Poetry for Neandertals

This is a really fun game, but it doesn't go with Early Humans, as you may expect. It actually is a Language Arts game and goes with counting syllables. We love the concept of this game, but changed the gameplay to make it work more easily in a classroom setting.

The Poetry for Neandertals game has rules that involve a timer, teams, and a complicated scoreboard, but we like to play it in the following way:

Setup
You will need:
the box of cards (draw from the back, put used cards in the front)
the inflatable NO! stick
some glass gems or other counters

All of the children who are playing should sit in a circle on the floor.

The counters are placed where everyone can reach them.

The oldest person is the first Clue Giver. This person will have the box of cards in front of them. The person at their right hand gets the NO! stick. Everyone else is a Word Guesser and tries to figure out the mystery word.

Gameplay
The Clue Giver takes the card from the back of the box, reads it, and then tries to get the Word Guessers to guess the word on the card, giving verbal clues ONLY and using only words of 1 syllable. If they accidentally say a word with more than 1 syllable, they get bopped (gently!) with the NO! stick.

Scoring
If Clue Giver gets bopped, they do not get a gem. The card box and the NO! stick will both pass to the left (the person to the Clue Giver's left is the new Clue Giver, and the old Clue Giver gets the NO! stick).

If the Clue Giver is successful, and one of the Word Guessers is able to guess the word, the Clue Giver gets a gem. Play then passes to the left.

The card box and the NO! stick continue to circulate around the circle. Whoever doesn't have the box or the stick is a Word Guesser. The children can choose how many gems are needed to win; we like to play to 7 points.

We really like this game, and I'm glad that I got the Expansion Pack as well.

Expansion Pack

It is technically named "Poetry for Neanderthals" but I have taught my students that the correct term is now Neandertal, so that's what we call it.

BONUS: We took the timer out of the game and I gave it to Zac for his tooth brushing timer. It works perfectly for that! It's a two minute sand timer AND one end has a frown and one end has a smile. Start with the frown on view, then flip and brush your teeth. When you're done, the smile will be showing!

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