Charades |
Unplugging the kids: how to play Charades
You're at a lakeside cottage, or cabin in the snow... Or maybe just want to say "Enough!" to DVD's and videogames... And sample an old-fashioned great game: Charades.
How to play Charades
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Charades is great for family get-togethers, such as a "Charades Party" at Christmas-time. With help, even kids as young as three can play. |
CharadesEquipment: a watch or clock that counts seconds. Competitive types will want a real stopwatch. |
How to Play Charades: rules and tips |
Basically, Charades is pantomime: acting out a word or phrase without speaking. For example, "football" could be broken down into "foot" and "ball." "Softball" might be more interesting.
Charades can be played with any type of word or phrase; but with kids, you may find that movie titles work best. Sleeping Beauty, Lion King... Most kids are familiar with many simple movie titles. And even the youngest can do Pinocchio!
Usually Charades is played by two competing teams in a race against time: each time a player acts out a phrase, a stopwatch is used to track the time, with a maximum of two (or three) minutes for each turn. The team with the least amount of total minutes and seconds wins. With young kids, however, you might want to skip the stopwatch and the competitive element.
Charades: getting started
There are many variations of how to play Charades, but here's one format:
When pantomiming, for starters:
Then: start acting silly! |
How to play Charades: tricks of the trade |
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To indicate a movie, pretend to crank an old-fashioned movie camera; to indicate a book, pretend to be reading; for a tv show, draw a square in the air for a tv screen.
To divide the word into syllables: lay down x number of fingers on your forearm (where x is the number of syllables.) To act out the first syllable, lay down one finger on your arm, etc. When someone calls out a correct word: point at that person and nod your head like "yes". Traditionally, the actor touches his/her nose, meaning "on the nose"; but you need to make sure that all players understand that gesture! |
"sounds like" --cup your hand around your ear "little word": bring your thumb and index fingers close together. The people guessing should now call out every little word they can think of ("on, in, the, and") until you gesticulate wildly to indicate the right word. "Longer version of the word": pretend to stretch an elastic. "Shorter version of the word": chop with your hand. "close, keep guessing!": frantically wave hands to keep the guesses coming. "whole phrase at once": sweep your arms in a big circle to indicate "whole thing" past tense: wave your hand downwards behind your back |
Tips: often, in the hubbub as a team calls out guesses, someone does say the correct word but the actor doesn't notice. So speak your guesses speak loud and clear and repeatedly.
Some players use additional gestures; for example, there's a way to indicate a letter of the alphabet. Make sure everyone understands these gestures! (See more gestures.)
Charades: the Good Old Days
Charades reportedly originated in France in the 18th century, and was later taken up in England -- though in those days its form was rather different, to judge by the Christmas "theatrical conundrums" of Jane Austen. Ah well, people surely had more time to be erudite and witty, back then.
Still, it's nice to participate in a fine old tradition of Parlour Games: no doubt Scrooge and the Cratchit's played charades at Christmas-time, once Ebenezer's heart was saved.
