Rolling the Dice

I got involved in a discussion recently about group games for kids. Actually, my husband and the other leader for the local Scout troop were talking about it, and I butted in.

Essentially, we agreed that any game that gets kids active and working together is good, but we’re all more interested in playing games that are excellent.

Games that are silly, noisy and active, yet add something to their lives or teaches them something - even if it is that playing a game does not have to be chaos.

Scouter Allan told us about a game he used to play with the Beavers, when he was a Beaver leader, called “Steal the Key”. All you need is a blindfold and a pile of old keys.

You select one Beaver to sit in the middle of the circle, blindfold him and place the pile of keys in front of him. The other Beavers take turns trying to “steal” the keys without being heard.

If the blindfolded Beaver hears him before he can return to his spot, he yells “thief”, and the key must be returned.

This game teaches some important lessons, including physical awareness, while having fun together as a group. You don’t need to tell them how to move quietly - you can (and should) let them experiment with ways to do that themselves.

Think about what that one simple act can do. By allowing kids to try things out for themselves, by allowing them to fail and to succeed, by showing them that you trust them to work it out for themselves, you can give one of the best gifts in the world - confidence.

The shy, quiet child who usually goes un-noticed and is picked last for races suddenly finds he’s really good at this game.

He sees the noisier children, the ones who can’t sit still, struggle with the game, then turn to him for help.

And those more active kids learn that asking for help doesn’t make the game less fun. They all learn that they can figure something out themselves - without interference from an adult.

There are dozens of excelletn games like these for kids and teens. The key is encouraging the group to work together, learn from each other, and recognize that everyone has something to add to the group.

These are skills that will help them succeed in all facets of their lives.

Dodge ball and tag are good games. They can be a lot of fun, and a great addition to an afternoon in a big open space with a bunch of kids. But games like “Steal the Key” give them so much more for the same amount of effort.

One area in which I have yet to blog is the realm of large-group games. As a Beaver leader, I’m always on the lookout for great games for kids to play in a big group.

We have 15 boys, ages five to seven, in our colony, and you just can’t play board games with that many kids, no matter how hard you try.

The kind of games we like best as Beaver leaders are the kind that get them moving, but don’t encourage chaos. Especially if it helps to reinforce whatever we’re learning about that week.

If you ask any active young person which games are their favourites, you’ll likely hear “tag” and “hide and seek” in the list, and for good reason. They both allow for plenty of running around, something that kids often get told not to do.

But a truly good group game is more than just running around. I can still remember a game we played in science class in elementary school that was a form of tag. It accompanied a lesson on the three stages of matter – solid liquid and gas.

When the teacher yelled “Solid”, we all had to link arms with whoever was near and stand still. When she yelled “Liquid” we all walked around normally. And when she yelled “Gas”, we all ran around like maniacs.

So you have the element of running around, which made the 16 boys in my class of 24 quite happy, and it also firmly ingrained the idea of these three states in my mind.

Recently, we played a game with our Beavers that comes from
Taiwan called “Hopping Sticks” – it probably has a Taiwanese name, but I don’t know it. It was a simple relay race – another popular game with groups – in which the Beavers hopped over sticks, then turned around, picked one up and hopped back.

You could make it harder by getting kids to hop on one foot, or hop backwards – or for a group of gymnasts – cartwheel or back flip over the sticks.

Relays are easy to make up on the spot, as are station-based games. Our Beavers actually really like stations. It’s easy for us to divide them up by Lodge group or Tail group and have them go around to do three different things.

The whole thing has got me thinking – why don’t kids play group games as much anymore?

I can remember playing hide and seek for hours, especially in the summer time, when there was less to do, and you could spend hours playing games outside with your friends. It was especially fun to play in the dark – flashlight hide and seek, we called it.

There was also the popular “backwards hide and seek” or “sardines”, in which one person would hide while everyone else counted, and then we would all try to find that one person.

Once you found the hider, you had to hide along with them, until there was only one person left looking. Depending on how many kids were playing and where the hiding spot was, it could get pretty squishy – and giggly.

So, I’m calling on youth group leaders and teachers to help me compile a list of really good outdoor games to play with kids, so that we can all start reviving the culture of playing outside together.

I don’t remember who gave us the Apples-to-Apples game that sits on our shelf, but I sure am glad they did.

Describing the game to people, it sounds lame. So I’m not even going to bother. If you want to read about how the games works, visit the Wikipedia entry. Or the “official” website at: http://www.otb-games.com/apples/apples_partybox.html

According to the box, this is a game for 12 and up, but I say that as long as a kid can read, go for it. Of course, just like any time you’re playing a grown-up game with younger kids, you may have to modify the rules a little.

For example, many of the pop culture references may be missed, so give the kids the option to trade in cards if they don’t know anything about the person, place or thing printed on it.

I think the appealing part of the game for me is the fact that there is never a right or wrong answer. The person who is the judge can use whatever criteria they want to select the winning card.

And you are allowed – even encouraged – to try to persuade the judge to pick a certain card. It doesn’t even have to be yours.

One of the little quirks of the game that our family has picked up is the idea that the green apple cards you collect (with the descriptive words on them like smelly, heart-warming or sordid) are accurate descriptors for that person. So, at the end of the game and go through them.

“Oh, I’m smelly, heart-warming and sordid. Sounds about right.”

And then much giggling ensues. At least from me. I’m going to blame my love affair with words for that one.

This is a great game to play with your teens, who will get a kick over having a turn to be the judge of you for a turn, and you end up finding out a lot about them in the meantime. This game does more than just entertain – it gives insight into a person’s sense of humor and how they look at the world.

And for parents of teens, that is a refreshing (and often surprising!) turn of events.

So, as mentioned in the last blog, as kids hit middle school and those (sometimes dreaded) hormones start kicking in, social games become much more interesting.

When I was about 12 or 13, my uncle gave me one of the best games for a kid this age. It was called “Dweebs, Geeks and Weirdos”, which, as far as I can tell, is no longer produced. (check out http://www.amazon.com/Dweebs-Geeks-Weirdos-Totally-Awesome/dp/B000YPRY0K for used versions)

The gist of the game, is that you do a bunch of silly stunts to collect points and win the game. There are plenty of others in this vein - Truth or Dare is the one everyone knows - and they all go over big with 10-14 year olds, generally.

But the tendancy to favour social games isn’t just limited to doing silly things in a big group. It also lends itself to games like Pictionary, Cranium, and a Canadian TV classic - TalkAbout.

Use this trend to your advantage when trying to keep (or create) games night with your teens or pre-teens. Get them to invite their best friends over and challenge kids vs. adults (recruit a friend or two of your own, too).

This is also the age in which strategy games are most successful, since the ability to use logic is even stronger as kids enter junior high and high school.

You can start with Checkers and Chess, but if your kid is the kind to shrink from something so stodgy sounding, try Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan or Risk.

The beauty of those last three is that it adds a bit of character to the strategy. They all strengthen mapping and geography skills, too, but you don’t have to tell your kids that!

And for the kids who want a little of both, you can turn to games like the Munchkin series (by Steve Jackson) or Zombies.

From here, it’s not far to reach the world of role playing games. While I don’t play them myself, I don’t have a lot of problems with them either.

Dungeons & Dragons got a lot of bad press when I was a teen, but as long as you don’t find your kid playing nothing but, there shouldn’t be any cause to worry.

As always, the best way to make sure gaming is safe and fun at this age is to make sure you’re involved with your kids. If they’re interested in role playing games, get them to teach you how to play it, too.

Hello all you game-lovers out there.

Not “gamers” - I’m not into video games. No, this blog is all about the kinds of games you can play in a tent in the middle of the woods, in the living room in front of the fireplace during a snowstorm, or even outside with a bunch of energetic kids.

It’s about the fun, laughs, learning you can teach and share with kids of all ages through board games, co-operative play and other games that don’t require a computer chip.

I’ll be tackling ideas for games you can play with little ones that can’t yet read, right up to games you can play when the in-laws are in town.

I’ll give suggestions for good games to play at your next youth group, Beavers, Brownies or 4-H meeting, or at the family reunion when it’s too late for lunch and too soon for supper. 

I’ll review some of the zillions of games I currently have my shelves, and will gladly take requests and suggestions - I’m always up for a game.

Up first (tomorrow’s post) games to play with non-readers….