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Plane game

Play this active game to learn about aircraft and what they're used for.

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An aeroplane, hot air balloon and helicopter navigate their way through a thunder storm.

Before you begin

  • Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Take a look at our guidance to help you carry out your risk assessment, including examples. 
  • Make sure all young people and adults involved in the activity know how to take part safely.
  • Make sure you’ll have enough adult helpers. You may need some parents and carers to help.

Planning and setting up this activity

  • Print pictures of different types of aircraft. For example, this could be a police helicopter, air ambulance, a commercial aeroplane, a drone, a hot air balloon, a firefighting water bomber, mountain rescue helicopter, a cargo plane or a military jet.  
  • You could use some from 'Aircraft images and facts' or choose aircraft your group want to learn more about.  
  • Create fact cards for each one, including its role, key features, and how it helps people or serves a specific purpose. 

Running this activity

  1. Show everyone the pictures of different aircraft and ask if anyone recognises them. See if anyone knows what they’re called and what they do.  
  2. Talk about the different roles aircraft play in helping people, such as rescuing people, transporting goods, putting out fires, or carrying passengers. Why do we need so many kinds of aircraft? 
  3. Ask everyone how each aircraft has been well-designed for its job, such as their shapes or flying speeds. For example, helicopters can hover, so they’re good for waiting in the air to slowly rescue people; cargo planes are big and strong for carrying heavy loads; and jets are fast for quick missions.  
  4. As a group, give each aircraft an action. For example; 
    • Glider: Stretch your arms out wide. Move slowly and quietly like you're gliding through the air. 
    • Helicopter: Hold your arms out and spin slowly like rotor blades. Dip down like you're rescuing someone. 
    • Drone: Pretend to hold a controller. Make small, quick, jerky moves, just like a flying robot. 
    • Commercial aeroplane: Get into a group and walk together in straight lines with arms out. You look just like passengers on the plane! 
    • Firefighting Plane: Fly low with a ‘whoosh,’ then squat and pretend to drop water on a fire. 
    • Jet: Run or move fast with arms back. Make sharp turns and go ‘zoom!’ 
    • Cargo Plane: Pretend you're carrying something heavy. Walk slowly and carefully to ‘deliver’ it. 
    • Seaplane: Pretend to land on water. Pat the floor gently like you're splashing, then take off again. 
    • Hot Air Balloon: Stand tall and raise your arms to go up. Lower your arms slowly to come back down. 
  5. Everyone should find a space. Remember pilots use radars to make sure they always know what’s around them, so everyone should stay aware of other people moving around the space. 
  6. Hold up an aircraft card or call out the name, everyone should respond with the action. Keep going until they’re confident of the actions. 
  7. For commercial airline, remember to shout out how big the group should be. For example, ‘Commercial airline three!’ means a group of three. 
  8. The person or people who do the action last or can’t find a group are out.  
  9. To make it harder, you could also add an ‘airport’ and ‘aircraft hangar’, which are sides of the space that people must move to first. 
  10. Keep going until there’s one person left. They’re the winner! 
  11. Everyone should play the game again, but this time the person leading the game should include scenarios. Players must listen carefully, think about which aircraft would be used in that situation, then do the action. After each scenario, you can ask why they chose that aircraft and why it's good for the job.
    • There’s a forest fire (firefighting aircraft).
    • Someone’s lost in the mountains or ocean (Search and rescue helicopter). 
    • A country has had a big storm and needs help (A cargo plane).
    • People need to fly to a different city for work or a holiday (A commercial airliner). 
    • A TV company wants to film a sports game from above (A drone).
    • There’re animals by a watering hole and people want to watch from above (A hot air balloon).
    • A country needs to protect its airspace (A military jet). 
    • The sun is shining, and tourists want to fly over a lake (A seaplane). 
    • A glider has been released from a tow plane and is now flying freely (A glider). 

Reflection

This activity was all about learning the different types of aircraft and how their shapes and movements affect their roles in helping people. You explored how each aircraft is designed for specific tasks, from rescuing people to delivering supplies. How did you find the activity? Did you learn something new today, maybe about how an aircraft moves or the important job it does? It was a fun way to discover how these aircraft help make our world a safer and more connected place. 

Safety

All activities must be safely managed. You must complete a thorough risk assessment and take appropriate steps to reduce risk. Use the safety checklist to help you plan and risk assess your activity. Always get approval for the activity, and have suitable supervision and an InTouch process.

You must run your activities in line with the Safeguarding Code of Conduct for Adults (Yellow Card) and report any concerns to the UK HQ Safeguarding Team.

Active games

The game area should be free of hazards. Explain the rules of the game clearly and have a clear way to communicate that the game must stop when needed. Take a look at our guidance on running active games safely.

To make this activity harder, you could increase the number of aircraft used in the game. You could also add in compass directions to the scenarios, so players need to move to that area of the space before doing the action. For example, ‘There is a fire in the North, but the water is in the South!’ or ‘Fly east to pick up passengers from the terminal. Then fly west to drop them off at their destination.’ 

  • Make sure anyone with hearing loss can clearly see the speaker, as this helps with lip reading and understanding body language. An adult can remind everyone to speak slowly, loudly and clearly, or an adult could repeat what’s been said to make sure everyone hears it. You could also use signals, such as raising a hand, to show who’s speaking. If it’s tricky for everyone to hear something, such as an action, being called out while moving around, this game could be played in a circle instead. 
  • Make sure any movements and actions are things everyone can do. For example, instead of winking, people could stick their tongue out instead, or if someone struggles to hop, jump or stand on one leg, you can let them stand on two legs or sit on a chair.  
  • Clearly explain the rules at the start of the game each time you play. Be patient and give short, concise instructions. You can encourage young people to help explain the rules to each other. You may wish to use pictures, diagrams or written instructions, including in large print. Always check for understanding by asking questions, such as asking what to people need to do first, or by having a practice round. 
  • People can move at their own pace, so you don’t need to make it competitive unless it works for everyone. You could adapt the competitive element. For example, instead of a race where the fastest wins, consider giving points for specific achievements within a set time, such as getting the answer correct or completing a task in a set time. You could also reward good communication, creativity or teamwork, instead of speed or being the first. Remind people to encourage each other and that it’s not about winning, but about taking part, working well as a team and having fun. 
  • This game can be played standing or sitting, with those sitting either on the floor or on chairs. 
  • Let everyone can move around the space in whatever way and at whatever speed works for them. For example, you could have a walking version of the game or some people could have the option to take on a more stationary role, such as caller or scorekeeper. 

 

All Scout activities should be inclusive and accessible.

Air Activities Stage 1

Try making a model aircraft that can move or fly such as a paper glider or hot air balloon using a plastic bag.

Visit an airfield or air museum to see some of the aircraft used in the game.

Young people could research an aircraft they're interested in, learn what it's used for and use it in the game as one odf the examples. Young people could create the actions and make up some of their own scenarios.