games

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	While several games of the games described here have a musical relationship many are listed simply for the excellent social and related messages they share. Originally most were shared with boys in the 'Boys Business' project. However there isn't a game on this page that won't work with mixed gender groups!
Honey, do you love me?	Consider a rather challenging variation on this 'laughing' theme. In this game the boy or boys inside the circle ask the others one fixed question: 'Honey, do you love me?' They can act this one out or simply try to keep a 'poker' face. The boys in the circle circumference must answer 'Honey, I still love you, but I just can't smile!' without the glimmer of a smile. If they succeed in responding without cracking a smile they swap places with the boy who asked the question. I would introduce this game only after the Laughing Game had been played successfully a number of times. Boys often find a game like this too confronting to be comfortable. Of course that's not a reason to withhold it but choosing your moment is critical!
The 'Trust' Tunnel A 'trust' game	Students pair off with partners of roughly similar height and form a double line of facing pairs. Distance between the two lines is established by students holding both arms in front and making fingertip to fingertip contact with their partner. Keeping their arms extended thus - fingertip to fingertip, students will create a kind of 'Mexican Wave' as each takes turns to run the 'gauntlet' through the 'tunnel' created between the facing lines. Each 'run' is facilitated by a leader who calls 'ready', making sure students in the double line are making fingertip contact. On the next call 'RUN HARD!' the student 'runs hard' and unhesitatingly through the line, as those in the line drop their arms a 'millisecond' before the running student reaches them. Those who successfully 'run hard' are rewarded by a feeling of immense satisfaction as they complete the run. The 'trust' involved is the key to this 'gratification'!
Negotiating Obstacles A 'trust' game	Boys pair off. You can organise this randomly but, for the first play it might be politic to let friends go with friends. Static obstacles (chairs, adults) are randomly placed across the working space. Boys pair off at either or both 'long' ends of the room. One closes his eyes and is thus 'blind' or visually impaired. The task of the other boy is to guide him verbally through the obstacles as he accompanies him for the length of the room. If the 'visually impaired' boy hits an obstacle they must start again. Once the room has been negotiated the boys swap roles and traverse the length of the room returning to the original starting place. Boys enjoy this game, of which collaboration and the empathy which ought to grow from it are obvious strengths. Next time the game is played boys can be paired off randomly.
The 'Coin' Game	Students sit in a circle on the floor. One student is selected to lie on his/her back, eyes securely closed (caps over eyes is one way to ensure this) in the centre of the circle. He/she places a coin on his/her chest. He/she has an imaginary 'gun' in each hand, finger pointed, with a total of six shots, identified as a loudly spoken 'bang!' The object of the game is for another student to enter the circle at any point and quietly approach the student in the centre to snatch the coin before he/she is 'shot'. The game encourages collaborative behaviour to ensure silence.
Ukalele - A Musical Stick Game	While any rhythmical chant can accompany this game it is made more authentic by singing 'Ukalele' as it is played. Students kneel or sit cross-legged on the floor. A newspaper roll is placed in front of each student. The leader calls the 'beat', introducing it by counting in '1,.. 2,... 3,... 4,...' at which point students simultaneously pick up their stick, raise it in an exaggerated arc, carrying it across their own bodies to place it in front of the person on their right. In this way everybody gets a new stick to replace their own. The game continues as each stick moves to a new person on the right, on every 'beat' of the sung chant (Ukalele, or another appropriate chant). Have the group practise this first until they can achieve synchronised passage of the sticks around the circle without 'log-jams' of sticks piling up in front of individuals. When the chant stops students without a stick raise one hand. Other students with more than one stick gently and sensibly roll their excess sticks across the floor SAFELY to those without. Now the group is ready to play the game. This entails the addition of the call 'Change' on which direction students will pass the sticks in the opposite direction. The game may be made increasingly difficult by interjecting 'Change' more frequently into the play.
Mal, Mal, Mal A Musical Stick Game	This is, in a sense, a variation on the previous game. Ideally the PNG chant 'Mal, Mal, Mal' should accompany the game but other simple chants will suffice. Students beat the rhythm of the words of the selected chant with the paper roll on the floor in front of them. On the final syllable of the chant each student passes the roll to the person on their right. The challenge in this musical game lies in students keeping paper roll exchanges in time with the increased and decreased tempo of the chant.
Exercise Balls A Ball Game	These ideas are a consequence of colleague Wes Campbell's inventive genius. Wes arrived one afternoon at his school's Boys' Business sessions with a large 60cm 'medicine' or gym ball. This and the games we were able to play, proved such a big hit that we've introduced these to other Boys' Business groups. Local sports stores have been selling the balls at a greatly reduced price. A word of warning - it seems that some people have been over-inflating the balls and despite assurances they are unbreakable... they have... broken, that is! Nevertheless they are great vehicles for exciting cooperative and creative play.
	*Consider these great participant games for middle years boys:*
Dodge Ball A Ball Game	The boys sit in the usual circle on the floor. At first one boy (later when the boys becomes more experienced and safety is assured a second and even third boy can be added) stands in the circle. He must 'dodge' the ball as the others push it and roll it across the circle. Some simple constraints apply - to keep the ball safely on the floor and not bouncing - first that the ball is pushed and not thrown, second that 'bottoms' must stay firmly glued to the floor. If either constraint is ignored and the ball touches the boy/s in the circle he stays in. Whoever succeeds in tagging the boy in the centre with the rolling ball takes his place.
Ghost Ball A Ball Game	This game was introduced to me by boys at Karama Primary School in Darwin's Northern suburbs although variants of it exist in many schools: Two teams of equal numbers of boys line up on either side of an imaginary or real line across the central width of the space. The rules are simple. The task of each team is to bowl or toss the large ball to a member of the other team. If he fumbles the catch he takes his place on the sideline (temporarily) (I must stress here that this is a really critical opportunity as always to encourage good sportsmanship by acclaiming boys who 'go out' with good grace. Arguments with the umpire are 'no-go' in our activities. Whenever a team member catches a ball on the full - without fumbling - a team member sitting out may be returned to the game. The game continues until boys begin to lose interest! It is not a competition but rather another cooperative exercise.
'Freeze Frame' Samurai	I play slow and dramatic chords on the piano, each intended to introduce the next 'frame'. Boys can only move on each new chord and must freeze between chords. The game has no winners or losers; it simply requires boys to stage a scene from a samurai movie in freeze frames. To give the game credence get pairs of boys who prove creative in playing the game to demonstrate their scene to the others who sit to watch the pair perform.
Same - Different	Use the double line strategies for the 'Trust Tunnel' above to set up two equidistant lines for this game. The boys in one of the lines are labelled 'Same', and the boys in the other 'Different'. Standing opposite each other in their respective lines boys wait for the caller to call 'Ready, set, UP!' On the call 'UP!' both boys must raise either (but only one) pointing arm If both raise an arm in line with that raised by the other this is 'Same'. This means the boy in the 'Same' line wins and the other steps backwards out of his line. If both raise an arm diagonally opposite to the other this is 'Different'. This means the boy in the 'Different' line wins and the other must step backwards out of his line. Now the boys who remain in both lines pair off ready for a repeat 'Ready, set, UP!' OF course it is probable that lines will now be uneven. In this event the boys who are left over wait for a possible round on the next input. The game finishes when only one line has boys left in it.
Machines	Boys are invited to move around the room to music. (How you set this up is entirely over to you and the boys. We usually suggest they move as the music tells them). When the music stops they must freeze. Teacher then calls a number from 2 to 7 ot 8. The first group formed comprising that number, and seated on the floor, wins. Now instruct the groups to prepare a 'machine' in 30 (extended!) seconds. The more ridiculous the 'machine' the better. For example on suggestion was for a machine that peeled bananas and fed them to lines of elephants. Obviously this needs to maintain a G Certificate feel but ideas that appeal to boys need to be encouraged. One suggestion by boys was for a giant blender that blended nasty green things.
Heads Down, Heads Up	Students form a standing circle. The leader directs the game by continuously calling 'Heads down (pause) heads up!' Each time students raise their heads they must try to catch the eyes of one new person in the circle. IF THEY MAKE EYE CONTACT with that person they sit down. The winner can be either the last person standing or the last person sitting! Honesty is an important characteristic of this activity
Point	Students find a partner and pair off facing each other, side by side with other pairs, to form a double line. One line is now 'Line A' and the other 'Line B'. Both arms hang at each student's side, with the forefinger of each hand pointing. The game requires each student to keep his/her own personal score. On the call 'point' students simultaneously raise either left or right hand to 'point at' their partner. If both partners point with the opposite hand (ie left to right, or right to left, the partner in 'Line A' wins, and gains one point. If both partners point with the same hand (ie both left or both right) the partner in 'Line B' wins that round. The first partner to accrue 20 points wins.
Squirt	"Squirt" involves some lateral thinking and is consequently quite challenging, but a lot of fun. The class stands in an inward facing circle. The person who starts eyeballs another across the circle, names him or her, points a finger and calls "squirt" as he or she fires an imaginary water pistol. What follows is critical to the success of the game: The nominated person ducks so that the students on either side are free to face off and "squirt" each other, calling "squirt" loudly. Whoever wins stays standing, the loser sits (with good grace!!). NOW the person originally squirted stands again and continues the game in the same vein. The primary "squirters" can not squirt their immediate neighbour. The game becomes more complex as more students go out and spaces appear around the circle. Taxi Two students are chosen to be "taxis". Their ultimate task is to get the most fares. The winner is the taxi with the largest group of boys in his corner of the room. The process of the game is easy. The two taxis solicit fares by chanting "I'm a taxi, I'm a taxi, do you want a ride, toot?" and the student selected must "get in the taxi" behind the "driver". Then the taxi hurries to the next boy and repeats the chant, adding a second "toot" for the second fare. He repeats the chant one more time with an additional "toot" (ie 3 toots for the 3rd fare) and with three on board he has a full load. Now he ushers the three "fares" to his corner of the room and tells them, "please get out". The fares stay in the corner while he pursues three more fares repeating the chant verbatim. If at any stage he gets the chant wrong he must start again with the first of his new fares.
Dead Dog	'Dead Dog' is a 'Freeze game' with a difference! Students begin by finding a space on the floor and lying down. The leader moves about among the 'Dead Dogs' Whenever they are out of sight of the leader students are encouraged to risk moving to another freeze position. The leader attempts to catch them moving. Adolescent boys we work with love this simple activity.
I've Been to Harlem	'Harlem' is described in 'UpBeat', still an excellent music program for primary schools in Australia. In pairs, students form a double circle, with one partner in the outer circle facing in and the other in the inner circle facing out to their partner. On commencement of the song the outside circle travels clockwise and the inner circle anticlockwise. On the word 'over' students turn to face students in the opposite circle and hold hands. They swing these together side by side until the words' turn the glasses over' when they swing through and turn through, back to back and face each other again. Letting go they travel in their own circle again in the previous direction. As the song reaches its conclusion, 'or you'll lose your friend in the ........' students wait for either 'ocean' to be called in which case they sit promptly - last one down is out OR something else is called which although it might begin like 'ocean' is incorrect - eg 'Oh she'll be right!' Anyone who sits down or begins to sit down is out. The winner is the last student standing. An additional rule in groups where students are unwilling to hold hands can be that anyone who hasn't taken a partners hands by the count of 'three' is out!
More games	The "Boys Business" Manual has a number of games beyond these.
	Updated: September 2008