Games for Fall Festivals and Celebrations
Candy
Chase
Fill two pans with flour or powdered sugar. Mix into each pan a couple of
rolls of Lifesavers. Place a cup of plastic coffee stirrers or chopsticks
next to each pan.
Show children how to hold a coffee stirrer between their teeth, then stick
it through the hole of the Lifesaver to "catch" a piece of candy. When a
child successfully picks up a piece, he or she may eat it.
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Leaf
Hunt
Before children arrive, scatter leaves (real or paper cut-outs) around the
classroom.
After children arrive, give each child a small bag. Ask children to search
the room for leaves. Tell children to try to remember the places they found
leaves. Give them about five minutes (depending on age) to search.
Ask children to take the leaves they've found and return to their seats.
Have them count the number of leaves they found. Who found the most? How
many leaves total did the children find? What was the average number of leaves
each child collected?
How many children found a leaf under something? beside something? on top
of something? next to something? (With older children, you might create a
bar graph.)
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Needle
in a Haystack
Purchase one bale of hay and a large blunt plastic needle. (If plastic needles
are not available, you may cut a needle out of construction paper and laminate
it.) Scatter the bale of hay, and mix the needle into it. Let two students
at a time hunt for the needle.
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Pass
the Pumpkin
(similar to "Hot Potato")
Cut an 8-inch circle out of a piece of orange cloth. In the center of the
circle, place a cup of dried beans or rice. Gather the circle up around the
beans, and tie shut using green or brown yarn. (It's best to use several
thicknesses of yarn, and tie in a knot.) Make sure the circle is tied securely
shut. If desired, you may draw a face on your pumpkin bean bag.
Have all children sit on the floor in a circle. Explain that they are about
to hear some music. When the music plays, they should pass the pumpkin around
the circle. When the music stops, they should stop passing the pumpkin. Whoever
is left holding the pumpkin moves to the center of the circle. As the number
of children inside the circle increases, the distance between children in
the circle also increases, meaning that each child will have the pumpkin
a few seconds longer before he or she can get it to the next person. Play
until only one child is left outside the circle. This child wins the round.
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Pin the
Leaf on the Pumpkin
Cut a large pumpkin out of orange construction paper or poster board. Add
a brown stem at the top. Laminate.
Cut leaves out of construction paper and laminate. Put sticky-tack or a piece
of tape on the back of each. Blindfold one child at a time, making sure the
child can't peek. Ask the child to turn around two or three times, then tell
the child to stick the leaf on the pumpkin. See how close children can come
to placing the leaf near the pumpkin's stem.
For added excitement, assign point values to various regions of the pumpkin.
For instance, placement right at the base of the stem would be 10 pts. Placement
within an inch of the correct spot would be five points. Place within three
inches would be 3 pts. Placement within five inches would be one point. Divide
students into two or more teams. As each child goes up to place the leaf,
his or her team mates may give oral directions in the target language--"Go
to your right two feet. Higher. Higher. No, a little lower. Now over to your
left," etc.
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Scarecrow
and Crows
Either cut ears of corn out of construction paper and laminate, or purchase
dried corn from a feed-and-seed store.
On the playground, mark off a large square (20' x 20' or larger). Scatter
the corn inside this area.
Select one child to be the scarecrow. All the other children are crows. The
crows must try to steal the corn from inside the square while the scarecrow
tries to stop them.
The scarecrow may tag anyone inside the square. Anyone the scarecrow tags
is out and must sit down for the remainder of the round. But anyone who makes
it back outside the square is safe.
Depending on the ages of children, you may give the crows thirty seconds
to three minutes to try to steal corn. When time is up, the crows receive
one point for every ear they have stolen. The scarecrow receives one point
for every ear he has protected.
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Spiders
MATERIALS: One or two dice, drawing paper (one sheet per player), and pencils or crayons with which to draw.
Divide players into groups of six or less (one die) OR 12 or less (two dice). If one die is to be used, have each player choose a number between 1-6. If two are to be used, have each player choose a number between 1-12. Do not duplicate numbers.
Once each player has a number, roll the die. The player whose number is showing may add one body part -- body, mouth, eye, or leg to his/her spider. The first player to complete his/her spider wins.
For faster play, allow students to work in pairs or make groups smaller and allow each player to choose two numbers.
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Squirrel
and Nut
(similar to "Doggie, Doggie, Where's Your Bone?")
One child is the squirrel. He or she sits in the front of the classroom with
a nut under his or her chair. The squirrel should close his or her eyes.
No peeking!
While the squirrel counts to twenty, another student slips up and takes the
nut, then returns to his or her seat. On the count of twenty, the squirrel
opens his or her eyes. He or she has three guesses to try to identify the
culprit.
If the squirrel correctly guesses the identity of the child who took the
nut, the squirrel remains the squirrel for another turn. If the squirrel
does not guess who took the nut, the child who took the nut becomes the
squirrel.
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