Keep Playing Week 13

Game of the Week: Toss and Drop

This week, Playworks is featuring a game that will challenge students to practice their active listening. 

Skill Focus: 

Active Listening – The ability to give full attention, with eyes and ears, to the person who is talking.

Play In-Person

Play Virtually

Simplified Game Instructions

# of people to play: 2+
Best for ages: 5+
Setup/Teaching Time: 1 minute
Equipment needed: Something to throw in the air (ex. socks, bean bag, ball, crumpled paper, etc).

Goal: to successfully follow directions by listening to the game leader and doing the action that is said. 

How to Play:

  • Each player should begin the game by having something in their hand that can be safely tossed in the air (examples provided above).
  • The leader will say either “toss” or “drop” to the entire class.
  • If the leader says “toss,” players need to toss the object in the air and catch it. If the leader says “drop,” players need to drop the object to the ground and pick it back up before the next round.
  • If a student does the wrong action they should complete an action (ex. 3 jumping jacks) before they can rejoin the game.
  • The leader can speed up or slow down the commands to make it more challenging.

Game Debrief

  • What were you practicing in this game?
  • What made this game challenging? How did it feel when you made a mistake?
  • Why is it important to listen to the game leader/teacher?

Game Modifications

Age Group Modifications
  • For younger students: use a lighter object, like a scarf, plastic bag or balloon.
  • For older students: To make the game more difficult, instruct students to do the opposite action of what the facilitator says.
Academic Applications
  • When players make a mistake, have them do a class-related task to get back into the game. For example, solve a quick math problem, spell a vocabulary word, etc.
Challenge Ideas
  • How many commands can the entire group get through before a mistake occurs?
  • Have students do the opposite action of the command given.

Brain Break: My DVD Player

Before You Start
  • Explain that the person calling the game will give a command found on a remote control, and that for each command, students will do a particular action.
  • Review commands and corresponding actions (see below) with students.
  • Do a practice round first so that all players understand the commands and the movements that go with them. Make sure players understand that if they make a mistake, they do 5 jumping jacks before rejoining the game.
How to Play
  • The goal of the game is to follow game directions without making a mistake.
  • The leader calls out any of the buttons located on a remote control, and players respond with an action.
    • Play – Students move forward
    • Fast Forward – Students quickly run in place
    • Rewind – students move backwards
    • Pause – Students freeze
    • Power off – Students crouch down like an egg
    • Power On – Students stand up
    • Slow Motion – Students move slowly in place
  • If a player makes a mistake or misses an action, they must EITHER complete five jumping jacks before returning to the game OR for an added challenge, share the plot of a movie in one sentence for the rest of the group to guess.  Ex. A girl lost her shoe while trying to get home for curfew = Cinderella

Additional Resources

Sample School Community Announcement

For the month of December we are learning more on the theme of self management. Self management allows us to make intentional decisions regarding impulses, emotions, physical actions.

One of the key aspects of developing self management is the ability to listen to others. By learning how to react to other peoples’ opinions and actions, we are practicing our own ability to take external cues to improve ourselves. Active listening is about giving your full attention – with eyes and ears – to the person who is talking. To reinforce the skill of active listening, we are playing Toss and Drop where players need to listen and respond to commands quickly to succeed.

Teach students to play in class, and then empower them to lead the game and teach others!

Core Recess Game

In addition to our Keep Playing Game of the Week, we’re sharing bi-weekly Core Recess Games that will help kids be active, practice leadership, maximize recess time, and have fun.

This week, learn THREE-LINES BASKETBALL!

Learn how to play 

Return to the Keep Playing Homepage for archives of past weeks and other helpful resources.

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