It is so important to connect with your class, allowing you to get to know your students and for them to get to know you. Like me, you may have new students who missed out on an orientation day due to the challenges of 2021 so their first day at school is so important!
Here are some fun games to get social interactions going while avoid little to no contact…enjoy!
Me Too!
Ask one student to stand in front of the group to share a fact about themselves, like their favourite colour, favourite sport, something about their family etc. Any student who also shares that favourite thing stands up and shouts, “Me too”. Each student takes a turn and I find that the comments get funnier and quirkier as they go along.
Your students will love this game because it’s interactive, fun and most importantly they are learning quick facts about each other again.
Blindfolded Obstacle Game
Students are in small groups of three or four. You can either make an obstacle course in preparation for this activity or ask the students to do this before the blindfold part of the challenge. This will greatly depend on their age as you will only want a short amount of time spent making the course.
Within the small groups, one member is blindfolded and the rest of the time must guide him/her through the obstacle course by providing directions.
This could be set as a timed challenge, team against team or whoever shows the best teamwork within each small team. The rest of the group must then guide that person through the obstacle course.
Your students will love this game because they can make up an obstacle course, work within small teams and it is competitive.
Friendship Chain
Each student is given a thin long slip of paper. On their paper, they write what they think is the most important quality in a friend. Those slips then get taped together to form a chain, and can be hung in the classroom and referred back to. This could be completed for a variety of different topics such as a initial or final reflection on a task, favourite _______, etc.
Honey I Love You
This is one of my favourite gams from my childhood! It can be played as a group or in pairs.
To play as a group, all students sit in a circle with one in the middle. The student in the middle chooses anyone in the circle and says, “Honey, I love you, won’t you give me a smile?” The person who gets the question must reply, “Honey, I love you, but I just can’t smile,” without smiling. The person in the middle can then try anything such as making faces, sounds, gestures to make that person smile, except for physically touching. If the person smiles, then he/she goes to the middle and the game continues.
To play in pairs, each pair is standing up in front of each other. Each student takes it in turns to do the above until someone smiles. The student who smiles will sit down and the student who wins will remain standing and find a new opponent. This continues until the last pair is standing and the winner is crowned.
Sing That Song
As students arrive, give each of them one line of lyrics from well known songs. For example, “Happy Birthday” or “Row Your Boat” or well known pop songs etc. Students must try to find the other students who have lyrics from their particular song. When each team has connected, they have time to practice their song. Then, you can have the teams introduce themselves to the rest of the group and sing their songs out loud.
Have I Got Your Attention?
This game requires a little preparation. You will need 10-15 topics written on slips of paper for each pair to choose from. They should be placed in a bowl or hat to draw from.
Two students are challenged to come up to the front of the class and pick a topic at random from the bowl. The two students must talk about that topic for one minute in front of the class, BUT they are both talking about the topic at the same time! No raised voices though, you could challenge the students to whisper also.
When the minute is up, the rest of the class must then vote on which person held their attention for longer.
Topics could include; why I like fish more than dogs, animals are better than humans, kittens, school uniform, violin versus saxophone, scarecrows or name countries/cities/climates/environments etc.
Are You My Twin?
To prepare for the activity, decide ahead of time on pairs as animal adults and their young, famous couples, occupations, etc. or things that go together such as ham & cheese, knife & fork, bacon & eggs, swimming hat & swimming goggles, etc.
Write specific examples on cards making two cards for each example and one set of three for an odd number of participants.
To start the ativity, distribute the cards to players and advise them not to share what is written on the card with anyone else before beginning. Ask the group to spread out in the playing area. Tell the group that each person must now find their twin without revealing exactly what is on their card.
Once the partners have found each other, they stop where they are and watch the other playing find each other.
I hope that some of these games come in useful and give you some ideas to assist with connecting this term. If you are looking for some ideas for wellbeing, click here.
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