The Category Word Game
- September 16, 2014 |
- by The Family Cooks
Games to play at the table are a great way to get the conversation going during family dinner. Here’s one we like, the Category Word Game:
Pick a category and everyone lists one thing from that category. Go around as many times as is entertaining. For example, the category is summer. I say watermelon, the next person says flip-flops, the next person says beach blanket, and so on. The classic version of this is to play it as a memory game. The person repeats the answers before theirs and then adds their own. We use this game a lot in restaurants waiting for food.
“Picnic” is another fun variation on this game. The first person starts by saying, “I’m going on a picnic and I am bringing salami.” The next person says, “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing salami and crusty bread,” and around the table you go. Trust us—it soon gets hard and makes your mouth water! Next thing you know, you’ll be planning a picnic!
Years ago my friends and I enjoyed teaching newcomers to our camping adventures a little exercise we called Mind Games.
We had two different Mind Game flavors but the one most suitable for camping started out in a similar fashion. “I’m going camping and I’m going to bring _____.” As moderator of the game I would tell them whether the item they wished to bring was appropriate or not. The trick though, unbeknownst to our new friends, is that I would indicate yay or nay based solely on whether the item began with the first letter of their name. So if Susie wanted to bring a flashlight she was out of luck. However, Fran was told wholeheartedly that of course! She could bring a flashlight.
At the outset of the game I made it clear that I would tell them whether they could bring their item or not but once they figured out WHY that they should just play along until everyone figured it out as well. It’s a great icebreaker and always fun.
Oh. One more thing. Once while teaching several new friends whose names also began with a ‘J’ they all caught on right away and we all struggled to come up with items that began with a ‘J’. It was hilarious and lots of fun!