The Witness Game

This is hotter / colder with a twist for older children.

The basic game for young ones:

One person is designated as the finder. She leaves the room while someone else hides an object. For little children the hiding place shouldn't be too difficult. After the object is hidden, the finder comes back in and begins to look for the hidden object. Everyone else is a 'witness'. They saw the object hidden, so  they know it's location. They are to share their witness with the finder without directly telling the finder exactly where the object is hidden (where's the fun in that?). They do this by saying, 'you're getting hotter' as the finder approaches the hidden object, or 'you're getting colder' as the finder moves away from the object until the object is found. 

The advanced game for older children:
Make the game a little more challenging for older children by allowing some of the witnesses to be 'false witnesses' who try to lead the finder away from the hidden object. The finder must learn to discern the true witnesses from the false witnesses. This can be very challenging!

Discussion
Discuss the importance of having witnesses to testify of truth. Here are some questions to help you get going:

• Did the witnesses make it easier to find the object? Why? 
• How hard would it be to find the object without having a witness?
• Were you able to discern the true witnesses from the false witnesses? How? 
• What witnesses do we have that tell us the direction we need to go and testify of truth?
• What is the most important witness? (HINT: It's not the 3 witnesses or the 8 witnesses or the scriptures or your parents.) (ANSWER: The Holy Ghost. You can have him as a constant companion if you have the gift of the holy ghost, but he can still be a witness and you can feel his influence even without the gift).

Gadianton Hide and Seek

The Nephites became increasingly wicked by supporting the Gadianton robbers and building them up. Some Nephites joined the Gadianton robbers. Meanwhile the Lamanites actively sought out and destroyed the Gadianton robbers from among them.

Pick specific boundaries for this game (your entire home, the main floor, your backyard, etc).

Game 1: Choose 1 person to be a Gadianton robber. Everyone else is a Nephite. The Nephites should count to 30 together while the robber hides. Then the Nephites can split up and find the robber. A Nephite who finds the robber becomes a robber and should quietly hide with the robber until everyone has found them. Play this once or twice.

Game 2: Choose 1 person to be a Lamanite. Everyone else is a Gadianton robber. The Lamanite should count to 50 while the robbers hide. Then the Lamanite can search for the robbers. When the Lamanite finds a robber, the robber becomes a Lamanite, and should search for the other robbers with the Lamanite(s) until everyone is found. Play this once or twice.

Stealth (Red Light, Green Light)

This is the well-known game Red Light, Green Light with one small variation. Choose someone to be "it". This person should sit on a chair facing the wall at one side of the room. Everyone else should line up at the wall on the other side of the room. The object is to be the first person to reach the person who is it without being detected.

In normal Red Light, Green Light play, the players can only move when the player who is "it" turns away from everyone else and says "Green Light". When the player who is "it" turns back to face everyone else and says "Red Light", if she spots anyone who is moving, that person goes back to the starting line.

In our variation, "it" never turns around to face everyone. Instead of moving on "green light", players may move when "it" is snoring, indicating "it" is asleep. When "it" stops snoring (but does not turn around to face everyone), the players must stop. The players should judge themselves and each other. If any player continues moving after "it" wakes up (stops snoring), that player should return to the start line. Choose one of the older players to be the "chief judge" to settle any disputes and avoid any argument.

The first person to reach "it" becomes the new "it" and everyone should start over. Play 2 or 3 times.

Simon Says Game

You probably already know how to play "Simon Says". But here are the simple rules just in case.

Choose 1 person to be the leader. Everyone else is a follower. The leader issues commands, such as "Simon says touch your toes" or "Simon says hop on 1 leg" or "Sit on the couch". If a follower does not follow a command when it is preceded by "Simon says" or follows a command when it is not preceded by "Simon says", that follower is out. The last follower to remain in the game becomes the next leader.

Only play 2 or 3 (maybe 4 if you only have a few players) times in a day to keep the game from getting old.

Escape the Lamanites Game

Choose 1 person to be the Lamanite guard. Everyone else is a Lamanite prisoner. The Lamanite prisoners should line up on one side of the playing area and attempt to "escape" to safety on the other side. If any of the Nephites get tagged, she becomes a Lamanite and must try to tag others.

When Limhi's people escaped from the Lamanites, they got the guards all drunk first so the escape was easy. If your Lamanite guard is an older child or an adult, you can tie her feet together so she has to hop or you can blindfold her.

Once all of the Nephites have either made it safely to the other side or been tagged, they should attempt to "escape" again back to where they started. Keep playing until everyone has been tagged. The last person to be tagged is the new Lamanite guard. Only play 2 or 3 times in one day to keep the game from getting old.

Family Fued

Choose someone who can read to be the game show host. Only the host should read the answers.

If your family is competitive, divide into 2 teams. Use a whiteboard or paper, put a number on the left for each answer. Rock, paper, scissors to see which team goes first. The first team has 30 seconds to come up with an answer for one of the items in the list. If they come up with one of the items in the list, write it in and score 1 point. If there is a tie at the end of the game, the host can come up with a bonus question, or the teams can wait for a rematch the next time the game is played.

Or perhaps your kids are all small or you just like to work together:
Then simply try to guess all of the items on the list.