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Games Children Play II

Games to Develop Social Skills, Teamwork, Balance, and Coordination

Paperback
June 2022
9781912480524
More details
  • Publisher
    Hawthorn Press
  • Published
    17th June 2022
  • ISBN 9781912480524
  • Language English
  • Pages 264 pp.
$29.95

237 fun games for groups and families

Games Children Play II brings together a collection of 237 tried and tested games to play with children and groups of all ages. A companion to the Waldorf Games Handbook for the Early Years (2020), this is a thoroughly updated second edition of the classic, Games Children Play (1996) with new games added in response to popular demand.

Kim John Payne and Cory Waletzko’s Waldorf and Spatial Dynamics® approach is uniquely focused on how games develop children’s spatial awareness, social skills, confidence, and movement in age-appropriate ways. Each game is clearly and simply described, with diagrams and drawings showing how to play. Included are games for improving graceful movement, cooperation, fairness, and equality for the 7- to 10-year-olds, and for 11- to 12-year-olds, games for strengthening courage, accuracy, and teamwork, plus gentle preparation for sports, as well as games for renewing playground culture and holding a DIY Olympic Games.

Ways to develop spatial awareness are described through sports, gymnastics, and outdoor games. Also included are sections on child development, introducing game sessions, children’s temperaments, the senses, tackling children’s problems with play or sports, teaching movement to children, and cultivating the lost art of real-life play with digitally challenged children.

Games vary, depending on the age and number of players. The authors offer tips for the game leaders on meeting various social and emotional needs of the players in a group. Certain new games are highlighted “for children who may struggle to play this game.”

“We give readers the ‘Why?’ and not just the ‘What?’ of playing games and sport. So, it’s not just about playing the games and having fun, but of creating an atmosphere for learning/healing with children. The games are a vehicle for deepening players’ experience of well-being. Our understanding of the developmental needs of children and the very practical and doable steps we can take to address these informs the book and game instructions.”  
Cory Waletzko

‘What a delightful collection! The wide range of games are described so clearly that it’s easy to find something to play with a lucky child or group of children. And then you’ll want to play something else, just because it so much fun to play and sing.’  
—Rahima Baldwin Dancy
, author, You are Your Child’s First Teacher

“A valuable resource of enjoyable games for preparing children for life.”
Sally Goddard Blythe, author, The Well Balanced Child

“Everything in this book works with children! An invaluable guide for every teacher, movement specialists and parents.”
Valerie Baadh Garrett, The Movement Academy Project

“An inspiring and useful gem.”
Jane Miller, EdD, Department of Education, Antioch University, New England, U.S.

Kim John Payne, M.Ed.

Kim John Payne, M.Ed., is a leading Waldorf educator in the US, UK, and Australia. He travels to speak to 10,000 to 20,000 parents and teachers each year in North America and worldwide. A former movement teacher, he was a school counsellor and worked as a family counsellor therapist. He researched a drug-free approach to attention deficit disorder and his Social Inclusion Approach for breaking the patterns of bullying has been implemented in hundreds of schools by more than a thousand coaches worldwide. Kim John Payne lives in Massachusetts with his wife Katharine, who illustrated his bestselling book Simplicity Parenting.

Cory Waletzko

Cory Waletzko was a professional dancer, actor, and musician before becoming a movement and games educator at Upper Valley Waldorf School in Quechee, Vermont. As a Spacial Dynamics® Institute graduate and adjunct faculty member at Antioch University, she has trained trainers in Movement Education and mentored games and movement educators. She works with social inclusion in public and private schools across North America.