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Groups of 6-10 must create a moving machine by miming it all together, (each person is a part of the machine). Others must try to guess what the machine is. No talking or noises are allowed.
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Magic Sticks (circle / passive)The leader starts with 2 sticks. They hold the sticks crossed or uncrossed and says "These sticks are crossed" or "these sticks are uncrossed". The leader then passes the sticks around and each camper tries to figure it out. The trick is that the sticks are crossed if their legs are crossed and if they aren't crossed either are the sticks.
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Match my Feet (circle/moderate)Form a circle of players. You stand in the middle. Start the group off with a slow clapping rhythm, such as 2 slow claps followed by 3 quick claps. Repeat this over and over.Walk around the inside of the circle to the clapping rhythm and stop in front of someone. Do a simple step with your feet in time to the beat. The person you're standing in front of must try to repeat your step. If he doesn't, move around the circle and stop in front of someone else. If he does, you take his place in the circle, and he becomes the leader. He may change the rhythm and try to "outstep" another player.
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Minefield (active/cooperative)Split the group into 3 (not each of them). One group will be the mines. They will be stationary in the playing area. One group will be the rowers trying to get across the playing field. The trick is, they will have their eyes closed. The third group will be the assistants. They will be located on the other side of the playing field and will direct the rowers safely across. If a rower bumps into a mine, they blow up. The groups should rotate so everyone gets to be everything.
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Missing Child (passive)One player stands blindfolded in the center of the room. Have the other children stand in a circle or a line. Have the children switch places in the circle and take one person out of the room. Then unblindfold the child in the center, and give him one minute to name the missing player. Let the person who was removed now be blindfolded. Monkey Ball (active)
Equipment: ball
Two teams should be standing in lines side to side, arms linked and numbered 1 and up. The ball will be placed in the center of the playing space. The game leader will call out one number. The player from each team that has that number will run to the center to get the ball. The rest of the team will act as the moving goalie. The players in the middle attempt to hit the ball with their hand on the ground past the opposing team's goalie line. The goalie lines can only move side to side and must stay attached. The play is over if the ball goes out of bounds and when a shot is made.
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< Mount / Dismount (active)The players should be split into 2 groups. One group will form a circle and be the horses. The second group will be the runners or the riders. There should be more riders than horses. The horses run around the outside of the circle until the game leader calls out "Mount!". The riders then need to find a horse to mount. If a rider is horseless, they are out. When the leader calls out, "Dismount" the riders jump off their horse go under their legs and run around the circle again ready to remount. Both teams should get a chance to be the riders.
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Mouse Trap (circle/active)The group needs to be split into 2 groups. One group is the trap and the other are mice. The trap stands in a circle holding hands in the air. The leader should not be facing the group. The mice have to run through the trap. When the leader yells, "MOUSE TRAP", the trap lowers their arms. Whoever is inside the trap at this point is caught and becomes a part of the trap. The last mouse left is the winner. At this point the 2 groups should switch roles.
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Mr. Greenjean (passive) **for older campersThis game starts with a leader and a camper in one room or area of the playground and another leader with the rest of the campers in another room or area. Every camper is given a name i.e. mama greenjean, baby greenjean, tall greenjean, short greenjean, green greenjean etc. One camper at a time comes into the room that originally had only a leader and one camper and introduces himself. Everyone who is in the room repeats all of the actions of the new person for a few seconds up to a few minutes. The amount of time is very dependent on how the camper responds to this type of attention. Some campers will do the funniest things when they know everyone is going to repeat it.
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Murder Wink (circle/passive)Killer winks at his victim. The victim waits 5 seconds and then falls. The victim chooses his own way of falling. If a player thinks he can identify the killer, he points and says "I accuse you". If he is wrong, both players are dead.
[See Also "Killer"]
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Musical Roper/HoopsEquipment: music
This game is similar to musical chairs, but does not eliminate anybody. Scatter a number of hoops and ropes around the area in which you are playing the game. The number of ropes or hoops will vary with the number of people playing. Play music loud enough for everyone to hear and instruct them to move around (hop, skip, backwards, run etc.) When the music is stopped, the group must be holding onto one of the ropes or hoops. Each time the music stops you remove one hoop or rope until everyone is holding onto or standing inside one.
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Name Train (moderate/circle/icebreaker)
The players form one circle. The leader begins to meet people by shuffling like a train across the circle, stopping when he or she comes face to face with a player. The leader will say to the player for example, "Hi, my name is Al". The person facing the leader returns with, "Hi Al, my name is John." The leader raises one arm and then the other saying "John, John, John, John, John, John, John." The leader turns and John now holds on to the back of Al and both shuffle out across the circle. Keep repeating until everyone has joined the circle.
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Numbers (circle / passive)The leader has a bunch of sticks. The leader then throws down the sticks and asks, "How many sticks are there?" This number depends on the number of fingers the leader shows not the number of sticks.
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No See Em's (icebreaker)Equipment: tarp and blanket
Group is divided in half (no, not each of them!). Leaders hold up a tarp so that the two groups are unable to see each other (hence the name no see em's). One person from each group crawls up to the tarp and puts their nose up to it. The leaders drop the tarp and the two people must shout out the other person's name. The person who says the correct name first takes the other person to their team.
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Numbers Change (moderate/circle)The players are numbered 1,2,3,4 etc. The leader calls out two numbers. These players must change seats quickly, while the leader tries to secure a seat. He continues until he succeeds. The one left out becomes the leader.
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Give them the names of objects that they must act out. Each person in the group must be a part of the object and they cannot act as a person. So for example, if the object was a lawn mower. 2 people might work together to be the mower and those left over could be the grass. No one would be a person pushing the lawn mower. The groups then present them and the other groups must guess what the objects are.
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Octopus (active)Players (fish) are at one end of the hall, inside defined limits. The octopus lives in the ocean inside the limits. The octopus tells the fish that the can cross the ocean by saying "Fish, fish come swim in the ocean". At this signal the fish try to cross over to the other side. Players who try to cross over to the other limit. Player who are touched by the octopus must stop moving and become tentacles of the octopus
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Oh Deer (active/nature)A game where a herd of deer seeks food, water and shelter to survive. The group should be spilt into 2 even groups and they should be at either end of the playing space facing opposite directions. One group will be the environment and the other will be the deer. The environment and the deer will pick one of three signs; WATER (hand over mouth), FOOD (hands on stomach) or SHELTER (hands in a peak over head). On the go signal from the leader, both groups will turn around and make their symbol. The deer will run towards the environment that is the same as their sign. If they get an environment, both players become deer. If the deer can not find the appropriate symbol, they will die and become part of the environment. Fluctuations in the deer population due to different causes can be shown in different rounds.
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Old Mother Witch (active)One child chosen as the witch walks along in front of the other players who poke, pull, and tease her in every way possible. As they follow after her they call, "Old mother witch, fell in the ditch, picked up a penny, and thought she was rich!" The witch turns around and yells, "Whose children are you?" Any name may be given and the witch carries on, but when they say " yours " the witch chases them. The first child caught takes her place.
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Ooh-Ahh (circle/passive)Start with everyone in a circle holding hands. Now one of you gives a quick squeeze to the hand of the person on the right. This gets passed along to the next person and around the circle. Once the squeeze is being passed smoothly, speed up and add sound.; Say "Ooh" while going to the right and "Aah" when going to the left. A player gets zapped when they squeeze the wrong hand. Both sounds can travel in opposite directions and you can play tag.
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Order out of Chaos (cooperative)The group is blindfolded. Each member is assigned a number. Once the members are distributed in a defined area, the members must line up in a proper numerical order without verbal communication. Another task would be to assign each member the name of an animal. Nonverbally, the members arrange themselves in order of size, form largest to smallest.
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