Awake/Asleep Game

Details

Parent Category: Prose

Category: Other Prose

AWAKE/ASLEEP Game

The board is either paper with various randomly place objects and things drawn on it, or else a room itself with diversely placed objects. Provide rules for each object, that they can reach out, touch, to a set distance (5 inches, 5 feet, etc), that what is within an object’s touch or reach perceives that object as awake, but those things not within its touch perceives it as asleep. The particular distance can be changed arbitrarily—important that it is. Different object are given different reaches.

    Ask the children, does object so and so perceive thing this and that to be asleep or awake? What about thing this and that, how does it perceive object so and so? At least, by its definition.

    Some object might be allowed to perceive directly with their own senses while other objects can only percieve things which perceive them. The idea is that children learn to see things from multiple perspectives, rules, definitions, simultaneously. It is important to play this game in various manifestations, changed rules, etc. The children themselves, seated or standing about the room, can pretend to be the various awake/asleep objects, and even move about the room to determine what changes.