A circle of linked hands, one simple nonsense chant, and a movement that ripples all the way around as each player copies the person before them. Chiki-Chaki is a rhythm and coordination game built around a made-up phrase that takes on a life of its own.
What you need
Nothing but a group of up to 15 players, standing in a circle.
How to play
Everyone holds hands in a circle, then lets go. One player is picked to start and invents a short movement, raising their arms, stamping a foot, spinning once, anything simple, while singing a short nonsense phrase like “chiki-chiki-chaki chiki-chaki pon-pon” (feel free to swap in a local sound or phrase that feels more natural to the group). The player next to them copies the exact movement and phrase, then passes it to the next player, and so on around the circle. Once it has gone all the way around, the original player can invent a brand new movement and phrase, and the chain starts again.
Safety notes
None beyond normal space to move an arm or a leg without bumping a neighbour.
Why it works
The focus here is on rhythm and coordination rather than the literal meaning of the chant, and watching a simple movement ripple around an entire circle, getting slightly reinterpreted by each player along the way, tends to be genuinely satisfying to watch as much as to play.
