Description: Have students sit in their chairs in a large circle. The person without a chair (the adult usually starts) approaches someone in a chair and asks, “Do you love your neighbor?” The person in the chair (after carefully considering the people on either side of them) either says, “Yes, I do,” or “No, I don’t.” If they do love their neighbors, the person in the middle moves on to someone else. But if they don’t love their neighbor, the person in the middle asks, “Who do you love?” Then the person in the chair says something like, “I only love people with black shoes,” (or any other descriptive term) and everyone who is wearing black shoes has to stand up and switch chairs. The person in the middle tries to take one of the empty chairs. Whoever is left standing is now “it” and has to ask someone new if they love their neighbor.

This is a good game to play for lower levels with basic descriptive terms (hair, eyes, clothes) and more advanced levels can get creative and more specific, like “I only like people wearing plaid,” or “people who live on X street.” Unfortunately for some groups, having freestanding chairs is a key part of the game, so if you can’t rearrange the room, you might not be able to play.

-Abeth S.

The game has two phases, a nighttime phase, and a daytime phase. The goal of the mafia players is to kill the rest of the townspeople without getting caught, and the goal of the townspeople is to catch the mafia players before this happens.

During the nighttime phase, everyone puts their heads down on their desks. The leader, who acts as the “narrator” for this story. Tells the mafia to “wake up”. The mafia then need to decide as a team which person in class to kill. This has to be done silently or else the townspeople will hear them. Once they’ve decided on a victim, they inform the narrator by pointing and go back to sleep. Then it’s time for the daytime phase.

During the daytime phase, the narrator tells everyone to wake up, and then tells the class which townsperson died. Sometimes it’s fun to give them a profession and a specific ghastly death like: “The town baker has been found stuffed into his own oven!” etc, but that’s up to the narrator.  Then, it’s the townspeople’s job to decide among them which townsperson to arrest/kill. The mafia play a part in this phase too (since the townspeople don’t know they’re mafia), and it’s in their interest help convince the rest of the class not to choose them. Once the class decides which player is mafia, that student is “out” and the teacher asks them to reveal their card to the class.

Gameplay continues until all the mafia are caught or the number of townspeople matches the number of mafia. If the numbers match up I usually just say “the people with the guns win”, and we play another round.

Variations:
- You can have each mafia choose a different victim. This makes the game go faster
- You can introduce the “Inspector” – The inspector wakes up after the mafia, and points at a table they think might be mafia. The teacher/narrator confirms or denies with thumbs up / thumbs down
- You can introduce the “Doctor” – The doctor wakes up after the mafia, and chooses a townsperson. If that person was killed by the mafia, the doctor brings them back.
- More variations are here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mafia_(party_game)

Issues:
- This game makes it easy to cheat. Usually I start the games with a reminder that this game is no fun if anyone cheats, and that does cut down on the cheating.

-Tony S.

Note: This is great for summer camps when you want to teach some basic English, and are outside playing with some kids. It could also be done in Bulgarian.

Description: During the summer I would meet with some kids in the park on different days and we would do simple games that involved basic English, (counting to 20 and backwards, days of the week, months, seasons, etc.) The first day I tried to do something with basketball, but none of the kids were very good at shooting hoops. So later that summer, I decided to bring the basketball back and try something else….

Basically, you just have a small number of kids, maybe try to keep it to 6 or 7, and make them stand in a circle in front of a basketball hoop. Then, you give the basketball to one kid and tell them to pass it, say 5 times to the right, and each kid has to say the subsequent number when he or she gets the ball (1!, 2!, 3!, 4!, 5!) until it reaches the fifth kid. Then that kid gets to take a shot with the ball at the basket. If the kid makes the basket, he or she gets one point, then returns to the circle and the ball is passed another five times, each kid saying the next subsequent number when he or she passes the ball (6!, 7!, 8!, 9!, 10!), until another kid gets the ball. Then that new kid gets a chance at a shot. You can make them count as high as you want, say 100, 150, 200, whatever, and once the count reaches that number, whoever has the most points wins.

Basically it just helps kids count in English while teaching them how to play a little basketball as well. Most of the kids I did it with seemed to enjoy it, and I got beat often times. I think I need to work on my jump shot. The only caveat is making sure whatever number they count to before someone gets to shoot, say to 5, or 4, or 6, you just have to take into consideration how many kids are in the game. If you have an even number of kids playing, say 6, then you have to make the fifth kid shoots, otherwise it would be the same kids shooting all the time, and some would get left out. Simply consider how many kids are playing beforehand and run a scenario through your head real quick as to what number the should count to before they shoot to see if everyone would have a chance.

-Brent F.

Description: One person thinks of a word or phrase and writes the spaces on the board – one for each letter. They also draw the stand for a hangman’s noose. The group must raise their hands and take turns guessing a letter. For younger children, it helps to write the alphabet on the board first, and erase letters as they guess. If the letter is in the word, write it over its correct space. If it is not in the word, write it off to the side (so it doesn’t get guessed again) and add to the hangman stand – first a rope, then a head, body, arms, legs, and if you’re feeling generous, eyes, nose, mouth, hair….whatever. The game is over when the word is filled in or guessed, or if the hangman is complete.

-Abeth S.

Description: First of all, don’t panic. Letting children drop eggs out a window does not have to be as chaotic as it sounds. But it can be a lot of fun, and as long as you keep an eye on them, they have a blast .

Explain to your kids what you’ll be doing a day or two in advance. The objective is to package your egg and protect it in such a way, that when you drop it out the window, it doesn’t break.  It’s your choice if they are going to work in teams or individually. As a group, brainstorm different things you can use to protect your egg, such as newspapers, pillows, or whatever. Encourage them to think creatively – I’ve had students use baba slippers! They can also think of other ways to help their egg land safely, such as parachutes. Tell each student/group that they have  to have a plan to protect their egg and it must get approved by you if they are going to participate.

After you have checked their plans, remind them of the egg drop day that they will have to bring their materials in (in fact, remind them several times, and explain that their eggs are going out the window, protected or not). Collect money for the eggs if you like. On the day of the egg drop, bring the eggs, extra tape and scissors, and the ziploc bags. Then find a room on the second or third floor you can use.

Here’s why you need the ziploc bags: before you give the kids the eggs to wrap up in whatever they’ve brought, put each egg in a ziploc baggie and tape it shut first. This way, when eggs break, they won’t make a mess all over the pillows/towels/whatevers, or make a mess on the sidewalk. If you can’t get ziploc baggies, think of some other way to contain the egg mess, or I would not advise doing this activity!!!

Anyway, the rest is simple – participants have a time limit to package their eggs, and then they go outside under the window and you drop them. (Then they’re no accusations of teams “throwing” another team’s egg.) As soon as the eggs land, they can start unwrapping them to see whose survived. Then the kids clean up the sidewalk (send a garbage bag down with them if you like) and come back upstairs to discuss which packing methods worked and which didn’t. If you’re feeling particularly bold, let them try again in a few weeks to perfect their methods.

-Abeth S.

Description: Someone in the group is “it,” and they have to approach someone else in the room and tell them (as pitifully and woefully as possible) “Baby, if you love me, will you please smile?” The other person has to respond “Baby, I love you, but I just can’t smile” with a completely straight face and without laughing. If they can do this, the person who is “it” has to move on to another target. But if they smile or crack up laughing, they become “it” and have to approach someone else.

This works for all ages, with some variations. Smaller children aren’t comfortable calling someone of the opposite sex “baby” so just using names works fine. And older children are smart enough to think of tickling their victims, so you’ll have to establish a “hands-off” rule.

The game is quick, but can get quite silly and is a lot of fun, especially if you play along, too!

-Abeth S.

Description: To set up the game, draw a grid of about 6 by 6 (larger for longer games, smaller for shorter ones). You can either draw this grid on the whiteboard, or on a blank sheet of paper. Label rows and columns with whatever you like: numbers, letters, colors, animals, food, etc. I like using colors and numbers. Draw the same grid in a notebook or on a scrap paper for your own reference, but this time, hide some ships in the squares.

When you’re ready to play, tell the participants that you have X amount of ships hiding in the ocean, and they will take turns to guess where they are. They will guess a square by calling out the coordinates (like “blue-five” or “pink-three”) and, using your notebook chart for reference, tell them either: “No, sorry. Water!” or “Yes! A ship!” Then draw either a ship or some waves in the square, so they know which ones they’ve guessed. The students win when all the ships are uncovered.

You can also let the kids have a turn hiding the ships and telling the group “water” or “ship,” but it’s up to you if you help them, or if you sit back and take a turn trying to guess. I’ve also broken the kids up into two teams and let the teams hide the ships. Then I played against both teams at once, trying to find all their ships. It was a little confusing, but it worked. Older students, once they understand the rules, can pair off and play in the more traditional style, but this requires a lot of extra paper and markers.

Also, younger kids really like it when you “ham it up” and add dramatic sound effects and over-acting when they find a ship or water. Mine really liked the sound effect “sploosh” for water, and now they ask every day to play the “Sploosh Game!”

-Abeth S.

Description: The kids stand in a circle. You, the leader, show the group one of the objects and tell them what it is. Let’s say it’s a marker. You then turn to the person on your left (“Person1″) and prompt them through the following dialog:

You: “This is a marker.”

Person1: “A what?”

You: “A marker.”

Person1: “Oh! A marker!” (they then take the maker from you and turn to the person on their left).

Person1: “This is a marker.”

Person2: “A what?” (but by this point, Person1 has “forgotten” what the object is, so he/she turns back to you)

Person1: “A what?”

You: “A marker.”

Person1 (speaking to Person2) “A marker.”

Person2: “Oh! A marker!” (takes the marker and turns to Person3)

Person2: “This is a marker.”

Person3: “A what?”

Person2: “A what?”

Person1: “A what?”

You: “A marker.”

Person1: “A marker.”

Person2: “A marker.”

Person3″ Oh! A marker.”

And so on. It’s hard to visualize, but once you start playing, you’ll get the rythm of it. The important thing is that the question “A what?” goes back to you, the leader, every time, and the answer, “a marker” gets passed all the way back the same way. Since this game will be new to them, it’s a good idea to have the object travel all the way around the circle, before you start complicating the game.

Complicating the game is easy – just send the other object to your right after you’ve sent the object to the left. At first, this isn’t a problem, but eventually the two objects will cross in the middle, and the poor souls standing there get very confused very quickly. It can get downright hilarious! And as the leader, you just have to keep track of which object you sent which way, and sit back and enjoy the show! Another variation is to give the objects new, absurd names, such as an elephant and a duner. Just for another level of craziness. It’s not a particularly complicated game, but it’s fun, and the kids like it.

-Abeth S.

Description: This is a fun, silly ice-breaker, suitable for all ages. You need lots of room for the kids to walk around and mingle, without desks in the way. To play the game, everyone stands up and walks around the area. The leader then yells “People to People,” and everyone partners up with the person closest to them. The leader also yells out two body parts , like “Hand to Foot.” The partners then have to touch those two body parts together (Vlado’s hand on Misho’s foot, and Misho’s hand on Vlado’s foot).  You can also yell out the same body part twice, like “Ear to Ear,” and they would have to stick their ears together.  As soon as everyone is touching body parts, tell them “Go!” and they can detach and start milling around again, looking for new partners. There will be a lot of giggling as people are trying to touch elbows to noses and whatnot, but be warned – some students might not be comfortable touching a member of the opposite sex. Segregate your group if needed.

-Nikola O.

Description: Create a list of 15-20 things and distribute the list to the class (or write it on a whiteboard and make each group copy it down). The groups then have to go and take pictures of everything on the list. Items should for the most part be clear and easy to understand – like a horse, a broken window, someone eating cake, a yellow car that’s not a taxi, etc. – but I’ve used some vague descriptions with interesting results – like “a picture of a person that’s not alive” I meant a mannequin, but I got photos of everything from statues of Hristo Botev to magazine covers to (I kid you not) a small skull. Not sure where they found it, and I don’t want to know.

To insure that all group members participate, the rule is that every team member must appear individually in at least one of the photos on the list, and all team members must be together in one of the starred items on the list – usually something like “students playing basketball” or “people sleeping on something that’s not a bed, or my favorite: “students doing their homework.” This way, the more lazy members in the group have to participate and don’t get a free ride from their friends.

The kids love the chance to play with their phones, and find interesting things to take pictures of!

-Abeth S.