ESL Outdoor Games

Paint Shop

Subject: Colours + Have got

 

Skills: Listening, Speaking

Level: Beginner

Recommended Age: 8-10 y.o.

Number of Participants: 6-10 players

Time: 30-45 minutes

Place: Asphalt or sand playground

Equipment: Not required

Matarials: A piece of chalk or a wooden stick

Preliminary Preparation: Not required

Immediate Preparation (10-15 minutes).

1. First of all, draw a square with the side of approximately 10 m. Next, write ‘Showcase’ behind one of its sides, 'Stockroom’ behind the opposite one, 'Counter' and 'Shelf' behind the others.

2. Choose one of the children to play the role of Painter. They go at a good distance away for a few minutes, in order not to hear the conversation of the other players.

3. The rest of the game participants decide who of them is going to play what colour. Being ready, the children should give this information to you.

4. The ‘paints stand on the showcase’, i.e. behind the corresponding line. You, playing the Shopkeeper, stand behind the Counter line. The ‘Painter’ stands in front of you, behind the Shelf  line.

How to Play. A typical game might start something like this:

‘Painter’: Have you got red paint?
You: No, I haven't.
‘Painter’: Have you got green paint?
You: Yes, I have.
Upon hearing your affirmative answer, the ‘Green paint’ runs to the ‘stockroom’. The ‘Painter’ must try to catch the ‘paint’ and  ‘put it on their shelf’. If the ‘paint’ manages to reach the ‘stockroom’, they are safe there. The round continues as long as all the ‘paints’ are either on the ‘shelf of the Painter’ or in the ‘stockroom’. As a result, the ‘Painter’ gets as many points as the number of ‘paints on their shelf’. In the following round, the players change their roles: the former ’Painter’ acts as the Shopkeeper and the ‘paint’, who was the last to reach the ‘stockroom’, acts as the Painter. In the third round, the game participant, who acts as the Painter in the first round and the Shopkeeper in the second one, must choose the colour unused before, in order to play this paint in the following rounds. The game continues as long as each participant, at least once, plays both the Painter and Shopkeeper. At the end of the activity, the number of points, accumulated by each participant during the whole competition, is counted up. The player, who gets the most points in total, becomes the winner of the game.