Once again this autumn, after the fun of the previous challenges based on Cluedo, Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly, we have our family game challenge badge this year based around the whole compendium of games – everything from dominoes, pick up sticks, ludo and chess to card games…
Learning how to play games as a group, with friends or family, is a great way to develop skills for life: working together, harnessing logic skills, taking turns, celebrating when others do well and lots more. Playing these games can create positive memories.
Over the weekend of 1 November, the region’s Assemble in Amsterdam event is happening based around a giant game of Where’s Wally in the city with a selection of traditional game challenges at each of the bases. Everyone in the region is invited to join in with a local challenge at any point during the autumn term that suits you. It could be an evening meeting, an activity day, a sleepover, a virtual sleepover or lots of home challenges – you decide!
This badge is suitable for Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Rangers, young leaders, leaders, inspire, Trefoil Guild and families.
For your compendium of games themed meeting or event do as many of these challenges as you want or come up with your own to suit your group. If you come up with your own, we’d love to hear what you got up to via this link.
Here our ideas so far. You can easily find instructions for all these games and more on the internet or you may find many families have a box of these games at home you could use.
- Dominoes – teach everyone how to play dominoes – perhaps everyone could make their own set on card
- Draughts – play using milk and white chocolate buttons and eat them when your piece takes one as part of the game (have some spares to make the doubles if anyone gets to the other side)
- Chess – learn some chess moves - using human players at the pieces. You could create hats which represent the pieces in a chess board
- Card games – play a variety of card games, everything from snap or pairs with younger girls, beggar my neighbour or Go Fish with Guides or 21, hearts or rummy with Rangers. Did you know you can get large/jumbo versions of cards?
- Design you own set of picture cards – what would your King, Queen and Jack look like?
- Card game theme party – have an Alice in Wonderland tea party where people come dressed as the characters and the leaders come dressed as playing cards.
- Other card-based games – Uno, Dobble, Mind the Gap, Exploding Kittens, Top Trumps, Happy Families, and more; there are now so many other card-based games out there, including themed Dobble. How many different card-based games can you play in a night?
- Top Trumps – can you design your own? What theme? What are the categories?
- Ludo – play a game in teams. Could you play a human version in your hall?
- Snakes and Ladders – design your own snakes and ladders boards in teams and then swap with another group and play theirs – it doesn’t have to be snakes and ladders though – could be rockets and parachutes, climbing frames and slides, Fire ladders and poles, ski lift and toboggan themed!
- Mancala – learn how to play the ancient Egyptian game of Mancala – if you don’t have a real board, you can make one with egg boxes (or just a chart on paper)
- Dice games – play a game with dice such as Horse race, Yahtzee, Shut the box
- Beetle Drive – play Beetle Drive – this could also be a fundraiser night if you invited family and friends. Or make up your own version of the “Beetle”
- Pick up sticks – create your own game of pick up sticks with bamboo skewers, or add colours and the game become Mikado
- Playdough – use playdough as a base for a game. What games can you come up with?
- Guess Who – traditional? Or create your own!
- Traditional board games - have a go at playing board games like Chinese checkers, backgammon or any others you can think of
- Modern board games – Race across the world, Catan, Great game of Britain, 7 wonders...bring a game and try something new!
- Twister – play Twister. You could come up with variants of the game to incorporate dance, paint or something else?
- Human Hungry Hippos –p lay using skate boards/moving boards with wheels, and washing baskets
- Jenga – have a tournament!
- Design your own board game – how would it work, what would it look like?
- Have a picnic with board game-themed food – Connect four cookies, Gummy snakes and breadstick ladders, Jenga stackable finger sandwiches, Pictionary pancakes where you use the topping to draw something, Domino Brownies...!
- Get outside - –draw and outdoor board game with chalk (with permission) and play life size version of a game
- Get building – build your own outdoor games such as Jenga, cornhole or scrabble
- Go Giant! – play the giant version of games, such as Connect Four, Jenga or snakes and ladders?
- Human versions of games – play human tic-tac-toe /noughts and crosses. Split into two teams and take it in turn to play a piece on the board in a speed relay race style
- Visit a board game café – do you have a board game café you could visit locally as a unit? This is great way to play games you may not have at home - you may find a new favourite game!
- Go International – research and play games from around the world
