Monday, March 24, 2008

Greedy

OBJECT - Make the most baskets.

GAME TYPE - Elimination game.

WHO'S IT FOR - Group Three. You should have no more than ten people playing this game at once.

WHAT YOU NEED - A basketball hoop and enough basketballs so each player can have one. The basketballs should be unique enough that players can tell them apart. This can be a marking on the ball, or an entirely different style of ball. You should also have a scorecard.

HOW TO PLAY:
  1. Have each player line up outside the three point line, and give each a basketball.
  2. On the word "GO", every player shoots their basketballs to try to make a basket.
  3. When a player misses, they must get the rebopund (and make sure it is their ball), and shoot from where they got the rebound. They may not move closer to the basket. If a ball goes out of bounds, the player may bring the ball back in bounds before shooting again.
  4. Once a player makes a shot, they yell "POINT" and run back to the three point line to start shooting again.
  5. Keep track of the points. When a player scores five baskets, they can stop and move off the court.
  6. The last player shooting (who doesn't make five points) is eleiminated.
  7. Players start again from behiond the three point line. In the next round, you only need four points. The next round, and all rounds after that, need only three points.
  8. Players can use their basketballs to block other shots, throwing their balls in the air to knock another one off its flight path. The danger in this, however, is that you have to shoot from where your ball goes, which will probably be somewhere in the wrong direction.
  9. Keep eleiminating until one player is left standing. This player wins.

This game can get pretty chaotic, so make sure everyone knows exactly which ball is theirs.

THIS WORKS ON - Competition (trying to score the most baskets while everyone else is shooting), athletic ability (basketball skills)

Costume Relay

OBJECT - Win the race.

GAME TYPE - Racing game.

WHO'S IT FOR - Group Two. You need at least four people for this race, but the more the merrier.

WHAT YOU NEED - Lots of old clothes, including hats, scarves, shirts, pants, skirts, gloves, shoes, sunglasses, masks, etc. Be creative.

HOW TO PLAY:
  1. Divide the players into at least two teams, more if you have enough.
  2. Have the players stand at one end of the race track, with a box of clothes at the opposite end.
  3. Before starting the race, let each team know what they must have in order to win. For example, they should have a hat, pants, a shirt, a scarf, a belt, shoes, and one other item they can decide on. The players may decide which article of clothing to grab when they reach the box of clothes, or you can designate each player to get something.
  4. On the word "GO", the first two players race to the box and grab one of the clothing items from their list (or the article of clothing they have been assigned). They must put it on and race back to the start.
  5. When the players reach the start, they take off the clothing piece they grabbed (such as a hat) and put it on the next player. The next player then runs to the box, grabs another article of clothing, puts it on, and runs back.
  6. Whenever a player reaches the start, they must take off everything they've gotten from the box and put it on the next player.
  7. When a runner puts on the last article of clothing they needed from the box, they run back to start and put the entire costume on the next player. That player must run back to the box, put everything back, and run back. The first team to finish the race wins.

You don't have to have the last player put everything back. If you want, you can end the race when they've completed the costume, then take votes on who has the best outfit.

THIS WORKS ON - Athletic ability (running the race), teamwork (dressing your teammates), creativity (deciding what the best outfit would look like), functional skills (dressing, identifying articles of clothing)

Eyes and Feet

OBJECT - Guess who's behind the sheet.

GAME TYPE - Observation game.

WHO'S IT FOR - Group One. Three or more people can play this game, but it's more fun and much harder if there's more.

WHAT YOU NEED - A sheet with a hole for the eyes cut out. The hole shouldn't be too high on the sheet, but high enough so the shortest player can look through them.

HOW TO PLAY:
  1. Hang your prepared sheet up in a doorway. Make sure you can't see around it.
  2. Choose one player to be IT. All other players go to the other side of the sheet.
  3. One at a time, a player comes up to the sheet and puts their eyes to the eye hole.
  4. IT must decide who the eyes in the eyehole belong to.
  5. Have every player look through the eyehole, and have IT decide who belongs to each pair.
  6. Once IT has seen all the eyes, choose another IT. They go through the same process.
  7. The winner is the player who identified the most eyes correctly.

As a variation, and the reason this game is called Eyes and Feet, you can raise the sheet high enough so only the player's feet are visible, and have IT identify them that way.

THIS WORKS ON - Observational skills (noticing attributes that belong to others), matching (matching eyes or feet to other players)