Play Kim's Game

You’ll need

Pens or pencils
Scrap paper
Items
Timer
Tray
Blanket, teatowel or box

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.
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.

Planning and setting up this activity

Place a selection of objects on the tray or flat surface, such as keys, pen, coin, small toy, spoon, eraser, watch, button.
Cover the items with a teatowel, towel, box or blanket.
Try to vary the items to make them distinct and memorable. You may want to theme them.

Running the activity

Gather everyone together and explain you’re going to play Kim’s Game. Kim's Game is a fun memory and observation game named after Rudyard Kipling's character, Kim, in the novel Kim, where he trains to be a spy by memorising objects.
Explain that everyone will have one minute to remember the items on the tray.
People may wish to work in pairs or small groups.
When everyone’s ready, reveal the items on the tray.
Give everyone a minute to observe all the items on the tray. You could name each object or tell people what each one is.
You could give people more or less time depending on the age and ability of the group.
After a minute, cover up the items, and hand out pens and paper
Ask everyone to write down or draw as many objects as they can remember.
For an extra challenge, you could ask questions for specific details about each item, such as the colour or number on the tray.
Award one point for each correctly named item and the team or person with the most points wins.
If you’re playing multiple rounds, you can add new items or change the arrangement of objects to increase difficulty.
To make the game harder, play in teams, with one person observing the items and describing them to their team after the tray is hidden.
Another challenge could be to let people observe the items, then add, take away or move objects, then ask people to spot the differences.

Reflection

This game was all about practicing using your memory. What tricks did everyone use to help remember each item (for example, making a mental note of the first letter of its name)? Did anyone work out the best way to memorise the items? If you worked in teams, did each player focus on a certain item? Or did everyone try to remember as many as they could? What would everyone do differently if they were to play again?

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.