Supplies

• 5 balls

Description

Students practice thinking quickly during this engaging ball game.

How to Play

1. Students sit in a circle, with 5 different students each holding a ball.
2. The goal of the game is to get 2 balls in someone else’s lap.
3. Students can only pass the ball to students sitting next to them, and the direction the ball is being passed can be changed at any time.
4. If someone gets 2 balls in their lap they must scream “Ah! You caught me red handed!” and take a knee for the next round.
5. After each round, spread out the balls in the circle, and start again.
6. This continues with students who get 2 balls at once taking one knee, taking two knees the second time they get 2 balls, and if they get 2 balls a third time they finally stand up.
7. Continue this until one student is standing, and then have students pick a new spot in the circle and start again.

Activity Prompts for Reflection

• What was a good choice you made during this activity?
• What’s a yes mess/negative situation that you avoided during this activity?
• What are some other choices you could have made during this activity?
• What would you do differently if we played this activity again?

Other Ways to Play

• To make this more challenging, make the groups of students smaller, or add in a sixth ball to pass.
• To make this activity easier, start out with only 3 balls in the circle.  As students get more practice add in more balls.
• Instead of having students take a knee when they get two balls, start a timer at the beginning of each round. Have students work to try to beat the time for how long it takes them to get two balls in someone’s lap.

Additional Notes

• Use the SEL Activity Prompts to tie other SEL competencies to this activity.