Parachute Circle Games for Children

Bouncing Things

• Have the children hold the parachute about waist-high. Place some items on the parachute. Try seasonal items like leaves, white paper wads for snowballs, blue foam raindrop shapes or small stuffed bunnies. Beanbags or balls will also work well for this game. Have the children move the parachute to bounce the items up in air, trying not to let any fall on the floor or ground.

Run-Under Games

• Tell the children how to play the game before starting. Say that you will call out a color that the children might be wearing, two or four names or all boys or all girls. Everyone who fits that category should let go of the parachute handles and run under the raised parachute to the opposite side. Have them hold onto the handles and raise the parachute up to their shoulders before you call out the category. The game will be noisy as the children scramble to find an empty handle to hold.

Cooperation Activities

• Do some activities that require the children to work together. Instruct the children to work together to travel across a play area while keeping the parachute from touching the floor or ground. Try another activity where the children lift the parachute so that it seems to float, step in toward the center under the chute a few steps and then sit down quickly. The parachute will make a mushroom shape over the children while they hold onto the handles. The children can also play merry-go-round by holding the handles and traveling around a circle in the same direction.

Competition

• Have the children hold onto the parachute handles. Tell them where the halfway mark is, so the group is divided into two teams. Place some items onto the parachute for the children to move around while shaking the parachute. Some ideas are rope "snakes," pillow "sharks" or red beanbag "lava." Each team will try to bounce all the items over to the other team.

Over and Under Chase

• Have one or two children get under the parachute while the others are holding it about knee height. Another child should crawl onto the top of the parachute. Have the rest of the children shake the parachute slightly. The child on top of the parachute will crawl around and to try to tag one of the children under the parachute while they crawl around to try to avoid being tagged.