Circle Games We have circle time in the morning and afternoon. These games are geared for the entire group and most are designed to be played sitting down in a circle. Almost any shortish game can be played during circle time, so don’t feel confined by this list. For more ideas check out the movement and drama sections and the peace games binder. Alien Invasion (aka Murder Handshake) Age: Easier with older, but can work with both Time per Round: 2-8 min. We call this game Alien Invasion instead of Murder Handshake because aliens are more exciting than murderers. If you have another alternative to the killing version, go for it! Here’s how it works: 1. Explain how the game is played, especially the special handshake that only the alien can use (one finger scratches the palm of the person they are shaking hands with). 2. All the campers close their eyes and one counselor walks around and taps one camper on the head, while explaining what they are doing. If you want, ask campers to raise their hands while they close their eyes if they want to be the alien. 3. Tell everyone they can open their eyes. Welcome them to the party and warn them that there is an alien in the group. 4. Everyone walks around shaking hands. You cannot refuse to shake hands with anyone. If someone shakes your hand with the special alien handshake you either wait 10 seconds or shake two more people’s hands and then fall down on the ground, beginning the metamorphosis the alien has catalyzed! (aka they “fall asleep”) 5. Here are two variations on how guessing who the alien is works. Feel free to use your own. -Whenever someone thinks they know they raise their hand and when the counselor calls on them they say who they think it is. If they are wrong they must fall asleep. If they are right the game is over. This version is best for younger kids. -Whenever someone thinks they know they raise their hand but must wait for another person to raise their hand. When two people both have a guess, a counselor holds both their hands up and on the count of three they must point to the person they think is the alien (or say their name). If they point differently, or if they both point to the wrong person, they must fall asleep. If they both point to the right person, the game is over. This version makes a bigger challenge and hampers cheating with older kids. Make sure to end the game before it stops being fun! A good clue is whenever a lot of accusations of cheating are being made. Doggie, Doggie, Where’s Your Bone? Age: Everyone! Time per Round: 2-5 min. Materials: “Bone”—Can be anything small enough for a camper to conceal. One person (the Doggie, or detective) is sent out of the circle and closes their eyes. A counselor hands the “bone” to one of the campers in the circle and they hide. Then everyone is told to pretend like they are hiding the bone. Everyone sings: “Doggie, doggie, where’s your bone? Somebody stole it from your home,” which is the cue for the doggie to return to the circle and try to figure out who has the bone. Two really great things about this game: -The rounds are really short so it can be squeezed in whenever a little time needs to be filled, or used as a “main course” kind of game. -It can be adapted for whatever theme is happening. For example: “Pirate, pirate, where’s your sword? Somebody stole it from your hoard!” Duck, Duck, Goose! MBC Style Age: Everyone! Time per Round: 2-3 min. Materials: Nothing needed. On hot days a sponge and bucket of water can be used for the “Duck, Duck, Splash!” variation. I’m sure you know how to play duck, duck, goose. MBC Style means that campers are invited to substitute whatever they like for duck and goose. Furthermore, if someone ends up in the mushpot, the name of that changes based on whatever the camper chose for their duck and goose substitutes. Usually a creative counselors names the mushpot. Some examples: monkey, monkey, gorilla (mushpot could be the jungle); apple, apple, orange (orchard?); ice, ice, cream (freezer?); or my favorite, soybean, soybean, tofu (Berkeley, of course). For a hot day, the camper who is tapping heads has a water-filled sponge and dribbles a little bit on people they are not choosing, and when they choose squeezes the whole thing on the person’s head. With younger kids it is sometimes best to have no mushpot at all. When playing Duck, Duck, Splash, remember to make a clear gesture (such as putting one’s hand on one’s head) that campers can do if they do not want to get wet. Evolution Age: Older (younger kids can usually get it in a mixed group though) Time per Round: 10-20 min. Materials: None. Evolution can be a great drama game because it involves acting like animals, but its also a good circle game for any theme, because it’s so fun! Everyone starts out as an egg. The goal of the game is to evolve through all the stages to reach the final, Supreme Being stage. The way to evolve is to play rock, paper, scissors with someone at your same evolutionary level. The winner evolves to the next stage and the loser stays the same. The stages are: Egg – Moves around in a ball and says “waddle waddle” Chicken – Moves around crouched while flapping arms and clucking Dinosaur – Walks around making big mouth gestures with arms and dinosaur noises Monkey – You know. Hands in armpits. Monkey noises. Human Being – Drives around honking and saying things like “Whatever!” on cell phone Supreme Being – Forms a circle with other SBs and sings “Stop! In the name of love…” Froggy aka Frogs and Flies Age: Everyone! Time per Round: 3-6 min. Materials: None. One camper is sent out to be the detective. The rest of the campers close their eyes while a counselor walks around and taps one on the head. That one is the froggy. All the campers open their eyes and start buzzing like flies, which is the cue for the detective to come back. The froggy sticks their tongue out at flies, and when a fly sees the froggy stick their tongue out at them, they must fall asleep. The detective tries to figure out who the froggy is. Heads Up, Seven Up Age: Everyone! (Youngest kids may have some trouble) Time per Round: 3-7 min. Materials: None. Pick seven people to be 'it'. Everyone else puts their heads down and their thumbs up. The chosen seven sneak around and push down the thumb of any one person they choose. Then, when everyone has made their selections, a counselor calls out, “Head's up, seven up!'” The seven people who had their thumbs pushed down stand up, and each person gets one guess to pick who chose them. If they get it right, they take the person's place. If they don't, they sit down, and their chooser stays up. To play with fewer people, have three or five people be it. Beware of cliques, or campers only choosing their friends leaving shy kids completely out of the game. Honey if you love me… or OINK! Age: Everyone! Time per Round: 7-12 min. Materials: None. In the traditional version of this game, one camper is selected to be ‘it.’ They go into the middle of the circle and must approach campers and try to get them to smile or laugh. They cannot touch the person they are targeting, but they can do anything else as long as they include the words “Honey if you love me won’t you please please smile?” Oink, an alternate version from the Monkey Business files, seems like it might work better with younger kids and probably be fun for older kids too: This game is for two or more players. The object of the game is to make the other players smile with your funniest oink, snort, or other pig noise. To play, players take turns being the pig and going around to the other players. If the pig makes a player laugh or crack a smile, the player's out. If the pig doesn't, the pig moves on to the next player. The last player left in the circle is the winner. The no touching rule is big! Enforce it! Pass the Squeeze Age: Everyone! Time per Round: 1-2 min. Materials: None. This is a great game when the group needs some focus. Everyone holds hands in the circle and one person begins the game by gently squeezing the hand of one of the people next to them. That person squeezes the next person’s hand and so on until the squeeze reaches the person who started it. For more excitement, make two or three squeezes go around at once. To enhance the focusing qualities of the game, make it a timed squeeze and try to go as fast as possible—then get kids to suggest ways to make it even faster. Remember to emphasize gentle squeezes! Pattern-Maker (aka Who’s the Leader?) Age: Everyone! Time per Round: 2-5 min. Materials: None. From the Monkey Business Vault: To play, one player is the guesser, one the monkey and the rest follow the monkey.