Children's Party Games: Traffic Lights

Getting their attention

Before you start this or any other game it is important to get every child's attention. Please see my previous article "The Numbers Game" for a great way to do this

The Rules (for your reference):

Traffic Lights is a simple command game, where you assign a command or action to a colour. Traditionally, you use Traffic light colours (red, amber and green). However, you can add more colours to the game if the children are old enough to understand.

So, what are the commands?

When you say the colour "green", the children run around.

When you say the colour "amber", the children dance on the spot.

When you say the colour "red", they are to stop still; much like in musical statues.

If the children are a little older (7+) then you can add more colours without them getting confused. The colours I personally add for this older age group are as follows:

When you say the colour "blue", the children walk backwards.

When you say the colour "purple", the children spin on the spot.

Of course, feel free to have fun with it. Add more colours and commands if you wish, but remember that the age of the children will affect how complicated you can make the actions. If you have prizes to give away then you can give them to the child that dances the best, walks backwards the best etc. There is plenty of scope here for giving away prizes!

How to explain this to the children in a fun way:

"OK, now we're going to play a game called Traffic Lights. Who here has played Traffic Lights before?"

As usual, you should encourage the children to raise their hands by raising your own hand - most children have played a version of Traffic Lights at some point.

"Ok guys. So when I say the word green, I want you to run around as quickly as possible. When I say the word Amber, I want you to dance on the spot as well as you can, and when I say red then you guys need to be as still as possible."

At this point, you should play some music, and say either "green" or "amber". This will get them either running around (green) or dancing on the spot (amber). When you say "red", I would advise stopping any music as this provides more of an impact. Then start the music at the same time as saying either "green", "amber" or any other colour where an action is required.

If the children are a little older and you would like to add some more colours to the game, then you can do this midway through. As the children will be still and quiet when you say "red", they will be far more receptive to new rules - explaining a new colour/command will be far easier at this point.

Thanks for reading!