Action Tips: Lead Games for Homeless Children

Search the internet for a homeless shelter in your area. From their site, find the email or phone number to contact asking if you and your volunteers can come in and lead activities for the children at the shelter. Arrange a time and day to come by and lead the following activities.

Hankie Hop

What you need: two handkerchiefs or tissues

• Set up to teams to race each other from one side of your space to the other.
• Have the first contestant on each team balance a handkerchief on his or her foot and hop to the other end and back.
• When the contestant returns, the next person in line balances that same handkerchief and races.
• The first team to finish wins.

Ball

What you need: a ball that kids can hit like volleyball

• Gather everyone in a circle
• Explain that you will start by hitting the ball to someone else in the circle. Whoever the ball naturally goes to, that person should hit the ball to someone else.
• No one is allowed to hit the ball twice.
• Everyone must say the number of hits the ball has received in a row without being dropped. On the first hit, it is "one," then "two," and so on until the ball accidentally drops on the floor.
• When the ball eventually hits the floor, repeat the activity two more times. Each time, see if you can get more hits than the time before.
• Remember, everyone participates because they are saying the number outline with their peers.

Machine

What you need: Nothing

• Assemble the group of kids together. Then, have one brave volunteer move to another space that will act as your stage area.
• Tell the person to start making a simple motion and a simple sound, as if they were a machine.
• Then tell the group that another person should go in and add on to the machine. They will also be part of the machine by standing next to, in front of, or behind the person. This person should make a different motion and sound.
• Let everyone know that one by one, they should be adding to the machine. If no one is going, encourage them more.
• Eventually, the entire group should have moved to the stage area. Everyone should be making a different sound and motion, but should be standing so closely together that it looks like they are acting as one machine.

Illustrate the story

What you need: A children's book; paper and colored pencils/crayons (optional)

• Read a story from a children's book aloud.
• Stop a certain points in the story and ask the listeners to draw the scene with colored pencils/crayons and paper that you provide.

Silly stretching

What you need: Nothing

• Gather your group in a giant circle.
• Tell everyone that you will lead a stretching exercise.
• First, have participants stretch their arms in the air.
• Then, have participants stretch their backs by touching their toes.
• Continue stretching limbs and other common areas.
• At one point, switch to silly areas to stretch. Tell participants to stretch their earlobes.
• They might think this is silly, but if you make a funny face like you're trying to do it, they will try too.
• Continue with other stretches that are funny, like stretching foreheads, lips, nose, etc.