Parachute Play

Parachutes are something that people of all ages can have fun with.  They are bright, colourful, flowing, and dramatic.  It is best to try to match the number of handles on your parachute to the number of people participating.  You can put a few people in between handles here and there, but you don't really want twice as many people as you have handles for and if you have a lot less people than the number of handles, you won't get a nice even "mushroom" shape to your billows.  I have both a 6 ft. and a 12 ft parachute.  The 6 ft. is best for small groups of little children as it won't  carry them away or be so big that it frightens the timid ones.  The 12 ft. one is good for groups of 10 to 15 kids (I have used it with up to 20, but it gets crowded) of pretty much all ages.  You'll want to have a few extra feet on all sides so that no one bumps into anything or crashes into any walls during some of the games.

There are a lot of games out there for parachutes, but here are a couple that I like to do:

1. Popcorn - You'll need ping pong balls or similarly sized balls (I like to use the nerf balls for the guns, they are the same size as ping pong balls, but they don't hurt when they hit you and they are florescent so they're easy to find).  Throw them all into the middle of the parachute and start shaking!  Variation: half the kids shake the parachute while the other half gather the balls and throw them back on the parachute... just be sure to switch jobs at some point.  Some kids actually prefer to chase the balls all over.

2. Flying Duck - You'll need a rubber duck, stuffed animal or beach ball.  This puts just one item into the middle of the parachute at a time.  The goal is to try and keep it in the parachute while getting it flying as high as you can and bouncing as many times in a row as possible.

3. Calling Colours - As the parachute is moved up and down slowly, call one of the colours on the parachute and anyone holding onto that colour lets go of the parachute and runs underneath it to find a handle on the other side.

You can find more parachute games here:

http://www.funandgames.org/games/GameParachute.htm

http://www.youthwork-practice.com/games/parachute-games.html

http://www.preschooleducation.com/gparachute.shtml

Have FUN!!!

Perry Noia the Scaredy Clown :oD

(AKA Erin Hawkins)