[lwcteach]

Does anyone know of any good whole class games to play during recess now that it is cold and we are staying inside more? We play with board games and puzzles some days and heads up seven up some, but I am looking for a few different games. I remember playing some others when I was younger and in school but can't remember any of them now.

[lynnylubner]

A teacher I know plays "Quiet Ball." She uses a Nerf ball and students pass it to each other. If they talk, they're out, and if they drop the ball they're out. I guess the kids really like it.

What about turning on Kid music and letting them sing and dance?

I let my kids determine what they want to play. Some get games out, some read, some draw, and some just hang out and talk.

You could also develop centers for recess and rotate...Suggestions: You would have 5 groups, and they would do a different center each day of the week
Center 1: Games
Center 2: Flashcards
Center 3: Computers
Center 4: Drawing
Center 5: Arts/Crafts
Just some suggestion,s I don't know if it would work, or end of being too much work!

[Maestra]

We play "mums" which is like the PP "quiet ball game". The kids sit on their desk and toss the ball to each other. No talking, no giggling! Teacher decides what is a good throw.

Another game is 4 corners. The kids divide themselves up and stand in one of the 4 corners of the room. One child is "it" and covers his eyes and counts to 15. The kids change corners while he is counting. When he is done counting he names a corner and all the kids standing in that corner have to sit down. Game continues until 1 is left standing.

Eraser Tag. Pretty self-explanatory. I usually pick a boy and a girl. Then I call who chases who. I can switch mid-way. The object is to tag the other person w/o the eraser falling off. Can be very hilarious.

Spelling games like Sparkle and Hangman are another possibility.

[ndtchr]

What is "heads up, seven up"?

I have found with my class this year that if they can move rather than sit playing games, the afternoon goes better. I have been putting on some "movement CD's " that they have to listen to in order to follow the directions. One is "Catch a Brain Wave Fitness Fun". Some of the songs are easier to follow than others but the children do wear off a little excess energy.
I also have a Disney one, "Dancin' Tunes" that has "YMCA", the twist, "The Chicken Dance", the swim. The kids like this also.

I have heard of people using games on the overhead - one I think was Battleship. Is anyone familiar with that?

Thanks

[AussieBird]

HEADS UP ,SEVEN UP. In Australia we call this "HEADS DOWN,THUMBS UP." It's good to play as a break between lessons or when the children come in very hot on hot days also.

Choose seven students to be 'It'. Those students go to the front of the room. The other students put their heads on their desks so they can't see , resting elbows on desks with arms up and thumbs pointing upwards. The seven 'Its' tiptoe around the room. Each taps one of the seated students on one thumb and once tapped the child has to put his thumbs down so he cannot be tapped twice).

The 'Its' return to the front when they have tapped one thumb. When all seven Its return to the front of the room, they say in unison, "Heads up, stand up" (ie if you were tapped .) Each student who was tapped has an opportunity to guess which student tapped him or her. If a student guesses correctly, he or she replaces the person who did the tapping; if not, that IT stays in for another round.
The game begins again when all have had a chance to guess.

[AussieBird]

PASS THE CHICKEN!
In this game, nobody wants to hold the rubber chicken -- the game's only prop!

To begin the game, all students sit in a circle. Select one person to be It. That person holds the rubber chicken. The teacher or a "caller" says to the person holding the chicken, "Name five presidents of the United States"( for example). Pass the chicken!"

As soon as the caller says, "Pass the chicken," the person holding the chicken passes it to the right. Students quickly pass the chicken around the circle. If it returns to the original holder before he or she can name five presidents of the United States, the holder is still It. Otherwise, the person holding the chicken when It finishes listing five presidents is the new It.

You should prepare the topic cards for this game in advance. Topics can relate to your curriculum or be general information topics. The student who is It must name five items in the called-out category in order to get rid of the dreaded chicken!
Some Suggested Topics
• fast-food restaurants
• authors of children's books
• countries in South America
• sports teams
• things that grow in the desert
• vegetables
• cartoon characters
• musical groups
• cereals
• rivers in the United States
• candy bars made with chocolate
• large bodies of water
• aquatic animals
• cities in [your state]
• capital cities around world....

[AussieBird]

CHAIN REACTION
You can easily adapt this game to many areas of the curriculum. The teacher writes a category on the chalkboard -- foods, for example.

Each student writes the letters A to Z on a sheet of paper. The students have five minutes to create an alphabetical list of as many foods as they can think of. Then the game begins.

The first student must tell the name of a food. The second person must give the name of a food that begins with the last letter of the food given by the first person. The third person must name a food that begins with the last letter of the second person's food and so on. One at a time, students are eliminated.


Other possible categories: cities; songs; things in nature (for older students, animal names or plant names); people's first names (for older students, famous people's last names or, more specifically, authors' names).