Museum Night Janitor

Self-control. Skills practiced include spatial awareness and freezing.

Talk to students about what statues do: Do they move? Do they touch each other? Do they make a lot of noise? But we all know they come alive and move around the museum at night, right?
Remind students to be safe and be aware of where their friends are around them. We want to ensure students do not run into each other.
Have students practice appropriate statue poses.

Make sure the space is clear of obstacles and there are boundaries for where you will be playing
Designate an area where students will go to do jumping jacks when they get caught moving

Equipment needed to play the game:

“Flashlight” for the janitor to hold (cone, marker, anything they can pretend is a flashlight)

The facilitator will select one player to be the janitor.
All other players are statues, and they can’t let the janitor catch them moving.
The janitor closes their eyes or turns around and gives the statues 10 seconds to move around the room and freeze in a statue pose.
It is important that the janitor counts loudly so everyone can hear!
When the janitor opens their eyes again, everyone must freeze and be still like a statue.
Blinking, breathing, and sneezing do not count as “moving.”
- If the janitor sees a player move, they will respectfully call out their name and that player will do 5 jumping jacks (or do another predetermined task) to get back into the next round.
Players can move if the janitor’s eyes are open and their back is turned to them. However, if the janitor turns around and catches them, they will also need to do 5 jumping jacks!
- NOTE: Being caught moving can cause lots of feelings to happen, including stress and disappointment. Before you begin playing, have the players brainstorm ways they can manage these feelings and still participate positively during the game.
Deep breaths.
Taking a break to reset.
After playing for a few rounds, restart the game with a new player as the new janitor.

Play the game with all students sitting and ask them to pose or move around the room in a new, unique way.
For older students, this game can be combined with other games, such as silent ball, for an added challenge.
When the Janitor catches a statue moving, have the statue complete a flashcard question to return to the game.
Use different themes for Museums. For example, if you are in a “Dance Museum,” players try to dance behind the Janitor’s back and freeze in dance poses. You can also try academic themes, such as Space, History, Dinosaur, Animals, Natural History, Art, or Science.