This document describes 33 games that can be played in groups with children, youth, and others. The games include Find the Leader, Identity Crises, Passing the Coin, The Frog and the Princess Race, In and Out Game, Telegram, Cat and Rat, Human Scrabble, 1,2,3 Zip Game, Dog and the Bone, Drawing in the Dark, Guess the Word, Memory Game, Nam-Sharats, Passing the Message, Word Test, Guess What You Carry on Your Back, Number Game, Back to Front, Crossing the Ganga, Clap in the Multiples of 5, Fours and Eights, How Many?, Ten Way Ticket, Chain Story, Act Out

1. Following games can be used for various group activities for
children, youth and others.
1. FIND THE LEADER: All will sit in a circle. One volunteer will go out of the room. One member
from the group is chosen as a leader. The leader starts an action. All others will follow him. The
volunteer who was out will be called. Now he has to find out from where the action begins. The leader
keeps on changing the action. If the volunteer fails to detect the leader within three guesses, he will get
a forfeit. If he finds the leader within 3 chances, the leader will become the volunteer (and repeat the
above).
2. IDENTITY CRISES: The aim of this game is for each child to find out who or what they are. To
organize this, make a list of, for example, famous personalities. You will need as many names as there
are invitees who will be participating. The personalities should be from all walks of life - politics,
theatre, arts, science and the literally field. For example you could include - Indira Gandhi, M.F.
Hussain, Amitab Bachan, Kapil Dev, Kushawant Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Vajpayee etc.. Write each name
on a piece of paper and when you’re ready to play, pin one on each child’s back. The child does not
know who she/he is but he/she must find out by asking other around him/her questions like “Am I in
the field of politics?”, “Am I male or female?” and so on until she/he guesses his/her identity. She/he
cannot ask directly and the children answering the question must also limit their answers to Yes or No
whenever possible. As soon as the child guesses his/her identity, he can come to you and tell you, and
you remove the paper pinned on the back. The game goes on until all the children have resolved their
identity crises and in the bargain, got to know each other.

2. 3.PASSING THE COIN: All will sit in a circle. A volunteer will be sent out. A coin is given to one of
the member and asked him to pass it on to his right. All will make an action as if they are passing the
coin to the one who is on their right. (of course one will have the coin). Now the volunteer has to guess
who has the coin. If he succeeds within three chances, he will sit and the player caught will become the
volunteer. Otherwise forfeit can be given.
4. THE FROG AND THE PRINCES RACE: This is a game to get reluctant boys and girls to mix.
Divide the children into teams of two each-one boy and one girl. The boy will be the frog and the girl
princes. Draw two lines-the starting and finishing. The frogs line up at the starting post-they must
crouch down in a froglike posture, their hands on their things. At the starting signal, they hop off
towards their princes, awaiting them on the finishing line. As soon as they reach, the princes shake
hand with the frog, at which point he stands up to become a prince. The prince and princes now run
back, hand in hand, to the original starting line. The first pair to reach is declared the winner.
5. IN AND OUT GAME: All will stand in a circle. when the animator says `in` all will jump one step
front and when said `out`, all will jump out. Sometimes the animator will confuse by repeating `in` or
`out` or saying it fast. One who does the mistake will be out.
6. TELEGRAM: The object of the game is to create a telegram. Don’t indicate it until the letters are
chosen. The leader dictates 10 letters. These are to be used as the first letters of 10 words on a telegram
in the order that they are given. Use all the letters. Example: The letters chosen were
O,P,A,T,W,M,Y,E,H & B. This is the telegram that was created: Our Parents At The Wayside. May
You Enjoy Happy Birthday.
7. CAT AND RAT: All stand in a circle. 2 members will volunteer as cat and rat. The rat will be inside
the circle. The players will hold their hands tightly and prevent the cat from catching the rat. The cat
has to use all its skills to catch the rat.
8. HUMAN SCRABBLE: This game is really a great fun. Divide the children into teams. As you will
realise, each team should have as many members as there are alphabets in the word. Let’s take the
word `party`. Each team should have five children in each. For each team you needed to cut out five
pieces of paper. Each piece has one alphabet written on it. i.e. the first is P, the second A, the third R
and so on. On each child’s back pin one alphabet. Give each team some space to move around in. Call
out a word that can be made with the alphabets in `party`. For example: tray, trap, pay, rap, pat, part,
pray etc.. As soon as you call out the word, the team must group itself to spell it as quickly as possible.
For the three letter words, the children who have on their backs an alphabet not needed in the word
must stand in facing you while the others stand with their back on you in the right order. The team to
finish scores the most points, the last the least. Play a number of rounds-as many as the children enjoy-
and total the scores to decide on the winner.
9. 1,2,3,ZIP GAME: All sit in a circle. One volunteer will come in. He will point to a person and say
`1,2,3 zip`. The person pointed must immediately say the name of the person on his right. If succeeded
go to the next and next and so on. If one player failed to say the name, he will become the volunteer. In
between the volunteer can say `1,2,3 zip,zip (zip twice), then all will change their places.
10. DOG AND THE BONE: Two teams will stand on either sides. Each member from both teams are
given a number. An object is kept at the centre. When the animator calls a number, the players having
that number from both sides will rush to the centre to bring that object. If one picks up and runs. If the
other person touches him before reaching to his team, he will lose the point.
11. DRAWING IN THE DARK: Give each player a pencil and a piece of paper. Turn out the lights
and ask them to draw a picture of a house. They will undoubtedly be very careful the first time,

3. expecting you to turn on the lights as soon as the house is completed. But not yet! When they have
finished their houses-and lost their places on their papers-ask them to put tree in the yard, then a path
up to the door, and then a fence around the yard. As a final touch, have them draw a bird sitting on a
tree, and moon shining down on the whole peaceful scene. When the lights go on , exhibit the
masterpieces, and page the surrealists! The artists in your group will probably have a bird sitting on the
moon, a lane over the house, and a tree growing out of the fence. Next time vary the subject, making
the picture more complicated, and you’ll get even funnier results.
12. GUESS THE WORD: Few chits of things, animals etc are prepared in advance. Two teams are
made. One volunteer from team `A` is called. He will open the chit and he has to give clues to his
team only through actions. The team has to guess what `thing` is written on the chit. Similarly, a
volunteer from team `B` will take a chit and do the same. Only limited no. of guesses can be given to
the teams.
13. MEMORY GAME - I WENT TO THE MARKET ...: All will sit in a circle and one will begin - I
went to the market and bought ___ (eg. apple). The next will say “I went to the market and bought ___
(apple)& ___(tomato). The third will add another item adding to the first two. I went .... bought apple,
tomato and banana. So also the next ..
14. NAM-SHARATS: Make teams. One team chooses the title of a movie or a song to be acted by a
member of the opposing team. The opposing team sends its representative. He is told the name of the
picture or song to be acted by him and to be guessed by the other members of his own team. He strives
to convey to his team by actions and gestures the title of the movie or the song. His team can make
three guesses. The only spokesperson for the team is its captain. If they cannot make the correct guess
they lose one point. After one round the process is reversed as the teams change roles.
15. PASSING THE MESSAGE: All will sit in a circle. The animator gives a message to the ears of A.
A repeats that message to the ears of B, B to C and so on. Finally, ask the last person to say the
message loudly and see the difference from the original message given.
16. WORD TEST: Any one will start with a word. The next will say another word starting from the
last alphabet of the previous member and the third from the last alphabet of the second and so on.
Those who could not get the word may be eliminated.
17. GUESS WHAT YOU CARRY ON YOUR BACK: A volunteer is wanted. On his back, some
advertisement cut from the papers is pinned. eg a feeding bottle, a toothbrush etc. Let it be something
both funny and unusual. All the rest sit in a circle. The volunteer goes round the circle and asks anyone
in the circle only general and non-scientific questions, eg who likes me? At what time people want me?
Am I big or small? etc. .. The participant who has been asked has to give him/her an honest and true
answer, yet vague and general. The volunteer has to find out what’s the ad on his/her back. When
he/she finds it, another volunteer will take the place.
18. NUMBER GAME: Each one will say fast 1,3,5,7 etc leaving one no. or multiples of 3 (3,9,12 etc)
19. BACK TO FRONT: Each one will say the nos in ascending order (eg say up to 50). Then
backwards 49, 48 etc. Those are slow or confused will be eliminated.
20. CROSSING THE GANGA! : An active game for a large group of children. Depending upon the
size of the group, number the children off by threes or fours. Players stand in a single circle formation,
facing in. The leader calls out, “all number ones run”. At this call, all number ones turn to their right
and run once around the circle, and back to their original places as fast as they can attempting to catch
the player ahead and trying not to be caught by the player behind. Any player/s caught must go into the

4. centre of the circle and become prisoners. the leader then repeats the process, calling out another
number. At the end of the game, those in the centre must pay a forfeit for having being caught, or
better still, an exchange of prisoners may be made at the end of each run around. Those in the centre
are released if there are prisoners to take their places. By the latter method, no child remains in the
centre for too long a period.
21. CLAP IN THE MULTILPES OF 5: Each one will say 1,2,3, etc. The player who gets 5,10,15 etc
will not say the no., but will give a clap. Those who say the word or does both will be out.
22. FOURS AND EIGHTS: Each one will say the nos 1,2,3 etc. Whoever gets 4,14,24 etc (where 4
comes) will not say the no. but will make a sign (eg namaste). Also whoever gets 8,18, 28 etc will not
say the no. but will make a sign (eg salute). Those who fail are out.
23. HOW MANY? : All will sit in a circle. The nos 1 onwards are recited and each one will remember
their nos. `A` will begin “I went to the market and bought 5 mangos”. Now the person of no.5 will ask
“how many”? Now `A` will change the number and will say (eg 7). Now the person with no. 7 will
say “I went to the market ..etc
(repeat the same as `A` )
24. TEN WAY TICKET: Players are seated on two rows of chairs, facing one another. There is six to
eight feet distance between the two rows. These rows represent the seats in a old-fashioned side seated
bus. One player is the conductor, he calls out various stops. If he calls a plain stop, all players must get
up and exchange sides. If he calls a name with “street” attached, the players do not move. If he calls a
“road”, each player must get up and run around the row of chairs in which he was seated and try to get
another chair, in the same row. The conductor also tries to get a chair. The person left out becomes a
conductor.
25. CHAIN STORY: `A` will start with a story. After say 2/3 sentences B will continue the story, then
C and so on.
26. ACT OUT GAME: Teams of 6-8 children are made. Each team I told to act out like a machine or
give an ad. A short time to prepare may be given and all must told to be involved.
27. THE WAVING CHINA MAN: The players stand in a circle. The leader says to the person to his
right- “My ship has come home from China!” That person asks, “What has it brought”? “A fan”, the
leader replies. Forthwith he pretends to fan himself with his right hand. Everyone in the circle imitates
the leader’s motion. The next player says to the neighbor on the right, “my ship has come home from
China,” and again the question, “What has it brought”? Continues from one player to another. The
third player announcing that his ship has brought three fans, moves his right foot as well as the two
hands, everyone else doing the same thing. At “four fans”, all move both hands and feet, stepping in
place. At “five fans”, the hands, feet and right eyelids; at “six fans”, the hands, feet, both eyelids,
mouth and the head. By this time the whole company is group of wagging mandarins. Persons who fail
to keep up with the movements must pay forfeits.
28. DO YOU LOVE ME GAME?: All will sit in a circle. Volunteer `A` will ask any member “Do you
love me”? If member says `yes`, `A` will ask the second question “why do you love me”? The member
may give an answer eg “Because you wear a watch”. Now all those who wear the watch will change
their places. Meantime the volunteer will catch a seat. Now one who could not get his seat will be an
volunteer. He will ask the same questions. In case the answer for “Do you love me” is `no`, then all
will have to change their places.

5. 29. GUESS WHO?: Each member is given a piece of paper and aksed to write their three bests. eg.
best friend, best hobby, best food. then all the chits are put together and passed to the members. Each
one will take the chit and guess who that person is.
30. THIS IS MY HAND: Players form a circle facing in with the game leader in the middle. The leader
begins by touching his handand saying, “this is my hand”.The other players must immediately touch
any other part of their bodies while repeating, “this is my hand”. Anyone who touches his hand or uses
a different phrase gets a penalty point. The game then continues with the leader touching another part
of his body and describing it correctly. Again, the players must touch any part of their bodies, except
the one mentioned, while repeating the leader`s words. The first player to accumulate two penalty
points takes the leader`s place and the game begins again.
31. CALLING GAME: One volunteer will begin by hitting from his palms twice to his laps. then he
will make noise with his fingers (while saying his own name eg John) again he hits his laps twice .
Then again he will make noise with his fingers (and says `ca...lling`), again he will hit his lap twice
followed by noise with his fingers and says someone`s name from the group (eg Maria). Now Maria
will repeat the same what John did and so on.
32. MAGIC CHAIR: A chair is kept at the centre. Anybody who sits on this chair will get a decease.
Say eg `A` sits on the chair and gets cough (acts out). When someone touches him, he is cured. eg. `B`
touches `A` and sits on the chair. Now `A`is cured, but `B` gets another decease (acts out)
33. 5. Treasure hunt: each group will be given a basket. Prepared chits will be taken. They will put the
items in the basket (e.g. 10 re coin, silver chain, mobile etc). Those who put highest items will winners.
FOLLOWING GAMES CAN BE USED FOR THE GROUP GAMES
33. Group formation: depending on the number of members and size of the group you would like to
form, prepare the chits in advance. Chits could be different types of animals, vegetables, national
leaders etc. When members gathered together explain the rules and distribute the chits to all. Once
every one got their chit, signal will be given to scout for the members who got a similar chit, say tiger.
All tigers will join together. One who forms the group first will get the points.
34. Signature Campaign
• Write your full name left handed here____________________________
• Collect signatures of 10 persons on the back of this sheet.
• Get the signature of a person born in this month____________________
• Ask a lady to take five rounds around a chair and make her sign here___________
• Ask a gent to do ‘Baithaks’ and then make him sign here______________
• Find out some with the same alphabet as your name and make the person sign
her___________________
• Ask someone to write their name on the palm of your hand and make the person sign here
(NOTE: used for ice breaker—in the beginning in order to know the persons very
well. Result: one who finishes the questions very fast will the winner. )

6. 35. Call say, 5 boys and 5 girls with long hair. Make a pair. Give girls a packet of rubber bands. Girls
will roll the hair of boys and put as many rubber bands to the boys hair within a particular time, say 2/3
mnts. Once the stop signal was given, a judge will count the number of rubber bands rolled over the
head of each boy. The pair which has put the highest number of rubber bands will gets 10 points,
second, 5 third 3 rest 2 each etc
36. The above game can be reversed. Now instead of girls putting the rubber band on boys’ hair, boys
will insert straws over the girls hair. Rest of the rules same as above. (no. 33)
37. Similar to the above – boys will stick bindis on the face of girls. It can be done with a creative
design. Points for the boy who sticks maximum bindis. Rest of the rules same as above.
38. Call 1 member from each group. Give a set of straws. At the start signal, the participants will
begin to join the straws. One who forms the longest rope of straws within the time given (joins the
maximum straws) will be the winner (or points 10, 5, 3 etc for the group).
39] Similar to above. But instead of joining straight, make a chain with straws
40] Call 1 boy from each group. Give a blown balloon. They have to break the balloon keeping under
their armpit (no using hand). Points to first 3 who breaks the baloon
41] Similar to the above, keep the balloon on the head and burst
42] All will stand in line in their respective groups behind one another.. Give balloon the first. The
first will pass the balloon to the person behind over the head, the next will pass it to the person behind
between legs, next over the head and so on. Each member will run and join the line at the back once
he/she passed the balloon. The group which finishes first round first will be the winner.
43] Give groups to prepare an action song. Give some time to plan and practice. Each group will come
and perform. Judges can give points to each group as above (see No. 33)
GAMES FOR COMMUNICATION
44] Place the Coin at the Right Place: Ask for 6 volunteers who will be blindfolded. 6 more volunteers
will be then guides. The animator will place a coin for each blindfolded person at different corners of
the hall. The blindfolded will be situated at one end of the hall. The guides will be situated where the
coins are placed. The guides job is to direct their blindfolded partners to the coin only verbally. The
one who reaches and gets hold of the coin first is the winner.
45] Hands Off: Divide the players into couples. One person in each couple is given a short stout stick
while the other person is blindfolded. Place chairs in a circle. There should be one chair less than the
number of couples. Each couple holds on the either end of the stick. Music is played. The players must
keep on moving around inside the circle of chairs. When music stops the person who is not blindfolded
guides his partner to a chair. He should be guided only with the stick but not taking or holding his
arms. As there is one chair less, one couple will be out.

7. 46] My Left Hand, Your Right Hand: At your anniversary or Christmas party, you can have an unusual
lot of fun by dividing your guests into couples probably a man and a woman in each pair. Each couple
is given a box, some wrapping paper and cord with instructions to complete a package. The tough part
of the procedure is that one partner must stand with his right hand behind his back, the other with his
left hand behind the back in trying the package.
INTELLECT OR PROVOCATIVE GAMES
47] Memory Test: The first person in the group begins, ‘I went to the market and brought a hat’. The
second continues and says, ‘I went to the market and brought a hat and a pen’. The rest continue
likewise each adding an item. If anyone forgets any of the items in the order said, then that person
becomes Monkey no.1. The game continues likewise and thus all those who make mistakes become
monkey nos. 2, 3 and so on .The test lies in memorizing all the items.
48] Figure It Out: Write the figures 1089 on a piece of paper fold the paper and keep it. Then ask the
students to write no. of 3 figures. Reverse the figures and subtract the less from the greater. Reverse
their result and add to the subtracted result. Then open the folded paper and show the no. to the group
1089 will be the answer no matter what the figure we started with.
49] Test Your Memory: pass round 7 articles. After they are passed round to all the hands the girls are
made to write down according to the same order as they passed.
50] Sense of Touch: Hang a large sack somewhere in the room and allow each guests one at a time to
go to the sack and, while you count to; ten, move his hand about inside. He may not look inside of the
sack, or take any notes which he is examining the contents. After he has held his hand in the sack; he is
to sit down and see how many of the objects he can identify of a piece of paper. Objects might include
such things as toothbrush, pencil, safety pin, watch and pocket knife.
51] Intelligent Touch and Remember (also you can pack the gift and give without blindfolding the
guests) Seat your guests in a circle and give each a blindfold. After every one is securely blindfolded
pass twelve or fifteen familiar objects, one after another, around the circle. As soon as each object out
of the room, remove the blindfolds, and then see how many of the objects each guests can list on a
piece of paper within ten minutes time.
52] Test Your Hearing: Stand behind a screen, holding in your hand several familiar objects. Call off
the number of each object then drop it. By listening to the sound, your guests must try to identify each
object and write down the identity on a piece of paper opposite the objects number. Suggestions to
things you might keep are book, newspaper, spoon, tin, coin, pin, ball, large string of beads.
KNOW YOUR STATIONS ---1
1 Hey, your head is in curd
2 Is your brother in?
3 Barber’s Village
4 A little French village
5 Education resides here
6 Perpetual Darkness
7 Pandu ka tikana

8. 8 Over the hill
9 My Fair Village
10 Raja ka Chakkar
11 Alla ho Akbar
12 Is this a male crab?
13 A creature captured in a rock?
14 Swaraj is my birthright.
15 In the middle of the city
16 Abode of a wealthy goddess
17 Maybe they train Tailors here.
18 Arrow at one end, segment at the other
19 Music flows from here
20 The navy parades here
21 Hot and spicy
22 Ordering a tea time snack
23 Brother come tomorrow
24 A Dusty road
25 Queen of England
26 A salty place
27 A women selling onions
KNOW YOUR STATIONS –2 (ANSWERS)
1 Hey, your head is in curd Dahisar
2 Is your brother in? Bhayander
3 Barber’s Village Naigaon
4 A little French village Vile Parle
5 Education resides here Vidyavihar
6 Perpetual Darkness Andheri
7 Pandu ka tikana Thane
8 Over the hill Ghatkopar
9 My Fair Village Goregaon
10 Raja ka Chakkar King’s Circle
11 Alla ho Akbar Masjid Bunder
12 Is this a male crab? Kurla
13 A creature captured in a rock? Elphinstone
14 Swaraj is my birthright. Lokmanya Tilak
15 In the middle of the city Mumbai Central
16 Abode of a wealthy goddess Mahalakshmi
17 Maybe they train Tailors here. Sewri
18 Arrow at one end, segment at the other Reay Road
19 Music flows from here Bandra
20 The navy parades here Marine Lines

9. 21 Hot and spicy Curry Road
22 Ordering a tea time snack Wadala
23 Brother come tomorrow Byculla
24 A Dusty road Sandhurst Rd
25 Queen of England Victoria Terminus
26 A salty place Khar road
27 A women selling onions kandivili
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