Where Do You Come From?

Name: Where Do You Come From?
Number of Players: 10+
Age: 7+
Necessary equipment: none

How to Play

• Split the group into two even teams, behind 2 'home lines' that are 5-10 metres apart.
• Team 1 starts ''whisper counting".
• Team 2 must decide on a country, and an action that comes from that country.
• When they are ready, they stand facing Team 1.
• Team 1 calls out, "Where do you come from?" and takes a few steps forward.
• Team 2 calls out, "We come from [eg. America]!" and takes a few steps forward.
• Team 1 calls out, "What do you do there?" and takes a few steps forward, until they are about 1 -2 metres from Team 2.
• Team 2 says, "Something starting with [eg. B]" and mimes the action that the chose.
• Team 1 must guess the action that they are miming.
• If they guess correctly, they must chase members of Team 2 and try and catch them before they are behind their home line.
• Any players that they tag must join Team 1.
• The roles of the teams now swap.
• The game ends if one team captures all the players from the other team.

People to People

Name: People to People
Number of players: 15+
Age: 5+
Necessary equipment: none

How to Play

• Players starts in partners, with one person in the centre. (The facilitator may have to step in as this game requires an odd number of players.)
• The person in the centre calls out instructions such as "back to back", "elbow to knee", "head to shoulder".
• The partners must carry out the instruction by placing the two named body parts together. (Obviously there is potential here for inappropriate combinations; the maturity of the players needs to be considered!)
• After a few instructions, the player in the centre calls, "people to people!"
• All players must run around the circle to find a new partner. The player in the middle must also find a partner.
• The player who ends up without a partner stands in the centre and begins the process again.

This game is self-replicating and generally requires little input from the facilitator. It can be used as an excellent 'get to know you' game, where players must introduce themselves to their new partner before the next round can begin.

Bump Tag

Name: Bump Tag (or Bump)
Number of players: 15+
Age group: 7+
Necessary equipment: none

How to play

• Get the players into pairs.
• Spread the pairs out in the playing area. Pairs must link arms.
• Split up one pair, and make one person the chaser and one person the chasee.
• The aim is for the chaser to catch the chasee.
• At any time, the chasee can "bump" into one of the pairs in the playing area.
• If the pair is "bumped" from the right, then the person on the left of the pair becomes the chasee, and vice versa.
• The original chasee must then link up with the person in the pair who is left to create a new pair.
• When the chaser catches the chasee, the roles are reversed.

The Blanket Name Game

Name: The Blanket Name Game
Number of players: 10-20
Age: 5+
Necessary equipment: A blanket or sheet

How to play

• Ensure that the group has had a chance to learn each other's names.
• Split the group into two teams.
• Two people need to hold the blanket up so that the two teams cannot see each other.
• Each team chooses one member to come to the front of the group.
• When both teams are ready, the helpers drop the blanket.
• The first person to say the name of the person on the other team wins.
• The person who loses must then join the opposing team.
• The blanket is held up again and teams select a new player.
• Play continues until one team has no players left.

This is a great game for learning names, and can be played multiple times so that everyone gets a chance to learn others' names. For groups that already know each other's names, the game is more about the speed of response.

Line Tag

Name: Line Tag
Number of players: 10+
Age: 5+
Necessary equipment: An area with multiple intersecting lines (eg. a sports hall)

How to play

• Nominate one person (or more, if the group is large) to be the tagger.
• Everyone in the game (including the person who is in) must only run on the marked lines.
• If someone is tagged, they can:
• be out of the game (meaning the game goes on until the tagger has caught everybody)
• become the tagger instead of the person who is in (meaning that the game goes on indefinitely)
• become the tagger as well as the person who is in (meaning the games goes on until everyone is a tagger)
  

Bench Ball

Name: Bench Ball
Number of players: 14+
Age group: 10+
Necessary equipment: benches, 4-10 balls, cones

How to play

• Set up a playing area with a bench at either end, and a line of cones down the middle.
• Split the group up into two teams.
• Each team stands one one side of the playing area.
• One member of each team stands on the bench opposite their team's area.
• Each team is given an even number of balls.
• Teams aim to throw their balls to their teammate on the bench, while at the same time defending to stop the other team from getting balls to their team member.
• For each ball they catch, the team scores one point.
• The player must remain on the bench when catching; if they fall of in the process the point does not count.
• Play ends after a certain number of points or a certain amount of time.
• Larger teams may wish to have multiple players on the bench, and use longer benches.
  

Variations

Bench Team Ball
Instead of scoring points, when the bench player catches the ball, the player who threw the ball joins them on the bench. The game stops when one team gets all their players onto the bench.

End Ball
Instead of benches, a row of cones is placed at each end of the playing area. This variation is safer if the players are not confident on the bench. It also gives players more space to move around.

Skills
Ball handling
Teamwork
Strategy

Paper Scissors Rock Champion

Name: Paper Scissors Rock Champion
Number of players: 20+
Age group: 5+
Necessary Equipment: none

How to Play

• Players split into pairs.
• Each pair plays one game of paper scissors rock.
• The loser of the game must then follow around the winner of the game as their 'cheerleader' ("Go Jason, go Jason, go Jason...).
• Any two winners get together and have another game of paper scissors rock.
• The loser of that game, and any of their cheerleaders, now become cheerleaders for the new winner.
• Game continues until one Paper Scissors Rock Champion is found. (At this point, all other players who started the game will be cheerleading for this single player.)

This game is great for large groups, and requires very little input from a facilitator. It is also a good "get-to-know-you" game as players are required to cheer for different people during the game.