BRAIN GYM

What you need:

• Old newspapers - random selection
• Pens/pencils
• The games are devised for players in small teams of any size from one or more!

Beagle Alphabet:

• Randomly assign a newspaper per team
• Scan the newspaper for something that may conceivably have been on the Beagle beginning with 'A'. The team or individual finding the item shouts it out and if the item is agreed as acceptable by the other players, that team scores one point and the alphabet search then moves onto the next letter.
• If it is thought that any team is bluffing, they can be challenged to show evidence of where the word is actually printed in their newspaper. If the challenge was unfounded, then the team that issued the challenge donates one of their points to the offended team (minus scores may result!), if the challenge is upheld then the point is awarded to the challenging team!
• If the game gets held up on any one particular letter of the alphabet, then 'TIME UP' can be called and the game continues onto the next letter.
• The name 'Charles' (as in Charles Darwin) is a wild card - if a team finds the name and shouts it out then they gain the point and the search moves on one letter - but each team can only use the 'wild card' once per game.
• The winning team is the one with the highest score at the end of the alphabet.

Measuring Game:

• Randomly assign a newspaper per team
• Set a time limit e.g. 3 minutes
• Scan the newspaper and circle as many different words as possible relating to measurement - size, number, weight etc
• Agree your own rules e.g. only numbers written as words are counted e.g. one, two, million
• Any controversial words are accepted or rejected at the end of the game by general consensus
• The same word can only be used once per game
• The winner is the one with the most words at the end of the time period

A quick 3 minute scan of one newspaper came up with 17 words: stronger, small, two, more, longer, wider, third, million, double, three, large, huge, half, ten, per cent, bigger.

Boat relay:

• Randomly assign a newspaper per team
• The aim of this game is to find a word in the newspaper that either rhymes with or is associated with the word given previously. The starting word every time is BOAT.
• The game continues for a specified time e.g. 3 minutes. The winning team is the one that called out the last word.

A sequence might go something like: boat, ship (associated with boat), hip (rhymes with ship), body (associated with hip), arm (associated with body), farm (rhyming word) etc.