Beans

When you call 'French bean' the Rainbows should say 'Ooh, la, la', when you say 'broad bean' they should stand with their arms and legs outstretched, when you say 'baked bean' they should wipe their brow as if they are really hot, for 'runner bean' they should run around, for 'jumping bean' they should jump around the room, for 'chilli bean' they should shiver, for 'baby bean' they should curl up in a ball, for string bean they stand tall, for magic bean they spin round, for jelly bean they wobble and for beans on toast they lie on their backs.


When you call 'orange' the Rainbows should curl up in a ball, when you call 'gold' they should twinkle like a star, when you call 'blue' they should run to one end of the hall, when you call 'red' they should run to the opposite side of the hall, when you call 'purple' they should run to the middle and when you call 'green' they should make the shape of a tree. When the Rainbows have the hand of this, introduce the sign language signs for the colours and use these instead of words. You can find some of the colours on this site.



One Rainbow stands in the centre of the circle. If she calls out 'birds', the Rainbows pretend to fly around the circle. If she calls out 'giants' the Rainbows stretch up high with their arms in the air and walk towards her. If she says 'dwarfs' the Rainbows crawl on their hands and knees away from her. If she says 'wicked witch' the Rainbows run away from her whilst she tries to tag someone. Whoever is caught becomes the new person in the middle.

Caterpillar Crawl

Spilt the Rainbows into even teams. Half the team stand at one end of the hall, and the other half stand at the opposite end. The first Rainbow crawls on her hands and knees to the other end of the hall. The first Rainbow at this end of the hall takes hold of her ankles and they both crawl back. This is repeated until the whole team are crawling along the floor.

Dinosaur Bone Game

 

Cut 'dinosaur bones' from white paper and place them at one end of the hall. Split the Rainbows into teams. The girls take it in turns to run up and collect a bone. When they have all the bones they want each team 'builds' a dinosaur.



Split the Rainbows into teams. Each team needs a 'fish' made from tissue paper and a beater made from rolled up newspaper. A losely rolled paper is much easier to use than one that has been tightly rolled. Half the team stand one end of the hall, the other stand the other side. The fish is moved across the hall by beating the floor behind it. The game is played as a relay race.

Print pictures onto A3 paper and then stick it onto coloured card. Cut the picture into jigsaw pieces. Repeat using different coloured card until you have a jigsaw puzzle for every 5 Rainbows. Split your unit into teams of 5s or thereabouts. Each team should line up at one end of the hall. At the opposite end of the hall should be the jigsaw pieces placed face down. The Rainbows run up (one from each team at a time) and collect one piece of their jigsaw puzzle. When all the pieces have been colllected they turn them over and try to solve the puzzle as a team.


Spilt the Rainbows into small groups of (approx) four girls. Give each group a large sheet of paper (e.g. several sheets of newspaper stuck together) and tell them this is their island. Each team should stand on their island. When an adult says 'swim' they should go into 'the sea' (the hall floor) and swim around the islands. When an adult says 'shark' they must swim back to their island. Each time an adult rips a piece of the island away. Teams must help each other to stay on their increasingly tiny islands! (An alternative is to give each child an island and take away one at a time. In this version children may go to any island.)

Get the Brownies into pairs and form two lines facing each other. At each end of the line there should be 1 chair with a bone (made from rolled up newspaper) on it. Label the pairs as different breeds of dog, starting from opposite ends of the lines (so that the first person on the left will have the same name as the last person on the righthand side of the opposite team). Tell the Rainbows which chair belongs to which team. Call out a breed of dog. That breed must run to their team's chair and take the bone. The first Rainbow back to their spot with the bone in hand wins a point for their team. The bones then go back to the chairs and another breed is called. NB: Quite tricky to get the hang of unless Rainbows are already used to Sting bags.


One Rainbow (the wolf) stands at one side of the hall with her back to the others who stand against the opposite wall. The Rainbows say, "What's the time Mr Wolf?" The Wolf then says a time. The Rainbows take that number of small steps. When the Wolf is ready she shouts "Dinnertime". All the Rainbows run back to their 'home' wall whilst the wolf tries to catch them. Whoever is caught becomes the next wolf.

All the Rainbows stand at one end of the hall. One person is chosen to be the crocodile. The others say, 'Please Mr Crocodile can we cross the river?' The crocodile replies, only if... and then chooses something (e.g. 'you're wearing blue', 'you had toast for breakfast'). The Rainbows to who that applies run across to the otherside of the hall. If any of them are caught they join the crocodile in the centre. The winner is the last Rainbow who is not a crocodile.

Sleeping Vampire

One Rainbow is the Vampire. She lays down in the middle on the floor pretending to be asleep. The other Rainbows make a circle around her and sit on the floor. They ask, "What time is it Vampire?" The vampire says anytime she likes. When she says "Midnight", all the Rainbows run away and she tries to catch someone. The person she catches becomes the new vampire.

Rainbows get in pairs and form two lines facing each other. Each pair is given the name of a musical instrument. When their name is called out they run round their team and back to their place. The first Rainbow back wins a point for their team. If 'orchastra' is called out, all the Rainbows run. You can adapt this to any theme, e.g. witch's cauldron with ingredients, the zoo with different animals.

Split the Rainbows into teams of about 5 children. Give each team a bucket of water and a table spoon. At the other end of the playing area place ice cream tubs. The Rainbows take it in turn to walk or run with their spoon of water up to their team's tub and put the water into it. They keep going until the Guider says stop. The team with the most water in the tub wins. (With older children you can use a teaspoon or even a fork!)




One Rainbow is chosen to leave the room. The other Rainbows say nice things about 'Berlina'. 'Berlina' comes back into the room. A leader tells the 'Berlina' one nice thing that was said and she tries to guess who said it. When she guesses incorrectly, she has another guess until she guesses correctly. The child who said the nice thing then becomes Berlina.


Choose one Rainbow to stand just outside the room. Choose a second Rainbow to hide an object (roughly beanbag size). The Rainbow outside comes in to find the object. All other Rainbows clap quietly if she is moving the the right direction, getting louder and louder as she gets closer to the object. Rainbows stop clapping if she moves away from the object.


One child is the soldier on guard. She stands with her back to the rest and shouts, "Little  soldiers immovable, silent, sullen!" and then turns round. All the children must stand as still as they can. The first child pulls funny faces at them trying to make them laugh. The first person to laugh or move becomes the next soldier on guard.


One Rainbow sits in the middle of the circle and pretends to fall asleep (laying with their eyes tight shut). Next to her is a bell (her honey pot). The Rainbows say, "Isn't it funny that a bear likes honey. Buzz, buzz, buzz, I wonder why he does. Go to sleep Mr Bear". (Or as my Rainbows insist - Mrs Bear.) The Guider then silently chooses one person. They creep into the middle and take the bell. They return to their seat, ring it once and then hide it behind their back. The Rainbows shout, "Wake up Mr Bear". The 'bear' then points to the person they think stole their honey. They have three guesses to get it right. It is then that person's turn to be the Bear.


Rainbows sit in a circle. One Rainbow is chosen to leave the room/cover their eyes. Another Rainbow is chosen to be the music man. They pretend to play an instrument and everyone else has to copy. The music man should keep changing which instrument they are pretending to play. The first Rainbow stands in the centre of the circle and tries to guess who the music man is.


One Rainbow (the guard) stands at one end of the hall with her back to the others (the soldiers) who stand against the opposite wall. The guard says, "One, two, three, along the streets of Rome" whilst the soldiers move towards the guard. When the guard has finished the sentence she turns round. Anyone she sees moving must go back to the start. The soldiers must completely freeze. The guard then tries to make them laugh. Anyone who laughs must go back to the start. The guard then goes back to her end of the hall and says the sentence again. The winner is the soldier who gets all the way to the guard. She then becomes the new guard.