This game works as a great mixer. It's semi chaotic and lots of fun.
Supplies:
- 1 straw per kid (get extra in case you buy cheap defective straws with cracks in them).
- regular M&Ms (peanut ones would probably be too big and M&M minis would be too small).
Pro tips:
- Test this out ahead of time so you can make the distance between bowls appropriate. It's not as hard as it sounds. (Have confidence that this game works).
- Don't buy bendy straws.
- Demonstrate for the students. Then after demonstration, say "GO!" and let the chaos begin.
How to Play:
Split the room in half -- or make several teams, depending on the size of your group. Give everyone straws. Have each team form a line. At the starting line there is an empty bowl (one for each team). Don't be strict about kids staying in lines, let them know they don't have to go in order, it's best if everyone goes at once. On the opposite side of the starting line is another bowl filled with M&Ms. One bowl per team. Give each bowl an even amount of M&Ms.
Students run to the bowl of M&M's, pick up a single M&M by sucking through the straw continually, run back to their team's empty bowl and drop it in. Quite a few M&M's will probably get dropped on the floor between the bowls as the students try to transfer them. You can either decide to make those "un-playable" and only count M&Ms that make it across the room in one trip, or let the students re-suck them through their straws off the floor and carry them to their bowls (that's what we do). The team that transfers all of their bowl first wins, or stop the game before a certain amount of time and count the number of M&Ms in each bowl.