Art
Pictionary
The game is played with teams with players trying to identify specific words from their teammates’’ drawings. Each team moves a piece on a game board formed by a sequence of squares. Each square has a letter or shape identifying the type of picture to be drawn on it. The objective is to be the first team to reach the last space on the board.
Win, Lose or Draw
Similar to Pictionary, players must convey words and phrases to their teammates by drawing images. The object of the team game is to be the first team to make 8 correct guesses. The object of the game board version is to be the first player to collect 4 different colored pawns and the Ace-In-the-Hole card.
“Musical” Art
Kids are given sheet of paper and along with different shaped tools for stamping designs (sponges, spools, etc). A tape or CD with different types of music is played and the kids start stamping. When the music changes, have kids change stamping tools, colors, etc. This can be played individually or played in teams.
Art Bingo
Make a bingo game using artistic terms, artists, etc. Terms can be drawn and read out loud so that players can cover their matches.
Hangman
Pick a word or phrase relating to an artist or painting and draw the number of blanks on the board. Divide into two teams and take turns until on team guesses the phrase correctly.
Concentration
Create a game board with paintings, artists, shapes or colors. Make sure that there are two of each one scattered throughout the selection. If you can laminate the board it will last longer. Then make markers to cover each of the pictures. To begin, cover all the pictures. The kids will take turns uncovering two pictures. If they uncover two that match, they can go again. Play continues until all are uncovered. For younger children, you could use differently colored shapes to have them match.
Finish it!
Divide the players into teams. The first player draws a line, shape or even scribble on the board. The next person has to make the line/scribble into something recognizable. Set a time limit for 30 seconds to 1 minute for each turn.
Photographic Scavenger Hunt
Creative Writing
Blind Line Poem
Best for ages 8 and up (Great for teens!). On a lined piece of paper, write the first line of a poem. Pass the paper to the next person and they will write the second line of the poem. That person will then fold the piece of paper so that the first line is hidden, but the second line is visible and pass it on to the third person. The 3rd person will write the 3rd line of poetry, fold the paper to hide the first and second line, and pass it on. After everyone has written a line (you can send it around more than once for a longer poem) – read the poem aloud (hint: it’s always best to read it first to yourself, just in case you have some too-creative poets). Be Creative: Pick a theme for your poem, like “Summer Crush” or “First Day of School”.
Onomatopoeia Orchestra
This is an adaptation of an improvisation game - that truly works for all ages (your difficulty level will depend on your age range). After explaining what onomatopoeia is, pick 3-4 participants to be your orchestra. You are the orchestra conductor. Have each member of your orchestra choose an onomatopoetic word and speaking it outloud as their instrument - encourage energy (have a list on hand, boom, hiss, bop, thud, thwack - feel free to "Dr. Seuss" it if you would like - think old school Batman). Next, you will explain how you will conduct them. Start with a good rhythm by starting with one person and pointing to them over and over again in the rhythm you want and motion them to continue. (For example, you now have someone saying "boom-boom-boom-boom") You can begin adding other sounds by pointing to the next person every 4 booms and getting them mixed in with the booms. Add the other "instruments" into the mix and then you can really play with your orchestra by other conducting moves. Speed one "instrument" up by pointing faster, make one instrument louder or quieter by looking just at them (stress the importance of eye contact) and raising your flat hand up in the air or lowering it. By using both hands you can make the whole orchestra get louder and louder, then quieter, quieter, until the big finale when your orchestra is as loud as it can get and you give the "zip it" motion and they fall silent - to be met with uproarious applause. Remember: there will always be people with no rhythm or tone - that is okay - they will have just as much fun doing this! Be Creative: With each onomatopoetic word, give an emotion to go with it. For example, the "boom" is sad and must deliver the word sadly or the "twang" is excited and must deliver her word that way. This helps create a more interesting orchestra.
Mad Libs
Mad Libs are great group programs and perfect for short school visits. Mad Lib books are cheap and can be found in most bookstores, Wal-Mart, even the dollar stores. Click here for a library Mad Lib created by the ALSC for Library Week. Be Creative: Create your own Mad Lib by using a well-known folk or fairy tale. Try these Mad Lib versions of Little Red Riding Hood and Little Miss Muffet and Jack and Jill (for younger ages) created by Lindsey. Teens will be able to create their own Mad Libs - encourage them to do so and use them with the younger children.
Poetry Hunt
Plan a Poetry Hunt. It’s like a treasure hunt. Create “poetry pockets” out of heavy paper, hide them in various places in the stacks, and fill them with postcard-sized poem cards printed on card stock. Put a different poem in each pocket, and let children keep the cards they find. Ask kids to let you know if they find an empty pocket so it can be filled with another poem card. Place a poster at the entrance to the children’s room to get their attention and show them what to look for. It’s great to see kids hunting for pockets and collecting the poetry cards. Many of them sit there and read them aloud to parents or siblings. You can keep this activity up for the entire month of April (National Poetry Month) or longer. Once the cards are made, the activity requires little attention from the library staff. (Taken from a PUBYAC post by Anne Lemay, January 2001.)
Poetry Program
From: ALA Poetry Month Host a poetry party with stations featuring an activity for different forms of poetry, e.g. concrete, acrostic, haiku, limerick. Activities could include having pre-printed public domain poems available on bookmarks for the kids to color, examples of acrostic poems using first names to get the kids started on poems using their own names, having play dough or another artistic medium for children to create with while listening to poems.
Read aloud (or recite from memory) a few poems that are sure to get the audience excited. Shel Silverstein is always popular for grabbing children’s attention. Present different ways of writing poetry. Creating a poster or large flash-card style definitions with brief examples is one way to demonstrate the different forms poetry can take. (See below for definitions of various poetry forms.)
Share several different poems and ask the audience to identify the type of poem. Share directly from a book or create a poster-sized version that is easy for an audience to view.
Provide participants with activities to help them create original poems:
For concrete poems, provide pre-cut shapes to inspire the writers.
For acrostic poems, select several words and place in a hat, have participants select one or two words from the hat to use in creating an acrostic poem.
For limericks, create several beginning lines and place in a hat; have participants select one or two lines to provide a starting point for a limerick.
For sensory poems, select several abstract subjects (i.e. love, fear, anger) and place in a hat; have participants select one or two subjects and write what it tastes like, looks like, smells like, feels like, and sounds like.
For participants who find the above exercises too taxing, use a fill-in-the-blank poem. Be Creative: Put the poems on display and have some local English or Creative Writing teachers judge them.
Creative Writing Program
Host a Creative Writing Program (best for older children and teens). There are a ton of great writing prompts and ideas for creative writing here. Be Creative: If you have access to a binding machine (can be a simple spiral or plastic binder), make enough copies of the results of these Creative Writing exercises and bind them together in a book for all of the participants and put a copy in the library. If you do not have a binder (or access to one - you might be surprised - ask around your community), see the Creative Writing Crafts for other ways to compile the writings.
Poetry Slam
Host a Poetry Slam at your library (best for older children and teens). Click here or here for some tips on hosting a poetry slam. Before hosting your slam, host a Poetry Program to help participants get started or refining their poetry. Be Creative: Poetry Slams can be intimidating so help by reading some of your own poetry or encouraging participants to read from poetry books if they are not comfortable reading their own poetry.
Dance
Charades
Before beginning the game, each player is given several scrap pieces of paper on which to write words or phrases that fall into the category that has been chosen. Players should write their name of the bottom of the paper to help eliminate cheating. The scraps of paper are then folded in half and mixed up in a bowl or hat. These are the charades. To begin, one player picks a charade out of the bowl. He or she then announces the name at the bottom of the scrap of paper and that player sits out the round. Then, the player who picked the charade proceeds to act out the word or phrase so that the others can guess it. Talking or mouthing words is forbidden, this is purely pantomime. Using props, pointing and doing just about anything else that will convey the message is fine. Just no talking!
First the actor must indicate the category. For example: FOOD {pretends to shovel food into mouth} SONG {pretends to sing} BOOK {puts hands together like reading a book} MOVIE {turns the crank on an old fashioned movie camera} and so on. When someone in the audience guesses the correct category, the actor puts a finger on the tip of her nose to indicate that the guesser is right-he's hit it on the nose. This proceeds until someone guesses the chosen charade correctly, then the guesser gets a turn to act out the charade. This game can get pretty loud but that is part of what makes it fun. You can use variations on this, making up teams such as boys against girls. If doing teams, only the team who's actor is doing the charade may guess. The team who guesses correctly the most wins.
Musical Statues
Musical Statues is a game similar to musical chairs. However, this game requires nothing more than a music source to play. An adult or older child serves as the DJ, and is in charge of operating the music source. Players spread out so as not to bump into each other, and when the DJ turns on the music, they start dancing, jumping around or otherwise moving to the music's rhythm. They may also sing, whistle, hum or howl. Abruptly, when the DJ shuts off the music; at once, all the players must freeze into "statues". As long as the music is off, the players hold their poses. Anyone who moves or makes a sound is immediately eliminated from the game. After a few moments the DJ turns the music back on and the players "come back to life". The game goes on until there is one person left playing and this person is the Musical Statues Champion! Be Creative: Eliminated players can make it hard for the ones still playing by making silly faces, telling jokes in hopes of getting the statues to laugh or crack a smile. Be More Creative: The faster the music, the more the players move around thus likely freezing into harder poses to hold! Therefore, start the game playing slow music and as the competition gets fiercer, play faster music.
Simon Says
One player is selected to be "Simon" and the rest of the players line up in front of "Simon". The person playing "Simon" issues commands to the group such as "Simon says touch your toes" or "Simon says clap your hands". However, when "Simon" does not put the phrase "Simon says" at the beginning of the command the players are not supposed to follow that command. Whoever does the action is then out. The game continues until there is one person left standing, and then that person gets a turn to be "Simon". Be Creative: Before playing the game, teach the group 4-5 dances from the past (for example, the Twist, the Charleston, the Cabbage Patch, the Snake, Disco fingers, etc.) and have Simon work those dances in with the other movements.
DDR - Dance Off!
This game does require a Playstation 2/3, Xbox 360, or Wii and the game Dance Dance Revolution. Two dance pads are needed to make it a contest to see who is the best, but if you only have one that is fine. You can divide the groups into teams, boys against girls, youngest against oldest, or skill level. The players then just follow instructions on the game to win! It is fun for the ones waiting their turn to practice without the mats! You can conduct a tournament or track the scores to see who has the highest (The latter ensures that even if you lose your round, you still could be in the running for one of the top scores) Be Creative: If you don’t have the gaming equipment – ask around in your community and see if anyone is willing to lend their equipment for the program.
Twister
If you have twister then you are ready to go! Just choose how many players are going to go at a time and watch the silliness! This one is the easiest one to set up and explain!
Limbo
Pass under the limbo stick (which can be anything from a decorated dowel to a broom stick) without touching it. Remember that in limbo, you must bend your back backwards to pass under the stick. After all participants have passed under the limbo stick once, the stick is lowered. Be Creative: Once you get down to 3-4 participants, begin add a pillow or stuffing of some around their stomach to increase the silliness and the challenge!
Cha-Cha Slide
Watch and enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwtpuxMSTW0 Easily adaptable for your own programming.
Drama
Charades
Play this classic party game using slips of paper and a hat. For a more detailed description of the game Charades, check out the Dance Games. If the budget allows, buy the game Guesstures. Be Creative: Use popular book titles in your charade suggestions.
Scene It!
There are many different versions of this interactive DVD trivia game that is easy to play with big groups. Click here for information about the game. Before buying the game, check with your staff and patrons to see if they will donate their game for the program. You will need a t.v. with a DVD player and a remote control. Be Creative: Play Poor Man's Scene It by (if you have one) using a projector and laptop with Powerpoint. Load "stills" from movie scenes into. OR, even cheaper, print out the "stills" and mount them on construction paper.
What are You Doing?
This is a fun improv warm-up that is good for all ages. Everyone gets in a circle standing up. The first person starts miming some kind of activity, let's say sweeping the floor. The person next to them says, "What are you doing?" and the first person responds with a different activity than what they are doing, for example, while still sweeping the floor, the first person will say, "I'm playing basketball". The second person then must pretend they are playing basketball. The third person will ask the second person, "What are you doing?" and the second person will respond with an activity that is different from what they are doing. This continues around the circle and can go on as long as the participants find it interesting. Be Creative: Use this as a warm-up to a game of charades or if you have a group of shy participants, when each new person says a different activity everyone in the group has to mime the activity.
Dress-Up/Creative Play
Using found items from home like pillowcases, sheets, towels, bathrobes, skirts, dresses shirts, hats, etc. - give the children a character, or emotion, or animal and ask them to create a costume using your items. Be Creative: Assign small groups with a nursery rhyme that they are going to act out and they must use the costume pieces to look the part.
Puppet Shows
This time-honored activity has all sorts of possibilities, from the grandiose, to the minimalistic. After making a puppet craft, encourage children to put on their own puppet show (it can be as simple as a puppet show set to a nursery rhyme). A great teen activity is to task a group of teens with writing a full-length puppet show for the younger kids. Encourage them to use the puppets you have available or to make their own (don't forget making the props is one of the most fun parts!)
Shadow Puppet Theatre
Click here for detailed instructions on making a fancy shadow puppet stage. If you decide to go this fancy, this would be most appropriate for older children and teens. However, you can accomplish this much, much easier by using Ellison or pre-cut shapes and a large flashlight, lamp or overhead projector. Prepare a shadow puppet play to show the children before the program. Then allow them to create their own shadow puppets (some may wish to use the already cut shapes, some may want to make their own, but don't forget to encourage them to make props for their plays.
Shadow Hand Puppets
Click here for both intricate and easy shadow hand puppets. This program is definitely a free program - just use a light source to cast shadows on the wall. Try to create a story using the hand shadows, or simply make the hand shadows and let the children to guess what they are. Pick some of the shadows to teach the children. If the light source isn't large enough for all of the children to see their shadows, allow the children each a turn to make their own shadow.
Music
Limbo
Pass under the limbo stick (which can be anything from a decorated dowel to a broom stick) without touching it. Remember that in limbo, you must bend your back backwards to pass under the stick. After all participants have passed under the limbo stick once, the stick is lowered. Be Creative: Once you get down to 3-4 participants, begin add a pillow or stuffing of some around their stomach to increase the silliness and the challenge!
Musical Chairs
Position chairs in a circle facing out. There should be one less chair than there is participants. While the music is playing, participants are circling the chairs. When the music stops, they must find a chair to sit in. The participant left standing is eliminated. For each subsequent round, another chair is removed until you are left with two people vying for one chair. Be Creative: Put obstacles around the chairs for participants to crawl under or over or require participants to bunny hop around the chairs instead of walking.
Hot Potato
Using a beanbag or other lightweight "potato", participants stand in a circle and as the music starts they pass the "hot potato" around the circle. The person left holding the "hot potato" when the music stops is eliminated. Each round continues until only one participant remains. Be Creative: instead of standing, require that the participants wiggle or dance while the music is playing and add a one second time limit to holding the "hot potato" - in other words, pretend that the potato is, in fact, really hot!
Musical Scavenger Hunt
Hide pictures of musical instruments (or if budget allows, little kazoos and tin whistles) around the library or outside. The participants get to keep the objects they find and the person with the most objects is declared the winner. Be Creative: if the hidden items are real instruments, add the caveat that they must be able to play all of the instruments at the same time in order to keep their findings.
Body Parts
Divide the group into pairs of two. One person in the duo is first part and one person in the duo is second part. They must decide who is first and who is second. As the music plays all of the pairs mill about the room (away from their partner) when the music stops, as the partners scramble to find each other, the announcer (usually the librarian who is not partnered with anyone) yells out two body parts, "Right Hand to Left Knee!" That means that the first part person in the pair is to put their right hand on the second part person's knee. The pair to connect correctly last is eliminated. As pairs are eliminated, they join the sidelines and can help pick out the last pair. Be Creative: Don't forget the difficult pairings like "Bottom of both feet to bottom of both feet!" or "Bottom of Foot to Top of Head!" or "Back of Left Knee Cap to right ear!" Most kids and teens will "eww" over some of these, but they have a lot of fun doing it.
Disclaimer: This is a very active game and done best in a large room or outside.
Name That Tune/What line comes next
Play 5 seconds of a song (this requires a bit of advanced planning to choose which 5 seconds you want to play) either have the participants right down their answers or raise their hand or ring a bell to indicate they know the answer. Be Creative: Award extra points to participants who can sing the next line of the song.
Karaoke
Whether you have a karaoke machine with microphone, or a karaoke videogame, or even just a c.d. player with some karaoke c.d.'s. If you are brave enough to host a karaoke party at your library - more power to you. Be Creative: Add costumes to increase the theatricality, or allow participants to perform together or lip sync.
“Musical” Art
Kids are given sheet of paper and along with different shaped tools for stamping designs (sponges, spools, etc). A tape or CD with different types of music is played and the kids start stamping. When the music changes, have kids change stamping tools, colors, etc. This can be played individually or played in teams. Be Creative: Pictionary-style: give the participants song titles and they have to draw the song. For example: If their "Mary Had a Little Lamb" they would draw Mary and her lamb and the lamb following her to school, etc.
Name the Band
Show picture of bands, singers, composers, etc. and have prizes for whoever can guess them first.