Alibi

The object of this game is to find the perpetrator of a crime.

Send one person out of the room. This person will be the detective. While the person waits outside the room, think of a simple crime. An example of a crime might be that someone stole the teacher’s lunch. Another example might be that someone broke the classroom CD player. Each of the students in the room must think of an alibi for where they were or what they were doing. It can be silly or serious.

Before the detective comes back into the room, choose a criminal. The criminal must think of another alibi, different from the first one, but similar enough to be confusing. For example, if one alibi is, “I was eating fries at the Burger Barn,” the second alibi might be, “I was eating fries at Burger King.”

Have the detective come into the room. The detective moves around the room, asking each student to state their alibi. The detective can ask students their alibis up to three times. All students except the criminal must repeat their alibis exactly the same every time. The criminal must "lie" and change her alibi each time she is asked.

If the detective suspects someone of committing the crime, he can accuse that student. If he guesses correctly, he wins that round, and he gets to choose the next detective. If he doesn’t win, the criminal confesses, and she becomes the next detective.

Bizz Buzz

One student goes first and says the number "one." Play continues around the circle with each player saying the subsequent number. The twist is that any number divisible by three is replaced by the word "bizz " and any number divisible by five is replaced by the word "buzz." Numbers divisible by both three and five become "bizz-buzz." When a player says "bizz-buzz," direction of play is reversed. Any player who makes a mistake is out and play starts over

Telephone Pictionary

Each person in the group gets a pencil and a piece of paper. Each person thinks of a simple sentence and writes it on the top piece of paper. Then each player passes her stack of paper with the sentence on top to the person on her left. That person must then move the top paper to the back of the stack and draw a picture on the second piece of paper to illustrate the sentence. The stack is passed again, with the next player writing a simple sentence based on the drawing he sees. Finally, each person shares how her sentence changed as it went around the circle.

Zoom & Re-Zoom

• This engaging group activity helps develop communication skills, perspective taking, and problem solving skills.
• This game is based on the intriguing, wordless, picture books "Zoom" and "Re-Zoom" by Istvan Banyai which consist of 30 sequential "pictures within pictures". The Zoom narrative moves from a rooster to a ship to a city street to a desert island and outer space. Zoom has been published in 18 countries. The Re-Zoom narrative moves from an Egyptian hieroglyphic to a film set to an elephant ride to a billboard to a train.
• To create the game from the book, separate the picture pages of the book into one page sheets and laminate or place in clear plastic sleeves to protect them and prolong usage.
• Hand out one picture per person (make sure a continuous sequence is used).
• Explain that participants may only look at their own pictures and must keep their pictures hidden from others.
• Encourage participants to study their picture, since it contains important information to help solve a problem.
• The challenge is for the group to sequence the pictures in the correct order without looking at one another's pictures.
• Participants will generally mill around talking to others to see whether their pictures have anything in common. Sometimes leadership efforts will emerge to try to understand the overall story.
• When the group believes they have all the pictures in order (usually after ~15 minutes), the pictures can be turned over for everyone to see.

Koosh Ball

1. Everyone stands in a circle. One person starts by throwing the koosh ball to another person.

2. Continue passing the ball around so that everyone gets the ball once. The ball should end up with the person who started it.

3. Remember the order and then time how fast the group can get the ball through everyone.

4. See if the group can beat their fastest time!

Skills -- Concentration and Team Work

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Counting

1. Class forms a circle, looking down with no eye contact.

2. One person at a time, but in no preplanned order or pattern, the group needs to count from one to ten.

3. If two people speak at once, they have to start over.

4. If you get past ten... see how high you can go!

Skills -- Ensemble, Giving and Taking Focus

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Zig Zag Zop!

1. Everyone is in a circle. One person starts by saying, "zig" and looking at another person.

2. That person now says, "zag" while looking at another person.

3. Now the third person says, "zop" while looking at another person and pointing to them with a fully extended arm. Only "zop" has the arm motion. If a person moves their arm on "zig" or "zag" he/she is out and must sit down. If a person does not move their arm on "zop" he/she is out and must sit down.

Advanced -- Speed it up. If a person hesitates, he/she is out

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