Heads down, thumbs up is called 7 up by my class as there are 7 children on at a time. My choosers then go back to the front of the class once they've been round choosing a child each, then stand with their back to the class. THe children who have been chosen go and stand behind the child they think chose them. Then the choosers turn back round and confirm if they chose the child who thought they did, or not. If they did, they swap places. If they didn't they stay in to play another round.
I also love...
20 questions - pick an animal and the children ask yes or no questions to quess.
Guess who. 1 child is on and picks someone. All children stand. Children take it in turns to ask questions - is it a boy? etc until they have knocked out all but the child who was chosen.
Secret conductor - good for in a circle. One child goes out, another child is chosen to be the conductor. Child comes back in and has to guess who the conductor is. The conductor does actions - clap hands, click fingers and the class copy while the guesser tries to find who is leading the actions.
Who's missing? Child goes out, another is chosen to hide and the other children move places. The child who is on has three chances to guess who's missing.
Apple pie - as mentioned above.
Chinese whispers.
Alphabet game.
The minute game. My class love this a ridiculous amount! They all stand. You say go. When they think one minute has passed they sit down. The winner is the child closest to one minute.
Around the world. Children stand in a circle. A child is chosen to be on and stands in the circle, in front of one of the children, facing them. Teacher gives a question - this is good for quick fire topic questions or maths - if the child in the middle answers first then they move on one place to the next child. If the child in the circle gets it first, they swap with the child in the centre and they are now on.
Golden people. Another favourite of my class. 2 children are chosen to be 'golden'. The class all stand. If they aren't in a circle then set what order they are going to count around the room. The rule is that you are knocked out on the count of 5. If you say 5 you are out. You cannot knock out the golden children. Each child says one number and they take it in turns going round the circle. To knock out their choice of friend and to avoid knocking out the golden children they can modify the counting by carefully choosing the number. 1,2,4,5. 1,3,5. 1,5. Anything. :) Some of the children who prefer to watch will just say 5 to knock themselves out. It's a good game for children who don't like being eliminated from a game as that's the whole point that they know that they are supposed to be eliminated if they aren't one of the golden children.
How high can we count? All children cover eyes and try to count as high as you can go. If 2 children speak at the same time I call out 'One' and it goes back to the beginning. It usually descends into laughter as I end up repeatedly saying 'one' to reset the game as lots of children try counting at the same time. Only one time did my class rumble it and one child just counted on and on. They'd agreed before hand to all keep quiet and let him do it. :)
Hangman.
There are more. I have had a rather immature class this year with a few children who initially just couldn't cope if they weren't chosen or didn't win so we've played lots of these in 2 or 5 mins at the end of most days if time allows to help develop social skills, and we always end circle time with a game.