How To Play the Wind Game

The most common version of the Wind Game resembles soccer or hockey, but instead of using feet or sticks, players push with their breath.

To play, take opposite sides of a medium-sized table with one or more lightweight balls such as cotton balls or feathers in the middle. Each player tries to blow the balls across the edge of the table on his opponent's side.

If playing with only one ball, count a point for each time you get it over your opponent's side. If playing with several balls, keep playing until all of the balls are off the table, then score one point for each ball over your opponent's side. Any balls that go off the side edges of the table do not count.  You can play to a set number of points or for a set amount of time.

Another version of the Wind Game is wind races. Again using cotton balls or other small, light objects, the idea is for the two players to blow their ball a certain distance- it could be down a hallway or across a room. A variation on the wind race allows the players to use drinking straws to help steer their balls during the race.

A Wind Game without points or a winner is the wind maze. You can set up blocks, small boxes, paper towel tubes, or other larger objects to form a maze on a table. Players can use straws or just their mouths to work together to blow the cotton balls through the maze.  Place a child at each side of the table.  Make each child responsible for blowing the ball in one direction; this will make them all work together to complete the maze. Parents or supervisors should help make sure the maze needs all four to get the ball through so no one feels left out!

Another competitive Wind Game is air juggling. Each player gets one or more feathers; the goal is to be the player who keeps his feathers in the air the longest. If one feather is too easy, give each player two or three. As the feathers separate, the game gets harder.

One last wind game gets the parents involved, but lets them use a machine instead of their lungs. Use a hair dryer to blow something like a tissue or a small scarf into the air. The children can then compete to be the one to pluck the object out of the air.