Objective
In Simon Says, the children must act upon ‘Simon’s’ orders, but not all of them. This requires attentiveness from the children and the ability to distinguish between important information (what the children shall respond to) and unimportant information (what the children shall not respond to).
Instructions
- One of the children (‘Simon’) stands on one side of the play area and the other children stand on the other side.
- ‘Simon’ orders the performance of activities, which the children shall do.
- If ‘Simon’ orders: “Simon says; do two rabbit jumps”, all the children shall jump forwards by doing two rabbit jumps. However, if Simon orders, “Do two rabbit jumps”, the children shall not jump.
Variation
- For instance, you can make a ‘penalty round’ with cones for the children to run around if they do an activity that was not ordered by ‘Simon’ or they can walk around a cone.
- The activity can be varied with different exercises, e.g. if you want to increase the intensity, activities can be added such as, “Simon says; lie down on your stomach, then get up and jump, and lie down again”. Alternatively, the activity could be designed to challenge motor skills by the King ordering exercises that are motorically challenging.
Equipment
No equipment required.