Requires

At least four people, but the more people the more fun.

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Game Play

Players will either be boats or the drawbridge. Designate an area for a boat dock.  Have enough room for as many boats that will be playing.  Choose two players to serve as the drawbridge.  These two people will stand facing each other, arm’s length apart holding hands.  Everybody else gets to be a boat traveling through the water.  The boats will form a line in the water so they can travel under the bridge when the bridge goes up.

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The two players serving as the drawbridge say “bridge going up” and count to 10 (or any other number they decide on before the start of the game) and slowly raise their hands up as they count.  Once the bridge is open, the boats can pass through the bridge.  The players serving as the drawbridge will count to 10 (or any other number they decide on before the start of the game) as the boats go under the bridge and then say “bridge going down” and count backwards from 10 (or any other number they decide before the start of the game) and slowly lower their hands down to reform the bridge.  The boat not making it through the bridge before it closes is eliminated and must tie up in the dock.  The game continues until one boat remains.

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Optional

Instead of counting when the boats are going under the bridge have everybody sing Row-Row-Row Your Boat for three rounds.  At the end of the three rounds, the singing stops and the players serving as the drawbridge begin the countdown to close the bridge.

 

Make name tags for players being the boats with each player being a different kind of boat that can be found in the water.  Examples include tugboat, cargo ship, speed boat, canoes, ferry, raft or sailboat.