Keep Playing Week 36

Game of the Week: Cat Cow Alien

This week Playworks is featuring a game that helps students take responsibility for their actions and consider others when making decisions. 

Skill Focus: 

Personal Responsibility – Taking ownership of your actions and considering others when you make decisions. 

Play In-Person

Play Virtually

Simplified Game Instructions

# of people to play: 3+
Best for ages: 4+
Setup/Teaching Time: 5 minutes
Equipment needed: none

Goal: To have every player make the same animal noise.

Before You Start:

  • Review the noises each animal makes. Ask for volunteers to share what they think a Cat, Cow, and Alien sound like and have all players practice each sound. 
  • Explain that the game will end when EVERY player is making the same animal noise.

How to Play:

  • The facilitator should choose one person to be the game leader to start each round by counting down from three.
  • Have players stay in their seats with their eyes closed, and decide silently which animal sound they will make (cat, cow, or alien). When they are ready, have students give a silent thumbs up. 
  • The game leader will count down from three (3-2-1-GO!) and when players hear GO, they will make their noise.
  • Have students open their eyes and discuss what they heard.
  • The facilitator can ask questions to encourage decision making such as:
    • “What animal did we hear the most?” 
    • “Was anyone a (cat/cow/alien)? Raise your hand if you were a (cat/cow/alien).” 
    • “How do we know the game is over?”
    • “What do some animals need to do/change to help us reach our goal? Which ones?”
    • “Do some animal noises need to stay the same? Which one?”
  • The game lead will start another round once the discussion is over. Players close their eyes and choose their animal noise (they must decide to make the same animal noise or pick a new one).
  • The game continues until every player makes the same animal noise.

Game Debrief

  • What was the goal of Cat Cow Alien? How did we reach that goal?
  • How would it impact the group if some players decided to make the wrong animal noise? 
  • When else during your day (in class or at home), do your own personal actions affect a larger group of people?

Game Modifications

Academic Application
  • Students can incorporate vocabulary words for the week’s lesson in place of animal sounds.
Age Group Modification
  • For younger students: have them practice with two animals and work their way up to three or more.
  • For older students: encourage them to add more animals and consider having a set number of rounds they play to reach their goal.
Challenge Idea
  • Break the students into two groups to see which group can all become the same animal the fastest.

Brain Break: 5 Card Pickup

Before You Start
  • Gather a standard deck of playing cards, two soft, throwable objects (small bean bag, koosh ball, crumpled piece of paper, etc.), and a makeshift tabletop basketball hoop 
  • Arrange the makeshift tabletop basketball hoop at the front or a focal point of the classroom
  • Divide students into two teams and assign a playing order within each team
  • Scatter 10 individual playing cards at different spots throughout the classroom in locations that students could make a basket in the hoop.
How to Play
  • Have both teams line up in front of the play space. 
  • Each team selects one of the scattered playing cards as a starting point.
  • Player one from each team attempts to shoot a basket by throwing the small throwable object into the makeshift tabletop basketball hoop while standing at their chosen card.
  • If successful, player one will pick up the card they were standing at and player two (the next player in line) will repeat the process by choosing their own card from which to attempt a shot.
  • If player one misses their shot, player two will attempt it from the same location. If player two is unsuccessful, continue through the team playing order until someone on the team has successfully made the shot and picked up the card.
  • First team to successfully complete all five shots and pick up the respective playing cards wins.

Additional Resources

Sample School Community Announcement

As we move into June we are continuing to focus on the theme of responsible decision making. Responsible decision making means understanding all aspects of a decision and its consequences before making a choice.

This week, we are practicing the skill of personal responsibility, which means taking ownership of your actions and considering others when you make decisions. While playing our featured game of the week, Cat, Cow, Alien, students are responsible for their own actions and choices while the whole group tries to make the same animal noise at the same time without discussing it first.

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, play JUMP ROPE SCHOOL!

Learn how to play 

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

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