Eraser Racer

The object of this game is for the eraser holder to get back to her seat without being tagged by the eraser racer.

Randomly choose a student to be the eraser holder. The eraser holder walks quietly about the room and gently places the eraser on another student’s head. This student is now the eraser racer.

The eraser racer and the eraser holder are now in a walking race to the holder’s desk. The eraser racer tries to walk quickly to the eraser holder’s desk and tag her before she sits down.

If the holder is tagged, she loses, and the eraser racer becomes a new eraser holder. If the holder makes it to her desk without being tagged, the eraser racer sits down and the holder chooses a new eraser holder. The game begins again.

The catch to the game is this. The eraser racer must keep the eraser balanced on his head through the entire race without touching it with his hands. If the eraser falls off, he must stop, place it back on his head, and continue the race.

With older students, the game may be played with up to four eraser holders and eraser racers. When more students play, it becomes harder to navigate around the room and tag holders, making it faster paced and more exciting

Four Corners

The object of this game is to be the last person standing.

Name the four corners of the classroom room before beginning the game. Examples of names are computer corner, art corner, door corner, teacher’s desk corner. Pick one student to be “It”.

The person who is “It” goes to the front of the room, and with eyes covered, slowly counts to ten. While the “It” is counting, the rest of the students quietly move to a corner of the room. All students must be in a corner by the time “It” finishes counting. Any students that are halfway between corners are out and must sit down at their desks.

“It” keeps his or her eyes covered, and calls out the name of a corner. All the students that are standing in that corner are out and must sit down at their desks. The game continues until only one student is left standing. That student becomes the new “It”.

Once the game is down to four or less students, make the rule that they must each choose a different corner. That ensures that there will always be one winner.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Pick one of your students (the leader) to stand at the front of the classroom while the rest of the group stands in an open space facing her. Tell the leader that she must try and confuse the other students by telling them to perform one action while she acts out another. For instance, while she tells the students to bounce on one foot, she rubs her stomach. The students all have to perform the action she tells them to perform. Any time a player performs the same action as the leader, he gets eliminated from the game. The last person standing, having only performed what the leader said throughout the game, wins.

Drawing Together

Prior to the start of the game, print out several copies of a simply drawn picture you can find on the Internet. Group your students into pairs and seat them down in their desks as they face each other. Put up a poster board or some other form of partition in between the pairs so they can no longer see each other. Hand one of the players---the leader---the picture and give the other player---the drawer---a piece of paper and a writing utensil. When you say "Go," the leaders have to give instructions to the drawers to recreate the picture. After about five minutes, tell everyone to stop and hold up their pictures. Survey them all and pick out which of the pairs did the best job working together based on the similarity of the recreated version of the picture to the original.

Heads or Tails

Students stand up and place their hands on their heads or hips to indicate how they think a coin toss will wind up. The teacher flips a coin and if it lands heads up, those students with hands on their hips (or "tails") must sit down. Continue playing until one student remains.

Outburst

Divide the class into two or more equal teams. Provide each team with paper and pencil. Instruct the teams that they will be competing to brainstorm and write down as many words starting with a certain letter as they can in 30 seconds. Repeat with different letters (try "harder" letters such as "Q" or "Z") to find the winner of two out of three

Squeeze My Hand

This activity works especially well for large groups. First, you must divide into two lines of equal numbers. These people need to be standing with legs spread out and hands held. One one end of the line you need a chair with a tennis ball on it. On the other side of the line you need a volunteer to stand with a coin. This "referee's" job is to hold the coin and flip it. It is the job of the two people in the front of the line (who are the only ones who have their eyes open) to look at the coin and if it is heads up, they need to silently squeeze the next person in line's hand. Then that person squeezes the next person's hand all the way to the end of the line. The last person must pick up the tennis ball, and the winning team gets a point. If a team picks up the ball without having heads or at the wrong time, they will lose a point. All players' eyes should be shut with the exception of the referee and the first one in line. It may be a good idea to use blindfolds so no cheating occurs. Also, if you want, you can rotate first person by having the front person move to the end of the line after each game so everyone gets a chance at the beginning and at the end.

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Meet Me Bingo

Everyone knows how to play regular bingo, but this type of bingo has a twist that makes it perfect for kids who are just getting to know each other. Either give students bingo cards or have them create their own. On the bingo cards, they need phrases, such as, "I speak two languages," or " I don't like to watch t.v." or "My favorite food is chicken." The job of the students is to go around the room and interview people about the phrases on their bingo board so that they can be the first to call "Bingo!" This is fun and gets the students up and moving.

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Compliments Game

This is a great activity to do with children after they have had a few weeks to get to know each other. Each student will have a piece of paper that they will write their name on. Put the papers on the desks. The students then will rotate seats until they have the chance to visit every other student's desk and paper. While they are at each desk, they are to write a compliment to that person. They are not to write anything mean. Share lots of examples with students because they are typically not familiar with giving compliments to one another and may have some difficulty coming up with unique compliments. Often you hear, "You're a great friend," or "You're nice." Teach the students how to elaborate on these concepts. This is a keepsake for children that they will treasure, the kind compliments from their classmates. The teacher can participate too. It feels great!

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