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In the last couple of weeks of the autumn term it can sometimes feel like you’re not teaching anything of any value; life can get taken up with commitments to concerts and card making as well as increasingly fractious and excitable children to contend with.  (a few teachers too probably!)

So I thought I’d offer a few games that are fun to play but also designed to promote cooperation and thinking – with and about others.  Some of the ideas also address speaking and listening skills, develop vocabulary as well as being physically active.

You might need to clear a space in the classroom, go into the hall or if you have the opportunity to go outside where children can also benefit from the fresh air and more space – then that’s all the better.  A lot of children can feel a bit ‘fusty’ and confined on dark winter days and just 20 minutes or half an hour playing a game outside can change moods, and motivations massively.

Pass the Hedgehog

Prepare some categories that are appropriate for your children: For example:

Fruits

Musical instruments

Cities

Places in your school ground

Things that are round

Things you cannot eat

Things that float

Sit in circle.  Choose a child at random to be ‘IT’.  They are to be the first to start the game

Give them the toy hedgehog (or may be a rubber chicken /turkey given the time of year)

Then announce the category (Fruits) – ask that child to start passing the hedgehog to their right around the circle

The challenge is to think of 5 things in that category before the hedgehog gets back to the start.

Other children can then have a turn with another category (repeating that one)

A variation might be to have children work in pairs to think of 5 or more things.

Pass without Holding

Children stand or sit in a circle and hold their hands palm up in front of them. You introduce a ball or balloon or other object for them to pass around the circle – without grasping it in anyway. You can have two circles or more going at the same time and introduce a timed element if you wish. Changing the size of the ball or object will add difficulty. Encourage children to think and share their best strategies for not dropping it too often.

Another variation is to pass the hedgehog (or other designated object) around the circle with a ‘No hands’ rule. (If your group is large you can have a few objects going at the same time)

Balloon Uppies

Circles of children – introduce a balloon that they have to keep inside the circle and not touching the floor at any time. Start with hands being allowed

Then perhaps chest, knees and shoulders – but not feet

Then insist on knees and feet only

And so on…

Cooperative Hoops

You will need some plastic hoops – start with half the number of children.  Place them on the ground and play music or count as they have to skip, walk or run around the hoops.  They are not allowed to touch or go inside a hoop until you give the signal.

At the signal they have to move inside a hoop – You can make it a rule that to be ‘inside’ the hoop might mean just one foot inside the hoop but the other foot cannot be touching the ground outside the hoop.

Remove one hoop each time so more children have to fit inside each hoop.

Talk about how they can help each other so everyone is always inside a hoop. The only ‘failure’ to this task is to not help someone else.