Play Gimme 5!
You’ll need
- Name tags (optional)
Before you begin
- Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. There's also more guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples. Don’t forget to make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
- Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help if you’re short on helpers.
- You might want to give people name tags if you’re running this as an icebreaker.
Play the game
- Everyone should say their name to help remind everyone.
- Stand in a circle and put one hand up, as if they’re about to give someone a ‘high five’.
- An adult volunteer or young leader stands inside the circle and calls out the name of one of the people in the group.
- Upon hearing their name, that person should try to call out another name of someone at least two spaces/people away from themselves.
- Meanwhile, the adult volunteer or young leader in the middle tries to slap the hand of the person whose name was called before they’ve the chance to call another name.
- If the adult volunteer or young leader succeeds, the person who got high-fived stands in the middle. The adult volunteer or young leader joins the circle, in the space the person was just stood in. Then the game begins again and the person in the middle calls out someone else’s name and tries to high five them.
- If the adult volunteer or young leader is too slow, they keep trying, until they successfully high five someone who hasn’t had chance to call out another name.
- If someone pulls their hand away before it gets slapped, or if they say their own name or the name of the person in the middle, they go into the middle of the circle.
Reflection
This game was all about having fun and trying to learn names. People also had to keep going, believe in themselves and not give up when they were trying to get to high five someone.
If you were on, did people enjoy racing to high five another player? What was easy? What was hard work?
If your name was called, what was it like being under pressure to say another name? Did you enjoy trying to learn people’s names? Did you try to include everyone, rather than just saying your friend’s names?
It was also about playing fairly and not just choosing our friends to race us, so everyone could have a turn. How did you make sure you picked people fairly? Did you cheer your friends on? Was it difficult choosing the person? What helped you make your decision, or was it at random?
Was it difficult for the people racing? Was it hard to high five before someone shouted the name? What made it easier? People might’ve noticed that they could have started running towards someone then shouting the name or using mis-direction to distract people to make it easier.
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.
- 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.
Make the circle smaller or bigger to make the game harder or easier. To make it harder, each person could choose an animal or number, instead of their name, and players need to say the animal or number before getting high-fived.
- Take time and have patience while telling everyone what to do. Give short instructions clearly and concisely. If you need to, pause, then repeat the same instruction using the same words. You could have visual resources to explain the game or a printed copy of the instructions for anyone who may need them.
- You could have a practice round of the game to make sure everyone knows what they’re doing. Let young people help explain to each other what to do, too.
- People could hold their tags if they don’t want to stick them to their tops.
- If it’s too noisy and anyone doesn’t like the noise, the person leading the activity can remind everyone to be quieter. People could wear ear defenders, or you could run the activity outside.
- The game leader doesn’t have to high five people. People could hold their necker in their hand and someone has to race to grab it, before they say another name, instead of racing to high five.
- Make sure the circle space and the surrounding terrain used are suitable for everyone in your group. Make sure the circle is created with enough space for everyone, including anyone using a mobility aid, to move around easily. Check the space for any trip hazards, especially if you’re outside.
All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.
