Knowing each other’s names builds community, and what better way to memorize names than through a tag game? In this fast-paced game, students form a circle with one student leader in the middle. The student leader calls a peer’s name—and the race is on! The person whose name was called must call another peer’s name before they get tagged! Make this game more inclusive by encouraging boys to call girl’s names, and vice versa. Students will have a ball building community, learning names, and making new friends.
Name Touch
Any Size
Grades 3-5
None
Less Than 10 minutes
Development Goal
To develop listening skills, memorization and learn everyone’s name
Before You Start
- Go around and say everyone’s name (if this is the first time playing, name tags help)
- Demonstrate safe tagging/high fives
- Light touch, like butterfly wings
- Unsafe tags/high fives: hard contact that might hurt the person being tagged
- Form a close circle with one player in the middle.
- Everyone except the player in the middle holds both hands out in front with their palms up.
Set Up
Pick a space where the entire group can stand comfortably in a circle.
How to Play
- The leader begins the game by loudly saying someone’s name that is standing in the circle.
- The player in the middle then tries to tag that person whose name was called.
- The player whose name was called must say another player’s name before s/he is tagged by the person in the middle.
- When a player gets tagged before s/he can say a name, s/he switches places and goes to the middle.
- The player who successfully tagged a person on the outside gets to call out a name to begin the next round.
Variations
- Have the players standing in the circle close their eyes so they cannot see the person in the middle coming towards them.
- Have the circle take a few steps back so the person in the middle has to run towards the players.
- Also called Name Tag.