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We’ve all heard the phrase, “Do as I say, not as I do.” But when playing Walk Together, the right way to describe it might be, “Don’t do as I say, but rather the opposite!” Walk Together is a game about reaction time, thinking, and applying the correct meaning to words. It’s guaranteed to make your teens laugh as they concentrate hard to respond correctly. Oh, and the best part about Walk Together? There are no materials or preparation needed! Walk Together is also a game you can modify to use as an ice breaker or other short activity. You can also use it to illustrate principles about listening, paying attention, and being mindful of words.
Number of Players – 3 minimum, no maximum.
Materials Needed – None
Can Be Modified for Social DIstancing
Game Instructions (Read Aloud To Group)
We’re going to play a game called “Walk Together!” This is a game that will challenge you to pay close attention and respond correctly to directions, which will change in meaning as the game goes on. Let’s begin by everyone gathering in a large, loose circle. Next, I will call out “WALK!”, and when I do, everyone should start walking in a clockwise circle. When I yell “STOP!” everyone stops. Got it? Let’s practice! (Shout “WALK”, then about 15 seconds later, shout “STOP”). Ok! That’s the basic idea. But now, we are going to add the next layer of rules! Now, when I yell “STOP,” that’s when you start walking, and when I yell “WALK”, you stop walking. So now, WALK means stop and STOP means walk. Got it? Let’s try to practice again! (Ask the group to start walking by yelling STOP. Give them about 15 more seconds to practice).
Now for the last step. We’re going to add two more rules. When I yell “CLAP”, clap your hands once. When I yell SPIN, turn around once, whether you are walking or standing still.
(At this point, you can let the group practice one more time with CLAP and SPIN, or go ahead and skip to the final part of the rules).
Finally, we’re going to change the meaning again so that when I shout CLAP, you spin, and when I shout SPIN, you clap! We’re going to start the game up, with STOP meaning walk, WALK meaning stop, CLAP meaning spin, and SPIN means clap. We’ll keep moving in a clockwise circle with the game, but if you fail to follow one of the directions, you’re out! We will keep playing until there is one winner left. That winner can then take over shouting directions!
Variations
You can change the directions to anything that you like. Just remember that the key point of the game is to eliminate players that mess up, so be sure to give directions that are obvious if you break them.
