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SAMPLE ACTIVITY: "Defend The City!"
Defend the City is a game created at
Academy MetroWest that addresses problem solving, risk taking, and team
work in an enjoyable, imaginative context.
Equipment needs
A large play area, several folding
mats, lots of foam balls, lots of small plastic cones and miscellaneous
(non-breakable) objects with which to build a city.
Setup
Lay the folding mats on the floor of
the play area so that they are all touching each other in one fashion or
another. This is the "zone" on which the children will build
their city.
Play
At the start of the game, the children
are given a period of time in which they are to construct their city. They
do this by arranging small cones and various other types of equipment
(often cardboard cylinders, hockey nets, pails, etc.) in any type of setup
they wish. During this phase of the activity, children are frequently
required to negotiate and compromise with their peers regarding the setup
of the city. If 6 children are playing the game, there are frequently 6
different sets of ideas that need to be combined to form one coherent city.
This segment of the game affords counselors opportunities to help children
work on skills relating to expressing their ideas effectively and
responding appropriately to the ideas offered by their peers.
Once setup of the city is complete,
the action-packed segment of the game begins. The story of the game has the
counselors being space aliens, bent on destroying and taking over this new city. The
children are defenders of the city they have just constructed. Both the
children and the counselors begin the game with a good number of foam
bombardment balls. Approximately 10 yards from the city, an area is
designated as the counselors' space ship. It is from this area that the
counselors begin their attack.
When the game begins, counselors run
towards the city and begin firing balls at the city with the intention of
knocking down as many structures as they can. While they are doing this,
children are defending their city by throwing balls at the counselors. If
hit by a ball, a counselor must return to his or her spaceship before
trying to attack the city again.
Children must be in the city in order
to throw balls at the counselors. When counselors are able to destroy part
of the city, the children may set it back up during the course of the game.
Time outs are not called for reconstruction and the children know that what
they fix may be destroyed again shortly.
After a short period of time, there
will be no more foam balls left on the city. If the children wish to
continue to defend their city, they must take a risk and leave the city to
collect more balls. Once they leave the mats, however, they are not safe.
When a counselor sees a child leave the city, he may throw a foam ball at
that child. If the child is hit while not in the city, he/she must sit down
where he/she was hit. That child can come back into the action when another
defender recognizes that he/she is hit, leaves the city and tags or frees
the "victim." If all children are down, counselors may destroy
the city and win (this usually does not happen).
Generally play continues for a
designated period of time (10 minutes usually does the trick). After that
time elapses, a time out is called. If it appears that more than half of
the city is standing, then the defenders have saved the city. If the city
appears on the verge of being destroyed, then the aliens have taken over.
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Defend the City!
Construction begins as all players gather building materials
Team works together to fortify their defenses
With their city defenses built, the battle begins to save it from the space
aliens.
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