Teapot Games

Cookie Game

• This game helps young children recognize and match colors. It's also a fast game to accommodate short attention spans. Make four place mats colored red, blue, green and yellow. Purchase a plastic teapot and saucer along with a package of animal crackers. Use food coloring to mark eight of the animal crackers in the four place mat colors--two cookies each color. Use a die to determine who goes first--your choice of high or low, and let the children pick out one of the placemats, youngest child first. Set the teapot in the middle of the table on its saucer. Place the cookies on the table surrounding the teapot and saucer. The first child spins the teapot on its saucer. If the teapot spout stops at a cookie that's the color of the child's placemat, she puts the cookie on her own mat. If it's the color of another player's cookie, that child gets to gather the treat and likewise put it on his placemat, and then take the next turn. This continues until one player has both of their cookies. Then everyone eats.

Word Game

• This game uses the word "teapot" along with any small teapot you have available. Show everyone the teapot. Explain that the teapot can represent anything in the game. During play, the word teapot substitutes for the name of an item or secret word. Everyone draws straws. The person who gets the shortest straw leaves the room while everyone else determines the secret word. When that person returns, everyone else makes up one sentence about the "teapot." A game moderator counts how many sentences it takes for the individual to guess the true identity of the "teapot." This process repeats with the individual who got the next shortest straw until everyone has a turn. The person who needs the least amount of teapot sentences to figure out the mystery item wins the game. This game can be as simple or complex as desired and suits any age group.

Blind Tea Testing

• This game is for adults who love tea. You will need four individual size teapots for this, six different types of tea and a teacup per participant. Brew four of the teas where your guests cannot see what you're making. Next, put out all six boxes. Let the participants taste each tea in turn and write their guesses on a piece of paper. The one to get the most answers correct gets a tea-oriented prize like their own pot or a bundle of gourmet tea.