I hate to admit it, but I have played "Hangman" in my Sunday School classroom. Quite honestly, the kids loved it, but that still doesn't keep me from questioning it's appropriateness in church. In my defense, it was the kids' idea, not mine. I had finished a lesson with some time to spare and said aloud to myself, "What should we do now?" One of the kids shouted out, "Let's play Hangman!" Since all the kids were so eager and I couldn't think of a good substitute off the top of my head, I just asked the students to use words from the lesson and it worked pretty well. Although I must say, I was a little embarrassed when after class one little girl proudly announced to her father "We played Hangman today!"
Well, after giving it some thought, I've come up with an alternative to "Hangman" called the "Onion Dome". Same rules, possibly slightly more complicated to draw (some curved lines), but very similar in all other aspects. Just in case there are those of you who have never played "Hangman" before and don't know how to play, I've included some basic instructions for the "Onion Dome" word game. Five year olds and up should be able to play, but some kids may need help coming up with words for the other players to guess. This kind of game would be good to play at the end of a lesson if you want a little review or if the kids have another handout with words on it that they can refer to. Please click on the below image for the downloadable file which includes instructions.
One concern that a fellow teacher mentioned to me was that if the whole onion dome and cross are drawn before the children are able to guess the word or phrase, then they might link this image to losing. At least in my class, I didn't see this as a problem. I recommend letting the kids take turns as Player 1 who selects the word from the lesson they want their fellow classmates to try and guess. You can also avoid referring to who has won or lost and congratulating everyone on a job well done whether or not the word is guessed correctly.
Well, after giving it some thought, I've come up with an alternative to "Hangman" called the "Onion Dome". Same rules, possibly slightly more complicated to draw (some curved lines), but very similar in all other aspects. Just in case there are those of you who have never played "Hangman" before and don't know how to play, I've included some basic instructions for the "Onion Dome" word game. Five year olds and up should be able to play, but some kids may need help coming up with words for the other players to guess. This kind of game would be good to play at the end of a lesson if you want a little review or if the kids have another handout with words on it that they can refer to. Please click on the below image for the downloadable file which includes instructions.
One concern that a fellow teacher mentioned to me was that if the whole onion dome and cross are drawn before the children are able to guess the word or phrase, then they might link this image to losing. At least in my class, I didn't see this as a problem. I recommend letting the kids take turns as Player 1 who selects the word from the lesson they want their fellow classmates to try and guess. You can also avoid referring to who has won or lost and congratulating everyone on a job well done whether or not the word is guessed correctly.
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