of what teaching is.
Classrooms have a structure and limits (and walls!!). Camp is for fun and relaxation, school is for learning--those are the expectations going in. I'm also betting that the children have 9 months of restriction to blow off in the first few weeks of camp.
Adding some structure to the camp may give both you and the children a respite. You might want to teach some traditional games that are largely ignored these days, but give a good release if you can get their faces out of their screens.
Red Light, Green Light
With enough room, this game can easily be played inside. One person is the traffic light at one end, and the other players are at the other end. When the traffic light faces the group, he or she says, “Red light!” and everyone must freeze. The traffic light then turns his or her back and says, “Green light!” while the group tries to get as close to the traffic light as possible. The traffic light turns around quickly, again saying, “Red light!”, and if anyone is spotted moving, they have to go back to the starting place. The first person to tag the traffic light wins and gets to be the next traffic light.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.
Mother, May I
This game is set up in the same way as Red Light Green Light. One person in the group asks the person in the front, “Mother, may I take <insert number> steps forward?” The person at the front then says, “Yes, you may.” or “No, you may not.” You can vary your requests by including options such as taking baby steps, spinning steps, leaps or whatever strikes your fancy. Again, the first person to tag the person in the front wins and is the next person in the front.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.
Simon Says
This game can be played anywhere, even in a car or other small space. One person is Simon and starts by saying, “Simon says, ‘[insert action here]’. ” Everyone must then do the action. However, if Simon makes an action request without saying, “Simon says” to begin the request, anyone who does that action is out. The last person still playing in the end will be Simon for the next round.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.
Tag
It seems that everyone knows how to play tag, but just in case it wasn’t in your childhood game playing repertoire, here is how you play. A group of kids decides who will start out as being “it.” That person chases the other people around, trying to tag one of them with their hand. The newly tagged person is now “it.” There is often the rule of “no tag-backs” where you can’t tag the person who just tagged you. The game ends when everyone is tired of playing.
Number of Players: Any size group.
Equipment: None.
Shadow Tag
In this fun version of Tag, you tag each other’s shadow with your feet instead of tagging their body. Thus, it must be played on a sunny day. The closer to noon, the greater the difficulty.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.
Freeze Tag
This is a variation of Tag where if the person who is “it” tags you, you have to freeze where you are. Another participant can tag you to unfreeze you.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.
TV Tag
A variation of Freeze Tag where the person unfreezing the frozen player has to call out a TV show title. That show then can’t be used again during that game.
Number of Players: A small group.
Equipment: None.
Red Rover
Divide everyone into two teams, each forming a long line, holding hands, facing the other team. The two teams should be around 20 or so feet apart. The teams take turn calling out, “Red Rover, Red Rover, let <insert child’s name> come over!” That child leaves their team’s line, runs as fast as they can toward the other line and tries to break through the held hands. If they break through, they get to take someone back to their team. If they don’t, they join the new team. When a team only has one person left, that person tries to break through the other team. If they do not, then their team loses. If they do, they gain a player and play continues.
Number of Players: Any decent size group.
Equipment: None.
Telephone
This game is one in which most people end up laughing quite a bit, so if you’re in the mood for silliness, give it a go. Players sit in a circle. One person thinks up a sentence or phrase and whispers it to the next person. That person repeats it to the person on their other side. This continues around the circle. When it finally reaches the last person, that person says the sentence out loud. Hilarity ensues. The ending sentence is usually quite changed from the beginning sentence, since errors tend to compound as they go around the circle.
Number of Players: A small group. [larger groups work, too.]
Equipment: None.
To calm them down, they can sit in a circle and clap hands-slap legs to give a rhythm to "going on a lion hunt." Children repeat each line after the leader with gestures. The final retreat from the lion is a very fast rhythm.
https://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/c/...lion_hunt.html
You can also have them sit in a circle and "pass along" a sound--start a sound (clicking, siren imitation, etc) the next person reproduces it and then changes it, passing it to the next one who imitates and changes, etc. The same can be done with arm gestures (just watch the finger gestures
) or done whole body standing up in a circle.
If you have some equipment even just balls much can be added to these, there are many ball passing relays (over head, between legs) done as a race between groups, playing catch across a circle, other ball games, etc.
Consult the web and your local library for games and books of games, there's lots.
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06-01-2018, 06:36 PM
