Games Penguin

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GAMES Penguin

Aims To enable Penguins to play a wide range of games which will encourage team skills and creative learning, as well as being fun. Objectives Penguins should be able to:

Games – old and new

•• play and share knowledge of outdoor games, old and new •• play a variety of indoor games, old and new. Team skills

•• work together in groups, learning to trust and co-operate with others •• take turns and show fair play •• understand something of what it means to be a leader. Sport

•• play cricket and have a basic knowledge of how to play rounders and cricket •• take part in a game of football or netball •• know in simple terms how basketball, badminton, and tennis are played •• understand that an athletics event is a collection of sports, and take part in at least one such sport in a Penguin sports day.

The objectives listed above indicate the options available. Two objectives per section need to be met to complete the games badge. 45

Games – old Team and new Skills

Many popular games go back a long way, though they may be played rather differently today. Working together An essential part of being in a team is knowing how Activities to work with other people and how to cooperate. •• The Penguins can talk to an older family member This involves trusting others and learning how about a game that they used to like to play. Is to communicate, whether this takes the form of that game still played today? Penguins could take explaining something clearly or listening to someone turns teaching a family game to the rest of the else’s point of view. group. In this session it is important that the Penguins feel •• Teach the Penguins games that have been played comfortable working with others, and not only their in Aotearoa for generations: particular friends. It should also help them, whether in smaller groups or in the whole group, to make -- Hei tama tū tama decisions for themselves and participate in group -- Hipitoitoi activities. -- Kōruru (knuckle bones) -- Poi rakau Activities

•• Make a skipping rope and practice skipping, •• Talk about the concept of whanaungatanga, individually, or as a group. where shared experiences and working together provides people with a sense of belonging, •• Play elastics or family connection. For the Penguins, whanaungatanga is very important, and Outdoor games helps to connect them to the wider St John whānau. Create a group project that shows There are many outdoor games that the Penguins’ whanaungatanga. You could make a waka, with parents and grandparents would have played that each Penguin group member drawing themselves you could revive. The Penguins will also have some and their oar, or a korowai, with each penguin suggestions of games they like to play. Ask the older designing feathers that represent them. Display Penguins what they would like to teach the group. A this somewhere prominent at your venue, and week before the Penguin session, ask them to explain make space to add new members as they arrive. the game to you (to make sure they know all the instructions), and list any equipment they need and •• Try some team building exercises to encourage where you can get it from. communication and turn taking: -- Partner painting Indoor games -- Team building with hoops and balloons The number of indoor games is almost limitless. -- Games to build trust Some of the most established games include:

•• board games: snakes and ladders, ludo, Being a team leader monopoly, draughts, cluedo, chess Leadership is about: •• word and number games: scrabble (junior scrabble for this age), consequences, bingo, •• Listening dominoes -- Be All Ears Bean Bag Toss • card games: snap, pairs, patience, fish. • -- Back to Back and Ear to Ear • other: solitaire, connect four, mastermind • -- Read The Listening Walk, by David Kirk, and go Plan an indoor games night with the Penguins. Invite for a sound walk whānau, make some hot chocolate or ice cream -- Play a series of sound effects and ask the sundaes, and play some of the games above. Bring in Penguins to guess the sound. This would make the games, or ask Penguins to bring in their own. a good bingo game too. 46

•• Communication local sports centre or city council leisure team to arrange full games of sports with proper equipment -- Divide the Penguins into teams and try these and facilities. mystery challenges. Emphasise they will need good communication to solve them. Activities -- Hide some ‘treasure’, then provide directions to find the treasure using only verbal clues •• Get the Penguins to bring in their own soccer such as “now you must walk forward 10 steps”. balls or balls of equivalent size. Suggest they After you have done this as a group, Penguins practise some exercises (you will need to be can try it in pairs. outside for these), for example: -- Read Being a bee, by Jinny Johnson & Lucy -- Practice throwing and catching, using soft Davey and then Code a message in dance… balls. Encourage Penguins to look at the ball, like a bee not at the person who is throwing. -- Communicate feelings and appreciation with -- Foot control: stand still, place sole of foot on these ‘Because’ cards. top of ball, roll forwards, backwards, sideways: place inside of foot on ground against the • Taking initiative • side of the ball and down the other side; then -- Try these Creative problem solving activities repeat in reverse direction. -- Set up this Frozen Ocean Animal Rescue and -- Kicking accuracy: if feasible, mark out a goal in keep the solution and the problem separate. chalk on a wall, divide it into sections and give Let the Penguins use their initiative to solve the section different numbers: how long does the problem. it take to kick all the different numbers? -- Use mazes for some creative problem solving -- Try the ‘chest pass’ which is used in basketball, where the ball is held at chest level in both -- Use a simple tarpaulin for a number of team hands and is thrown by extending the arms, problem solving activities. flicking the wrists and pushing the ball away •• Helping the team to work together. with the fingers. try ‘receiving’ the ball as in netball, using both hands and ‘snatching’ the -- Play a game of Mouse Trap. Teams must keep ball out of the air and pulling it to the body. a group of same color balloons in the air while -- Tennis: Gently bounce a ball up or down with weeding out the different color balloons or racquet held horizontally; or play ping-pong “mice” to a “mouse trap.” Give the team one - Putt a golf ball into a plastic drinking cup balloon of the common color per member and - turned on its side (secure to the ground with three balloons of a different color to keep in tape). Or challenge the Penguins to build their the air. One at a time, teams send one member own mini-golf course with cardboard and bouncing a balloon in the air to a “mouse trap” other recyclables and household items. at the other side of the room. Meanwhile, the other team members keep all the balloons in -- To play volleyball, tie a ribbon from one tall the air. Teams work to be the first team to get chair or stool to another, or from a chair to the three different color balloons into the trap. a doorknob, to create a net. Volley with a balloon or lightweight beach ball. -- Try Caterpillar riot, a team obstacle course, or a wacky relay -- Practice basketball dribbling skills -- Set up a pipeline challenge •• Arrange for Penguins to take part in different -- Have a Survivor party, where the Penguins running races, either inside the hall or outside. compete in teams to solve problems and play Hold a relay race too, using a kitchen roll tube as games. Eat tropical fruit, dress in team colours, a baton. or make a sash to wear over the Penguin •• Investigate the possibility of holding a sports uniform. day with other Penguin groups. With the help of parents and other St John leaders you could arrange a variety of athletic events on that day. Sport Encourage the Penguins to design, draw and Penguins will be involved in a wide variety of sports. colour medals for the ‘Penguin Games’. This selection of activities suits indoor or outdoor settings, and is for groups with limited access to sport equipment. You could also ask a local PE teacher,