Student Council Leadership Games

Student council can play a very important role in a student's life and academic career, such as learning leadership techniques, problem-solving skills, and how to work with others. The council can also be an important tool for students wanting to advance their knowledge, earn scholarships and succeed in post high-school activities and careers. Through leadership games, students will develop skills to help and enhance their own school, students' rights, and ultimately their own goals and aspirations.

The cooking game is a way to teach students organizational skills and responsibility while having fun. The council will be divided into three or four teams and be assigned a day of the week where they will present a breakfast or lunch to select guests such as teachers, students or administrators. The teams will be able to strategically choose who they serve food to, as the guests will rate their service and food at the end. A leader will be chosen in each council group, who will then delegate food preparation and cooking responsibilities to each of its members. The teams will be rated on service, taste of food, presentation of the meal, and overall guest experience. The winning team will be awarded a prize, such as free lunch paid by the school.

Split the student council into groups of three or four. Give each team a piece of paper with a shape, line or an unfamiliar object drawn on it. Each team member will draw something on the existing shape, adding to their team members' drawing. Keep the game alive for at least five minutes. At the end of the five-minute period, the teams will discuss and present their drawing to a judge, who will then pick the winning team that delivered the best teamwork, reasoning and drawing quality.

A great team-building, mind-engaging, fun game is Charades, a pantomime activity. Divide the student council into teams of two and have each member write down a phrase in a particular category, such as book titles, song titles, quotations, etc. To begin the game, team member from team A will choose a phrase or title from team B's pot of phrases. Team member A will then act out the phrase without speaking, until her team guesses or does not guess the phrase. Switch to team B and rotate until every team member has gone once or twice. Give three minutes for the team to guess the phrase. If the team guesses the phrase in less than three minutes, record the time. If the time runs out, record three minutes. At the end of the game the team with the lowest score wins.