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Volunteering at Scouts is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing at Scouts. Read more

Discover what this means

Play a game of Ninja

Be the last one standing in this strategic icebreaker game.
Plan a session with this activity

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Before you begin 

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Take a look at our guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples.   
  • Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
  • Make sure to set up the space safely, making sure there’s lots of room for everyone to move around in without knocking or bumping into things.

Running this activity 

  1. Gather everyone together and explain that you’ll be playing a teambuilding game called Ninja. You could ask if anyone has played it before and wants to explain how to play. 
  2. Get everyone to create a circle in the middle of the space. Everyone should be facing each other, with one arm extended into the centre of the circle. This game will be played clockwise, so make sure everyone knows the order and who they’re after in the circle. 
  3. Explain that the aim of the game is to be the last ninja standing. 
  4. To begin, everyone counts down from three. On ‘one’, everyone takes a big jump or moves away from each other. People should freeze in the pose they land in. This position becomes their ‘ninja pose.’ 
  5. When it’s your turn, you get to make one move. You can choose to get any other player out by trying to tap their arm below the elbow or lower leg. Alternatively, you can choose to move somewhere by jumping or moving in any direction.  
  6. The player being attacked can try to dodge your ninja move. If you successfully tap their arm below the elbow or their lower leg, then that limb is out of the game. For example, for an arm, it could go behind their back and for a leg, it could be lifted off the floor. 
  7. After their turn, the player must freeze in their new position. As soon as a player finishes taking their turn, the next player can immediately start their turn.  
  8. A player is out of the game when both of their arms and both of their legs are out. 
  9. The last person remaining wins.  

Reflection

This activity was all about problem-solving. This game needed you to work to get other people out, without getting yourself out. You may have tried to distract someone or moved away from the playing space to help you keep safe. How did you plan your moves? Did you have a strategy? Did you team up with any other players?  

This game meant you had to pay lots of attention. Was it hard to keep track of all the moves? Did you have to think ahead when they were deciding what to do? What would you change about this game to make it better? How could we make it more creative? What would you do to make this game easier, harder, more challenging or more fun? 

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.

Contact games and activities

Make sure everyone understands what contact is acceptable, and monitor contact throughout the activity.

Active games

The game area should be free of hazards. Explain the rules of the game clearly and have a clear way to communicate that the game must stop when needed. Take a look at our guidance on running active games safely.

  • To make this game easier, you could only play where you just need to get people’s arms, rather than both arms and legs. You could also play sat down on chairs.
  • To make this game harder, you could add in extra limbs, such as ears or noses. 
  • You can play this game sitting down, either on the floor or sat on chairs in a circle. 
  • You could let people use items, such as pool noodles, to help tag each other if people may struggle with reaching, the action of tapping or doesn’t like touching other people. 
  • Take a look at our guidance on active games to see ways you can adapt wide games to make them more accessible and inclusive. 

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Scouts Teamwork Challenge Award

If you enjoyed this game, why not try our other active games?  

Young people could create their own additional rules to this game or help to lead it.