People, Shelter, Storm

Invite students to make a group of three. Introduce the activity: In your group of three, two people represent a “shelter” (they face each other and raise their arms so that palms meet to form an angled roof) and one person represents “people” standing underneath/inside the two-person “shelter.” When I call out “people,” the person in the center of each group will leave their shelters and run to a different “shelter” pair, while all the “shelter” pairs stay in place. Practice “people” a few times. Next, when I call out “shelter,” the students making a shelter will break apart, the people stay in place, and the shelters must find a new person to make a shelter over.  Explain that shelters can and should separate. They don’t need to travel together to find a new person. Try “shelter” once or twice, making new shelters around the space.  Introduce the final cue. When I call out “storm,” everyone moves and makes a new group of three. You can choose to remain in the same position or change—shelters can become people and people can become shelters as long as every shelter has a person.  Once directions are understood, the game begins. Alternate between calling out “people,” “shelter,” and “storm” in random order.