Hobbies And Interests
Inside/Outside Circle
Spencer Kagan, author of "Cooperative Learning," recommends planning an Inside/Outside Circle activity to help children get to know each other. This works particularly well with a new group of people, such as at the beginning of the school year. To get started, have each child write down the answer to three questions, such as "What does your room say about you?" or "If you could travel anywhere, where would it be?" Divide students into two groups, and have one group stand in a large circle, facing in. Have the other half make a circle inside the outside circle, facing the other students. Have the students facing each other share their answers. Then the facilitator can give a prompt, such as "Inside circle, move three people to your left," or "Outside circle, move four people to your right." When students are standing in front of someone new, they can share their answers. Continue to play this way until students have shared information with several other students.
Hold and Cold Clap Game
The Source for Youth Ministry suggests planning a hot and cold clapping game with a large group of children. Choose one player to be "it." This player should leave the room. While he's gone, the other players can determine an action for him to perform, such as "hop on one foot" or "pick your nose." After they've decided, the "it" player comes back in and moves around the room doing different things. If he's gets close to the chosen action the players can start clapping slowly, getting faster as the "it" player gets closer to the chosen activity. For instance, if the activity is "hop on one foot," the crowd would start clapping slowly if he starts hopping, and then start clapping more quickly if he makes the transition to hopping on one foot.
Foot Signing Contest
The Source for Youth Ministry says that a foot signing contest works well for large crowds of children. Choose five children to come to the front of the crowd. Have them take off their shoes and socks, and give them a permanent marker. When the leader yells "Go!" the children run through the crowd to see how many people they can get to sign their feet. The signatures must be legible, and the players can use both feet for signatures. At the end of the pre-determined time period, the leader calls the five back up to the front to see who has the most signatures. That person is declared the winner.