Crows and Cranes
Community Level 1 – Acquainted
Materials: An open space with marked boundaries, a center line, and a safety zone for two groups
Cooperation Bocce Ball
Community Level 1 – Acquainted
Materials: Set of small plastic golf balls or equivalent, 5 x 7 index card
How To Play: Leader places one 5 x 7 index card on the floor.
Each player takes a turn rolling his ball toward the card. One point is
awarded for each ball that touches the card. Two points are awarded each
time a player cooperates by rolling her ball into another, thereby
bumping it closer to the card. Keep score until all players have had a
chance to roll.
Configurations
Community Level 1 – Acquainted
Materials: Names of objects printed on note cards prepared ahead of time
How To Play: Divide class into groups and hand out note cards
with objects named. Players “build” their object using only the members
of the group. For example, groups could build a bus, a helicopter, a
merry-go-round, and a waterfall. The group configurations can be
moveable or stationary. Groups share one configuration at a time while
the rest of the class guesses what the object is.
Chickadee Hand Game
Community Level 1 – Acquainted
Materials: None
How To Play: Teachers and students can invent hand gestures and sounds to accompany this simple rhyming chant.
Chicka-dis, chicka-dat,
Chicka wear a black hat!
Chickadee, chicka-die,
Don’t you wish you could fly?
Chickadee, chicka-doe,
Chicka where would you go?
Chicka way up high,
Chicka way down low!
Check My Beat
Community Level 1 – Acquainted
Materials: None
How to play: Participants stand in a circle. The teacher
establishes a steady four-beat rhythm through clapping or light
knee-slapping. To be sure all players are clear about the rhythm, all
count “1 – 2 – 3 – 4” aloud a few times. In rhythm, the beginning
person says:
“Here’s my rhythm – now, check my beat:”
/ / / / / / / / (student invents a rhythm within 4-beat tempo)
Chain Reaction
Community Level 1 – Acquainted
Materials: None
Category Snap
Community Level 1 – Acquainted
Materials: None
Catch My Clap
Community Level 1 – Acquainted
Materials: None
How To Play: This is a good transition activity. There is no
talking in this game. One player is the leader. All players rub their
hands together. They watch the leader and when she claps, they try to
clap in unison.
Cat and Mouse Trap
Community Level 1 – Acquainted
Materials: None
How To Play: Five players hold hands in a circle to create the
“trap.” One player is the cat, who stands a little away from the circle
with his back to the circle. The rest of the players are the mice, and
they stand in a circle around the trap.
Buzz
Community Level 1 – Acquainted
Materials: Paper and pencil
How To Play: Around the room or circle, players count
sequentially. Each time a multiple of 7 or number with 7 in it is
named, the player whose turn it is must say “Buzz.”
EXAMPLE: Players count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Buzz, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,
Buzz, 15, 16, Buzz, and so on. When a mistake is made, players start
again.
Build a Story
Community Level 1 – Acquainted
Materials: None
How To Play: Players sit in a circle. The leader asks the first
player to begin telling a story on a given topic. After a few words or
sentences, the leader says, “Cut!” The next player begins exactly where
the previous one left off. If a mistake is made or a part left out,
another player can call out, “Rewind!” and take the story back to the
point of the error and correct it.
Examples:
Topic: Current novel-Retell the second chapter
Build A Sentence
Community Level 1 – Acquainted
Materials: Paper or note cards, pencils
How To Play: Partner the players. Players brainstorm a list of
words with four to six letters (in a category works well). Each
partnership chooses a word. They then create a sentence by using each
letter in their word as a beginning letter for the words.
For example: BEAR Better eat and run!
Each partner pair shares its sentence with the whole group. You can
continue a few more times with other words from the brainstormed list.