by Rakesh
(Mumbai, India)
This is a game which we used to play in the school when we were kids. Since the game is played by dividing the kids into two teams, it brings some sort of competition and we-want-to-win feeling among the kids.
Target Group: Kids in the age group of 10 to 15.
Resources: A bowl, few paper pieces, a room with a blackboard and a chalk Time: The time taken by the game will depend on how well each team plays the game. Usually it takes around 30 minutes to 45 minutes.
Instructions: The kids are divided into two teams. Each team will be provided 100 points in the beginning of the game.
The instructor or teacher will have a bowl in which there are 10 folded sheets of paper. The instructor will write one English word on each piece of paper. The paper is folded and kept in the bowl so that nobody can see what is written inside the paper without opening it.
Now the instructor calls one kid from the first team and asks him to come and pick up one paper from the bowl. The kid who has picked up the paper will read the English word written on it and then hand over that paper to the instructor.
The word mentioned in the piece of paper is called the 'secret word' and it should not be shown to anyone else in the team. The kid will then proceed to the blackboard and write down the meaning of the secret word without mentioning the word explicitly.
Now one of his team members can go and write on the blackboard what he thinks is the original word. If the first attempt is not correct, the team members can try again.
The number of attempts to arrive at the secret word is counted and for each extra attempt after the first attempt, 5 points will be discounted from the team’s balance.
If the team members find out the secret word in the first attempt itself, no points will be deducted from the team’s account.
Once the first team finds out their secret word, the instructor will call a kid from the second team to pick up a piece of paper from the bowl. And the game continues in the same manner.
The game will end when one of the teams runs out of their points or all the words written and kept in the paper inside the bowl are identified. In the latter case, the team with the highest points in the end will win the game.
Example: If the secret word mentioned in the paper was “crucial”, the fist kid will go to the blackboard and write “vital” or “important” or any other word that he thinks is apt to describe the secret word (which is “crucial” in this example).
Now his team members can discuss what will be the actual word and one of them can go to the blackboard and write what they think the word is. Say, in the first attempt, the team member wrote it as “essential”, 5 points will be deducted from the team’s account.
Now imagine that another team member came to the board and wrote “necessary”, another 5 points will be deducted. Say the third team member got it correct and wrote “crucial” on the blackboard, the team’s account balance will be 90 points after this (100-5-5 = 90 points)