How about some
games for those rainy ~ snowy January days up ahead?
Four Corners
This was always
THE favorite game in my classroom.
Number each of the corners in the room ~ 1,
2, 3, 4. Choose one person to be
“it.” “It” hides their eyes and
slowly counts from one to ten as the rest of the class tiptoes to a corner in
the room. When “it” says “freeze,”
everyone must be in a corner. “It”
then calls out a number (1, 2, 3, or 4) and the children in that corner are out
of the game. They sit down in the
“stew pot” in the middle of the room.
(And vegetables can’t talk so they have to be quiet in the stew
pot!) “It” counts to ten again as
everyone moves to a new corner.
The game continues until there is one person left. That person becomes the new “it.”
Hint!
As the game continues there will be fewer players and there might not be
anyone in a corner called.
Hint!
Shorten the game by having “it” call out two corners at a time.
If there is no one in the corner, ask “it”
to call out another number.
Countdown
Someone at the
Kindergarten Conference in Atlanta taught us this game that is similar to Hot
Potato.
The class forms a
circle. The teacher points to one
who says, “One.” The next child to
their right says, “Two.” Continue
around the circle with each child saying the next number. When you get to “ten,” that child has
to sit down. Continue counting
around the circle and having the child who says “ten” sit down. The last child standing gets to choose
who will start the next round.
Hint! Count by tens and whoever says “100”
has to sit down.
Practice counting
by ordinals, “First, second, third…”
The child who says “tenth” must sit down.
Quiet Touch
This is a great game to quiet children and
build memory skills. The first
child gets up and touches an object and then sits down. The second child gets up, touches the
first object, then touches an additional object. The third child touches the first object, second object, and
adds a third object. The game
continues as classmates touch what the previous children have touched in
sequential order and then add a new item.
When a child forgets, simply begin the game all over again.
Silent Ball
You will need a small, soft ball for this
game. Explain that the object of
the game is to see how many times you can toss the ball without talking. Look at the person you are throwing the
ball to so they will be ready.
Silently count how many times we can throw the ball without talking or
dropping it. If someone talks or
drops the ball, then the game begins all over again.
Snowballs
Each
child takes a sheet of paper and writes a word wall word, spelling word, math
fact, etc. on it. Children wad up
their sheet of paper to make it a “snowball.” Divide the class into
two teams and have them stand about 20 feet from each other. When the teacher says, “Let it snow!”
children begin throwing their snowballs at the opposite side. Children pick up a snowball and
identify the information on it before throwing it back at the other side. The game continues until the teacher
says, “Freeze!” Count the number
of snowballs on each side. Who has
more? Who has less? In this game, the team with the smaller
amount is actually the winner!
Everyone gets another snowball and the game continues.
*As
a study review, have children write questions on the snowballs. When children
open
them they must answer the question before throwing it again.
*A teacher in OK
shared a variation of this game that she plays. Write letters, words, numerals, etc. on paper to make your
snowballs. Write corresponding
letters, words, numerals, etc. on index cards and put them in a sack. The teacher chooses an index card and
the child holding that snowball has to sit down.
Hint! Tell the children that if they don’t
know the answer, it’s O.K. to ask a
friend
for help.
