of them. Set a finish line. The challenge is for participants to move as a team towards the finish line while never losing contact with the person's feet on either side of them. All team members must cross the finish line before the challenge is complete and contact between feet can never be broken. The leaders must monitor the line carefully; when contact is broken the group must start over. (Or whatever penalty time will permit...)
SCREAMING TOES:
Everyone in a circle; ask each person to look down and pick out a pair of shoes in the circle (can't be next to you). Stare at those shoes and when the facilitator says "look up", look into the eyes of that person. If the person is also looking at you, you have a cosmic connection! Enter the circle, do a "high five" with a loud noise of acknowledgement, and trade places. Go on to the next round. This activity is great for a group or team who has worked together for the day and you would like to emphasize how individuals are connected. The "connections" will pick up as you do a number of rounds.
Games Needing Special Equipment
Simple Version:
* Two lengths of rope provide start and finish lines about 25'apart
* Paper plates or 2x4"s cut to 18 or 24" provide "marshmallows"
Goal: Get team from one side to the other without falling in the chocolate. First work with just one buddy, then combine teams. Once this is mastered remove half of the marshmallows and/or blindfold team members. Last time through, you must do it silently and with blindfolds.
Complex Version:
The chocolate is now poisonous (or call it "toxic waste", etc) Change marshmallows to the following tools and play in an outdoor setting as smooth floors are too slippery for the event.
These items are resistant to the poison.
* 4 large logs about 12" in diameter and 2' long
* stout pole about 8' long,
* 30' length of rope This is NOT resistant to poison!
* 1 board 2"x12"x10' in unwarped and relatively free of knots. (Rasp and sand the edges and corners of the board for safety reasons.)
Rules:
* The big logs are poison resistant and may be freely rolled around
* The board will dissolve if any part of it touches the poison (the group loses the tool or suffers another unsavory consequence (your choice))
* The poison substance extends indefinitely in a lateral directions within the measured area, so no one can walk around the river
* If you touch the poisonous chocolate even slightly you must return to the beginning
* Walking purposefully into the poison in order to advance the group's effort is not allowed and is obviously a health hazard!
The Mighty Nile
Using tools retrieve a container of "food" lost in the "river" some distance from the riverbank.
* 3/8" diameter rope
* A pole or tree limb at least 1.5" in diameter
* A plank at least 6" wide and 2" thick of hardwood
* A container with a wire handle (ie paint bucket or No. 10 can with wire handle)
Rules:
* Retrieve the food bucket with the available tools
* Team members may only use the props and themselves
* Members touching the "water" in the Nile must go back to the beginning
* Team penalties may be assigned every time the plank, the stick or a person touches the "water".
Wind-down Games
from Lynn Chaput, Jr Leader & SUM, GS of Central Massachusetts CouncilAre your girls getting a little rowdy? Try some of these games and see if they calm down:
RAIN (all ages)
This game is quite simple. All each player does is repeat whatever the player to her right does. Everyone sits perfectly still and quiet in the circle, with closed eyes, waiting for the leader's first movement. The rain slowly starts and the leader rubs her palms together. When the player on the leader's left hears this sound, she makes it too, and each person starts upon hearing the player to the right (it might be helpful for each person to nudge the neighbor on the left as she starts the movement). Once everyone is rubbing palms, the leader increases the sound of the rain by snapping fingers, and that sound in turn is passed around the circle, with the players continue rubbing their palms until the finger-snapping is sent their way. For the next round, the leader claps both hands together, and that sound is passed around the circle. By this time, the rain is really starting to come down. The leader switches to thigh slapping, and the finale of the storm comes with feet stomping as the rain reaches hurricane proportions. Now the storm will start to subside. The leader reverses the order beginning with thigh slapping, hand clapping, finger snapping, palm rubbing, and finally passes around silence as the storm dies away. Don't forget that during all of this the players have their eyes closed!!
REFLECTIVE STORYTELLING (all ages)
One player starts a story by saying a few words. The next player continues where the first one left off. The third player picks up from the second, and so on. Keep it up until the story is fully told and everyone has had a turn.
One word story: Played similar to above, but each player says just one word until the story is told.
Write a story: Each player writes one line to a story, but as the papers are passed, each player can only see the line previously written since the top of the paper is folded down over the previous line. Each player should fold the top down to cover the line before hers before passing the story on. Makes for a very amusing story when read aloud to the entire group!
PASS THE MASK (all ages)
With everyone sitting in a circle, one player turns to the next, looks right into her eyes and makes a funny face. The second player passes on the face to the third, and so on around the circle. At the same time, the first player has turned to the person on the other side and made a different funny face, which is passed around in the other direction. Continue until both "masks" have reached the first player again, or until laughter has stopped the game.
COUNT TO TEN (older Brownies and up)
Group is seated in a circle. The object of the game is for the group, together, to count to ten. It's not as easy as it sounds though! No order is pre-determined and you can't go around the circle in order. Numbers are said spontaneously within the group. If two or more girls say a number at the same time, the group must begin again. The object is for the group to reach 10! Try it with your eyes closed!
Note: The group can be larger or smaller than 10 - if smaller, then some of the girls will be saying more than one number... if larger, then some girls will not be saying a number, but they are still part of the game because everyone must still actively listen, predict and make the choice whether or not to say a number and when!
SHOE TIE RACE (older Brownies and up)
Girls are seated on the floor in a circle. Each girl must have one shoe with laces to use for this game - share if needed! The shoes are off the feet and placed in front of each player, untied. A clock or timer should be used. One player begins the game by tying her shoe, then tapping the girl to her right on her knee. This girl then ties her shoe and taps the girl on her right, etc. until everyone's shoe has been tied. Calculate the time the group took to tie all the shoes. Repeat to see if the group can beat their time! The girls have fun with this one and always want to try a few times to see how fast they can go!!!
GOTCHA! (all ages)
Girls are standing in a circle. They hold their hands out next to them so their left palm is facing up and their right pointer is pointing down over the left palm of the person on their right, but not touching. Game leader says "One, two, three, GO!". On "go" the players try to grab the finger of the girl on her left, while at the same time trying to move her finger out of the grasp of the girl on her right. And that's it! See who can grab who's finger, and see who gets caught! Try again a couple of times, then switch hands so the right palms are up and the left pointers are down.
POPCORN (Daisies and Brownies)
The girls pretend they are popcorn and pop around the room as if the floor is hot and they are pieces of corn. The leader calls out a type of topping typically used on popcorn, ie: salt, cheese, caramel, etc. (She can even call out some crazy ones like peanut butter or jelly). When the leader calls out the topping, the girls all run to the center of the room, huddle together, and on the count of three they do a big "POP" by jumping up all at the same time with their arms stretched high and shouting the word "POP!" The game begins again and continues until the leader says "butter", at which time the girls all pretend to melt and "ooze" themselves to the floor. This is a good game to use up some energy and transition into the next activity. After the game has become familiar to everyone, the leader can spontaneously just shout out the word, "POPCORN!" to cue the girls into the start of the game. On their cue, the girls just start jumping and hopping around.
The December Wright Stories
To play: Each girl brings a wrapped gift of some kind. Someone reads the story. On the word "LEFT" all presents are passed to the left. On the word "RIGHT" or "WRIGHT" all presents are passed to the right. At the end of the story, each girl opens the present she is holding. You may want to allow trading if anyone winds up with the gift she brought.
Note: There are four versions to choose from! The first and third contain references to celebrating Christmas, while the second is about baking cookies and the fourth is about Chanukah.
#1 Christmas Story (The Wright Family)
Many years ago high on a mountain, there lived a family named WRIGHT. They had many cousins whose names were also WRIGHT. Every Christmas, the clan gathered to have a party and no one was LEFT out. Sally WRIGHT was in charge of the guest list and she LEFT nothing to chance. The party was carefully planned so that things would be just RIGHT.
Mary WRIGHT had LEFT her guest list at home. Now this created a problem RIGHT away. John WRIGHT had gone to buy a tree for the big affair. The decorations were ready and waiting. Mother WRIGHT was in charge of the kitchen and everyone had to bring the RIGHT food to fit her menu and no one LEFT home without their share.
There were children by the score who played RIGHT in the middle of the floor and LEFT toys everywhere.
Now, it wouldn't be really festive if they had no Santa Claus so Jennie WRIGHT made her husband, Charles WRIGHT a Santa suit. She put two pockets on the RIGHT side and one on the LEFT. But Jake WRIGHT felt LEFT out---he said he had a RIGHT to be the Santa this year because he had been LEFT out for five years. Mother WRIGHT had to settle the argument RIGHT then and there before she LEFT for the kitchen. Charles and Jake got mad and LEFT in a huff. Just then, Uncle Ben WRIGHT walked right through the door, and said he had a suit LEFT over from last year that would be all RIGHT. So that was settled and LEFT everyone feeling just fine except Charles and Jake WRIGHT. They soon realized that the Christmas spirit should prevail so they marched RIGHT back to the house.
Tommy WRIGHT of the RIGHT side of the mountain, LEFT his Christmas present at home so he was late and didn't get to the party at the RIGHT time. Also, he didn't get to help wrap the Christmas gifts that were placed on the RIGHT side of the table and the LEFT side of the tree. He did hang the mistletoe on the RIGHT side of the fireplace and the LEFT side of the front door.
Every WRIGHT in the country was RIGHT on time for the Christmas party, all dressed in their Sunday best. No stone was LEFT unturned to make this a happy time. The tree was decorated just RIGHT and LEFT everyone gasping with delight. The Christmas turkey was just RIGHT, too, because Mother WRIGHT saw to that.
There was a pile of toys RIGHT by the door because Mother WRIGHT said there was no room LEFT under the tree. They gathered around the table, each girl with a boy on her RIGHT and another one on her LEFT. They laughed RIGHT loudly as they ate their pie. As they LEFT the table, everyone said, "I ate too much."
Then Santa came RIGHT on time to deliver Christmas gifts to the WRIGHT children. He LEFT everyone laughing, even Grandpa WRIGHT, who usually LEFT early. The children LEFT the room RIGHT after the opening of the Christmas gifts. Their hearts were full of Christmas joy.
Mother WRIGHT knew the party was a success and LEFT for the kitchen, RIGHT after the children. Every WRIGHT on the mountain LEFT the party so very happy. Once more they had celebrated Christmas with the RIGHT kind of love in their hearts and LEFT each member of the WRIGHT family shaking hands on their RIGHT and LEFT saying---"Merry Christmas"---to everyone. -Author Unknown-
#2 "The White Elephant Tale"
This is a story about Mr. and Mrs WRIGHT. One evening they were baking cookies. Mrs. WRIGHT called from the kitchen, "Oh , no, there is no flour LEFT! You will need to go RIGHT out to the store."
"I can't believe you forgot to check the pantry," grumbled MR. WRIGHT. "You never get anything RIGHT!"
"Don't be difficult, dear," replied Mrs. WRIGHT. "It will only take twenty minutes if you come RIGHT back. Go to Fifty-first and Peoria, and turn LEFT at the stop sign. Then go to Sixty-first Street and turn RIGHT, and there it will be on your LEFT," declared Mrs. WRIGHT as her husband LEFT the house.
Mr. WRIGHT found the store and asked the clerk where he could find the flour. The clerk pointed and said, "Go to Aisle four and turn LEFT. The flour and sugar will be on your LEFT."
Mr. WRIGHT made his purchase and walked RIGHT out the door. He turned LEFT, but he couldn't remember where he had LEFT his car. Suddenly he remembered that he had driven Mrs. WRIGHT'S car and that his car was in the driveway at home RIGHT where he had LEFT it. He finally found the RIGHT car and put his purchase RIGHT inside.
Eventually, a weary Mr. WRIGHT found his way home. Mrs. WRIGHT had been waiting impatiently. "I thought you would be RIGHT back," she said. "I LEFT all the cookie ingredients on the kitchen counter, and the cats got into the milk. You'll just have to go RIGHT out again."
Mr. WRIGHT sighed. He had no energy LEFT. "I am going RIGHT to bed," he said. "Anyway, I need to go on a diet, so I might as well start RIGHT now. Isn't that RIGHT, dear?"
#3 The Wright Family Christmas
Christmas was almost here and Mother Wright was finishing the Christmas baking. Father Wright, Sue Wright, and Billy Wright returned from their last-minute Christmas errands.
"There's not much left to be done," said Father Wright as he came into the kitchen. "Did you leave the basket of food at the church?" asked Mother Wright. "I left it right where you told me to," said Father Wright.
"I'm glad my shopping is done," said Billy Wright. "I don't have any money left."
The hall telephone rang, and Susan Wright left to answer it. She rushed right back and told the family, "Aunt Tillie Wright left a package for us right on Grandma Wright's front porch. I'll go over there right now and get it," she said as she left in a rush. Father Wright left the kitchen and brought in the Christmas tree. By the time Susan Wright returned, Mother Wright, Father Wright, and Billy Wright had begun trimming the tree. The entire Wright family sang carols as they finished decorating. Then they left all the presents arranged under the tree and went to bed, hoping they had selected the right gifts for their family.
Now I hope you have the right present for yourself, because that's all that's left of our story...except to wish you a merry Christmas... Isn't that right??
#4 The Wrightstein's Family Chanukah (by Doreen Hill
Chanukah was almost here and Ema (Mother) Wrightstein was just about finished decorating her home. Abba (Father) Wrightstein and Moishe Wrightstein just finished polishing the menorahs.
"There is not much left to be done!" said Abba Wrightstein as he came into the kitchen. "Did you hang the dreidels where I told you to?" asked Ema Wrightstein. "I left them right where you told me," said Abba Wrightstein.
"I hope we have enough candles to last eight nights. I barely have any candles left," exclaimed Moishe Wrightstein.
The phone rang and Hannah Wrightstein answered it. She came running right back into the kitchen exclaiming, "Aunt Vivian told us she left some potatoes for us on Bubbie's porch! I'll go right there and get them," she said as she left the house. After Hannah Wrightstein returned, Ema Wrightstein, Abba Wrightstein, and Moishe Wrightstein began to peel the potatoes for latkes. The entire Wrightstein family sang Chanukah songs as they finished preparing potatoes. The potato peelings were left in the sink. Then they left all of the latkes sizzling in the pan, hoping they had chosen the right potatoes for the day.
Now I hope you have the right present for yourself, because that's all that is left of our story--except to say Happy Chanukah! Isn't that right?
Terrific Tips for Games - Part 1
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