Home Hot Topics Articles Directors' Choice Awards About Us / Contact Us Activities & Curriculum Activities for Outcome-Based Learning Arts & Crafts Music for Learning Recommended Reading Sharing Boards: What Do YOU Think? NEWSlink Current National News Conference Calendar Topics In Early Childhood Education Art and Creativity in Early Childhood Education Job Sharing Board State Licensing Requirements Stay Connected! Each month we'll send you an email filled with articles and ideas for your classroom. Subscribe Now Date: 4/20/2007 5:16:00 PM Author: Ann Subject: whole group games There's a fun game called "This Is A..." and it's a ton of fun. Start with as many objects as there are children. It's best to use objects that have one-word names, like on, box, paper, crayon, pillow, apple, etc. Everyone sits in a circle. When the game starts, the first child picks up an object from the pile beside them and hands the object to the person to their left (it's good to practice left & right first) by saying "This is a ( on)." The person they are handing it to says, "A what?" The first child repeats, "A ( on)" and the second child says, "Oh, a on." Then the second child hands it to the next person using the same pattern of questioning/response. The game continues until the object goes all the way around. Fairly easy. Once the kids get it, add a faster rhythm to the questions by clapping or beating a drum. Then, make it harder: have the first child immediately grab the next object and start handing it off once they've handed off the first object. Essentially, the first child is telling the second child what the new object is as the second child is handing off the first object, and so on. This leads to multiple kids talking at once, so it's best to establish a rhythm to the questions again. Or, you can have two objects go around the circle in opposite directions, so that when they inevitably collide, that child will have to answer & hand-off twice. Name: Email: Subject

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