"Bag of Tricks" Games

Number of players: 6+

Material: None

How to play: Everyone stands in circle. There is an imaginary ball of energy being passed around the circle and you have 3 ways of interacting with it: You can "Whoosh", "Bang", or "Zip".

"Whoosh": You must yell Whoosh and pass the imaginary ball along in the same direction it was going in already.

"Bang": You must yell Bang and put your arms in front of you in an X. This blocks the ball of energy and sends it back in the opposite direction.

"Zip": You point at anyone in the circle other than the people on either side of you and yell "Zip (insert name)!"

You cannot bang a bang. You cannot zip a zip. And you cannot bang a zip.
If you hesitate too long or do the wrong motion with what you yelled, you are out. The game ends when there are only two people left.

Number of players: minimum 6+

Material(s): None

How to play: Everyone stands in a circle formation with a chosen leader in the middle. The leader points at someone in the circle and yells "BANG". The person they pointed at now has to duck, and the people on either side of the person ducking need to point at each other and yell "BANG". Whoever does this fastest remains in the circle and the other is eliminated.

If the person who gets pointed at originally doesn't duck down fast enough, then they are out instead. If you shoot or duck down when you're not supposed to you are also out.

At the end of the game, when you only have 2 people left, they stand back to back and slowly walk away from each other as the leader tells a story. There will be a key word in the story that the leader has established at the start and when that word is said in the story, the last 2 people must spin around and yell "BANG" pointing at each other.
The fastest wins!

Number of Players: 6+

Material: None or blindfolds for each player if you have available

How to Play: To begin, everyone needs to get into pairs
(there can be a group of 3 if there is not an even number of players).
In their pairs, they must decide on an animal and the sound that that animal makes. The leader then asks each pair to announce their animal sound, making sure that no group has the same animal sound as another.

Once everyone is ready, send one partner to one side of the playing area and the other partner to the opposite side of the playing area (this can be as close or as far away as you wish). Then, with their eyes closed, or blindfolded, everyone comes together and tries to find their partner again by only calling out their animal sound. Once reunited with your partner, you stop and wait until the last 2 have found each other again!

Play this as many rounds as you want!

Number of players: 3+

Material: None

How to play: One person is chosen as the caller.
Avoiding all three disasters is the name of the game!

"Fire": You drop and roll! (drop to the ground to put out the flames)

"Tornado": You run to a spot in the playing area and reach up and grab the closest object so you don't fly away!

"Flood": You run to another spot in the playing area and jump on the closest object (if possible) so the water doesn't touch your feet!

The last one to do the action for each disaster is out!

To make the game more exciting, these two locations should be big enough that players can jump up on to something easily (ex: jungle gym, a deck) for Flood and a structure that they can hold on to for Tornado.

Number of players: 6+

Material: A rubber chicken, or any object that can be thrown around

How to play: Divide everyone into two equal groups , lined up facing each other. Each line should be numbered off (1, 2, 3, 4 etc) so that each person has a pair in the other line. Place the "bacon" in the centre of the playing area. The caller yells out a number and all players with that number run to pick up the "bacon". The person who gets the “bacon” first tries to run back to his/her team without being tagged. The person whose number was called who did not get the “bacon” should try to tag the other player before their opponent gets back to their team. The caller can yell more than one number at a time if they choose. Continue playing as long as you want.

Number of players: 5+

Material: None

How to play: Standing in a tight circle, everyone rub their hands together until the chosen leader yells "Hiiya!" As soon as the leader says "Hiiya," everyone jumps back and freezes into a "Ninja" pose. The leader makes the first move. They set the direction that the circle must follow by attempting to gently hit the hand (from the wrist down to the fingers) of the person either to the right or left of them but they can only do so in one move. If the hand is hit, the person places it behind their back. After their attempt, they must freeze in the position they end up in. The person they are attempting to hit has one move to avoid the hit. That person then goes on to attempt to hit the person next to them or they can choose to make one strategic move to avoid being hit on their next turn. Once someone loses both hands or falls over when they are frozen, they are out.

Number of players: 6+

Material: None

How to play: To begin, everyone needs to get into pairs. When ready, the pairs will mix with each other while keeping a distance from their partner until the caller calls out either "Horse", "Knights", or "Cavaliers". The players have to then find their partner and get into the correct position as quickly as possible. The pair that is last or does the wrong position is eliminated, but they can help the caller judge in the next rounds.

"Horses": One partner piggy-backs on the other.

"Knights:" One partner gets on one knee, and the other sits on that person's knee.

"Cavaliers": One partner jumps into the arms of their partner. (Ex: like you're carrying a baby)

Number of players: 5+

Material: None

How to play: In a circle, one person will start by making a movement or action. The person beside them will then ask "Hey (insert name), what are you doing?" The person will then have to answer by saying an action different from what they are actually doing. The person who asked the question will then start to do the action that was told to them. This continues around the circle at least 2 times around, but can go on for as many rounds as you like.

Example: Someone is pretending to brush their teeth, but when asked by the person beside them, they say instead that they are doing jumping jacks. The person who asked the question then has to start doing jumping jacks.... and it continues.

Number of players: 4+

Material: None

How to play: Everyone stands in a circle formation. One person is chosen to be the Guesser and another person is chosen as the Conductor. The Guesser leaves the group so that they cannot see or hear who is chosen as Conductor. Once the Conductor is chosen, they start making actions (ex: clapping hands, slapping knees, jumping up and down etc). The other people in the circle must follow what the Conductor is doing without giving away who the Conductor is. The Guesser returns and stands in the centre of the circle and tries to guess who the Conductor is. If they do not guess the person correctly after 2 minutes or 3 guesses, the Conductor reveals themselves to the Guesser.

Number of players: 5+

Material: None

How to play: One person is chosen to be Mr. Wolf. They stand at one end of the playing area by themselves, facing away from the group. The rest of the players stand in a line at the other end.

The group calls out, "What time is it Mr. Wolf?" and Mr. Wolf answers with a time (i.e. 3 o'clock). That is how many steps the group will take. This continues until Mr. Wolf decides that the players sound close enough to them. He/She then yells "Lunch Time" and tries to run and tag as many people as they can. Whoever gets tagged will now join Mr. Wolf until there are two remaining. The final round will decide the winner.