This article is part of the series of training sessions that we are publishing for professionals who work with vulnerable groups to implement Socio-Sports Meetings, a socio-educational intervention based on cooperative physical activity that promotes social inclusion and facilitates the well-being of people at risk of exclusion while the volunteers dismantle prejudices and work on issues such as discrimination.
Inclusive group motor-skill games
In this session, we present six cooperative and inclusive group motor-skill games. Its objective is for participants to do physical exercise of lesser to greater intensity while having fun playing and socialising without anyone being excluded at any time. Between three and five games are usually played in a session.
Some are new, while others are traditional games redesigned to be inclusive. All types of people can play, regardless of their origin, ability or age, and they can be adapted for people with functional diversity or any other condition. The goal is to have fun and for everyone to have a good time!
1. Human tic-tac-toe
- Type: Group game
- Material: Nine disc cones for each group of six players
- Game description:
Nine disc cones are placed on the ground forming a tic-tac-toe board: three rows of three cones each, with two metres separating each one. If you do not have cones, you can make marks on the ground with chalk or mounds of sand.
To play, two teams of three people are made who will be the game pieces and will face each other. People are distributed outside the board, alternating one person from each team so that each person has people from the opposite team next to them.
When the facilitator gives the signal, the participants begin to run around the board until the facilitator shouts “Now!”, at which point the people must run to the cones. There cannot be more than one person at each cone, so if a cone is occupied, the player must go to another cone.
If a team forms a straight line between the three team members (vertically, horizontally or diagonally), they have won the game. Otherwise, people can continue moving from one cone to another freely, until one of the teams manages to form a straight line.
Therefore, the participants must form a straight line to win the game while preventing the opposing team from doing so, placing themselves in cones that break their straight line. Every time a team wins a game, the game starts over again.
2. Message telegram
- Type: Group game
- Material: None
- Game description:
All participants stand in single file facing the same direction, one behind the other. The last one begins the game by touching the back of the person in front, asking them to turn around. When they look at each other, the last one makes three or four consecutive movements. The person who has received the message must memorise it and repeat it to the person in front of them in the queue. This continues until the message reaches the first person in the queue.
The first person must make the movements in front of the entire group to see if they match those of the person who started the message. - Variations:
– Expand the number of movements.
– Make movements with percussion.
3. Windmills
- Type: Group game
- Material: Bibs or balls
- Game description:
Everyone stands at the edge of the playing field, except one (or several) who starts catching and goes to the middle of the field. This person can move around the entire field.
The person who catches shouts: “Now!” and the rest of the group must run to the other side of the field, trying not to get caught. If any of the participants are caught, they become a windmill. They remain motionless where they were caught and try to catch more participants by moving their arms.
The game ends when all the people are windmills and there is no one left to catch. - Variation:
When the person who catches manages to catch someone, they decide where on the field to place the mill.
4. The cooperative handkerchief
- Type: Group game
- Material: Two handkerchiefs
- Game description:
The participants are divided into two groups, each standing on either side of the track. In each group they stand lined up, one next to the other, facing the facilitator, who stands with the two handkerchiefs in the middle of the playing field. Before starting, the facilitator assigns an odd number to each participant. The objective of each team is to run to grab their handkerchief and return as fast as they can to the starting point. To do this, the facilitator calls out an even number. Each group must combine their odd numbers so that they add up to the number called. For example: if “four” is called, the person with the number “three” and the person with the number “one” can participate in the race. - Variations:
– For the last command of the game, call a number that involves the entire group at the same time.
– Bring more dynamism to the participants’ movement by giving them instructions on how they should run: in slow motion, backwards, holding hands, holding both hands, forming structures, etc.
– After taking the handkerchief, they run and join the other group.
– The numbers are given out to the people in the group in ascending order (odd and even), starting with zero. This time, the participants with the numbers that make up the called figure in order of units, tens and hundreds run to pick up the handkerchief. For example, when “503” is called, the participants with the numbers five, zero and three run up, in the same order. - Observations:
Ask people who are not running to the handkerchiefs to encourage and provide positive reinforcement to the others.
5. Stop!
- Type: Group game
- Material: Bibs, balls, strips of paper or plastic bags
- Game description:
The pursuers carry an object that identifies them: a bib, a ball, a strip of paper or a plastic bag in their hand, held for all to see. The people trying to escape must avoid being caught by the pursuers. When a pursuer touches someone, they give them the identifying object and the roles are changed (the pursuer becomes the person being chased and vice versa). People can avoid being caught by shouting “Stop!” and staying still with their arms crossed and their legs apart. To continue playing, another participant can save them by slapping one of their outstretched hands. - Variation:
Propose other ways to save people who are stopped: do a dance together, sing together, greet each other in a fun way or form a sentence that makes sense (one person starts it and the other finishes it), among other possibilities.
6. Four corners
- Type: Group game
- Material: Five cones and five balls
- Game description:
Four cones are placed to form a square and a fifth cone is placed in the middle. The participants are divided into five groups and each is placed at one of the cones. The groups must change cones when the one in the middle asks: “Are you ready?” When the others have answered affirmatively, the group in the middle gives the change signal (“1, 2, 3, go!”). Each group’s objective is to reach one of the four corner cones.
To change cones, everyone in the group must remain united (holding hands or with their hands on each other’s shoulders) after the signal. There can only be one group at each cone. If people in a group arrive at a cone at different times (separately from each other), that group starts the game again from the middle cone. - Variations:
– Each group creates its own personal change signal when placed at the middle cone.
– The groups cannot change to the same cone twice in a row.
– The groups cannot go to the nearest cones.
– Each group has a ball that they must dribble with their feet.
– Each group has a ball that they must dribble with their feet and a number of people in the group, or all of them, must touch it at least once before reaching the cone. - Observations:
– If there are too many people in each group, reduce the number of people by forming smaller groups and placing more cones in the space forming the most convenient geometric figure (pentagon, hexagon, etc.) to have the same number of groups as cones.
– Tell the participants to be careful not to collide with anyone when they switch places.
