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Gaming night with children from 5-15 years

Recently, I performed a gaming night for children aged 4 to 15 years. Usually, you plan a gaming night for kids the same age, but this night was a challenge because it was kind of "childcare". I did not know what age the children were who would attend, nor did I know how much "playing experience" the kids have, or whether it will be 5 or 10 kids.

Nevertheless, I took my game box and chose in advance a few creative games that I wanted to perform, depending on which children come. I was well prepared and had some great ideas.

Toilet paper mummy
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Those games we played

Toilet paper mummy

Divide the kids into two groups. Each group had to wrap one person with a roll of toilet paper, so that little was possible to see from the person afterward.

Turning the blanket

All kids must stand on one blanket. Now the blanket must be turned, without anybody getting off the blanket!

Folding the blanket

Imagine, the blanket is an ice floe. The objective is to wrap the blanket smaller and smaller. How many times can the sheet be folded, before someone falls into the water? All kids need to help each other so that nobody goes overboard.

Chef - Vice:

A well-known concentration game. You will find that adults not always have the best concentration span.

Get the balloon behind the enemy line

Divide the kids into two groups. Now the air balloon must be tossed in a way so that it gets behind the enemy line!

Sneaking up and taking the keys away
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Sneaking up and taking the keys away

One person sits blindfolded on a chair. The key is underneath him. The objective now is to select one child, which must sneak up, trying to snatch the key. The blindfolded kid, on the other hand, must prevent losing the key.

Sitting on the balloon

Blow up a balloon. Now get one child who may sit on the balloon trying to burst it!

Clamp the balloon between two people
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Clamp the balloon between two people

The objective of this game is that a balloon is put between two people. The need to hold it any way possible without using their hands. Now they must run a certain distance without losing the balloon.

The toilet paper snake

Each child receives one sheet of toilet paper. The objective is to tear it as many times to make a long paper snake.

Extinguishing candles with a cork

4 children compete against each other. A cork must be fixed to the person's body, only so far that it reaches the knees. On command, each kid tries to extinguish the candle underneath using only the cork.

Observations

Chef-Vice: This game was a little hard for the smallest, but they still had fun.

Toilet paper mummy: Best for the smallest. They are the easiest to wrap up.

Burst the balloon: The bigger kids have an advantage because they have more power.

Folding the blanket: Smaller kids could be put on the shoulder of older ones. - An excellent game for cooperation.

Balloon behind the enemy line: Make sure there is an even mix of small and bigger kids; otherwise, it would be an unfair game.

Extinguishing candles with a cork: This game was not even for the smallest kids a problem.

Toilet paper snake: This game was no problem for anybody. Due to the slightly better fine motor skills, the older kids, of course, had a little in the advantage.

All in all: Everyone had fun, and the youngest could learn from older children. Younger kids approached the games without hesitation; the older kids are a bit more reserved – after all, you could be embarrassed. But even these initially "insecure" kids joined in after a little while. With any of the games, the objective was not to win but to participate and to have fun together.