ACTIVITIES

 

Balloon Bounce

Either in partners or a giant group circle, keep one or more balloons from touching the ground by bouncing the balloon off of hands and passing them.  Make it more challenging by not letting the same child hit it twice in a row.

 

Team Sled Pull PAGE 83 (Fire Rig Pull)

Fill a box with really heavy books or weights.  Tie a rope around the box and have a group of children work together to pull the box a certain distance.

 

Group Concentration

Challenge small groups to lower a paper plate to the ground.  Every kid must be touching the plate but with only two fingers touching the underside.  If the paper plate is too challenging, this can also be done with a hula hoop.

 

Partner Picture Challenge

Have kids sit back to back with a partner.  Give one child crayons and the other a very simple picture.  Without peeking, the one must give directions to the other on how to recreate the image.  This can also be done with Legos or other blocks.  Take a picture ioff what you want them to build and provide them with the appropriate pieces.  (Either color patterns, or don't worry about colors and focus on shapes if you don't have enough of one color). 

 

Spider-Man Web

Work together to create a giant spiderweb.  Sitting in chairs in a circle, pass a ball of yarn back and forth among the group and have the kids wrap the ball of yarn around one of the legs on their chair when it is passed to them.  Continue until you have the desired web design or the yarn runs out.  

 

Zip, Zap, Zop/Zip, Zap, Boing

A fun icebreaker for tweens testing their speed, agility and reflexes.  Form a circle.  Play starts with one person clapping their hands and pointing in the direction of another player while saying, "Zip!" That player then claps their hands at another saying, "Zap!"  They may not point to the person that picked them.  The next player must say, "Zop!" when they pass their clap along.  After "Zop!" you start again with "Zip!" Always in that order, ZIP, ZAP, ZOP.  If a player says the wrong word, doesn't respond quickly, or forgets to clap toward another player, they must sit out.

• Zip, Zap, Boing is a similar game with a few changes to make it a little more difficult. A "Zip" is passed around the circle in the same direction.  A "Zap" is passed accross the circle.  Instead of passing a "Zip" or "Zap" a player may say "BOING" while throwing their arms in the air.  This reverses the direction of the "ZIP".  This is supposed to be a fast passed game to help with reflexes and attention.