Welcome to Doreen's Page of Guide Games




I would like to thank all the Guiders and Young Leaders on GuidingUK who have provided the material for these games.





Balloon Game

Equipment:
A few blown up balloons, partly in case one breaks.

Time:
Up to 20 minutes.

Method:
The Guides sit in two teams facing each other, with their legs out straight in front, and the soles of their feet touching those of their opposite number in the other team.
A balloon is thrown into the middle, the aim is to get the balloon to touch the ground behind the opposing team to score a point.
Bottoms must remain on the floor at all times.
Sometimes it casues great excitment to introduce a second balloon into the game.





Ball-through-Legs Game

Equipment:
A lightweight ball that bounces

Time:
Up to 20 minutes.

Method:
The Guides stand in a circle facing inwards. Their feet are apart - but not so far that they overbalance. The outside of each girl's feet touch the outside of the feet of the girls next to her. Knees are slightly bent.
A soft ball is thrown into the middle. The aim is to get it through another Guide's legs. If the ball goes through another Guide's legs, she must turn round with her back into the circle, and is temporarily out of the game.
If anyone throws a ball so that it rises above knee level, then she, also, must turn round.
If the ball goes through the legs of a girl who is facing out of the circle, then she turns round and is back in the game.




SPLAT!!

Equipment:
None

Time:
Up to 15 minutes.

Method:
Girls stand in a circle with a Leader in the middle of the circle.
Leader points with both hands clasped together and forefingers pointing together at a girl and says SPLAT.
Girl crouches down and the girls either side of her have to splat one another over her head. The last one or the one who forgets to do it is out and sits in the circle.
Leader carries on splatting at girls. The girls have to be aware - if done in a largish circle especially - who is out - so the girl being splatted by the leader, could have a neighbour that is out, and the girl next to her is out etc and it could be her so she may have to splat someone else across the circle.
The last two left in the game sort of do a pistol duel at dawn thing - come to the centre of circle - back to back - walk 3 paces - and first one to turn and splat other girl WINS




BANG!

Equipment:
None

Time:
Up to 15 minutes.

Method:
BANG! is similar to SPLAT!!!, but doesn't have an "in the middle" person. The last person to die calls the next name instead. so you have to be careful if you have girls with the same name (we're about to have three Claires, three Emily's and three Alices, which will make life difficult).
Stand everyone in a circle. Tell them they have one gun, made by clasping their hands together with their forefingers out.
Make sure they know the names of the people either side of them, and you'll have to do something if you have two Claires etc., we sometimes use surnames or middle names or shorten them.
The rules are: One person starts off by calling a name. The person called must duck and their two neighbours each try to shoot her, by pointing in the right direction and saying Bang! If the person called doesn't duck before her neighbours have gone bang, she is dead and sits down.
If the person has ducked but one of her neighbours was paying attention and got her shot off before the one that wasn't, that neighbour is dead and the person called can stand up again.
The person killed in the last round calls the next name, but everyone needs to be aware that if somone next to them has died they now have new neighbours.
When you get towards the end of the game, the direction pointed is also important as shooting the wrong person doesn't count. We also usually say anyone who has a tendancy to let off her gun when it's not their turn ia also dead.
Another alternative, is to restrict each Guide to a limited amount of ammo (lives) and will have to sit down if she uses them all up.
You will need a ref, as it can be difficult to tell when they get good at it who shot first, and the faster it goes the better.
Oh and the best way to get the person who killed you dead is to call their neighbour on the other side, they rarely expect it!!




Hill & Ditch

Equipment:
None

Time:
Five minute filler.

Method:
You need to be able to divide the play area in two parts, it is best to use a line.
The HILL is behind this line and the DITCH is over the line.
Basically they all stand in a line at the edge of the HILL at the start of the game, and the leader calls out in whatever sequence she feels like the words: HILL or DITCH.
If she calls out "HILL", they should all stay where they are behind the line - if not and they jump over or move even onto the line they are OUT OF GAME.
If she calls out "DITCH" they must jump over the line.
Start slowly letting them get use to the game especially when there are new or younger ones in and then build up speed. Sometimes say "HILL DITCH HILL DITCH HILL HILL" in quick succession and they're all busy concentrating on what you're saying they either get it right completely or fail. The older ones obviously are very good so speed is of the essence to catch them out.
I personally cannot stand it but the Brownies and younger Guides think its brill.
When Out of the Game they usually come and stand with me and watch everyone else and help Brown Owl's eyes to spot ones. If one is clever you can get at least 2 or 3 out at the same time.
Some don't move their feet at all - you see their legs bending and straightening at first. I ignore that at the beginning when there is a load of them but it gets more noticeable towards the end and there are more than one pair of eyes watching them........!




Bench Ball

Equipment:
Netball and two benches or chairs to stand on!

Time:
Up to 10 minutes

Method:
Guides can organise it themselves at the beginning of the meeting with the others joining in as they arrive.
Two teams of any number.
One "goalie" at each end of the room standing on a chair (or bench if you have one).
Play like netball with a goal scored each time the goalie catches the ball. (We only have one who habitually falls off and I'm fairly sure she does it on purpose!)




Noughts and Crosses Quiz

Equipment:
Nine chairs
Quiz questions

Time:
About 10 minutes.

Method:
Set up a grid of 3x3 chairs
Don't forget to prepare quiz questions in advance.
Divide girls into 2 teams.
Each correct answer team member sits on a chair.
Score 1 point each time team gets a line of 3.




Noughts and Crosses Game

Equipment:
Nine chairs

Time:
Up to 10 minutes.

Method:
Divide the girls into two teams.
The girls around outside the chairs in any direction but not allowed inside. It may be wise to mark a grid around the outside of the chairs.
Guider shouts either noughts or crosses.
The girls should change direction walking if the Guider shouts "Noughts".
If the Guider if shouts "Crosses", all the girls dive for a chair.
A team gets a point if they have a line of 3.
The first team to a set number of points win.




Wink Murder

Equipment:
A chair for each girl to sit on.

Time:
Up to 10 minutes.

Method:
One girl is declared "IT" and is sent out of room. The rest sit in a circle.
One of the seated girls is picked as murderer.
IT is invited back in and has to guess who the murderer is (we usually give them 3 guesses).
The murderer winks at other girls who have to scream and play dead.
The Guider must set a limit of murders, if IT guesses before that number of murders and within 3 guesses then murderer is IT.




Basketball

Equipment:
Chair
Basket or bucket
Basket-ball

Time:
Up to 10 or 15 minutes.

Method:
Divide the girls into two teams, one girl from each team stands on a chair holding a basket/bucket.
Play basketball in the normal manner, except that the girl on chair may try to catch ball with bucket but must not leave chair.




River crossing

Equipment:
Three chairs for each team

Time:
Up to 20 minutes.

Method:
Mark off a "river" in the play area.
Divide the unit into two or three teams of equal size.
They need 3 chairs for each team.
The aim is to transport the whole team to other side of "river" using chairs as rafts.
If anyone fall into the "river" then must go back to other side of "river".
This can be made harder by giving them handicaps such as one team member is blindfolded or has a broken arm or similar.




Ten-Pass Netball

Equipment:
A netball

Time:
Up to 10 or 15 minutes.

Method:
Divide the Guides into two teams.
This has similar ball-handling rules to netball.
Instead of a net, goals are scored by passing the ball between members of the same team, without dropping it, for ten passes in a row.
We usually say you can't pass back to the peron who threw you the ball, so you need at least three people to score.




Rainbow Scavenger Hunt

Equipment:
None

Time:
Up to 15 minutes.

Method:
Divide the Rainbows into two or three teams.
The teams have to find an object in meeting place for every colour of rainbow.




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