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Human noughts and crosses

Complete challenges and questions to become a game piece. Will your team leader outwit their opponent to get three in a row?

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You’ll need

  • Chairs

Young people can lead plenty of other games and activities themselves, but this is a great way to focus on leadership skills and teamwork.

Talk about teams and choose a leader

  1. The person leading the activity should ask everyone what they think is important when someone’s leading a game.
  1. The person leading the activity should choose two people to be the game leaders. They may ask for volunteers, or they may have some people in mind.
  1. The person leading the activity should remind everyone else to be good team players so they enjoy the game and help the game leader—leading everyone can be a bit scary if you’re not used to it.

Play the game

  1. Everyone should work together to set up nine chairs in a three by three grid.
  2. The two team leaders should talk to each other about the questions or challenges they’ll ask their teams to do.
  1. Everyone should split into two teams—one team is ‘noughts’ and the other team is ‘crosses’. One team leader should join each team.
  2. The team leaders should run through steps five to seven as a practice round—each team should have one practice turn.
  3. The ‘crosses’ team leader should choose a ‘nought’, and ask them a question or give them a challenge.
  1. If the ‘nought’ gets the question right or completes the challenge, the noughts team leader should choose a chair for the ‘nought’ to sit on. The nought should make a ‘O’ sign with their hands. If the ‘nought’ gets the question wrong, they can’t sit down.
  1. Repeat steps five and six with the other team—the noughts team leader should challenge a ‘cross’, if they get it right the ‘crosses’ team leader tells them where to sit.
  2. Once each team has had one practice turn, the game should begin.
  3. Teams should take it in turns to repeat steps five to seven until one team has three players in a vertical, horizontal, or diagonal row. When a team gets a winning line, they get a point and the game starts again with everyone standing up and re-joining their team.
  1. Once the game leader has finished their turn at leading, everyone should give them a clap for trying their best.

Reflection

This activity gave everyone a chance to think about what makes a great leader, and gave some people the chance to give it a go. The team leaders were responsible for asking questions and choosing where their team members should sit. How did it feel to be responsible for your whole team? You may have been nervous at first—did you start to feel more confident? Can anyone name someone who’s famous for being a good leader? What made them a good leader?

This activity also needed everyone to work together as a team player. It can be hard to be a good leader and leaders need support and encouragement. How did you help your team leader (and even the other team’s leader)? How did you help the other players in your team? Did the team leaders do a good job? Don’t forget to tell them what they did well and what they were good at.

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

You could make some question and challenge cards to help the team leaders so they don’t have to come up with all of the ideas. Teams could also come up with the questions and challenges and write them down (perhaps with some help) before the game.

The person leading the activity could ask the questions so the team leaders can focus on telling their team where to sit.

You could allow players to ‘ask a friend’ so they can choose someone else to help them with their question or challenge.

You could give people signs that show whether they’re a nought or cross, so people don’t have to make the signs with their bodies.

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Beavers Teamwork Challenge Award

You could theme this game around something you’ve covered recently. For example, if you’re working towards your Safety Activity Badge you could use it to think about the Green Cross Code or the Water Safety Code, or if you’re working towards your Gardener Activity Badge you could ask questions about trees, tools, and what plants need to grow.

It’s OK to support the game leaders as they take a leadership position, but try to help them stay in control, rather than taking over.