Games Children Play II: 237 Fun Games for Groups and Families: Games to develop social skills, teamwork, balance and coordination237 Fun Games for Groups and Families (Education)

237 fun games for groups and families

Games Children Play II brings together a collection of 237 tried and tested games to play with children and groups of all ages. A companion to the Waldorf Games Handbook for the Early Years (2020), this is a thoroughly updated second edition of the classic, Games Children Play (1996) with new games added in response to popular demand.

Kim John Payne and Cory Waletzko’s Waldorf and Spatial Dynamics® approach is uniquely focused on how games develop children’s spatial awareness, social skills, confidence, and movement in age-appropriate ways. Each game is clearly and simply described, with diagrams and drawings showing how to play. Included are games for improving graceful movement, cooperation, fairness, and equality for the 7- to 10-year-olds, and for 11- to 12-year-olds, games for strengthening courage, accuracy, and teamwork, plus gentle preparation for sports, as well as games for renewing playground culture and holding a DIY Olympic Games.

Ways to develop spatial awareness are described through sports, gymnastics, and outdoor games. Also included are sections on child development, introducing game sessions, children’s temperaments, the senses, tackling children’s problems with play or sports, teaching movement to children, and cultivating the lost art of real-life play with digitally challenged children.

Games vary, depending on the age and number of players. The authors offer tips for the game leaders on meeting various social and emotional needs of the players in a group. Certain new games are highlighted “for children who may struggle to play this game.”

Cory Waletzko teaches Games and Movement, and Music at Northeast Woodland Chartered Public School in New Hampshire. She is a Bothmer Gymnastics instructor and a Spatial Dynamics® Institute graduate, and she mentors and collaborates with movement educators at multiple schools around the country. She is particularly interested in how rhythm, dance, and games can be used to bridge social and cultural divides, promoting individual expression, interpersonal communication and spiritual connection. She lives in North Conway, New Hampshire.

Kim John Payne M. ED is a leading Steiner Waldorf and parent educator. He served as the Co-Director of the Michael School of Bothmer Gymnastics/Spatial Dynamics, and has taught movement, games, sports and circus skills for over 20 years. His social inclusion approach for breaking down the patterns of bullying has been implemented in hundreds of schools. He consults with schools, runs training programs around the world, appears on TV and in print, and is Co-Founder of Whole Child Sports. He has appeared frequently on television including ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox; on radio with the BBC, Sirius/XM, CBC & NPR, and in print including being featured in Time Magazine, Chicago Tribune, Parenting, Mothering, Times Union and the LA Times. A father of two, he lives with his family in Ashfield, Massachusetts.