You have a group of campers form a circle, about an arm’s width apart from each other. Two campers who have volunteered stand in the middle of the circle. The two campers in the middle of the circle are blind folded and spun around. A leader places an item ÛÏThe Mystery BopperÛ somewhere within the circle. It can be next …
Read More30 Cooperative Games for All Ages
Foster team building and communication in your group by leading cooperative camp games. These activities may appeal to the "thinkers" in your group who prefer non-competitive activities or more cerebral challenges! The activities in this popular section give fun challenges that require thinking, communicating, and planning.
Tips for leading cooperative games:
- Create an interesting storyline. Instead of telling your group to get up on the log and balance, ask them to imagine that they are secret agents who are escaping the evil enemy and that they must wait patiently on the beam suspended 100 feet above the ground while the guards leave, etc.
- Make the rules age appropriate. Some children can do a challenge using a "quick as you can" or "world record" approach, while other groups can be challenged with blindfolds, consequences, or a "countdown clock" time challenge.
- Introduce activities that are easiest first and make them progressively harder. You want your group to experience success and fun early and be relaxed working with each other. Sometimes games that are too challenging create disinterest and frustration in the group at the start - and that's rarely good!
- Debrief the activities by discussing the different things participants did to accomplish the different steps of the activity. Call out any lessons to be learned or remembered for future challenges. For example, "You mentioned that choosing a leader made the activity go faster. How do you think that helped?"
- Most of all, have fun! If an activity was stressful for your group, throw in a quick fun activity to reset the mood before moving on to the next challenge.
The Ship Game
LOTS OF PEOPLE To be the last of the crew This is the ship game. There is one person in the front of everyone else, this person is the captain, and everyone else is the crew. The captain will shout out commands and everyone has to follow. Basic commands are: Portside- everyone runs to the left Starboard- everyone runs to …
Read MoreToe Pick-Up
2 receptacles, such as buckets, sturdy bags, bowls Large number of single items to be picked up with one’s toes: marble, crayon, stuffed toy, envelope, etc. Leader with notepad & pen to facilitate Quickly work within a team to accomplish a task Gather a large number of itemsÛÓone of eachÛÓwhich can be picked up with varying degrees of difficulty with …
Read MoreWhat’s the Object?
This is a simple game which requires good describing skills. Children should be organized into teams (with approximately three children per team). One child from each team should be given a card. They should then try to describe what is on the card, but they are not allowed to use the words which are written on the card.
Read MoreWhich Pair?
Each player’s pair of shoes, Blindfolds Divide the group into pairs. Have each partner take a good look at his partner’s shoes. Ask one person from each pair to take off his shoes. Put the shoes in a pile in the center of the playing area. Blindfold the partner who is still wearing his shoes. On “GO”, the blindfolded partner …
Read MoreWindows and Doors
A bunch of kids form a circle holding hands. Then they spead out enough so that everyone’s arms are straightened out forming large spaces between kids. These are the windows and doors. Then one child would start running and weaving in and out between children. As they do this, the kids in the circle would randomly drop their arms down …
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