Games

Frogger (from Guidelines for Developmental Designs for Middle School): All heads are put down and the Leader chooses a "frog" by touching someone. Then all raise their heads. The frog sticks his tongue out at individual players in the circle as if catching flies, trying to avoid being seen by anyone but the target. When the frog does this to a player, that player is "put to sleep" and slumps in his chair for the rest of the round. The rest of the players are also trying to determine who the frog is. When a player thinks he knows, he tells the Leader. If he is wrong, he goes to sleep. If he is right, the round is over and a new round starts. VARIATION: Choose two frogs. OR have students mill around the room instead of sit in chairs.

Kaboom!

Park Ranger: Requires at least 3 players. Play in a rectangular area with defined boundaries. One player is designated as the "park ranger" and stands in the middle of the area. All of the other players line up on one side of the area, with the park ranger facing them. Each player on the side takes about one minute to think of an animal (one that currently exists) and keeps it in their head. Once all players have thought of an animal, the park ranger begins to ask questions about these animals' habits and characteristics, such as "Does your animal live in the forest?" or "Does your animal eat meat?" The questions should apply to some, but not necessarily all, of the animals. After each question, all players whose answer is "yes" must run to the other side of the area while trying not to get tagged by the park ranger. If they run out of bounds, they are automatically considered as "tagged". Players whose answer to the question is "no" stay in place and wait for the next question. If the game has a supervising leader, this person can assist players who are unsure of their answers, through whispered advice. When a player gets tagged, he or she spends the next round of the game (i.e. the next question) as a "tree"; the player keeps his or her feet planted but tries from this position to help the park ranger tag players. After one round as a tree, a player may walk to help tag, and after one round of walking, a player may run to help tag. Students run only from the initial side of the area until everyone on that side has run across or gotten caught. Those who have run across wait for this to happen; they do not participate again until everyone else has either run across or gotten caught. When everyone has either run across or gotten tagged, the park ranger turns around and all remaining players on the new side think of a new animal. The game proceeds in the manner above until all players except one have been tagged. The remaining player becomes "park ranger" if the players are going to play another game of Park Ranger.

Variations: 1) Have players remain trees for all rounds, or have them be allowed to run for all rounds. 2) Start with more than one park ranger. 3) Have them keep the same animal when they reach the other side of the area.

Drip, Drip, Drop! Just like Duck, Duck, Goose. But with water (should be played outside..) The students sit in a circle and one student is chosen to be "it."(perhaps the leader of the day, etc.) This student walks around the outside of the circle with a paper/plastic cup of water and say "Drip" as he/she passes each student. When the student decides on another peer that he/she wants to dump the cup of water on, he/she shouts "Drop!" and splashes the water on that student. The student that gets splashed must then get up and try to catch the student that spilled the water on him/her as that student runs back around the circle trying to get back to the spot where the student was sitting before being caught. If the student is caught, then he/she sits down and the new student gets to be "It." Got it?

Arm Hockey (from Guidelines for Developmental Designs for Middle School): Materials - one or two soccer-sized balls (the "puck"). Players stand in a circle with legs slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Neighbors' feet touch. Players are allowed to use one arm (the hockey stick) to try to git the ball between someone's legs (the goals). The ball must be hit with an open hand and cannot bounce off the floor. When a ball goes through someone's legs, the game can begin again, or the player through whose legs the ball escaped can leave the circle until another player is out, then take that player's place in the circle.