101 Pep-Up Games for Children: Refreshing, Recharging, Refocusing (SmartFun Activity Books)

Allison Bartl
Hunter House (2008)
ISBN 9780897934954
Reviewed by Kam Aures for RebeccasReads (5/08)

“101 Pep-Up Games for Children” is a collection of different activities designed to replenish children’s energy.  The book is geared towards elementary school teachers and group leaders with the games inside being designed for children ages 6 through 10. 

A page is devoted to each of the 101 activities but you are able to tell from a quick glance at the icons in the right hand corner of each page whether this activity is going to be appropriate for your age group or situation.  The icons tell you what size group is needed, whether you need props, music, and/or space, if there is physical contact and if the activity involves going outdoors. 

The activities in the beginning of the book start out simple with a game called “All Right.”  Ironically right before I picked up this book to start reading it my own children were playing their own version of this game which is similar to “Follow the Leader.”  Basically in “All Right” there is one child who calls out directions and before following them the children yell out “All right!” After three instructions then a different child gets to be the leader. 

Toward the end of the book there are more advanced activities for older children such as a game called “Syllable Shuffle.”  In “Syllable Shuffle” everyone sits with their chairs in a circle leaving one chair empty.  The child designated to be the leader sits to the left of the empty chair and tells the group to think of some very long animal names.  For instance, if the word is orangutan there are 4 syllables.  The person coming up with the word would say “o” and then move over one chair, the next person would say “rang” and then move to the next chair, etc.  When the word is complete then another child names a word and they start again.

I found “101 Pep-Up Games for Children” to be a very useful and fun book!  Although it is primarily written for teachers I think that any parent would benefit from utilizing some of the ideas in the book.  It is a great help to those like myself who have run out of new ideas. Granted some of the activities in the book we have already come up with on our own, but there are still lots of fresh, new games that will keep us busy for a long time!