Games for Friday Mornings at Viscount Alexander Yellow Friday Games Games for Friday Mornings at Viscount Alexander

Four W’s of VA Friday Games WHO? Yellows! All the Yellows at VA (and no one else) WHEN? Friday mornings: 10:00AM – 11:00AM WHERE? In the field behind Viscount Alexander WHAT? Play structure time and a series of stations with games to play!

Game Set-UP Two Parts: Play Structure (30 mins) and 3 Station Games (10mins each, total 30 minutes) Play structure: Let the kids enjoy themselves on the play structure and in the surrounding sand for 30 minutes . This is their free time! Feel free to suggest games like sandman, “The floor is lava”, etc. Stations: Three ten-minute stations every week, broadly defined as 1) Parachute games, 2) Circle Games and 3) Tag Games. The group will be divided in half: some start on the play structure, the rest at the stations, and then you switch.

**You will be given a schedule during before-care to show you where your group is at each time slot** 10:00 – Bring everyone out to the field. Start at your first station or the play structure. 10:10 – Switch field stations. 10:20 – Switch field stations. 10:30 – Play structure groups switch to stations, stations move to play structure. 10:40 – Switch field stations. 10:50 – Switch field stations. 11:00 – Clean up and head inside. Approximate Schedule

THE GAMES

Station 1: Parachute Games What are some games you can play with a parachute? For example: Bubble: lift up the parachute above your heads, bring it down quickly behind you and sit on the edge. You will form a dome-like room. Cat and mouse: All seated, make waves in the parachute. Designate a mouse, who crawls under the parachute so as to be disguised by the waves. Then, choose a cat who (after taking its shoes off) must walk on top of the parachute to tag the mouse while it tries to escape. When the mouse is tagged, a new cat and mouse are chosen. Flying Saucer: All take one step forward upon lifting the chute in the air. Upon command, all let go, and watch as it slowly floats down Parachute Tag: Lift the parachute high into the air. Call out two children’s names. They must trade empty spots by running under the chute, before it comes down on them.

Stations 2 and 3 Station 2: Circle Games Station 3: Tag Games Week A, E, I: Duck, Duck, Goose Week B, F, J: Outdoor Dump Truck Week C, G: Simon Says Week D, H: Scream Race Week A, E, I: Stuck-in-the-mud Tag Week B, F, J: Body Part Freeze Tag Week C, G: Blob Tag Week D, H: Linguini Tag

Week A, E, I Station 2: Duck, Duck, Goose All the players, except the person who is It, sit in a circle. It walks around the circle, tapping each player on the head, saying “duck” each time until he decides to tap someone and say “goose.” That person becomes the goose and runs after It, trying to tag him before It can take his seat. If It successfully reaches the goose’s seat without being tagged, the goose is the new It. If the goose tags It, then the goose keeps his spot in the circle and It must either continue to be It for another turn or sit in the middle of the circle until another It is tagged. Fun variations: make it anything you want, not just ducks and geese. Station 3: Stuck-in-the-Mud Tag Choose one player to be It, All the other players scatter around. The player who is It must run around and tag as many people as he can. When tapped by It, a player must freeze and stand with his legs and arms apart (like a star). The only way to be freed is for a non-tagged player to crawl through the tagged player’s legs. (Players are safe while crawling under legs and cannot be tagged when in that position.) The game ends when all players have been tagged and are 'stuck in the mud’.

Week B, F, J Station 2: Outdoor Dump Truck Hula hoops are distributed regularly on the ground with golf balls in them. Kids are each assigned to a hula hoop forming even teams. Their goal is to have the emptiest hula hoop once time is up. They can empty it by carrying one golf ball at a time to any other group’s hula hoop and leaving it there (only one at a time!). When time is up, see which group has the fewest golf balls remaining. Station 3: Body Part Freeze Tag It runs around and tries to tag as many people as possible. The first time you are tagged by It, you lose function in your arms and must hold them stiff like a robot. The second time you are caught, one leg is frozen and must be dragged behind you. The third time you are tagged, both legs are frozen and you must stay in one place. You may be unfrozen completely if another player gives you a hi-five. (This game tends to be slower than other games of tag, so it is also possible to have more than one It at a time.)

Week C, G Station 2: Simon Says One person is designated as “Simon”, the others are the players. (The Instructor is usually Simon first; then let the kids try.) Standing in front of the group, Simon tells players what they must do. However, the players must only obey commands that begin with the words “Simon Says.” If Simon says, “Simon says touch your nose,” then players must touch their nose. But, if Simon simply says, “jump,” without first saying “Simon says,” players must not jump. Those that do jump are out. You can loop the game by having the “out” players start a second round with another instructor. Station 3: Blob Tag One camper is chosen to be It. They must try to tag as many of the other campers as possible. If a camper is tagged, they join the Blob. This means they must stay within arms’ reach of It at all times (alternatively, they must hold hands or link arms with It). Campers in the Blob may also tag others. The game continues until everyone is part of the Blob.

Week D, H Station 2: Scream Race Decide on a starting line that leaves lots of space in front of the players. On “Go”, every camper must begin to scream and run. They may only keep running so long as they are screaming: if they stop to take a breath, they must freeze where they are. The camper who gets the furthest in one scream is the winner. You can also have the campers try screaming and running backwards, screaming and hopping, or any combination. Station 3: Linguini Tag About half the campers are chosen to be It. People who are it must try to tag people who are not it. The other  half of the campers have pool noodles to start with. If you have a pool noodle and are tagged, you must drop the noodle. You have now become it. The “it” who tagged someone must then pick up the pool noodle and become one of the people being chased. No tag-backs allowed (you may not tag the person who just tagged you).

Questions, Comments, Concerns? Email me: pnevi046@uottawa.ca