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Before You Start: Review the noises each animal makes. Ask for volunteers to share what they think a Cat, Cow, and Alien sound like and have all players practice each sound.
Before You Start: Explain that the game will end when EVERY player is making the same animal noise.
The facilitator should choose one person to be the game leader to start each round by counting down from three.
Have players stay in their seats with their eyes closed, and decide silently which animal sound they will make (cat, cow, or alien). When they are ready, have students give a silent thumbs up.
The game leader will count down from three (3-2-1-GO!) and when players hear GO, they will make their noise.
The facilitator can ask questions to encourage decision making such as:

“What animal did we hear the most?”
“Was anyone a (cat/cow/alien)? Raise your hand if you were a (cat/cow/alien).”
“How do we know the game is over?”
“What do some animals need to do/change to help us reach our goal? Which ones?”
“Do some animal noises need to stay the same? Which one?”
The game lead will start another round once the discussion is over. Players close their eyes and choose their animal noise (they must decide to make the same animal noise or pick a new one).
The game continues until every player makes the same animal noise.

Academic Application

Students can incorporate vocabulary words for the week’s lesson in place of animal sounds.
Age Group Modifications

For younger students: have them practice with two animals and work their way up to three or more.

For older students: encourage them to add more animals and consider having a set number of rounds they play to reach their goal.
Challenge Idea

Break the students into two groups to see which group can all become the same animal the fastest.

Before You Start: Gather a standard deck of playing cards, two soft, throwable objects (small bean bag, koosh ball, crumpled piece of paper, etc.), and a makeshift tabletop basketball hoop.
Before You Start: Arrange the makeshift tabletop basketball hoop at the front or a focal point of the classroom.
Before You Start: Divide students into two teams and assign a playing order within each team.
Before You Start: Scatter 10 individual playing cards at different spots throughout the classroom in locations that students could make a basket in the hoop.
Have both teams line up in front of the play space.
Each team selects one of the scattered playing cards as a starting point.
Player one from each team attempts to shoot a basket by throwing the small throwable object into the makeshift tabletop basketball hoop while standing at their chosen card.
If successful, player one will pick up the card they were standing at and player two (the next player in line) will repeat the process by choosing their own card from which to attempt a shot.
If player one misses their shot, player two will attempt it from the same location. If player two is unsuccessful, continue through the team playing order until someone on the team has successfully made the shot and picked up the card.
First team to successfully complete all five shots and pick up the respective playing cards wins.

This week at Playworks, we are continuing to focus on the theme of responsible decision making. Responsible decision making means understanding all aspects of a decision and its consequences before making a choice.

This week, we are practicing the skill of personal responsibility, which means taking ownership of your actions and considering others when you make decisions. While playing our featured game of the week, Cat, Cow, Alien, students are responsible for their own actions and choices while the whole group tries to make the same animal noise at the same time without discussing it first.

Teach students to play in class, and then empower them to lead the game and teach others!

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Game of the Week

Cat Cow Alien

Personal Responsibility

Play In-Person

Play Virtually

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Game Debrief

Modifications

Brain Break of the Week

5 Card Pickup

Get the Poster

How to Play

Announcement of the Week

Email Template

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Keep Playing!

Game of the Week

Cat Cow Alien

Personal Responsibility

Play In-Person

Play Virtually

How to Play

Game Debrief

Modifications

Brain Break of the Week

5 Card Pickup

Get the Poster

How to Play

Announcement of the Week

Email Template

How to Use it

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