TODAY WE PLAY
The following sample schedules are meant as a guide for teachers, Junior Leaders and
students who are participating in Right To Play’s Today We Play – but feel free to alter
them depending on what works best for your school!
SAMPLE SCHEDULE: (half day)
Morning Preparations
10:00 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.
Junior Leaders help prepare each games
station with the necessary equipment.
(Ex: Games packages, list of students at
each station, list of grade 1, 2, 3 students
etc.)
Lunch Period
11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Towards the end of the lunch period,
Junior Leaders should start to organize
themselves and prepare when the other
students arrive.
Period 1
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
The games will start to take place within
this hour-long period. There can be
approximately 3 or 4 games per rotation.
** If students run out of games to play at
each station, the leaders can incorporate
some energizer games. (See p. 3)
Snack Break
This will occur depending on the rotation
schedule.
Period 2
2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
The remaining 4 or 5 games will take
place resulting in 4 or 5 rotations.
** If students run out of games to play at
each station, the leaders can incorporate
some energizer games. (See p. 3)
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TODAY WE PLAY
SAMPLE GAMES SCHEDULE
Games:
Knowing Who to Trust
Team Trust
Avoid the bully
House-Child-Street
Power Dragon
Protector Dodgeball
Survival Circle
Hungry Spiders
Talking Ball
Times:
10 minute rotations:
- Explaining the game
- Playing the game
- RCA
10 minute rotations:
- Explaining the game
- Playing the game
- RCA
10 minute rotations:
- Explaining the game
- Playing the game
- RCA
10 minute rotations:
- Explaining the game
- Playing the game
- RCA
10 minute rotations:
- Explaining the game
- Playing the game
- RCA
10 minute rotations:
- Explaining the game
- Playing the game
- RCA
10 minute rotations:
- Explaining the game
- Playing the game
- RCA
10 minute rotations:
- Explaining the game
- Playing the game
- RCA
10 minutes rotations:
- Explaining the game
- Playing the game
- RCA
Equipment
- Optional: obstacles (hoola
hoops, beanie bags etc) and a
blind fold for the cars.
- Objects: hoola hoops, beanie
bags etc.
- Blind fold
- Optional: basketball.
Modification to the game: see
“Variations” located on the
other side.
- Pinnies
- Pinnies
- Soft Balls
- None
- Pinnies
- Soft Balls
*Note: link to Playkit: http://righttoplay.ca/Act/join/Pages/Today-We-Play.aspx
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TODAY WE PLAY
GROUPS
The leaders will guide the younger students according to their group names. As an
example, the group names could be the following countries where Right To Play runs
programs:
Rwanda
Benin
Tanzania
Liberia
Pakistan
Mali
Ghana
Mozambique
ENERGIZERS
Connecting eyes
Participants stand in a circle. Each person makes eye contact with another person across the circle. The
two walk across the circle and exchange positions, while maintaining eye contact. Many pairs can
exchange at the same time, and the group should try to make sure that everyone in the circle is included
in the exchange. Begin by trying this in silence and then exchange greetings in the middle of the circle.
Names and adjectives
Participants think of an adjective to describe how they are feeling or how they are. The adjective must start
with the same letter as their name, for instance, “I’m Henri and I’m happy”. Or, “I’m Arun and I’m amazing.”
As they say this, they can also mime an action that describes the adjective.
Group statues
Ask the group to move around the room, loosely swinging their arms and gently relaxing their heads and
necks. After a short while, shout out a word. The group must form themselves into statues that describe
the word. For example, the facilitator shouts “peace”. All the participants have to instantly adopt, without
talking, poses that show what ‘peace’ means to them. Repeat the exercise several times.
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TODAY WE PLAY
Move to the spot
Ask everyone to choose a particular spot in the room. They start the game by standing on their ‘spot’.
Instruct people to walk around the room and carry out a particular action, for example, hopping, saying
hello to everyone wearing blue or walking backwards, etc. When the facilitator says “Stop”, everyone must
run to his or her original spots. The person who reaches their place first is the next leader and can instruct
the group to do what they wish.
Mime a lie
Everyone stands in a circle. The facilitator starts by miming an action. When the person on their right says
their name and asks “What are you doing?”, they reply that they are doing something completely different;
for example, the facilitator mimes swimming and says “I am washing my hair.” The person to the
facilitator’s right then has to mime what the facilitator said that they were doing (washing their hair), while
saying that they are doing something completely different. Go around the circle in this way until everyone
has had a turn.
*You can videos of our energizers on our Youtube channel at
www.youtube.com/RightToPlayCan
SAMPLE RCA QUESTIONS
The Reflect, Connect, and Apply questions included in the PlayKit are questions students can ask related
to the themes of the games. The Junior Leaders should pick and choose the most relevant and
appropriate for the each grade level.
Below is a brief presentation that further outlines Today We Play. The Junior Leaders can present this to
the older grades involved in the Play Day, to give them a sense of how the day will play out.
http://prezi.com/gfplizptwunl/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy
Example: “Knowing Who to Trust”
For the game “Knowing Who to Trust” these are some sample questions student leaders
could ask:
Reflect: reflecting on aspects of the game and on the different roles that were played.



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When you were a Driver was it difficult or easy to direct your partner?
When you were a Car, how did it feel to be unable to see?
Did you trust your partner?
TODAY WE PLAY
Connect: to connect the lessons learned in the game to their life experiences.
 How do you decide if you can trust a peer?
 How do you decide if you trust an adult?
Apply: to apply the lessons/themes learned to their personal lives and community.
 Why do you think it is important to have people in your life who you can trust?
FREQUANT QUESTIONS
WHAT IS RCA?
Reflect, Connect and Apply is a methodology Right To Play implements where a series of questions are
asked after Right To Play games have been played. These series of questions are used to press on
students’ thinking and have them reflect on the purpose of game.
HOW MANY GAMES SHOULD WE PLAY?
The amount of games played depends on the length of your school’s Play Day! Approximately 9 games
would be a safe amount to play if your Play Day is scheduled to be half of a day!
WHO WILL BE LEADING THE GAMES?
The Junior Leaders and/or other students who expressed any interest are more than welcome to lead the
Right To Play games.
WHERE WILL THEY BE LOCATED?
The student leaders will be placed in different stations according to where the Play Day takes place.
During the two hour period, the students playing the games will rotate every 10 minutes.
HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD BE RESERVED FOR RCA QUESTIONS?
Right To Play’s RCA questions are intended to be implemented at the end of each game for participants
to critically think about the game they just played and to pull lessons from it. A general rule of thumb for
these questions is to discuss them in the most concise way possible. The students leading the games
should only spend a couple of minutes discussing each question following the main message of the
game, but ensuring all relevant lessons from the game are brought up and everyone who wants a chance
to answer has the opportunity to do so.
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TODAY WE PLAY
FUNDRAISING
Today We Play is Right To Play’s flagship annual school fundraising event, which encourages students and
teachers who participated in the Play Academy to organize and run a play day at their school in support of children
in Right To Play programs worldwide. Led for students by students, Today We Play is an opportunity for youth in
more than 200 schools across Canada to learn about leadership and global citizenship by engaging in unique,
educational Right To Play games and activities—the same activities used by Junior Leaders around the world to
transform lives. Giving back is one component of this day and we’re encouraging schools to raise funds in support
of Right To Play. We’re suggesting each participant donate $2 on Today We Play. If your school is inspired to get
creative and raise more funds, we welcome your enthusiasm and are thrilled to support you!
FUNDRAISING IDEAS
PAY TO PLAY Ask each student to bring in a toonie or a donation of their choosing in order to
participate in Today We Play.
PLEDGE FORMS Go old school and collect donations from friends, family members and neighbours.
Pledge forms can be found in the Play Kit and online at www.righttoplayschools.ca
GO VIRAL We offer an easy to set-up personal fundraising page. Set one up in the name of your
school. Through this online fundraising platform, you can lay out the details of your Today We Play event,
set and track fundraising goals and contact friends to notify them. You will also be able to encourage
them to donate online to your page and tax receipts will be issued automatically for $20 or more.
AUCTION Ask students, parents, community members to donate items for a school auction. Host the
auction throughout the day of the event, on a parent’s night beforehand or host it as a special school
event.
THEMED MEAL Host a community dinner at your school, either before the event or day of. Encourage
students to theme the meal by thinking internationally with their meal selection, empower them to seek
food donations and charge a fee for the dinner.
BAKE SALE It’s time to put on your apron and start baking up a storm! Feed your sweet tooth while
raising funds.
COIN RACE Challenge each grade to bring in as many coins as possible. On the final day of coin
collection, run a piece of masking tape down the main hallway or outside in the school yard and get the
students working together to line up all their coins. The grade who has the longest line of coins wins.
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TODAY WE PLAY
BALLOON POP Fill balloons with Random Acts of Play. Participants donate funds to receive a
balloon and see what their challenge is. A challenge could include high-five 10 people, do 10 jumping
jacks, etc.
TEAM UP Ask your local sports team to support you in your event. They can assist with fundraising by
asking for a donation to attend their games, and show up the day of Today We Play to add some
celebrity cheer and support.
$5
$50
$1000
can provide a
Play Day for one
child to
experience
to enroll a child
in weekly Right
To Play
programs
can provide a
Play Day for a
disadvantaged
community to
experience
HOW TO SEND IN YOUR FUNDS
Please consolidate all cash donations into either a cheque or money order made out to Right To Play to
ensure that cash does not go through the mail.
Tax receipts can be issued by Right To Play for donations of $20 or more. Please ensure details regarding
who requires a tax receipt accompany the donation.
Please send your funds to:
Right To Play
Attn: Today We Play
18 King Street East, 14th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5C 1C4
Donate online at www.righttoplay.ca
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