Games! for the classroom.

Okay, these games have been modified to get the whole class involved.
One of the worst things you can hear is, "I never get picked."
The popular kids claim they don't get picked enough, the unpopular
kids complain they never get picked. These games solve the problem.
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The Drawing Game

(This is a game I made up)
If you have a whiteboard, you can use 3 markers, if not use a chalkboard
and 3 pieces of chalk.
On the board you write the numbers 1, 2, and 3 near the top.
Basically as high as an average child in the classroom can
reach while straining. Don't write it at normal writing height.
Space the numbers about 2-3 feet apart. Enough room
so 1 kid can stand under a number and have elbow room.
You also set up a chair at the opposite end of the room
from the boards. Pick a student and sit them in the chair.
Turn the chair so the person sitting in the
chair looks away from the board. You don't want them to see
the ones who you will pick now. Pick 3 kids now. Being silent
as to not give away who the child is. (You'll see why) The first
kid picked goes to 1, second to 2, third to 3. If you need to
point and remind, go ahead. If you use 3 different colored markers,
you can write the numbers using a different color. That way,
it is obviuos who goes where. Okay. So now you have 3 kids
up at the board and 1 at the back. You instruct the ones at
the board to "Draw a ____." Fill in the blank with your choice!
Cat, dog, tree, mouse, etc. Something fast and simple. Give
them 30 seconds to draw. When they are finished, they sit
down quietly. The person at the back turns around and
picks their "favorite." It will not always be the best! Whoever
has drawn that picture is the new "judge." From the other
two, choose 1 to erase the board (leaving the numbers) and
choose the other to pick the 3 next players, waiting of course
until the "judge" turns the other way. And you pick something
else to draw, and continue on as long as you like!
*Note: You can use the ticket system that is described for
Heads Up 7-Up below. Since 3 kids are "used up" each
each time, you can quickly go through the whole class.
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Heads Up 7-Up!

You know the game. Pick 7 students. 1 is the leader. They
come to the front. The leader says, "Heads down, thumbs up."
The 7 go around and touch 1 thumb each. Then when all are
back to the front, leader calls, "heads up, 7 up."
The 7 chosen students stand and one by one are asked to
guess who picked them. If they are right, they switch places
with 1 being part of the picking students. If they guess wrong,
they sit down. After all guess, students reveal who picked who.
And it starts again.
*Ticket system: Cut out colored pieces of construction paper,
about the size of a raffle ticket. Pass 1 to all students who are
not part of the first 7 chosen. Instead of touching a thumb, the
7 students take a ticket. Collect them in a pile or can each round.
So, for each round, instruct the group of 7 that they need to
pick ones with tickets. They don't need to pick all tickets all
the time. Just some tickets all the time. When all tickets are
used, each student has had a chance. Pass out the tickets
again, and do the same thing. That way, all students get
picked, multiple times, no matter what!
You can even do 1 extra round after all tickets are gone to
give students a free choice if you wish.
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Who is missing?

You pick one student to be "it."
They sit in a chair and face away from the class, closing their
eyes.
You need a closet or cabinet or wall that a student can
"hide" behind and not be seen by the person in the chair.
You quietly point to a student to "hide." While they are
hiding, you count to 10. The rest of the students change
desks. At 10, all must sit down. You can speed up the
count if you need to maintain the chaos.
You then ask the person who is "it" to turn around and guess
who is missing. It is actually harder than it seems. Sometimes
I found myself forgetting who was hidden. What makes it hard
is that all students are mixed up now.
If they guess right, they get to stay.
The person who was hidden picks the next hider.
If they guess wrong, they pick the next student to hide
then sit down.
You can make a max number of right guesses allowed so
a good guesser does not hog it all. I like 3. If they guess
2 in a row, they get to play just one more no matter what.
That way, you use up a lot of students and keeps it moving.
Again, you can use a modified ticket system to keep track
of who has been chosen.
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Four corners

Put the numbers 1 to 4, fairly large on pieces of paper. That is,
one number per paper. Tape one paper in each corner of the
classroom. Sometimes a cupboard will block the corner, so
tape it accordingly. You then have 4 corners, each numbered from
1 to 4. Cut a paper into 4 equal pieces. Put the numbees 1 to 4, one
on each piece. Fold them up and put these 4 papers in a box, bag,
can, or similar. Now, you tell all students in the class to go to a corner.
You pick a number from the bag and read it. All students in that
corner must sit down. You tell the class to switch corners. The rule
is they cannot stay at the same corner. You count to 10 (or less)
and pick another number. Remember to put chosen numbers back
in the container. Again, all students at that corner sit down.
You keep repeating this until you have 4 or less. When there are
4 or less, on each draw they must switch their corners and they
cannot be at the same corner as someone else. Sometimes at
the end, you will need to draw a few times as some corners will
be empty. Eventually, you will call the last corner with a student
in it and the other student will be the only one left--the winner!
You can then play again, with the winner picking numbers.
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Silent ball

Used to be my favorite.
You need a nerf ball or very soft ball. Students sit on desks and
toss the ball around. If they talk, they are "out" and must sit down.
If they drop the ball, throw it so it is uncatchable, or interfere with
a throw or a catch, they are out and must sit down. If they drop
a cathcable ball, they are also out. Soon, all but 1 student is left
as the winner. You can modify this if you wish. One problem is
students sitting down get bored. Bored student=loud student.
You can have it so nobody gets out, just needs to be quiet.
Tossing a ball around in the classroom is its own reward!
You need more rules, however to make it safe:
-If you drop the ball, then you ARE THE ONLY student to go
and get the ball.
-No standing, waving hands, calling out, or other unsafe
practices.
-You need to keep a handle on this game as it can do some
harm to the classroom.