April... Favorite Things (Game Edition)

I feel like I have been a very bad blogger recently! There seems to be no time to get #allthethings done everyday. At school we have been working on some "fun" test prep activities which means we have a few spare minutes here and there. What a better way to spend that time than playing a class game!! Here are a few of my favorite games...

#1: Heads Up - Seven Up: This is one of my students' favorites. If you haven't ever played it... definitely give it a try tomorrow! Start by picking between 5 and 7 students to be "it". Base how many students you have it on how many students you have total. For example, I have 20 students in my room so I only have 5 "it" each round. If you have a larger class- scale that number up... smaller- scale it down. Once you have selected your "it" players, all the other students put their heads down on their desk (have them fold their arms and put their head in the crook of their elbow to avoid cheating). They also have to stick their thumb up on one of their hands. Once they are all heads down, send your "it" students out into the class to press ONE person's thumb down. They don't want to make a whole bunch of obvious noise... it might give them away!

Once all of your "it" students have chosen someone, they return to the front of the classroom and try to look absolutely innocent! Call "heads up - seven up" and the students can all put their heads up. If their thumb was pressed down, they stand up. Go one by one with the kids standing to see if they can choose who pressed their thumb down, they only get one guess. If they guess correctly, the "it" person switches spots with the person they pressed and the pressed thumb student now becomes an "it" kiddo. After all standing have placed their guesses and swaps have been made if they got it correct, start a new round!! So easy to play and you don't even need any materials.


#2: Four Corners: We play this game every couple of weeks during morning meeting. Place four pieces of paper (I use small erasers that I got from Target) with the numbers 1-4 in a cup. Designate each corner of your classroom as a number (1-4). Go in order clockwise... makes it easier for students to remember.

Students are going to get up and walk quickly to a corner (their choice). After they have had a few seconds, count down from 10 so everyone gets to a corner without switching a million times. If you catch any students when you get to 0 who are not in a corner- they are automatically out (trust me... you want this rule or you will have kids sneaking back and forth between corners). Then, you draw a number from the cup. Read it out loud and any students who are standing in the corner you drew are out! The game continues over and over until there are four or less students in the game. Then add the rule that there can only be one student in each corner. Keep counting/drawing numbers until you have one winner!

My kiddos sit on the floor in the middle of our room when they get out. They enjoy cheering on friends and trying to convince them to go to a specific corner!


#3: Toilet Tag: MY FAVORITE OUTSIDE GAME. You will need some materials- all of which should be relatively easy to find... you might even have them! You will need a large space to play in, four corner markers (I use orange cones that I purchased at Walmart in the toys/sports section for under $5), and a pool noodle. Cut the pool noodle in half using a scissors so you have two equal pieces. These are going to be your tagging noodles.

This is your basic freeze-tag type game... with fun toilet humor... every kid loves that... right?! To play, set up your four corners so students know where the playing space is. They cannot go outside the boundary. Then designate two taggers. They must hold the tagging noodle (have a quick convo about how they are not intended to be weapons... just extensions of their arms... and not smacking devices). Then yell GO! Students will scatter trying to get away from the taggers. If they get tagged, they must freeze, squat down and put their hand up and out to the side (like a toilet with the flushing handle). Other students can unfreeze them by pushing their hand down in a flushing motion and yelling "flush". Keep playing for a few minutes and then whistle to have them hand the tagging noodles to someone new. Rotate through students so lots of them get a chance to be a tagger. We just played this game outside the other day, here are a few pictures of them playing.

  

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