Red Light, Green Light is one of my favorite games to play at work. It’s great for working on auditory processing skills, gross motor coordination, and self-control. In the traditional game, one person, “it,”stands on one end of the yard (or gym, field, etc) and yells down to the kids who are at the other end. When “it” yells “green light,” the kids run as fast as they can, but as soon as “red light” is called, they must stop immediately. The person who tags “it” first wins.
But did you know that there are several different ways to play Red Light, Green Light that make this game great for working on even more skills?
Try these variations:
- Work on visual processing by holding up a large green or red circle instead of shouting “green light” or “red light.”
- Work on overall processing skills, including multi-sensory processing, memory, and attention by giving the kids a key word that means go, such as “apple,” and one that means stop, such as “carrot.” Then call out a list of words so that the kids have to process and discriminate when the word that means go and the word that means stop is called.
- Change up that last one to target visual processing skills by using hand gestures or body movements as cues to go and stop, such as touching your nose for “go” and touching your head for “stop.” Then as you make various gestures, the kids have to look for the motions that mean go and stop. This will really challenge their ability to multi-task as they focus on controlling their movements while also looking for their cues.
- During all of these tasks, you can change the way the child moves their body. Instead of just running, you can perform various animal walks, such as bear walk, frog jumps, or crab walks, in order to add a strength-building and sensory regulation component to their play. Animal walks are great for building core and upper body strength. The sensory input it provides is also great for providing calming and organizing sensory input to the body!