Hi there, friends… I’m Melissa from More Time 2 Teach and I’m so excited to be visiting today as a guest blogger for Minds in Bloom!
With so many holiday and class parties happening throughout the school year, I’m always looking for games to play that are simple, easy to setup, and LOADS OF FUN!
The 8 games that I’m going to share with you are some of my students favorites and would work wonderfully ANY time of the year. The best part is that they require minimal prepping or setup, which is a BIGGIE in my book! I mean, who has time to put together complicated games with a gazillion different materials when you have a room full of 25-30 excited and wound up kids bouncing off the walls ready to have some FUN!
1. Anteaters- This game is one of my students favorite!
Materials Needed: 1-2 bags of plain M&M’s or Skittles, straws, and paper plates or napkins (either one will do). Instructions: Divide students into teams (the number of teams doesn’t matter). Give everyone about 20-25 M&M’s. I like to prep these ahead of time in reusable and sealable plastic containers or Ziploc baggies. (The M&M’s represent ants) The goal is for students to pretend to be anteaters, and use only a straw to suck up and transfer as many ants/ M&M’s as possible from a napkin to a paper plate in 1 minute. The team that transfers the most wins.
2. Scoop and Transfer- This game is great for sneaking in some teamwork practice!
Materials Needed: bowls, spoons, and cotton balls. Instructions: Divide students into teams. Give each team 2 bowls, a spoon, and about 20 small cotton balls. To play, 1 student from each team sits in a chair with a bowl of about 20 cotton balls in their lap and an empty bowl on their head which they can hold onto. A fellow teammate stands next to them and will pick up any balls that fall on the floor and place them back in the bowl. The goal of this game is for students to transfer a total of 5 cotton balls from their lap into the bowl on their head using only the spoon. They are only allowed to transfer 1 cotton ball at a time. Once 5 balls are in the bowl, the next team member sits down and starts all over again. The first team to have every team member complete the task wins this game.
3. Stretch & Search- This game was so much fun to watch! For many of my students, this was the first time they had ever seen panty hose, so they didn’t really know what to do with it :0)
Materials Needed: The largest sized panty hose you can find (I bought mine at the dollar store) and something small like a penny or eraser. (During the holidays you might want to use seasonal items.)
Instructions: Divide students into teams. Place a small object inside each of the panty hose legs. Make sure that you move the object all the way down to the toe area. Have 1 member from each team sit in a chair with the panty hose in their lap, and their hands up in the air signaling that they are ready to begin. On your mark, each team will begin trying to retrieve the object hidden in each leg. The first team to remove both items wins a point for their team. Then replace the objects and repeat with the next 2 team members. (Tip: Make sure that after each round, when you are returning the objects into the panty hose, that you are not giving away any tricks on how to handle the hosiery. Trust me when I say your kids will be watching you!)
4. Balancing Act- This game was a little challenging at first. Especially since we used the squared off SOLO cups pictured on the right which tend to stick to each other. Despite the added challenge, my students had a blast!
Materials Needed: small styrofoam ball and 25- 12oz Solo cups (Rounded cups are best)
Instructions: Hot glue a small styrofoam ball to the top of one of the Solo cups and let it dry. Then stack the remaining 24 cups and add the cup with the ball to the top of your tower. Divide students into teams. Give each student their tower. On “GO”, each team will begin moving cups, one at a time, from the top of the stack to the bottom. The first team to have the cup with the ball back on top of their stack is the winner.
5. Marshmallow Madness- Let me begin by warning you that this game is addicting… Before you know it, you’ll be playing along with your students!
Materials Needed: straws, small bowl, masking tape/ painters tape/ or Washi tape (either one will work), 1-2 bags of small marshmallows, and a cookie sheet. (You can also use the top of a student’s desk)
Instructions: Using the tape, mark a start and finish line on your cookie sheet. Place a handful of marshmallows into the small bowl. When you give the command to begin, students will have 1 minute to blow as many marshmallows as possible from the starting line all the way across the finish line. Any marshmallows that fall off the cookie sheet do NOT count as a point. The team to successfully blow the most marshmallows across the finish line is the winner.
7. Fill Your Cup- Since my students love using marshmallows and straws for games, here’s another one we came up with…
Materials Needed: straws, small marshmallows, plates or napkins, and plastic cups
Instructions: Split your students up into teams. Give the first person from each team a plate with a handful of small marshmallows on it, a straw, and an empty cup. Have another team member assist them by holding the cup in place. When you say “Go”, students will have 1 minute to transfer as many marshmallows as possible from the plate into the cup. Once time is called, count up the treats transferred and award each team a point per marshmallow. Any marshmallows not inside the cup when time is up, do NOT count.
8. Flying Clouds- This game is as simple to set up as it is to play!
Materials Needed: Bowls or small baskets, spoons, and cotton balls (these are the clouds)
Instructions: Divide students into teams and call the first 2 players up from each team. Have them sit across from each other. Place a bucket filled with cotton balls and a spoon in front of one of the players and hand the other person an empty bucket. On your mark, player 1 uses the spoon to fling one cotton ball at a time into the empty bucket. The goal is to try to score as many cotton balls into the bucket as possible before time is called. Each ball that manages to stay inside the bucket scores a point for the team. Continue to play until every team member has had a chance to play. The winner is the team with the most points.
I hope that these games have been helpful and that you try some of them out with your kids! Feel free to share the love by pinning the image below to Pinterest so that other people can benefit as well!
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