Heads Up, Seven Up

With zero setup time, and no props required this classic elementary school game is a terrific time-filler that kids never fail to love. This is also a teacher favorite as it's one of the quietest and tamest games we have discovered!

1. Choose seven children to come to the front of the room. If working with smaller groups you can choose as few as 3 children, and no more than half the group. We've made this game work with only 7 people total. Don't be afraid to involve the leaders!
2. Everyone else puts their head down on their chair, with one of their thumbs sticking up. They must close their eyes and not peek!
3. The students that are "it" walk around the room, and each tags 1 person by gently pressing their thumb down. Let them get creative by being stealthy, or stomping around to cause confusion.
4. When they have each tapped the thumb of 1 person they return to the front of the room and the leader calls, "heads up, seven up."
5. All the kids can now open their eyes, and the selected children stand up. There should be the same number of kids selected that there are children that are "it."
6. Go through all the selected children 1 at a time and let them make 1 guess as to who picked them. You can go in any order, but we like to generally go oldest to youngest so the younger kids have an easier choice.
7. If they guess correctly, they switch spots with the person that is it.
8. After everyone has guessed, heads down and start again!

Helpful hint: sometimes kids can be cliquish and choose only their friends, leaving other people out. If we see this happening we like to "change it up!" and choose an entirely new group to be up front so that everyone gets a chance.