Elephant, Palm Tree, Toaster
A quick circle game. The player in the middle points and calls a shape; that player and their neighbors must make it instantly or swap into the middle.
- Age
- 7–17 yrs
- Players
- 10–30
- Duration
- 5–15 min
- Setting
- Indoors · Outdoors
- Equipment
- No equipment
- Prep
- No prep
- Energy
- Medium
The perfect wildcard for a long queue, a gap before lunch or waking up a sleepy group. In five minutes everyone is laughing, and since it needs no equipment you can always pull it out of your pocket.
Step by step
-
Stand in a circle with one player in the middle.
-
Teach the three basic shapes, always made by three people (the one pointed at and their two neighbors).
-
Elephant - the person pointed at makes a trunk with their arms; the neighbors make the ears, arching their arms towards them.
-
Palm tree - the middle person raises their arms and sways them like leaves; the neighbors crouch and make waves with their hands at their feet.
-
Toaster - the two neighbors hold hands around the middle person, who jumps up and down like toast.
-
The player in the middle points at someone, calls a shape and counts quickly to five. If any of the three gets it wrong or is too slow, they swap places with the player in the middle.
-
Once the group has mastered all three, add new shapes invented together.
Variations & adaptations
Extra shapes
Washing machine (neighbors spin around), Blender, Jelly (all three wobble), Charlie Chaplin… Let the group invent and name their own!
No middle
For shy groups, the counselor always does the pointing so nobody has to stand in the middle.
Inclusion
All the shapes can be done seated. Adapt the moves so they only use arms.
