Just as we are having our own war on zombies (looks like the zombies are losing by the way!) Jessica has just sent in this outdoors / Summer camp game from Mexico.
It teaches country names (song here, card game here) and a few cool phrases.
As usual with this type of game it is definitely a “Use at your own risk” game – please don’t send me hate mail! 🙂
I Declare War
by Jessica Wendt
This is a traditional Mexican kids game that my students taught me and just can’t get enough of!
You need to play it outside with a good sized space to run around and you can play with small or large groups.
Before playing, teach them some countries, the phrase, “I declare war” and the vocabulary Big Steps (or Giant), Medium Steps (or Normal), and Small Steps(or tiny or baby)
1. On the ground, use some chalk to draw a big circle and write “STOP” inside the circle.
2.Draw another circle around that circle and divide it into the amount of students you have. Have each student stand on one of the divided parts. They should pick the name of a country in English and write the name on their individual part. They should have one foot in their section and one foot out.
3. You begin by saying “I declare war on……CANADA!!!!” (an example, just pick a country in the circle!)
4. If you said “Canada”, the student standing on Canada must jump into the STOP circle and shout STOP!!! The other students should make a run for it! When the student shouts STOP, all the students have to freeze where they are.
5. Now comes the tricky part. They pick one of the students who fled and have to say in what distance that can reach that person (stepping on their foot). They can use small/medium/big steps. They’ll say, for example, “I can get to BRAZIL in 2 big steps and one medium step.”
6. They take the steps they declared, and if they arrive (in this case to BRAZIL), BRAZIL gets a point. Actually, in mexico, they say that that country gets a “baby”!! If Canada doesn’t arrive, Canada gets a baby!
7. Play again and again, and the country with the most points at the end loses.
Thanks Jessica! What do you guys think? I’ve got a feeling the boys are going to love this!
Earn More From Your Passion For Teaching English!
It sounds interesting, but I don’t really get it all:
It’s not clear to me who is “they” and what is “it” in many cases.Steps 4,5,and 6.
For the “declare war” phrase it would be no problem to change it into “I’ll play against” “have a match against”~
Well, I think a video or some more illustrations would be great for this game.
This is a really fun game! I used to play it when I was a kid and I still play it with my friends when we go to the beach. I’ve played it twice with students an they have loved it to bits!