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Home > Action Tips: Lead Games for Homeless Children

Action Tips: Lead Games for Homeless Children

Tennis Ball

What can be more fun than spending a day playing games with kids? Nothing! Search the internet for a homeless shelter in your area and ask if you and your  volunteers can come in and lead activities for the children at the shelter. 

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.
  • Everyone must say the number of hits the ball has received in a row without being dropped. 
  • 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.

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.
  • Eventually, the entire group should have moved to the stage area. Everyone 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.
  • Continue stretching limbs and other common areas.
  • At one point, switch to silly areas to stretch. Tell participants to stretch their earlobes.
  • Continue with other stretches that are funny, like stretching foreheads, lips, nose, etc.

Find more ways you can help out and make a difference. GO [2]

Time: 
One Day [3]
One Week [4]
One Semester [5]
One Summer [6]
One Year [7]
Where: 
In Your City [8]
In Your Neighborhood [9]
Issues: 
Homelessness and Poverty [10]
Homelessness [11]
Who: 
Alone [12]
Club [13]
Congregation [14]
Family [15]
School [16]
Sports Team [17]
With Your Friends [18]
Source URL: http://www.dosomething.org/actnow/actionguide/action-tips-lead-games-homeless-children

Links:
[1] http://twitter.com/share
[2] http://www.dosomething.org/cause/71/act-now?page=1
[3] http://www.dosomething.org/category/time/one-day
[4] http://www.dosomething.org/category/time/one-week
[5] http://www.dosomething.org/category/time/one-semester
[6] http://www.dosomething.org/category/time/one-summer
[7] http://www.dosomething.org/category/time/one-year
[8] http://www.dosomething.org/category/where/in-your-city
[9] http://www.dosomething.org/category/where/in-your-neighborhood
[10] http://www.dosomething.org/cause/homelessness-and-poverty
[11] http://www.dosomething.org/issues/homelessness
[12] http://www.dosomething.org/category/who/alone
[13] http://www.dosomething.org/category/who/club
[14] http://www.dosomething.org/category/who/church
[15] http://www.dosomething.org/category/who/family
[16] http://www.dosomething.org/category/who/school
[17] http://www.dosomething.org/category/who/sports-team
[18] http://www.dosomething.org/category/who/with-your-friends