Games for big groups

[hesdavies]

Hey. As part of my summer camp I have a 40 min class with 30 3rd graders every day. With no co-teacher.
Was just wondering if any of you genius people had game ideas for a group that large/ low level?!

Thanks!

[RufusW]

If you can get space to move around....

Get everyone in a circle on chairs with one person in the middle.  They need to say "I like...", whoever agrees needs to stand up and change their seat.  That'll leave one person in the middle again for another question.  It can be anything, a colour people are wearing, people's sex, hair length.... favourite whatever.

Human knot - groups of 10 or smaller put their hands in and randomly grab others'.  They then need to untangle the knot they've made.

If you've got powerpoint then search here for 'bomb game', 'pass the paper' and 'ghostbusters game'.  You'll need to change the slides according to what's easy but split the class into teams of 6 and it's something they'll want to play again.

[bruceteacher]

Hi, i do that circle game as well, but with a target sentence like - What will you do this summer? person in the middle asks someone that question - each student has a card or piece of paper with what they will do (usually with 36 kids i do 5/6 different answers. After they get the hang of it they can answer with 2 sentences if they want, then near the end give them a new sentence, which means everybody changes cue chao

[pez]

I suggest art projects.  Students are very occupied when they are being creative, and keep the materials cool, but simple, so that you don't have too much to manage.

Instruct the kids on how to get the mateirals, how to use them, and how to put them back (this can all be done visually since language can be an issue.)

Games with 30 are likely to be a bit crazy, but old good ones, the same ones one would use for curriculum classes, would work well (like pass the ball in groups, relays, etc.)

good luck!
amy

[pinklemonade]

This game works well with large groups, split the class in to 2 teams, print off two sets of words, give every team member at least one word (you can give them more)

Then you stand at the front and call out a word, the person who has this word has to run to the front and write it on the board (there should be 2 people doing so, one from each team) The team who gets the word written on the board first wins a point.

For more advanced students you could use whole sentences.