Hobbies And Interests
Trivia Games
While Greek mythology quizzes are available on the Internet, it's far more rewarding to create your own trivia game. Choose four or five question categories, such as Name That Hero, Famous Places, Gods &Goddesses, Supernatural Creatures and Quests &Deeds. Using index cards, create trivia cards. Write the question on one side of the card, and the answer on the other. Remember to have questions that range in difficulty, from beginner level --- "The city of Athens was named after which goddess?" --- to advanced, such as, "Name three of Hercules' Ten Labors." Once you have compiled about 50 trivia cards, divide players into teams and begin. Award one point for each correct answer. If one team gives cannot answer its question correctly, give the other team the chance to answer and score an extra point.
Daedelus' Labyrinth
Daedelus, the renowned architect of Greek myth, built a great many fabulous inventions, the most famous of which was the Labyrinth at Crete, a perilous maze in which the corrupt King Minos housed the Minotaur, a terrifying half-man, half-bull monster. Children can express their own inventiveness and develop their spatial abilities by creating and solving paper labyrinths. Provide pieces of colored paper cut into large shapes such as circles, squares, and triangles. Have participants plan out their maze using pencils, then provide markers, paints, glue and glitter with which to finish their mazes. Once all the labyrinths are complete, have the participants exchange them with each other. Then, allow everyone 30 seconds to try to solve the labyrinth using a pencil. Students who successfully complete their labyrinths win!
Mythology Acrostics
In their simplest form, acrostics are short poems in which the first letter of each line spells out a significant word or phrase. Acrostics can be used as a mnemonic device which can help a person remember key points about particular subject or story or they can be just a fun way to play with words. The Greek Mythology acrostics game can be played individually, with each participant devising their own poem, or in teams. First, have participants choose a character from one of their favorite myths and write all the letters of that character's name vertically on a piece of paper, a chalk board, or a dry erase board. Then, use each letter to describe something about that character's quests, deeds, relationships, or personality. For instance, an acrostic for the hero Jason could read:
"Jauntily accepted King Pelias' quest.
Argo's brave captain.
Son of Aeson.
Orpheus, Heracles, Castor, and Pollux were on his crew.
Nabbed the Golden Fleece and Princess Medea, too."
Once all the participants or teams have finished writing their acrostic poems, read them aloud, and then vote on the best one. The winning acrostic is the one which describes the mythological character with the most cleverness and accuracy.
Capture the Flag: Greeks vs. Trojans
As recorded in Homer's epic poem, "The Iliad," the Trojan War began when Paris, a prince of Troy, abducted Helen, the beautiful wife of the Greek king, Menelaus. The siege of Troy raged for 10 years until Odysseus, the most clever of all the Greek heroes, devised the ruse of the Trojan Horse, a huge wooden structure that enabled the Greeks to sneak inside the walls of Troy and destroy the Trojans from the inside. For this version of capture the flag, divide your participants into two groups, the Greeks and the Trojans. Each team will create a flag using easy-to-find items such as markers, old pillowcases and pieces of felt. The teams will exchange flags, then hide the opposing team's flag somewhere on their respective sides of the playing area. Each team must then attempt to recapture their flag from the opposing team. Players who are tagged by opposing team members while trying to capture the flag are considered "dead." Evoking many of the battle scenes from "The Iliad," referees may act as "gods" and help out one side by bringing "dead" team members back to life or by "killing" members of the opposing team. The game is finished when one team manages to bring its own flag back to its side of the playing area.