Activities that can be done indoors

and require no materials

Activity Title:
Imagination Jog
Source:
Bittner, S. (2004, October 06). Imagination Jog. Retrieved October 13, 2015, from
http://www.recreationtherapy.com/tx/txex.htm
Equipment:
No equipment is needed for this activity.
Description of Activity:
For imagination run you will organize the group with room for them to be able to
comfortably move around. You will begin by having the participants job in place. As the
activity begins you will give the participants descriptive scenery of where they are
jogging and scenarios where they will have to react.
Leadership Considerations:
To get everyone involved the facilitator must think of good descriptions, and fun
locations where participants will have to react to many different obstacles. Make
scenarios where they have to jump, duck, and dodge different obstacles. Also making
them speed up and slow down, the main goal is to keep things interesting throughout the
imaginary run.
Adaptations:
Participants in a wheelchair:
This activity can work equally as effective fot those on a wheel chair, as long as you can
get them to use their imagination. Instead of imagination jog, you can try imagination
swim. Giving similar obstacles like, dive under water, swim left, swim right, and go back.
Just like imagination jog, the facilitator needs to try and make the activity fun.
Participants with autism:

For participants with autism will activity will be great, but it will have to be slightly
slower and in a smaller group. Things can get out of hand, the goal will be to have fun
and be imaginative but also keep participants in control and having fun while being safe.
One recommendation will definitely be to chose simple commands and scenario's.

Activity Title:
Traffic Lights
Source:
Robyn. (2011, March 1). Dance and Movement Activities. Retrieved November 18, 2015,
from http://www.recreationtherapy.com/tx/txmove.htm
Equipment:
For this activity you will need chairs and a red and green card.
Description of Activity:
This activity is a mixture between red light green light, and musical chairs. Participants
will stand standing in front of a chair and the chairs are lined up back to back. They will
walk around as the green card is held up and then have to sit quickly when the red card is
up. For the activity to work you will need there to always be one less chair then number
of participants, you will continue to take out chairs until only one person is left.
Leadership Considerations:
First of all, make sure the room is big enough for the amount of participants and chairs.
After, find a spot in the room where everyone can see you, the facilitator must be easy to
see for the game to be fair. Finally, be sure to explain the rules well, do not allow other
participants to push or play rough, make sure everyone has a fair chance.
Adaptations:
Participants with depression:
This activity can be used to help participants with depression have some stress free fun.
The activity is fast paced and allows participants to have fun. It will be important to not
have any losers or winners, mainly play for the fun of the game and play numerous times.
Participants in CP:
Participants with CP can enjoy this activity and use it as an exercise to improve motor
patterns. Maybe instead of walking from chair to chair the activity can be made even
easier for certain participants like raising their hands or sitting and standing.

CDC Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (13 July, 2015). Facts About Cerebral
Palsy. Retrieved November 12, 2015, from
http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/cp/facts.html

Activity Title:
Have a Seat
Source:
Siegel, B. (2003, July 28). Group Challenge Activities. November 5, 2015, from
http://www.recreationtherapy.com/tx/txchallg.htm
Equipment:
A Facility with chairs and space for everyone to hold hands.
Description of Activity:
First have everyone get into a circle and join hands, then as they are holding hands make
everyone come closer until their shoulders are touching. Have then stop holding hands
and slowly turn to the right. Then everyone will slide 1/2 foot inward until they are
directly behind the person in front of them. Once they are close slowly have everyone sit
directly on the person behind them, if this works the position normally lasts about 20
seconds and everyone falls over, usually followed by laughter and enjoyment.
Leadership Considerations:
First is safety, make sure everyone is paying attention and following directions. Make
sure you don't allow anyone misbehaving participate because they can lead to group
members getting hurt, and after allow them to enjoy the process of getting into the circle.
Adaptations:
Participants in autism:
This activity can be really fun for a small group that is making a lot of progress with
cognitive and social skills. Making the game fun, and helping the kids with "bad
behavior"understand the situation and helping them to participate will help them grow,
and help them have new experiences.
Web M.D. (n.d.). Autism in the Classroom. Retrieved November 6, 2015, from
http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/features/autism-in-the-classroom?page=2
Activity Title:

Blanket Names
Source:
Blanket Names. (2013, December 13). Retrieved September 23, 2015, from
http://rectherapyideas.blogspot.com/2013/12/blanket-names.html
Equipment:
Blanket
Description of Activity:
Begin by taking two fairly large groups and allowing them some time to introduce each
other and talk for 10-20 minutes. Once everyone has at least been introduced chose two
teams and have each team form one line. Each team will select one member of the group
to hold a towel, the lines will face each other and when the facilitator says go the
participants holding up the towels will drop them. Whoever can name the opposing
participants first wins, the winner will go to the back of the line and the other participant
will sit out. The teams will continue the game until one line is completely out.
Leadership considerations:
The main goal for facilitators in this game is to create a fun and social environment, this
game works best with large groups to make it slightly more difficult to remember
participants names. The games rules are easy to follow, the facilitator's job will be to
mainly help participants initially get started in conversation and learn each other's names.
After the game, leave enough time for participants to reminisce about the game which
will likely lead to more social interactions within the group, keep in mind the goal is to
help large group become more social. This can also be used as an icebreaker for another
game where participants need to feel more comfortable with each other.
Adaptations:
Participants who have depression:
Unlike other populations of participants, this group would be better a bit smaller, maybe
10-20 participants. This would make the game easier to control, especially socially,
because some participants might not be having a good day, or won't feel like playing a
game. The smaller amount of participants would help the facilitator talk the group
through the activity and lighten the mood, encouraging clients to be loud and making the
game faster are different techniques that can help participants think, concentrate, and get
more involved.
Participants with intellectual disabilities:

You will want to keep these groups smaller, and explain the instructions more in depth
and slower. The goal would be to help the participants learn how to enjoy this activity.
Instead of participants holding up the towel, the facilitator should have an assistant help
with organizing both lines. The rules should also slightly change, where instead of
needing to learn each others names, maybe they would need to state a fact about each
other, whether it be as simple as ex; he has black hair, or he has two sisters.
Activity Title:
Random Words
Source:
Random Words. (2013, December 3). Retrieved September 23, 2015, from
http://rectherapyideas.blogspot.com/2013/12/random-words.html
Equipment:
All you need to do is create a list of random words for the group to use.
Description of Activity:
Before beginning you will need a list of words for the group to use, and the group will be
sitting in a circle. To begin the first participant will close their eyes and put their finger in
the paper, whatever word they land on they will tell a story that this word reminds them
of. You can give each participant time to reminisce and gather their thoughts for the story.
After theyve told the story, the will pass along the paper to the next participants and
repeat the process.
Leadership considerations:
This activity is great for older participants, it will help them with their memory, and it
could also bring back good old memories. Reflecting on life is a good activity in general,
adding the random aspect can help bring back memories participants have forgotten
about. One thing facilitators should consider discussing after the activity is the stories
told in general, allowing time for participants to appreciate the memories, but also discuss
what kinds of memories are not appropriate to share. It is important not to stop any
participants mid story, to avoid being rude, but be sure to allow them to finish and then
discuss what is acceptable to talk about in front of a group, and what is acceptable to
share in private.
Adaptations:
Children with autism:
This activity can be great for children with autism, but instead of using words to discuss
memories, they can use words to reminisce on the days activities. The activity can be

used to help children remember what they learned during the way, help them hear what
others learned, and it can help children with their social skills to learn to express their
thoughts. This changes the activity slightly, but children wont have as many memories as
older populations, but the idea of the activity is still in tact.
Participants with cerebral palsy (CP):
Ive worked personally with groups with cerebral palsy and I learned from experience
that a very important aspect for these participants is to learn to talk about their disability.
Whether slight CP or severe talking about it will help them feel more comfortable with
themselves. You can use a list of words that can facilitate conversations about what
participants have overcome, or different activities participants find enjoyable. The word
list in this case would be used to enhance sharing, instead of telling stories about different
memories.