Reverse Charades

Reverse Charades - More action, less sitting

I previously blogged about Charades for Kids and what a fun activity that can be for working on such things as motor planning skills, proprioception, and reading body language and facial expressions. Reverse Charades is similar to regular charades, but offers a fun twist to this classic:

1. Instead of one person acting out and the rest of the players guessing/sitting, one person is guessing and everyone else is acting out (you could also work in teams).
2. Instead of a turn consisting of acting out one charade, the one minute sand timer is set and players act out as many things as they can in one minute (as correct guesses are made).  

Here are several things to think about if you are considering reverse charades over the regular charades for a group:

• Reverse charades will involve less sitting, more moving for everyone.
• Reverse charades reduces the feeling of being the center of attention as you are acting things out, if that is undesirable, or if a player needs more help than others.
• Reverse charades will move quickly as players move from one card to the next in a single turn. This will require the ability to transition quickly and possibly increased endurance.
• Reverse charades may boost the confidence of all actors as different interpretations of one thing may be acted and the combination may help the guesser(s) quickly and successfully move through numerous charades.

The cards have one word or phrase on each side. Cards are purple on one side and green on the other. Examples of charades include knitting, broken heart, Frankenstein, stub your toe, bad luck, magic trick, picnic, and brain drain.

Object:

Have the most correct guesses. Either set a number to work toward and first person there is the winner, or agree to play for a certain amount of time and the person who won the most cards is the winner.

Set up:

Mix the cards and place them in a face-down pile.

Play:

Players take turns guessing. Everyone but the guesser gets up and gets ready to act out. Turn up one card and let all actors see it. Set the 1 minute timer. All actors act out what was on the card. Actors can work together or separately. As soon as the guesser guesses correctly, flip over the next card and go again. Keep playing until the timer is done. The guesser is given any cards that he guessed correctly. A different person is now the guesser and the rest act out. Take turns so that you rotate through everyone, giving all the same amount of chances to be the guesser.

Try this:

• Sort through the cards in advance and choose ones that lend themselves to a group, such as orchestra. Then work together to act out charades as a group instead of multiple individuals doing their own thing.
• Go through the cards before hand and take out any that are inappropriate for the group and/or stack them for the performance level of the players.
• Break the charade down into steps if the individual does not know where to start or how to proceed. For instance if the task is making a sandwich, cue the individual to pretend to open a jar, remove peanut butter with a knife, spread it on bread, put another piece of bread on top and eat.
• Allow sound if an individual's actions may be difficult to interpret, such as mooing if you are acting out a cow, or a motor sound if mowing the lawn.
• Be ready with encouragement and keep the atmosphere light and fun.
• Allow the use of simple, nearby props.
• Work on motor planning, balance, coordination, body awareness, spatial relations, visualization, core strengthening, upper body stability, problem solving, creative thinking, expressing and reading non-verbal communication, reading body language, motor sequencing, socialization skills, process skills, executive functioning skills, play exploration and participation 

In the box: 720 word & phrases on 360 cards, 1 minute sand timer

Ages 6+, 3+ players

If you are interested in purchasing this game or just want more information, click on the image below.