Recess Lab: Design a Schoolyard Game

In groups, students invent an active recess game with simple equipment and test it with classmates. It builds project design and cooperation to fill recess with movement.

How to play

1. The brief: the game must work in street clothes, in a 15-minute recess, with little equipment (a ball, chalk, or a rope), no elimination, and room for latecomers (5 min).
2. Design and in-group test in groups of five; write the name, goal, and three rules on the sheet (12 min).
3. Cross-testing: each group explains its game in one minute to another group, and they play it together. Three 5-minute rounds (15 min).
4. Tweaks: using the feedback, each group changes one rule to improve the game (6 min).
5. Vote for the «recess game of the week» and make a final sheet for the school bulletin board (7 min).

Rules

• No game may have elimination longer than 30 seconds.
• No hard contact and no throwing at heads.
• In cross-testing, whoever explains also plays.
• Vote for the game, not for your friends.

Variations

Adaptations

• Wheelchair users: the group must check the game can be played in a chair and adapt it if not.
• Visual impairment: favor games with a bell ball or a sighted guide; the group explains the rules by walking the space.
• Students with low confidence in games: can be the «official tester» who notes what works and what does not.

Learning goals

• Design a game that students can play on their own.
• Cooperate on a shared project and accept others' ideas.
• Promote a more active and inclusive recess.

Equipment for a class of 25

• balls: 6
• sidewalk chalk: 12
• jump ropes: 6
• design sheets: 6

Teacher tip

Bring colored chalk to mark courts fast. The usual mistake is too many rules: ask that every game be explainable in one minute. If the school allows it, set up the winning game for real at the next recess.

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