Games Ideas - Full Unit Games

Zip Zap Boing!
People sit round in a circle.  One person begins by looking in a direction and saying 'zip' the next person then says zip and it continues round in a circle.

The next command is boing (difficult to type, as in the sound a spring makes.) This changes the direction of the zip and so it continues back round in the opposite direction.
Finally Zap. Zap throws the 'zip' across the circle. The person who says zap points to who they want to have the zip. The receiver then looks in the direction they wish to continue play and the zip moves on.
Here comes the fun part!You can't boing a boing, you can't zap a zap, you can't boing a zap or zap a boing you can only zip a zap and zip a boing! Simple right? 
Fantastically fun game once people have mastered it!

 Beans

Can be played with any number.

The Guider calls out various types of beans and the girls perform the correct action.

• Runner Beans – run around 
• Jumping Beans – jump 
• Baked Beans – lie out in the sun
• Chilli Beans – shiver
• Frozen Beans – Stand still
• Broad Beans – Stand with legs as far apart as possible
• French Beans – say “Oh La La!”
• String Beans – stand still, arms straight up.
• Dwarf Beans – squat down
• Has Beans – fall on the floor 

Band aid Tag

Each girl has two Band-Aids (her 2 hands). When tagged by another girl she covers the tagged spot with a Band-Aid. If she is tagged and has no more Band-Aids, she sits down.

Set the game boundaries for the group. In this game all girls with a free hand (available Band-Aid) are IT. When game starts, all players try to tag the others. The objective is to be the last standing player. You can introduce other variations (ways to administer ‘first aid’ to those sitting so they can re-enter the game, such as tapping on head, perhaps also saying the girl’s name).

Duck-Duck-Goose

Sit the girls in a circle. One girl walks around the outside of the circle, tapping each girl on the head saying “duck, duck…” At some point she changes the name to “Goose!” The “goose” must get up and chase the caller around the circle. The first of the two of them to get back to the place where the “goose” was sitting gets to sit back down, and the other then must go around the circle again, tapping each girl on the head saying “duck, duck, GOOSE!”

Frogs and Ants

This is a large group tag game. In a group of 30 or so, assign 5 frogs to be “IT” and the rest of the players are ants. Designate the playing area, including a safe zone (the ant colony). Start the game by having the ants run around the playing area. The object of the game is for the frogs to touch the ants. Once an ant is touched, it must lay on its back with both arms and both legs in the air. This cry for help signals FOUR ants to rescue their fellow ant. A rescue is successful if four ants (all arriving at the same time) can carry their fellow ant to the safety of the colony where it is reborn to play again. The four rescue ants must arrive at the injured ant at the same time and start working or risk being touched by a frog and becoming injured ants themselves. If there are four ants attached and working at the same time, they cannot be touched by a frog. The working ants must transport the injured ant to the safe area (colony) where all can then rejoin the game in progress.

Penguin Tag

Girls must keep their knees together and elbows glued to the side of their bodies. Everyone is ‘it’ – you tag others by waddling over and tagging them lightly with your flippers. Fun to watch & fun to do!

	Pass it on!
Duration: five minutesSections: allWhat you need: a ball, balloon or beanbag

Try these quick throwing, catching and relay games to fill a spare five minutes and burn off some energy! They are also a great way to develop skills.
In a circle: Throw the ball as quickly as possible across the circle, saying the person's name as you throw the ball. Use a number of balls to make this more difficult, or challenge the participants to do an action before they catch the ball, perhaps spin around or kneel down.
As a relay: In teams stand in lines and pass the ball over head and under legs as a relay - the person at the front who receives the ball last runs to the back and the winners are the team that have the original person back in front first. Alternatively get the girls to pass the ball using your elbows, knees or feet. Use a water balloon or a plastic cup of water to add a bit of drama!
Target practice: Use a container like an empty bin or you could use a skipping rope to make a circle shape on the floor and set up a start line. Give each girl three turns and the challenge is to get all three into the target. If it gets too easy, move the target further away or use a smaller container.
Human croquet: Ask one girl per team to be a croquet hoop. The team's aim is to roll the ball through their team-mate's legs, once each, as quickly as possible in a relay. If a team member misses, they have to go and collect the ball and try again. Once one person has played, it's their turn to be the croquet hoop. 

	Human knot
Duration: up to ten minutesSections: Brownies, Guides, The Senior Section

This game is quick, but not so easy and helps the girls to practise working in a team. 

1. Ask girls to form a circle, all holding hands. 
2. Choose one patrol or six to step outside the circle and close their eyes. 
3. Give the rest of the group two minutes to make the biggest human knot that they can by moving around in the circle. They should hold hands all the time. 
4. Ask the patrol to open their eyes and try to untangle the human knot by directing the girls in the circle. It often proves difficult! 

	Sausage – who can keep a straight face?
Duration: five minutes Sections: all

This is another fun game to get the girls laughing!

1. Ask one girl to be the volunteer. 
2. She stands in the middle of the circle. 
3. The others take turns to ask her questions, to which she can only answer 'sausage' (or any other word you choose). 
4. If she laughs, she's out! Swap places and give everyone a chance to have a go! 

Pairs

Duration: five minutesSections: Brownies, Guides, The Senior SectionWhat you need: cards or slips of paper with matching pairs on them. The pairs should be separated and shuffled. 

The aim of this game is to find your matching partner.

1. Hand out one card to each girl. 
2. They must then find their matching partner. 
3. They should then sit down and wait for the rest of the group to get into pairs. 

Me too!

Duration: until they get bored or run out of questions! Sections: Brownies, GuidesWhat you need: one chair per person

Most getting-to-know-you games focus on what is different about everyone. This game will help your girls to realise that they are alike in many ways.

1. Ask each girl to get a chair and arrange them in a circle, facing inwards. One girl should be without a chair and standing in the middle of the circle. 
2. The girl in the middle shouts out a statement such as, ‘I have two sisters’. If that is true of someone sitting down, they should stand up and shout, ‘Me too!’ 
3. The girls who have stood up and shouted, and the girl who was standing in the middle, must then run around and find a different chair to sit on. 
4. The girls are not allowed to sit back on their original chair or the chairs on either side of it. 
5. The girl left without a chair must stand in the middle and ask a new question. 

Pairs

Duration: five minutesSections: Brownies, Guides, The Senior SectionWhat you need: cards or slips of paper with matching pairs on them. The pairs should be separated and shuffled.

Suggested pairs

• Ham and eggs 
• Salt and pepper 
• Punch and Judy 
• Romeo and Juliet 
• Needle and thread 
• Bangers and mash 
• Horse and cart 
  Cheese and biscuits􏰀  
• Apples and pears 

Yes or no game

Duration: 20 minutesSections: Brownies, Guides, The Senior Section
What you need: a list of questions (or you could make them up on the spot)

This game involves movement, questions and laughter.

1. The girls should get a chair, put them in a circle and sit down. 
2. The Leader then asks all the girls a question. It must be a question where the answer can only be yes or no. 
3. If the answer is yes, the girl must move one place to her left. 
4. If the answer is no, the girl must move one place to her right. 
5. This means that everyone will be moving at the same time, even if this means sitting on someone’s lap! 
6. You can keep going until you have used up all your questions or until someone has made a full circuit back to their original chair. 

Example questions

• 􏰀  Do you have a pet? 
• 􏰀  Are your eyes blue? 
• 􏰀  Do you like cornflakes? 
• 􏰀  Do you like watching football? 
• 􏰀  Did you go on camp last year? 
• 􏰀  Have you been to America? 
• 􏰀  Do you know how to spell necessary? 
• 􏰀  Do you still live in the town/country where you were born? 
• 􏰀  Can you remember the Promise?