Anywhere Games

A Thousand Words
A game for one or more players

If a picture speaks a thousand words, what would your favorite photo say?

Find a photograph that you really like, and make a special frame for it, or put it in a photo album. On the back of the picture, write when and where it was taken, who took it, and who or what is in the picture. Think of a name for the picture.

Cast Party
A game for 2 or more players

Get a make-believe cast signed.

To play, everyone puts paper around their arms with tape then tries to get their cast signed by other players.

The only way to get your cast signed is by telling the other players how you broke your arm. End each excuse with "... and that's how I broke my arm."

The sillier the excuse, the better.

Use a different made-up reason to get each new signature.

Fold the Front Page
A game for 2 or more players

Make headlines by piecing together a news story.

The larger the number of players, the better this game works.

To play, one person writes the first line of a news story on the top of a piece of paper.

The next person reads that line, then writes a second line right below it. They then fold the paper so that only their line is showing.

The next person, seeing only the line just before theirs, adds another line and folds the paper again, so that only their line is showing.

Keep going until everyone has gone at least once. If you're playing with a small group of people, you can go around a number of times.

Fuzzy Wuzzy's Book Club
You can have as many people in your club as you want. Just leave room for Fuzzy!

This baldy waldy wants to join your new book club.

What do you want to call your book club?
What book will you read first?
Make bookmarks to give to your club members.
Make a club poster. What would you put on it?
Research other books and come up with a club reading list.

Just Because
A game for 2 or more players. It's better with more people making up things to write.

Why should you play this game? Just Because.

To play, write the word "Why" on ten pieces of paper and "Because" on ten other pieces of paper. On the back of the ten Whys, one person secretly writes ten questions beginning with "Why..."

The other person secretly writes ten reasons on the back of theirs, beginning with "Because..."

Keep them in two separate piles.

Now, one person starts by reading a piece of paper from the "Why" pile. The other player then randomly picks and reads a "Because" response. See how wacky it gets.

Secret Codes and Tricks
A game for 2 or more players

Smarty Spuds wanted for top secret decoding and trick work.

Did you know you can do neat tricks with simple things you probably have around the house?

Mirror Writing:
If you hold up to a mirror something with writing, the writing looks reversed. You can easily write notes and other things to look like mirror writing. Get a sheet of thin white or light colored paper. With a dark marker, write something on one side. Make sure you write it thick and dark enough so that it will show through on to the other side. Flip over the paper and trace what you wrote. You'll be tracing it backwards. It should come out like how you would see your regular writing if you were to hold it up to a mirror. For fun, write down different words, or write a note to someone, then reverse it and send it to them.

Invisible Ink:
If you write with white crayon on a white piece of paper, it looks like there's nothing there. But if you then paint over it, your invisible writing will magically appear. Write words, phrases or even a note to someone, and then impress them by making it magically appear!

That's Printertainment
A game for one or more players

What can you do with a computer and a printer?

If you have a printer, there are lots of things you can make to use away from your computer. You can make a "welcome" sign for your door; tickets for a show you put on; place names for the dinner table; or coupons for things like hugs, compliments, or silly faces to give to your friends and family. Just use your imagination (and the printer).

The Hackensack Shuffle
A game for 1 or more players

Practice signing your au-toe-graph.

To play, write your name on a piece of paper, but instead of using your hand use your toes!

Hint: place a pencil, pen, marker or crayon in your toes like how you would hold it in your hand. Then sit in a chair with the paper on the ground below you and try to write your name.

Once you can do your name, write friends' and family members' names or sentences.

Top Secret Potato
A game for 2 or more players

Make up secret codes even the most par-boiled detective can't solve.

To play, make up secret codes for each other and write notes.

One easy code is to have every letter of the alphabet equal a number. For example, a = 1, b = 2, c = 3, d = 4 and so on. Then you can write something in numbers and the other players have to decode the numbers to get the real words. Another way to play is to have a letter equal another letter. For example, a = z, b = y, c = x, d = v, and so on.

Who What Where When Why
A game for 2 or more players

Work together to answer the five 'W' questions.

On a sheet of paper, make five columns labeled "Who," "What," "Where," "When," and "Why." The first person writes something under "Who." They then fold the paper so that no one can see their answer. The empty columns for "What," "Where," "When," "Why" are still showing. The next person writes something under "What." They then fold the paper so that no one can see their answer but "Where," "When," "Why" are now still showing. Keep going until every column is filled in. When you're done, open the paper to reveal a story.

Here are some examples:

Who: Who is involved?
"My mom." "A tiny mouse." "Little Red Riding Hood." "Gorplex, from the planet Flabbersnap."

What: What did that person do?
"Ate a pie." "Bought a cow." "Did a headstand."

Where: Where did this take place?
"In the kitchen." "Under the rug." "At the movie theater."

When: When did the thing take place?
"Last night." "On New Year's Eve." "During a blinding snowstorm."

Why: Why did this thing happen?
"Because a dog barked." "Because the wind blew so hard." "Because the train was late."

When you have filled in something for each column, you could end up with a story like this, reading across the columns: "Gorplex, from the planet Flabbersnap, ate a pie at the movie theater during a blinding snowstorm because the train was late." Or, with different words: "A tiny mouse did a handstand under the rug on New year's Eve because a dog barked."

Because no one knows what anyone else has written, this game usually gets very silly, and is a lot of fun.

As an extra game, try illustrating an especially good sentence: can you draw an alien eating a pie at the theater, or a mouse doing a headstand under a rug? Or, talk about the story BEHIND the story: why would a mouse do a headstand just because a dog barks? Was the bark actually the dog's way of asking the mouse to do his famous headstand trick? Was the mouse doing a headstand under the rug because he wanted to practice in secret before he showed his new talent to his friends?

Next: Rhyme & Rhythm
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