Multicultural Games for Elementary Education
Games are played all over the world. Exposing elementary school students to multicultural games gives them new experiences and can connect to other areas in the curriculum, such as social studies. Multicultural games are simple to play, they get kids moving and they may get them interested in learning about the places where the games originated.
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Chase the Dragon Tail
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The game "Chase the Dragon Tail" or "1-2-3 Dragon" is a game associated with China. Students create a long chain, each holding onto the shoulders of the student in front of him. The first person in the line is the head of the dragon, while the last person is the tail. The head tries to catch the tail of the dragon without breaking the chain the students have created. The other students try to keep the head from catching the tail. If the head succeeds, the head leaves the game and the tail becomes the head.
Pie Kalah
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Pie Kalah is played in many countries but is commonly associated with Liberia. The students create two teams, each of which stands in a line facing the other. Each team picks a leader. The leader of Team 1 is handed a stone. Team 1 then groups together and secretly gives the stone to one of the team members to hold while the other team completes a chant (see Resources). Once the chant is complete, the teams face each other again. The Team 2 leader tries to guess which member of the other team is holding the stone. If the leader guesses correctly, his team receives the stone. If the guess is incorrect, Team 1 keeps the stone for another turn.
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What's the Time, Mr. Wolf?
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"What's the Time Mr Wolf?" is a game associated with Australia. A similar version, called "Lupo Della Ore," is played in Italy. One student is chosen as the wolf who stands with her back turned to five or six other students standing 20 feet away. The group of students calls out, "What's the Time, Mr. Wolf?" to which the wolf responds with a clock time. If the wolf says, "Two o'clock," the students take two steps forward. When the wolf responds with "Dinner time," the students run back to the starting line. The wolf tries to tag a student before he makes it back to the line. If a student is tagged, he becomes the wolf.
Stop the Dancers
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"Stop the Dancers" is a Native American game. One student sits in the center of a circle with a drum. The student starts to play a beat on the drum while the other students in the circle dance. When the beat stops, all the dancers must freeze. If the dancers move before the beat begins again, they are out. The game continues until only one dancer is left standing. She then becomes the drummer.
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