Coping Skills Freeze Tag

Coping skills freeze tag is great for people to identify coping skills that they can use and when they can use them. Peers listening to each other's coping skills can also help give new ideas.



How To Play:
Designate one player as 'it' with the other players scattered throughout the playing area. The person who is it tags the other players. When a player is tagged, (s)he freezes. To be unfrozen, the player has to name a coping skill and be unfrozen by getting a high-5 from another peer who is not frozen.
I like to make a rule that people cannot repeat coping skills so that they have to think of more.
With younger groups, you may need to talk about what coping skills are beforehand and have older kids give examples so everyone understands.

Discussion:
Coping Skills: ask each participant what their favorite coping skill is and when they can use it

Please Share Your Thoughts and Ideas:
What are things you would discuss with this game?
What are some other ways that you like to play tag?

Other Variations on Playing Tag:
Triangle Tag
Animal Tag
Freeze-Tag Toss
Spot Tag  

Image Credit: http://www.forthoodsentinel.com/images/photos/15751_tn.jpg

Spot Tag

Spot tag is a funny game for the participants to break the ice, laugh with each other, and work on important skills. They quickly realize how hard running is while trying to hold their leg, ankle, arm, head, etc.

How To Play:
Designate one player as 'it' with the other players scattered throughout the playing area. The person who is it has a ball (that is soft) that he throws to tag the other players. When a player is tagged by the ball, he has to cover the spot where he was tagged with one hand (but is still allowed to be chased) and continues running around. When tagged a second time, the player uses his other hand to cover the spot where he was tagged (but he is still allowed to be chased). When tagged a third time, he/she switches places with the person who is 'it'.

Once the ball hits the ground, it is considered "dead" so if it bounces and hits someone, that does not count. Also, only the person who is it can pick the ball up. No other player can pick it up.

Discussion:
Anger management: talk about how our anger can hinder us and how we can learn to control it
Depression: similar to anger, talk about how depression can hinder us and how we can improve our mood
Laughter: talk about the importance of laughter and enjoying ourselves
Exercise: talk about the importance of exercise and how it can improve our mood and is good for us

Please Share Your Thoughts and Ideas:
What are things you would discuss with this game?
What are some other ways that you like to play tag?

Other Variations on Playing Tag:
Triangle Tag
Animal Tag
Freeze-Tag Toss 
Coping Skills Freeze Tag 

Image Credit:
https://aames3.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/kids-running_300.jpg

Blanket Names

Equipment: a tarp or blanket

Objectives

·      Divide the participants into two group

·      Place the tarp hanging in-between the two groups

·      The groups will send one of their team members up to the tarp

·      When the tarp is dropped the two people at the tarp have to say the other’s name

·      The first one to get it right “wins” the other person to their team

·      The team with the most players at the end of five minutes wins

Variations
If everyone already knows each others names, then give them positive nicknames. This gives an added twist to relationships, and every time they joke around about the nicknames they remember their experience.

Discussion

Having fun: Why is it important to have fun and laugh?
Importance of others-knowing names and such
Cognitive maintenance

Photo credit:

Coping Skills Jeopardy

Split the group into two teams. The person leading the group picks one of the 100 point categories. Whichever team gets the question correct first will pick the next topic. Add the participants' points up as a team. They can talk about answers before they respond. Each correct question counts for as many points as the side says it does (100, 200, 300, 400, or 500). The game ends when the topics have all been used or you can set a point limit.

Life Lessons:
Talk about triggers-have participants name some of their personal triggers.
Talk about the participants' successful coping skills and some they would like to try.
Talk about humor and if/how that could help the participants.

 

Please comment below on how you would use it with your population, thoughts on how it has worked for you, advice for others on how to implement it, what you would process and so on! We'd love to hear about it!

Toe Fencing

To play, face each other, holding hands. Then try to tap the tops of each other's toes with your toes. When one of the partners scores three hits, it is time to switch to a new partner. Players should be equally armed - barefoot vs. barefoot, shoe vs. shoe, etc. Remember the name of the game is toe fencing, not toe stomping.
 


Life Lessons
Have fun, importance of laughter, etc.
Why somethings are okay in certain situations but not others, boundaries, etc.

Please Comment Below: What group did you do this activity with? How did you adapt for the safety of your participants?

Here are a few links to ideas on how to lead activities better:

• Why Leadership and Activities are Important 

• Correctly Using Leadership

• Leading the Activity (Problem Solving, Group Control, etc.)

• Handling Different Age Groups

• Managing Large Groups and Choosing Teams (relays, team spirit, including everyone, etc.)

Credits: pictures from http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/236x/01/18/22/0118221822e60667a0db4c65126bc54c.jpg

Captain's Daughter and Movie Trivia

If you can't tell, I absolutely love all of the games I post. I am extremely picky about the games I will use. Last summer, I had an internship where I had to lead about 3 activities a day with boys and girls from ages 5-12 (the age groups where split up thankfully). I read about 5 books and only found 40 activities that I liked. Since then, I have had classes and learned about leadership and activities. I was very selective in class as well. Thankfully, I have found more activities I like.
Anyways, movie trivia is a game I have truly loved! I have played it with family and friends alike. It always brings out great laughs and fun memories. Captain's daughter is similar to Chicken in the Hen House that I posted the other day. The only difference is that people are not paired of. It also gives different motions to use.

Captain's Daughter
Have one person be the "caller." Everyone else is walking around talking with each other. The caller stands in front of everyone and calls out commands. The different commands are:

• Mermaid - the person stands upright with their hand on their hip, and the other waving in the air while shaking their hips
• Buoy - two people join arms back to back and bobble up and down
• Captain's Daughter - one person grabs another person and holds them in their arms

• Dog in a Dog House - one person bends over in an arc while the other pretends to be a dog inside of the doghouse 
• Chicken in a Hen House - one stands on all fours, while the other kneels flailing their arms like a chicken
• __ in a canoe (can be 2, 3, 4, etc.) - the # of people sit in a line one in front of the other, rowing a canoe

• Hit the Deck - fall flat on the floor
• Walk the Plank - run and touch the wall

The last person to carry out the command or not fit into the canoe is out and becomes a judge. The last person standing wins! 

Movie Trivia
Divide players into equal teams. Give each player an equal number of small, blank papers i.e. 3 or 4. Each player writes a different movie on each piece of paper. Fold the papers in half and put them all in one bowl.
During round one, a player from team one gets up and draws a piece of paper. The player can use any actions and words (except for words in the title) to give clues. Once the movie is guessed by someone on their team, the player draws another piece of paper and so on until his/her 45 seconds is up. After the player from team one is done, a player from team two steps up and draws a piece of paper. He/she uses words and actions to have people on the team guess what movie it is and so on until all of the pieces of paper have been used. Then the players start round two. It is the same as round one except players can only use one word and actions to get teammates to guess the movies. Once the pieces of paper are used again, round three starts. During this round, players can only use actions to have teammates guess the movies.
Twist: Instead of only writing movies, players could write actors/actresses, movie quotes, tv shows, etc.

Recommendations
For Captain's Daughter, do a few practice rounds so everyone can get the hang of the different calls. Elimination games such as this are a great segway into refreshments after a few rounds.

Life Lessons
Movie Trivia teaches people how to act quickly on their feet and problem solve when others are not understanding them. It also helps practice memory during round  two and three. They learn more about communication and how people communicate differently. This is extremely important because learning that everyone communicates differently (and their way works) is a wonderful lesson for life so they can work with others. 
Captain's Daughter is a fun one to play that teaches participants to be alert and move quickly. 

 
Materials
For Captain's Daughter, you will not need any supplies. For Movie Trivia, you will need:

• 3 to 4 slips of paper per participant
• 1 pen for each participant (or have some share)

Please comment below on how you would use it with your population, thoughts on how it has worked for you, advice for others on how to implement it, what you would process and so on! We'd love to hear about it!

Here are a few links to ideas on how to lead activities better:

• Why Leadership and Activities are Important 

• Correctly Using Leadership

• Leading the Activity (Problem Solving, Group Control, etc.)

• Handling Different Age Groups

• Managing Large Groups and Choosing Teams (relays, team spirit, including everyone, etc.)

Noah's Arc and Chicken in the Hen House

Noah's arc has become one of my new favorite games. It brings out people's creativity and laughter. Chicken in the hen house definitely gets the energy going and is a lot of fun as well!

Noah's Arc
Before everyone shows up, write a name of different animals on slips of paper. Each animal should be on two slips of paper. Put these in a hat/bowl, and have everyone draw out one slip of paper. Participants do not show their animal. Once the last person has drawn their paper, everyone starts making the noise of the animal on their slip of paper. Participants walk around and try to find their match. Once they have found their match, they sit down. After everyone has found their match, collect the slips of paper, and have everyone draw again. This time they act out their animal without making any noise.

Chicken in the Hen House
You can have Noah's Arc lead straight into this game. Either have the participants choose a partner or tell them to keep their same partner from Noah's Arc. Tell the participants to form an inner circle and outer circle. One person from the pair goes into the inner circle, and one person goes to the outer circle. The inner circle walks clockwise and the outer circle walks counter-clockwise. The leader yells out different directions to the participants:

• Rodeo: one partner gives the other a piggy back ride
• Lover's Leap: one partner leaps into the arms of the other partner
• London Bridges: one partner creates a bridge and the other goes under the bridge
• Sailors Sit: one partner kneels down on one leg for the other partner to sit on while both saluting
• Chicken in the Hen House: one partner puts arms above head to form the top of a house (triangle) and the other squats next to him/her and flaps wings like a chicken

Once the leader yells an action, each pair must find their partner and complete the action. The last couple to act out the action is eliminated and becomes a judge to help decide who is eliminated next. Game play continues until there is one triumphant couple left.

Recommendations
Chicken in the Hen House can seem a little overwhelming at first. One way to have the game run smoother, have them pair off and practice each action (London bridge, sailors sit, etc.) as you call it out and explain it. If you feel everyone has got it down, you can do a few practice rounds or just jump right into the game!
For Noah's Arc, make sure you write legibly so everyone can read your hand writing. You can also turn the lights off to add a third round. Have everyone draw a slip of paper and make the noise of their animal. It is awesome!


Life Lessons
Chicken in the hen house can teach kids that they can still have fun and contribute even when they get out. They can enjoy watching their friends run around like crazy, help judge, and talk to other friends. This game can be used to teach kids that it is okay to get out. This game can also teach participants how to work together using good communication and how to adapt quickly. 
Noah's Arc teaches children the importance of listening. You can apply it to different parts of their lives whether in the classroom or in the home. Listening to others allows everyone to help each other. 
Both of these activities get participants out of their comfort zones which creates the opportunity to build friendships and great memories. 

Materials
No materials are needed for chicken in the hen house. For Noah's Arc you will need:

• Enough slips of paper with animals written on them for the whole group (20 people, 20 slips of paper, 10 animals)

Please comment below on how you would use it with your population, thoughts on how it has worked for you, advice for others on how to implement it, what you would process and so on! We'd love to hear about it!

Here are a few links to ideas on how to lead activities better:

• Why Leadership and Activities are Important 

• Correctly Using Leadership

• Leading the Activity (Problem Solving, Group Control, etc.)

• Handling Different Age Groups

• Managing Large Groups and Choosing Teams (relays, team spirit, including everyone, etc.)

The Amazing Race and Evolution

Both of these games can be used as pre-openers or normal activities. Pre-openers are games used when people are arriving. These allow people to participate as they walk in the door so no one is sitting around bored waiting for others to come. The Amazing Race is great to get people talking and learning more about each other. Evolution makes everyone laugh super hard! It gets people outside of their comfort zone and opens people up to talking.

My Experience
I have had great experiences with both of these games. Everyone who participated had tons of fun and were talkative. These games are definitely good ones to help people get to know each other. After you have played these games, please comment and tell us about your experiences!

The Amazing Race
As people arrive, put them in groups of two. Give them one piece of paper and a writing utensil. They have 5-10 minutes to write down as many words they can think of within a category you assign them when giving them the piece of paper. Some examples are:

• Food
• Words with doubles
• Words that start with a certain letter
• Animals

Once everyone has arrived and had a few minutes to write with their partner, call everyone together and have them count up how many words they wrote down. The partnership with the most words wins. You can give them some sort of prize (candy bars work well).

Evolution
Everyone in the group must know how to play "Rock, paper, scissors." Everyone starts out as an egg, and waddles around going "Whobble, whobble!" When an egg finds another egg, they play "Rock, paper, scissors." The winner will evolve to a chicken, and hop around making chicken noises until they find another chicken to play "Rock, paper, scissors." The loser will become an egg again; an egg is the lowest species one can be. The winner of the chickens will become a dinosaur. The dinosaurs walk around like dinosaurs repeating, "Auh, Auh!" The winner of the dinosaur match becomes Elvis. Elvis walks around playing his guitar. The loser of the dinosaur match becomes a chicken again. Once Elvis has won his/her final match up (with another Elvis), he/she wins the game! 

Recommendations
For evolution, if you want the game to continue longer, you can tell participants to keep count of how many times they become Elvis (or something along those lines) and call the game when you feel it is over. This way the game does not end super early.
You can use the Amazing Race for fun or to get people thinking about a certain topic. For example, if you are running a Bible camp, you could have the participants write down all of the word they can think of that go along with Bible such as people, places, and things in the Bible. If you are a teacher, you could have the students write down as many adverbs, adjectives, etc. that they can think of. This game truly has endless possibilities. If you would like ideas on how to apply this game to a situation, please feel free to ask!
Please share any ideas and recommendations you have.

Life Lessons
The Amazing Race can be used to teach participants that others have a lot to contribute as well and that their ideas can be made better by others. It can teach the value of teamwork and also how to work as a team member - giving ideas and allowing others to give their ideas as well.
Evolution can be used to teach the importance of laughing. Many people do not realize how much laughing truly impacts a person. This is a great lesson for kids to learn, and adults to remember. This can also be used to teach participants that even if they have a bad day or experience that gets them down, they can make it better. You can lead this into specific examples for participants if you would like to.

Materials
No materials are needed for Evolution. For Amazing Race, you will need:

• Enough pieces of paper for every two people (Ex. 10 people need 5 pieces of paper)
• Enough pens for every two people

Where to Play
Both of these can be indoor or outdoor games. If the other games are outdoor, you can start out indoors or start outdoors. If the other games are indoor, I would recommend staying indoors because getting people regrouped and coming back inside after would be harder. 

Please comment below on how you would use these activities with your population, thoughts on how it has worked for you, advice for others on how to implement it, what you would process and so on! We'd love to hear about it!

Here are a few links to ideas on how to lead activities better:

• Why Leadership and Activities are Important 

• Correctly Using Leadership

• Leading the Activity (Problem Solving, Group Control, etc.)

• Handling Different Age Groups

• Managing Large Groups and Choosing Teams (relays, team spirit, including everyone, etc.)

Credits
Image 1: http://www.montroseaccess.org.au/images/pic-kids-writing.jpg 

Signs and Animal Sounds

I love playing signs and animal sounds! Both of these games are great with a big group of people. These games are great to get good laughs and have always been hits with my friends. We joke about funny moments for days after. I hope you enjoy too!

My Experience
I started playing signs with my cousins when I was younger and have loved it from the first time I played! We usually start with easy signs and eventually have massive hilarious signs. I have taught my friends the game and have all gotten great laughs while playing. 
I played animal sounds for the first time at a bonfire at college. We laughed so hard listening to our friends trying to make the noises! I always have a hard time with this game because I am a laugher so I usually give myself away when trying to make an animal sound. This game is a blast!
If you play and have any experiences you would like to share please do!

Signs

Everyone starts off sitting in a circle. Each person picks a sign such as twirling hair, scratching the nose, etc. Go around the circle twice to have everyone show his/her sign. Then choose one person to go in the middle. This person closes his/her eyes and spins in a circle while counting down from five while someone in the circle starts passing the sign. The way to pass the sign is to do someone else's sign. The person accepts by doing his/her sign to show that he/she has received it. He/she can hold onto it or pass it on by doing someone else's sign. That person does his/her own sign to accept it and so on. The person in the middle is trying to find the person with the sign. When the person in the middle thinks he/she knows who has the sign, he/she touches that persons knee and asks, "Do you have the sign?" If the person answers yes, then that person is in the middle and starts counting and spinning while the sign is passed around. If the person answers no, then the person in the middle stays in the middle and tries to find the person who has the sign.

Animal Sounds
Everyone sits around in a circle, and one person is chosen to be in the middle. The person in the middle closes his/her eyes while spinning in a circle and then randomly points to a person (the person keeps his/her eyes closed). The person in the middle chooses an animal and tells the person being pointed at to make that animal's noise. After the sound is made, the person in the middle has to guess who made that sound. If he/she is correct, then the person who made the sound is now in the middle. If he/she is incorrect, then the person in the middle points at someone else and tells him/her to make an animal noise. 
Twist: If you would like to play this with younger children, have everyone sit in a circle with one person in the middle. The person in the middle closes his/her eyes and spins around in a circle and points to a person. The person in the middle makes an animal noise and the person who is being pointed at has to guess the animal. If the player guesses correctly then he/she is now in the middle. If the player does not guess the right animal, the person in the middle stays in the middle.

Recommendations

When switching the person in the middle, have the person who just left the middle start the sign every time so no one gets confused. If you do not want to do that, at least be clear on who will send the sign; otherwise, you could end up with multiple signs being passed. Also, if someone is trying to send the sign to another player who is not receiving it, tell them to keep sending it to that one person. Otherwise, there could be multiple signs sent around. 
For animal sounds, rather than the person in the middle just pointing to someone to make the sound, he/she can hold a pillow and sit on a player's lap and tell that person the noise to make. This way is definitely HILARIOUS! But some player's are given away because the person who is it can feel the pants/shorts. I think it is worth is just for the humor perspective.
Please give any recommendations you have about the games! I'd love to hear them.

Life Lessons
The life lesson I have always taken from these games is mostly being able to laugh and have fun and how that builds friendships. They both can be used to talk about communication - especially signs because everyone has to be looking to see if someone is trying to send them the sign (listening to others). Also, many signs can be similar so whoever is trying to send the sign must be careful to send it to the right person. Players in signs are practicing memorization as well.  

Materials

• Enough chairs for each person minus one. For example, if you have 15 people, you only need 14 chairs.

Where to Play
You can play inside or outside. I have played in a pavilion, in a living room, and out in the grass. 

Please comment below on how you would use these activities with your population, thoughts on how it has worked for you, advice for others on how to implement it, what you would process and so on! We'd love to hear about it! 

Here are a few links to ideas on how to lead activities better:

• Why Leadership and Activities are Important 

• Correctly Using Leadership

• Leading the Activity (Problem Solving, Group Control, etc.)

• Handling Different Age Groups

• Managing Large Groups and Choosing Teams (relays, team spirit, including everyone, etc.)

Credit:
Image 1: http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/ChickShedCircle190.jpg

Animal Tag

Tag is such a fun game to play! I have found a few twists that I absolutely love playing! I have played them with kids as young as 6 years old. The kids love the creativity these twists allow.

My Experiences

I have played this game of tag multiple times. I love seeing everyone participate and laughing together. The participants are always super creative with their animal choices and how they portray their animals.

If you use this game, please comment and share your experience or twists you added! I'd love to hear different ideas!

Animal Tag

Choose one player to be 'it'. On the starting signal, the tagger attempts to tag as many players as possible. If tagged a player must assume an animal position (you can also do sports or other categories). A tagged player is un-'frozen' when a player who isn't frozen guesses his/her animal. If the player guesses the wrong animal, he/she stays frozen until the animal is guessed correctly.

Recommendations

You can let the players use their hands to tag each other if they get along well. I have found that a soft ball works best so the participants do not get too physical if they do not get along well. 

Life Lessons

Point out the importance of good communication. My favorite time I played, one of the girls decided to be a guinea pig. No one could guess her animal. After the game, we talked about the importance of using words and actions that others will understand. Also, when his/her animal was not being guessed, the participants would switch to different positions for the same animal. Using this, we talked about the importance of rephrasing to help communication. 

Materials

• 1-2 soft balls

Other Variations of Tag
Freeze-Tag Toss 
Triangle Tag
Spot Tag
Coping Skills Freeze Tag

Please comment below on how you would use this activity with your population, thoughts on how it has worked for you, advice for others on how to implement it, what you would process and so on! We'd love to hear about it! 
 
Here are a few links to ideas on how to lead activities better:

• Why Leadership and Activities are Important 

• Correctly Using Leadership

• Leading the Activity (Problem Solving, Group Control, etc.)

• Handling Different Age Groups

• Managing Large Groups and Choosing Teams (relays, team spirit, including everyone, etc.)

Credit:

Picture 1: http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-thing?.out=jpg&size=l&tid=9732960
Picture 2: http://cdn.sheknows.com/articles/2011/04/kids-playing-hens-chicks.jpg