Hot Potato

• Play a game of hot potato. Choose an object to serve as the "hot potato"-- a ball, a block or even an actual potato. Have children assemble in a circle and give the "hot potato" to one child. Play music and upon hearing the music start, the children pass the "potato" around the circle in a clockwise fashion. When you randomly stop the music, the person holding the "hot potato" is out of the game. The object is then given to the person sitting to the left of the person who is out and the game starts again. The last child in the circle wins the game.
  
  

Tag

• A good old-fashioned game of tag is fun and interactive. Pick a person to be "It." The selected person counts to five while the rest of the children scatter. Upon reaching the number five, "It" chases the other players, trying to catch one. The first person caught is the new "It" and the old "It" joins the group. The game continues until all have had a chance to be "It."
  
  

Duck, Duck, Goose

• Duck, duck, goose is another fun and interactive children's game. Have children sit on the ground in a circle. Ask one child to volunteer to be "It." "It" walks around the outside of the circle, tapping each of the players and saying "duck" as he does so. When he reaches a person he wants to be the goose, he says "goose" and the selected person and "It" run the outside of the circle. The goose has to try to tap "It" before "It" can sit down in his spot. If the goose is able to do so, the person who was "It" remains so for the next round of the game; if the goose is not able to catch "It" before he sits down, he becomes "It" for the next round of the game.
  
  

Hot and Cold

• This game is interactive and teaches children how to follow directions. Show children an object that you are going to hide somewhere in a room--a teddy bear, a block or a ball, for example. While the children aren't looking, hide the object. After hiding the object, the children start searching for it. While searching, if they are far away from the object, tell them that they are cold; if they are really far away, tell them they are freezing. As they move throughout the room and get closer to the object, tell them if they are getting warmer. As they get even closer to the object, tell them they are hot; once they are right near the item, tell them they are boiling, until they find the item.