Requirements
Objective
Description
Here are some camp tested-kid approved games that offer one thing…a Guaranteed Good Time! You can play these games just about anywhere and they require little to no equipment other than a great sense of humor!
Ah soh koh
Everyone sits in a circle, and learns the 3 commands and their movements.
1) Ah ÛÒ the person says ÛÏAhÛ loudly, and takes their left or right arm across their chest, pointing at the person next to them
2) Soh – the person says ÛÏSohÛ loudly, and takes their left or right arm above their head, pointing at the person next to them
3) Koh ÛÒ the person puts both arms together in front of them and point to someone else, anywhere in the circle.
The phrases must always go in that order, and each phrase needs its correct hand motion. You go when you are pointed at by someone next to you using ÛÏahÛ or ÛÏsoh,Û or by someone across from you using ÛÏkoh.Û When you are ÛÏkohÛed at by someone you can either start again with ÛÏAhÛ or put your hands up and say ÛÏnooooooo.Û If you say ÛÏnooooooooÛ then the person who said ÛÏkohÛ has to start again with ÛÏAh.Û If you mess up, you step out of the circle and walk around the outside trying to confuse people by shouting random words.
HA HA HA
Have everyone lie in a circle with each other’s head’s on each other’s stomachs. On Û÷go’, the first person will shout Û÷HA’ and then it will be repeated one by one clock-wise around the circle. (When you do this everyone’s heads bounce up on the person’s stomachs). Then you shout two Û÷HA HA’s’ and go around. Continue doing this and increase the number of Û÷HA’s!’ See if you can get up to 10 HA HA’s without everyone going bananas laughing!
Have you ever? or Postman
Everyone stands or sits in a circle. The one person without a chair or a place marker is “it”.
The “it” will say something about themselves. For example, “Have you ever gone swimming in the Atlantic Ocean?”
Anyone in the circle that has that in common must move to a new spot in the circle. Each move has to be at least two place markers or chairs from where they started.
Whoever is left without a place marker will be it and will tell something about themselves.
Requirements:
A chair or place marker for every person in the group except one.
Objective:
To find things that a group has in common.
Honey if you love meÛ_
The group starts in a circle with one person in the middle. This person tries to get others to laugh by saying ÛÏHoney if you love me you’ll smile.Û The person on the outside must respond without smiling or laughing saying “Honey, I love you but I just can’t smile.” The person in the middle can do various things, without touching anyone, to get another person to smile. If the person does smile then they will become the center person.
Jab-er-quackie
1. Get the group in a circle.
2. Pick 1 person to be outside of the circle. Once the game starts they are to yell “Jab-er-quckie” as loud as they can over and over again to guide the people in the middle to them.
3. Pick another person to be outside the circle. They are to yell “Jab-er-walkie” as loud as they can over and over to guide the people in the middle to them, to confuse them.
4. Pick # [1-3 is usually good] to be in the middle. They must walk with their hands touching their feet [so bent over] and their eyes closed once the game starts.
5. Pick an opening in the circle for the people in the middle to walk though, person one must direct them to the circle yelling “Jab-er-quackie” and person two must yell “Jab-er-walkie” to distract them.
6. Meanwhile, the rest of the circle is singing “Row Row Row Your Boat” at the top of their lungs to mix everything up and oh, “whattaaa party!!!” GREAT GAME!
King Lizard
Everyone sits in the circle and picks an animal, a motion and a noise for that animal.
One person “sends” the action to another person by making their own noise/motion, and then someone else’s noise/motion. That person, in turn, makes their noise/motion, and then another person’s.
For example, in a game with a cat, a dog, and a monkey, the action might be as follows:
Cat Dog
Dog Cat
Cat Monkey
Monkey Dog
Dog Cat
and so forth…
Cat, monkey, and dog are commonly used, but creativity is encouraged…the sillier, the better!
If someone “messes up” (stumbles over their noise, does the wrong combination of noise and motion, or hesitates too long), they’re out for that round. Last person still in is the winner.
**Non-competitive version: no one gets out (no matter how much they mess up)–the game continues until everyone gets bored. Animals will get crazier with time!
Scissors
Scissors is a neat trick to have in your bag for those down times when everyone is getting bored. Unfortunately, you can not do it more than once with the same group. If you do not have a pair of scissors, two sticks, two pencils or anything which can simulate open or closed scissors will do.
Have the group sit in a circle. While passing the scissors to the person on his/her right, the leader says “I receive the scissors (either open or closed) and I pass them (either open or closed)”.
The person receiving repeats the statement while passing to the next person. The leader (and anyone else who has caught on to the trick) announces if each part of the statement is right or wrong. Continue until everyone can pass the scissors correctly.
The trick has nothing to do with the scissors. Open and closed refer to whether the person’s legs or feet are crossed (closed) or uncrossed (open) when receiving and passing.
This activity usually generates some discussion about the importance of looking past the obvious and thinking creatively.
Requirements:
Two sticks or pencils, or a pair of scissors.
Woosh
Have everyone in your group make a circle. The leader pulls an invisible Û÷woosh’ ball from their pocket. They explain that the woosh ball is very light and it just sort of floats there in their hand. When passing the woosh ball it actually makes the noise ÛÏwoosh.Û So when passing, either to the right or left, it makes the ÛÏwooshÛ sound. The person receiving the woosh ball has many options. They can receive the woosh and pass it along. They can say ÛÏWaoÛ and put their hands up to refuse the woosh, in which case the person trying to pass the woosh ball must turn to their other side to pass it. Sometimes when a person gets the woosh ball they get so excited and the energy of the woosh ball takes over their soul and they go ÛÏfreakalistic,Û which in turn makes the entire group go ÛÏfreakalistic.Û Everyone must dance around in the circle and find a new place to stand. The object of the ÛÏfreakalisticÛ is to get as silly as possible. If someone in the circle falters when they get passed the woosh, or messes up the flow, they must ÛÏboing.Û A ÛÏboingÛ is a physical admission that they messed up the flow of the woosh. They put their hands together above their head and bend at the knees and say, ÛÏboing.Û
This is a WHAT?
The group sits in a circle. You will need several objects which you can pass from hand to hand around the circle (ball cap, shoe, hackey sac etc.).
The leader starts by looking to the person sitting next to him with an object in his hand (lets say a shoe). He says ÛÏthis is a shoeÛ. She responds ÛÏa what?Û, he says Ûa shoeÛ, she says Ûa whatÛ, he says Ûa shoeÛ, she takes the shoe and says Ûoh, a shoeÛ.
She then turns to the next person and starts the same interaction with that person. The leader can then add more items into the mix, starting the same way, and joining into to same rhythm already established by the shoe.
The goal would be to have as many items going around as there are people in the circle, so you are turning to one person and saying what an item is, and saying ÛÏa whatÛ to the person on your other side, ready to receive their item.
You can also try fewer items, but get them going in opposite directions. Hilarious!
