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My partner can

The group lesson "My partner can…." is based on the show with almost the same name "Mein Mann kann" (“My man can”). However, children do not play with casino chips, but with sweets, which then are also their profit. This game ca be played in teams of two. It is particularly funny if those two children do know each other very well. Therefore, mix your participants well. Because this is a show type of game, staff can dress up and look rather posh. If you want you also could tell the kids, to come dressed up for the next afternoon.

Structure:

Place a rather large table in the middle of the room. The show manager (staff) sits on the long side of the table, from every team one kid sits along the other sides. The rest sits somewhere behind their “partners” in some distance. It is crucial for the game that the team partners have no eye contact and are absolutely silent while they are on the “back bench” so to speak. Otherwise, they will lose a candy.

Instruction:

At the start each team receives about 20 candies, regarded as their entry fee (Caution: Do not eat!). As soon as all the required kids are at the table the game can begin. Initially, every player has to give a vital stake of 2-3 candies per team. This revenue is kept by the game leader so that there is no confusion of overbidding later on. The director explains the first game (see below).

The kids at the table have to assess their "partners" now as well as possible and bet as many candies as they think their partner will succeed.

An example of how to play:

Every child at the table gives 2-3 candies to the game leader. He puts this openly in front of him.
The game leader explains the game to the children., in this case, it’s very simple: do push-ups. Pro push-ups you receive 1 candy. (1 push ups = 1 candy)
The first child at the table puts so many sweets (from his own resources) in front of him as he believes his partner will be able to make push-ups.
The second child, if he thinks his partner cannot do more push-ups as already offered, can pass on the game or, if he thinks his partner can do more, puts the amount of candies on the table.
The outbidding goes as long until nobody wants to outbid the highest bidder anymore.
If the game is supposed to resemble the real show, the game leader calls out: "Lisa says," My partner can "(Lisa = highest bidder)
Now the partner of the highest bidder, so far on the backbench is now supposed to do as many push-ups as his partner put candies on the table. At this point, the teams are allowed to talk to each other again, however, only as long as there is bidding on the table.
If the “push-up child” succeeds to perform as many push-ups as his team partner was betting on him, this team receives all the candies including the initial stake.
If the child, however, does not perform as many push-up as his team mate has betted on, all the candies are equally shared between the team, except the team who lost.
The round is over, and roles are swapped. The backbenchers are now at the table.
Next round begins with a new game.

The games:

Jump rope
1 candy = 10 sec rope jumping
Keep your eyes open
1 candy = 5 sec
Push-ups
1 candy = 1 push-up
Making knots in wool in 1 ½ minute
1 candy = 3 knots
Recite tongue twisters in 1 ½ minutes
1 candy = 1 recite times
Pen sharpening in 1 ½ minutes
1 B. = 0.5 cm sharpening
Hold a book with outstretched hand for one minute
1 B. = 5 sec
Turing in circles for a minute without falling over
1 B. = 3 turns
Write down words starting with “W” within 1 minute
1 B. = 3 words
Sing "All my ducklings" in 1 ½ minutes
1 B. = 1 times sing
Remember numbers
1 B. = 1 number
...

Because children are always getting high playing games where they get moving you could, as a variation, adopt the game “Finding Eggs”. (You could implement this after ever 2 previously mentioned games). Preferably in another room hide the surprise eggs. In each of them put a piece of paper with a number ranging from 1 -10. Each team now can go looking for the eggs. However, only 1 egg per child is returned to the game leader. The children now receive as many candies to their resource as the number in the surprise egg says. This is an excellent idea for teams experiencing “candy scarceness.”

It did happen at times that, in the end, we had teams with a lot of candies while another team had none at all. At this point, you could ask the group if they think that it is fair for one team having so many while another team misses out. It is possible to say a prayer at this stage with the objective that the “rich team” will give something to the “poor team.” It did work for us.

Provided by a girl from the Youth Group (Jungschar Affaltrach), Raphaela S.