Theme

General

Age Range

7-18

Type

Games

Number of Participants

4+

Timescale

1-5 minutes

Quick overview

Testing reactions and helping to focus a group, in this game they have to both catch another finger and remain uncaught to win.

Game type

Focuser

Supplies you’ll need

None.

Game run-through

Have the group stood or sat in a circle.

Have everyone place their left hand flat, palm up, and their right index finger pointing in the air.

Next, have them place their right finger on the left hand of the person to their right.

Explain that you are going to say a key word and when you say that word they have got to close their left hand and raise their right finger as fast as they can. The people who win the challenge are those who both catch the finger of the person to the left, but also escape the closing hand of the person to the right.

At this point you’ll probably notice many of their left hands will be subtly closing to make it easier for them, so it is important to remind them again that their left hand needs to be flat.

You can use anything as a key word but ‘3’ works well as you can count up to it and it doesn’t take much thinking about how you’ll set it up.

As leader, you may enjoy throwing in some trick rounds to up the tension and generally have a laugh as this gets the young people more involved with the game. Examples of this may be: “1, 2, Tree”, or “1, 2, 30”.

Though this game doesn’t require you to step out for safeguarding reasons, you may not want to be participating in the game while leading, as this would make the challenge far too easy for you.