I need some ideas!

[Morgana]

Hey ya'll. So, I'm going to be a summer camp counselor, working with kids ages 7-15. The director wanted to know if I could do some circus stuff with the kids, and I agreed. I was just wondering if anyone knew of any good things to teach kids - aside from juggling, which I feel is kind of expected. I have a pair of stilts and a unicycle with me here, but I'd like to do other things like games and stuff. I figured Negative Space is a good, active game for kids (as long as it doesn't become an orgy, right?) - are there any other good games I should know? Wink might be a little too...hands-on, but I suppose I would have to check. I played Blink once, but may need someone to refresh me on the rules. I'll probably play around with clowning and whatnot, as well....

I dunno. Throw your ideas at me!

[Victoria]

The statue game fascinates everyone. Have the first person stand there in a neutral position and the 'artist' moves them into whatever shape they want. Lifts their arm, shifts their weight by pushing against them, etc. It's endlessly fun.

Also: princess rock monster. (Good with a huge group.) Everyone sits down curls up and is a rock, except for two people, one of which is a princess, the other of which is a monster. The monster chases the princess while making big scary claws and "RAAAWWWWWRRRGHHH!" sounds. The princess needs to prance away squealing in a high pitched voice. (Everyone. Boys, girls, we want this princess to be GIRLY.) If the monster catches the princess they switch roles, so the former monster is now the princess being chased by the princess-turned-monster. If the princess jumps over a rock, the princess turns into a rock, the rock turns into a monster, and the monster turns into a princess. (So, princess jumps over a rock, curls up, the rock gets up and starts chasing around the monster.) It involves a fair amount of thinking, but can be really funny.

Also poison tag: everyone's it. If you get tagged, you sit down until someone tags the person who tagged you, and then you're back in. If you and someone else tag each other at the same time, nothing happens, keep playing. (It happens a lot.) Game is over when one person has tagged everyone so everyone else is sitting.

Negative space is a great game. Once they get comfy with each other, the mountain game is good too.

You can always change wink to be a high five instead of a kiss. That's how youth groups play it, apparently.

Insofar as clowning/physical theater: have everyone pick a partner. Partner A sits around somewhere around the perimeter of the room and watches Partner B walk throughout the space. Pay attention to things like where does B lead from? Do their hips lead? Chest? Head? How long are their strides? What do their arms do? Where is the weight in the foot? Do they have wide shoulders or do they narrow through their body to make themselves smaller? Standing up straight? etc. After observing, partner A gets up and walks behind B and tries to embody that person's walk. Match their stride, their weight shifts, etc. Involves a lot of paying attention to another person and then changing your own physicality. They'll find that walking differently will make them feel differently. Leading with the chest often makes you feel like you're being proud or pretentious, whereas a curved, concave body with raise shoulders may make one feel shy, sad, or closed off. Experiment with different ways of walking which can inspire characters!

You also know partner acro stuff, so go ahead and teach them that!

A good attention getter is key! Tara's always works really well with us: "If you can hear me, clap once!" (*a few people clap, others pay attention to figure out why*) "If you can hear me, clap twice!" and so on until people are not talking but are clapping. Usually 3 is the max needed. If you need to do it more than three times, just start stabbing kids. It quiets 'em down real fast.

(Uhm. Don't do that last bit. I mean..more importantly, don't tell anyone I told you that. )

[Morgana]

Whee! Thank you, Victoria! You have a wealth of knowledge about fun games. =D I'll let you know how it goes, once I start. =]

[tarapeze]

V: you have learnt well, young grasshopper.

Morgana: more stuffs for you:

helicopter: (you need a plastic juggling ring or something similarly light, attached to one end of a rope/jumprope/clothesline at least 6 ft long, the longer the better). arrange all the kids in a circle, with you and the 'helicopter' in the center. slowly swing the ring in a circle right around you, letting out the rope until it's skimming the floor right by the kids' feet. then have the jump as the circle comes around and you keep letting it out, until they're jumping as the ring passes under them. whenever someone doesn't jump in time and they hit the ring, they're out. to make it harder toward the end, get them running in a circle, still jumping. if you're down to just a few who are really good, make them try to CATCH the ring (jump in or on top of it) after you shout 'now'. whoever can, wins - like a lightning round.

crossing the room whilst connected to other people is also a great way to get them thinking about working together and sharing weight. you can start in pairs (not in any order, just whenever they think of an idea with their partner and the coast is clear, they can go - but try to get them going without too long a break in between pairs) and then try trios and quads... where it really gets complicated.

& relays are wonderful. just have a list of as many different things to do as you can think of: running, hopping with both feet together, crab walks, rolls/cartwheels/handstands (depending on the level), holding onto your ankles, hopping on one foot, skipping, doing jumping jacks, etc. and add in some spins at one end for dizzyness. it gets them warm, it gets them excited, and is super-easy to lead.

also, i highly recommend a stretch/warm-up at the beginning. it gets everyone focused on you and listening/used to following directions, it gets everyone tuned into how their bodies are doing at the moment, gets them loose and warm and all that good stuff. and kills time, if you need to. i try to start with something involving running, even a tag game, then pull them into a circle, yourself included, for arm circles, reaches, bends & other simple stuff.

& it's really fun to screw with the clap-attention game. once you have most people's attention, you can go on a power trip and make them do whatever you want: 'if you can hear me, point at the sky.' 'if you can hear me, sit down.' 'if you can hear me, pick your nose.' &tc. &tc. littler kids actually LIKE that.

woooeeee!

[Morgana]

Hahaa, you guys are great. Now I just need to figure out how long to do each activity; I only have 45 minutes in a period, and I'm not sure how often the bossman is going to have me scheduled to lead activities. XD

[Victoria]

Dude, Tara, re: helicopter. Kinda like STREB. Why have we never played that?