‘What’s in the Bag?’
Number of people: Unlimited
Age group: Any
Materials: Prop related to the lesson content together with a suitable bag or container.
Time: 10 minutes
Overview: A lesson-related prop is hidden in a bag or container. Pupils have to guess what’s inside. Younger pupils may enjoy this as a regular routine (“What’s in the bag
today? ”) but older pupils also enjoy it as an occasional warm up. It relies on intrigue and may fall flat if the prop doesn’t live up to the hype which the game naturally generates –
so take care to choose a suitable prop.
Directions:
1. Write on the board ‘You have 20 chances to guess what’s in the bag’.
2. Explain to pupils that they can volunteer to ask a question to try and determine what’s in the bag. Questions can only be those which have a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer, ie they can ask
“is it blue?” but not “what colour is it?”
3. Write their questions down on the board one at a time to keep track of the total number asked and to avoid repeated questions. Answer them “Yes” or “no” and put a tick or a cross next to the question. (I always like to have two noise effects for right and wrong answers to add to the humorous atmosphere… a kazoo or duck call for wrong answers and a bugle horn or quiz master’s bell for right answers. Be sure to carry an even-tempered duck if you choose this route.)
4. Tension mounts once their questions are into double figures as they realise they might not succeed – particularly when you tell them they will get extra homework if they don’t get the right answer!
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