Sitting Beach Volleyball
Where: indoors
Space needed: at least 5m x 4m
Number of children: 6+
Equipment: a beach ball, cones and chairs
Mark out a court with cones. The size of the court will depend on the size of your group; you want all the children to be able to sit in it and reach all parts of the court while seated. Then you’ll need to make a net; for us a row of chairs work fine (alternate which way the chairs face so one team doesn’t have an advantage). And finally you need a beach ball.
So how do you play the game? Split the group into two equal teams and place a team in each half of the court. Throughout the game players will have to sit with their bottom touching the ground. They can shuffle around the court and lean to make a shot but if their bottom isn’t on the ground (e.g. they get on to their knees) a point goes to the other side.
One team serves – a player on that team hits the ball over the net. Their opponents then have to try and get it back over the net using their hands or head, until the ball hits the ground. If the beach ball lands on the ground in one team’s area or a team hits it out, then the other team wins the point. Whichever team won the last point gets to serve. Keep going until time runs out or a certain score is reached (we usually play the first to 15). Keep changing who serves.
Adapt the game to the format that works best for your group. Allow younger children to go right up to the net to serve. The youngest children can throw the ball over the net to serve, rather than hit it over. We also allow younger children as many hits as they need to get the beach ball back across the net but we only allow older ones three hits.
Suck-a-Skittle
Where: indoors
Space needed: space to sit
Number of children: 2+
Equipment: bowls, straws and a bag of Skittles
It’s great when you have a large group of children and you can play all sorts of exciting games, but what if there are only two or three kids in your group? Then you need Suck-a-Skittle. This can be played in the most compact of church rooms.
Two or three children play at the same time. Give each one a straw and a small bowl. In the centre place a bigger bowl into which you’ve emptied a big bag of Skittles. Allocate a particular colour of Skittle to each child. They need to find that colour in the big bowl, hold it on the end of their straw by sucking and then, still sucking, transfer the correct coloured Skittle to their small bowl.
When you say ‘Go!’ all players start sucking, and at the end of a set time (1-2 minutes) the person who has the most Skittles of the correct colour in their bowl wins. For older children, you can take a point off for any Skittles of the wrong colour they have in their bowl at the end.
SMS (Silly Messy Simple) Game: Panning for Gold
Where: outdoors
Space needed: a few metres square
Number of children: 1+
Equipment: play sand, water, pan sieves, ‘gold’ nuggets, gems, tin bath / sand tray
If you’re looking for an activity or stall for a fun day, then let me recommend Panning for Gold. You’ll need something in which to put the sand and water. We normally use an old-style tin bath but you could use a sand tray. Fill the container with 1-2 cm of play sand (you can buy this in Argos, Tesco, B&Q or Homebase). On top of the sand add water to a depth of about 15-20cm. Now scatter the ‘gold’ nuggets and gems into the water and stir so that they are thoroughly dispersed. You can purchase the other items you need from Junior Geo juniorgeo.co.uk
To pan for gold, take one of the sieves and scoop up some sand from the bottom. When you lift it out of the water swirl the sieve to get rid of the sand. You won’t get rid of all the sand at once so lower the sieve part-way into the water (be careful not to lose the gold and gems!) and swirl it again as you take it out. Repeat this washing and swirling until you are just left with gold and gems in your sieve.
It may seem a simple activity, but you can build on this in any number of ways. Dress up as cowboys and tell stories of the gold rush or talk about the different gems you find. And i’m sure you are already thinking of a link to Bible story about treasure…
