No.315
Hand Slap: Pass the Floor Tap
Japanese name: ハンド・スラップ（床の拍回し）
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Diagram key
- E
- D’s left hand
- F
- B’s right hand
- G
- A’s left hand
- H
- C’s right hand
- I
- B’s left hand
- J
- D’s right hand
- K
- C’s left hand
- L
- A’s right hand
- M
- A–D identify the 4 players.
- N
- Between your own hands
- O
- place 2 other people’s hands.
- P
- Pass the beat in the order of the hands on the floor.
Materials
- A smooth, safe floor or tabletop
How to play
- Sit in a circle with both hands forward. Cross one arm with each neighbour so two other hands lie between your own hands. Avoid strained positions.
- Choose a starting hand and begin clockwise. That hand taps the surface gently once, passing the turn to the next hand lying beside it.
- Follow the order of hands on the surface, not the seating order of people. Your right and left hands have separate turns.
- A double tap on your turn reverses direction. The turn returns to the hand it came from, then continues through the hands in reverse order.
- After a mistake, stop, identify the next hand and restart. Thirty consecutive correct taps are a shared success. Uncross arms and rest, then choose a different starting hand and play again.
Ways to adapt
Younger primary: practise with one hand each, without crossing arms. Older primary: optionally add a gentle fist tap that skips the next hand.