Try this simple yet fun ice breaker game that will surely make you laugh with your peers. The King Elephant Game is a rhythm game that will test your focus and ability to stay on beat. This is best for children above ten years of age and up, even adults will enjoy this too.
Features of the King Elephant Game
| ★ Game Name | King Elephant |
| ★ Group size | medium to large |
| ★ Age | any |
| ★ Type | stationary |
| ★ Skill | acting |
| ★ Place | indoor |
| ★ Time | up to 5 – 15 min |
| ★ Preparation | no |
| ★ Materials | chairs |
Aim of the game:
The aim of the game is to become the King Elephant or the head of the circle by successfully staying on rhythm.
Group Size and Age
This game will need 8 to 15 people and is best for children who are ten years old and up.
Preparation and Materials
To play the King Elephant game, you will need:
- Chairs for all the participants
How to Play King Elephant Game:
The seats will be arranged in a circle. Each seat will represent an animal in the order of the food chain. The top of the food chain is the King Elephant, while the bottom is the slimy worm.
The player will act out the animal assigned to him. It can be in any form of movement and sound. Here is an example list of gestures (however, you can invent your own!) for the animals in the food chain:
- King Elephant – The player stretches out one arm, while his other arm is holding his nose.
- Bird – The player brings both thumbs together and flaps the rest of the fingers.
- Chicken – The player flaps both folded arms with hands inserted under the armpits.
- Alligator – The player stretches one arm up and the other arm forward and then clamps them together like the alligator’s jaw.
- Bear – The player folds fingers like the shape of the claw.
- Lion – The player gathers both hands right above his head and roars.
- Snake – The player’s arm slithers like a snake.
- Fish – The player grasps both hands together and follows the motion of a fish.
- Monkey – The player puffs cheeks and pulls both ears out.
- Worm – The player wiggles his index finger to imitate the worm movement.
The player, who is seated at the King Elephant’s chair, will be asked to do the animal signal first and decide how the beat will go. He can choose to make the rhythm go fast or slow. The pattern goes like this, in a 1-2-3-4 rhythm: 1 means a knee pat, 2 means clap, 3 and 4 means the animal gesture.
For instance, the King Elephant pats his knee, clap, and displays the elephant gesture. Next, he pats his knee, claps, and acts out an animal signal like the bear’s signal. The Bear will then pat a knee, clap, and show his own animal signal. He makes another knee pat, a clap, and demonstrates another animal like the fish. The fish will follow the same rhythm and sends another animal signal and the pattern goes on.
The beat continues until one player fails to stay on rhythm or incorrectly makes the wrong animal gesture. The player who loses will be tagged as the new worm and everyone moves up one seat in the food chain to take the new animal role.