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Indoor
Mixers/ Competitive Games
(K-Z) Keymaster You
have everyone sit in a large circle, in chairs. One person is in the
middle (There should be one less chair than people like in musical
Chairs). The person in the middle had a set of keys. They go around the
circle, and grab a person, who in turn grabs another. This goes on until
the first person drops the keys, then everyone has to find a seat. The
last on standing is "it" and the whole process starts again.
Lance ball, rain ball Equipment:
1 tennis racquet, baseball diamond or a makeshift one something to mark
bases with, a ball made out of ducktape Rules:
Guys against Girls if you can. It is played similar to baseball. People
are up to bat with the racquet in hand, the pitcher uses the ducktape
ball. Girls can go around the bases normally for the first
"inning" then hop on one leg the next time they are up to bat,
alternate. Guys hop on one leg for the first "inning" and then
run normally, alternate. P.S.:
I learned it with the guys always hopping and the girls always running
normally but we changed it when we saw the girls always winning. If you
see either team winning big time, change the hopping rule to fit.
Link Tag Everyone
splits off into two and finds a space within the play area. They then
link arms. The youth leader picks a twosome as volunteers! One member of
the twosome is IT and the other runs from IT. This works like a normal
game of chasing except that the person who is running can grab the free
arm of any person in any other twosome at any point they like. When they
do this they become a part of the twosome and the member of the original
twosome who was not grabbed must now run from IT and try and link up
with another twosome. If IT catches the victim, then the victim becomes
IT and IT becomes the victim and must run and link up with another
group. Mack Daddy Falls First
ask for three guys who think they are the biggest “Mack daddies” to
raise their hand and come to the front. It is important to pick out
three guys with a good sense of humor. Then ask for two girl volunteers. Take the three guys out of the room to a place where they
can’t hear what is going on in the Club room. Tell the guys that a
leader is going to come get them one by one to go back into the Club
room. When they get into the Club room there will be a couch set up with
a girl sitting on each end of it. They simply need to sit down between
the girls (stress this sitting down part), look at the girls in the
eyes, and give them their best pick-up line. The crowd then will vote on
which guy is the biggest “Mack daddy”.
In the mean time you set up two folding chairs in the Club room
about two or three feet apart in the middle. Drape a large blanket over
the chairs that touches the floor so that it looks like a couch. Tell
the girls to sit very casually and put their arm across what would be
the back head rest of the middle of the couch. When the guys sit down
have the girls stand up just before the guy touches the blanket. The guy
falls to the floor and is shocked. I stress that this game hinges on
having three guys that can take a joke, if you do it gets a lot of
laughs. We played this game in Club last Monday, and it really had the
kids rolling! Mad Dash Age
Group: All Youth Designate
four corners in your room or playing field as 1, 2, 3, and 4. Assign
each person in your group a number between one and four and send them to
their designated corners. Place a judge at each corner as well. Explain
that when you say, "Mad Dash!", each person must travel to the
their opposite corner (i.e., Corner 1 goes to Corner 3 and Corner 2 goes
to Corner 4). Obviously when the four groups meet in the middle there
will be chaos. Before you say, "Mad Dash!", you will also be
announcing the method of travel. For instance, you could explain that
everyone must run backward to their corners, or crabwalk, or hop on one
foot. The last person to each corner is eliminated from play by the
judges. Other suggested methods of travel: on hands and knees (carpeted
floors only), holding a partner's hand, running with elbows and knees
touching, etc. Mafia props:
playing cards Everyone
gets a card. The deal is, there is only one King, two Queens, and one
Jack. The rest are numbers. The King is the mayor and he runs the game,
the Queens are the Mafia, and the Jack is the detective, the numbers are
townspeople. No one knows what anyone else has. The Mayor starts it off
by saying: “Town go to sleep,” then, “Mafia wake up.” At that
time, the two Queens wake up and a silently as possible they agree on a
person to murder. The mayor then says: “Mafia go to sleep,” then,
“Detective wake up.” The detective gets one guess to ask the mayor
who the Mafia is, and the mayor can only say yes or no. This is also
done as silently as possible, with gestures. The mayor then says,
“Detective go to sleep,” then, “Town wake up.” The mayor then
says who was murdered and that person can no longer talk. The town tries
to guess who the Mafia is. They try to kill both of them by voting. A
majority of the votes kills the person, but it might now be the Mafia,
so everyone goes back to sleep until both of the Mafia are dead. This is
really fun with a large group and lots of discussion. Everyone starts
pointing fingers and trying to save themselves. Maim That Tune *
Source: Low Cost, No Cost Ideas For Youth Ministry, page 13 Before
the game, arrange to have someone bring in a musical instrument such as
a violin, guitar, etc. You can also use a piano or organ. Have the kids
line up according to the number of years of music or voice lessons
they've had (most to least). Count them off
by twos to form two teams that have approximately the same musical
experience. The object is to quickly guess songs your teammates play on
the selected instrument. Teams will take turns having a volunteer play a
song on the instrument for his/her team to guess. The volunteer chooses
the song to play. Keep track of time for each team and the least time
wins after several rounds have been played. If it isn't guessed in 30
sec., the other team gets one guess. If that team guess incorrectly, 5
sec. are added to their total time.
Marshmallow Baseball Age
Group: All Youth First,
you mark bases on the floor, tape works best. To play, you need a
bag of marshmallows and a spatula. Pick teams, and play the game
like regular baseball, the only difference being that you use the
spatula for a bat and the marshmallows for a ball. As a twist, you
have to be on your knees. Marshmallow Mush Music Age
Group: All Youth Each
youth member is given a handful of marshmallows and a Dr. Pepper. While
the song 'Roxanne' by The Police is playing on a C.D. player the youth
are instructed to eat a marshmallow every time the song says 'Roxanne'
and to take a drink of the Dr. Pepper every time the song says 'you
don't have to put on the red light'. At first this is an easy task but
later in the song those words are repeated over and over and it becomes
a lot more difficult to keep up with the song. [Ed. Note: Considering
the content of the song "Roxanne," consider using a
Mash the Mush This
is a messy fun game with an ultimate surprise at the end !
First you mix up a big pot of green mush. Ingredient: 3 boxes of
vanilla instant pudding -- 3 big jars of apple sauce -- and green food
color. You get a friend that knows how to keep a secret and video tape
one of you mixing up the mush. (Make it fun) After you are done mixing
it. Get a close up shot of the large bowl or pot being placed on the
ground. Then get a close up shot of your partners (clean feet). After at
least 8 seconds of taping the feet still, step into the pot of mush and
swoosh around. (The person in the pot need not identified, but if it was
the Youth Pastor, and you slowly panned up to his smiling face.... this
would be great! Rewind your
tape and set up a TV ready to go for youth group.
The game is presented to the youth without telling them about or
showing them the video. You get your volunteers from the group...as many
as 12. Pair them off, and give one of them a bowl of your green mush and
blind fold the other. The object of the game is for the blind folded
person to shovel the green mush into the mouth of the other person and
for them to eat it the fastest. By the way.
This green stuff tastes GREAT. So you will get a lot of your
students eating it up. In fact encourage it. When all is done and every
one is cleaned up, sit them down in front of the TV and show your video.
You can guess the reaction you will get from the kids when they see your
Youth Pastor jumping in the green mush they just ate. If you are not as
cruel to teenagers as I am...(being involved with youth for over 5
years) you can make a separate batch of green mush to give the kids. But
you need to take that secret to your grave. Mirrors 1.
Have the groups stand in a circle. One person (perhaps the instructor)
will start the game by creating a pose. The person on his/her right will
try to imitate the pose exactly. She will then change poses and the
person to her right will attempt to imitate he exactly. This should
continue around the circle. 2.
Make it more fun by having it go both ways around the circle (right and
left). Motorcycle Noises or Bathroom Noises Here
is a good, easy skit idea, but one that can only be used every two or
three years: Select three
kids or so and send them out of room. As they leave, tell them that you
are going to have a contest to see who can best imitate the way they
would ride a motorcycle. After they are gone, tell kids in room that
what you will actually see and hear are the sights and sounds these
youth make in the bathroom. Have three kids come in, one at a time.
Bring a sturdy chair to front. Tell youth that the chair is the
motorcycle and that they should help us see and hear how they would take
to the road on the motorcycle. Have the do everything from getting on
the motorcycle to starting it to “popping wheelies,” etc. The
results are hysterical! You may hurt yourself from laughing! At the end,
tell all three what happened and award roll of toilet paper. Movie Mixer (larger
group mixer) number
of people: 5-10 number
of minutes: 15-20 retreatants:
voluntary high school and college Send
one child out of the room so they cannot hear anyone. The remaining kids think of a title of a movie and each
person is assigned a word from the title(including articles). They
should go in order. For
example, if there were 5 kids left in the group and the movie was
"Moonlight and Valentino", the word assignments would be the
following: person #1: Moonlight, person #2: and, person #3: Valentino,
person #4: Moonlight, person #5: and.
After this, the person who left comes back and asks random
questions to anyone in the group. The person who answers must use their word inconspicuously
within their answer. The
answer can be as elaborate or crazy as the person wants.
This goes on until the question-asker figures out the movie
title.
Moving
Bridge You
will need about 20 are so (depending on # of people) 2 by 4's. Divide
your kids up into two groups of equal numbers. The object is this. They
have one person that runs across the boards. The others take the board
that the runner crosses and transports it to the front. This continues
until the runner has crossed the finish line. It's a race. If the runner
falls off they have to start all over. However, the runner is dependent
on the others because they are holding up the bridge ( so to speak )!
Great game! Lots of Fun. Muscle Beach Ask
the guys in the group each to bring an oversize sweat shirt. Don't tell
kids what the sweat shirt will be used for. Also, bring to the meeting
10 to 15 balloons for every four kids in your group. Keep the balloons
in the packages until the activity begins. Form teams of four with at
least one guy on each team. Have each team choose a guy to represent it,
then ask those chosen guys to come to the front and put on an oversize
sweat shirt. Tell the kids: The object of this contest is to make a
"muscle man" for "muscle beach." Each team will blow
up, tie off and stuff as many balloons as it can into the sweat shirt of
its muscle man. The goal is to make your guy as "muscular" as
possible. You will have just two minutes. Break open the packages of
balloons, and put them in the center of the group. Blow a whistle to
start the competition, and blow it again after two minutes. Have a panel
of judges made up of sponsors to declare a winning muscle man. The first
guy to break all his balloons by himself is also declared a winner. SUPPLIES NEEDED:
Oversize sweatshirts, 10-15 balloons for every 5 people. Musical Squirt Gun *
Source: Play It! - Great Games For Groups, page 88 Can
be played with a group ranging from 6 - 30 (can also be played
outdoors). Group sits in a circle on chairs or on the floor. A loaded
squirt gun is passed around the circle until the music stops or the
leader says "Stop!" The person who is holding the squirt gun
at the time must leave the game, but before he leaves, he can squirt the
person on the left twice or the person on the right twice or each person
once. The chair is removed, the circle moves in and the game continues.
Last person remaining is the winner. The gun must be passed with 2 hands
and received with 2 hands. It is best to have another loaded gun
standing by for when the 1st runs out. Emphasize only 2 squirts!!! Age
Group: All Youth Divide
the group into several teams. Place stacks (one per team) of old
newspaper, with one or two rolls of masking tape per stack, and a sealed
envelope containing the costume theme in the center of the room. At the
word "GO", each team sends one kid to the center of the room
to select a stack and take it back to his team. Each team then opens the
envelope and constructs and Obstacle Course!?! This
is a skit that could keep ’em rolling for quite some time: First,
select a person (usually a macho guy) and take him outside of the Club
room. Next, have those inside the Club room set up a walking obstacle
course with cups of water, eggs, etc. While this is going on, have
someone outside pumping up the guy who will “walk” this obstacle
course. He is then brought
in and allowed a long, hard look at the course so he can memorize its
pattern. He is blindfolded and asked to walk the course from memory.
Right before he starts, other kids (very quietly!) begin removing the
borders of the course so that there is no way he could spill water or
crush an egg or whatever. After he passes, they place the course just as
it was. So, when he finishes and looks back at the course, he thinks he
has really completed the course on his own memory and skill. Of course,
the crowd is to go crazy and congratulate the guy when he “finishes”
the course. One note: Make sure you pick someone who can take a joke when
the secret finally gets out. On The Wall Charades *
Source: Low Cost, No Cost Ideas For Youth Ministry, page 15 Before
the game create a list of one or two syllable words. Clear a large space
on the wall and form 2 teams. Have each team choose a representative to
start the game. Explain to kids that you'll show their selected team
members a word that they must convey to their team. Tell the kids that
they must convey the word in only one way: by using their heads as
imaginary pencils to spell the words on the wall. Play several rounds so
each team member gets a turn at writing on the wall. The team that's
able to guess the correct answers in the shortest amount of time wins Orange Relay Age
Group: All Youth Get
1 pair of stockings for each team and shove a decent sized orange down
one leg to the end. Each team member must tie the stocking around
their waist so that the orange is free to swing between their
legs. An orange is placed on the floor and each member must move
the orange across the length of the relay by swinging the orange in
their stocking. Hands cannot be used to control the stocking's swinging
motion. Controlled motion appears to rely on controlled pelvic thrusting
and not laughing too much. Paint With Your Noggin props: •
1 jar of chocolate syrup •
1 sheet or floor covering •
6 large pieces of cardboard (just use flattened boxes) •
1 pie tin First,
retrieve two outgoing, short-haired guys from the group. Then split room
down the middle into two teams. Dump some chocolate syrup in the tin and
place it on the floor. Tell the guys to get on their hands and knees,
facing each other with the pie tin between them. Have two leaders hold a
piece of cardboard low to the ground for each guy.
Then pick a word and have the same word is whispered to each of
them. The word should be easy to draw, i.e.: square, happy face, etc.
Then the guys will attempt to draw a picture of the word with their
heads. The guys must dunk the tops of their heads in the syrup and
“paint with their noggins.” The first team to guess the right answer wins the round. Make
sure you have towels ready and have fun! Paper Shoot *
Source: Play It! - Great Games For Groups, page 125 Divide
into teams of 4-8 kids each. Set up a garbage can in the middle of the
room (about three feet high) and prepare ahead of time several paper
batons and a lot of wadded up paper balls. One team lies down around the
garbage can with their heads toward the can (on their backs). Each of
these players has a paper baton and the opposing team stands around the
trash can behind a line about 10 feet or so away from the can. The line
can be a large circle drawn around the can. The opposing teams tries to
throw the balls into the can while the defending team tries to hit the
balls away with their batons. 2 min. are allowed to try to get as many
in as possible. Each team gets a chance in both positions. Winner is the
team who gets the most in.
Pass It On *
Source: Far Out Ideas For Youth Groups, page 34 The
entire group forms a circle. Everyone is given an object which can be
large, small or any shape (i.e.: bowling ball, trash can, shoe, etc.).
On a signal, every one passes his object on the right, keeping the
objects moving at all times. When a person drops any object, he must
leave the game, but his object stay in. As the game progresses, more
people leave the game making it harder and harder to avoid dropping an
object since there are more objects than people. The winner is the last
person remaining Pass The Scissors Age
Group: Early and Mid Adolescents Have
everyone sit in a circle. The first person to start the game knows how
to play, and the object is to figure out how to correctly pass the
scissors from one person to the next. The first person passes the
scissors to the person next to him/her, explaining that this is the
correct way to pass the scissors. The next person then attempts to pass
the scissors correctly, while those who know how to play let him/her
know if they did. The trick? The scissors must be passed open if Pile Up Players
sit in a tight circle on benches or chairs. Seats should be clearly
distinguishable. "It" determines the actions of the group by
stating a detail: Everybody wearing jeans, move two spaces left.
Everybody with blonde hair, move three spaces right.
Those with matching descriptions move as directed, and sit down,
be it on an empty seat, or a person's lap. (To preserve people's health,
limit the pile to about four people maximum.) Pinball Soccer *
Source: Play It! - Great Games For Groups, page 126 New
way to play soccer indoors! Just like regular soccer except that each
person, including the goalie must stand on a piece of paper. They must
keep one foot on the paper at all time and cannot slide or move the
paper. The players need to be scattered evenly across the playing area.
The effect is like a giant pinball machine. Pirates You
will need seven stones or shoes or other small objects.
The kids are divided into 4 equal groups, with one group in each
corner of the area you are in. the seven objects are put into the middle
of the room, with a square drawn round them and a small square in front
of each team. The team members are numbered from one to whatever. you
then call out a number, one for example the four people numbered one
then fly out of their space like they have a bee in their pants and
grabs an object from the center and places, not throws, it in their team
square they then run back and get another object and so on until all the
objects are got. The team with three or more in their team square gains
1 point. The game now moves into phase 2 where the teams now go get an
object from another teams square when the number is called.
So number 2 is called, all number 2's fly out and grab 1 object
from another teams square and sits down if there is a team with three or
more in the square give em a point.
Pitt Ball (For
groups of 16 or more.) Divide
your group into two groups. Have each group stand in a circle, shoulder
to shoulder. Give each group a small Nerf ball.
The object is to pass the ball from the first person in the
group, around the circle, to the last person in your group, using only
your armpits. If you drop the ball, you must start over. If you use your
hands, you must start over. First team to get the ball back to the
starting person wins. Pole Game Another
good game especially if you have active kids that need to burn off steam
is one we call the pole game. First you need a pole or something about 3
feet long that will stand up and is not to hard to tip over. Get
everyone in a circle around the pole holding hands. The object is to
pull someone in and use them to knock over the pole without knocking it
over yourself. If a person knocks over the pole they leave the circle,
if the circle breaks the two people who let go leave the circle. It is a
pretty active game and can get a little rough on less active people. The
best part is that it gets very competitive and the rowdiest most
energetic tend to stay in the longest keeping them busily occupied. Poopdeck Age
Group: All Youth For
medium size to large groups indoor or out. Use tape to create large
boxes on the floor or ground. Each of these boxes is a deck. Students
gather in one of these decks--the poopdeck, quarter-deck and halfdeck.
The leader calls out a "deck" and all the students move to the
deck called out. The last student into the deck is out of the game. The
game continues until two students are left. To make the game more
exciting you can add your own "decks". We have a balcony in
our high school room so we use the "upper deck"--radical!
Students falling all over themselves
up the stairs. You can yell out commands too instead of moving them to
another "deck." -- like "hit the deck" (everyone
goes face down, last one down is out)..."swab the deck"
(everyone on their knees)...very, very fun. Be creative! Psychiatrist This
a good game with high schoolers and college students. It takes about 15-20 minutes to play. Choose two volunteers to go out of the room, while you
explain what is going to happen when the volunteers come back into the
main room. Have everyone
sit in a large circle facing each other.
Then choose a hot seat. The
hot seat is very important to this game.
When the volunteers come back into the room they will be told
that they have to find out what is happening by asking questions of
anybody in the crowd. Each
person must answer the question by acting like the person sitting in the
hot seat. So if the volunteer asks a person if he is wearing shoes?
That person must answer as if they are the person in the hot
seat. So if the person in
the hot seat is not wearing shoes.
Then the person say, “No I am not wearing any shoes.”
If the person does not know the answer to the question then he
yells out “Psychiatrist”. This
means everyone gets up and switches places and a new person enters the
hot seat. Now all the
questions are to be answered as if you were the new person in the hot
seat. This continues until
the volunteers get and explain what is happening.
Then call back the volunteers and have fun!
Sardines Kind
of like Hide and Seek, but in reverse. To start, ONE person hides as the
rest wait for 1 min. or so, and then everyone goes out looking for
him/her. When someone finds the person who is hiding, he/she must hide
there too. This continues until all have found the person who is
"it." The first person to find the one who was "it"
hides in the next game. Lots of fun because everyone is jammed up
together trying to hide and keep out of sight! Sharks Need
chalk or hula hoops (plastic hoops people twirl around their waists). Draw
four circles of about one diameter on the floor. These represent
islands. Everyone mills around the hall (in the sea) until SHARKS is
called out - then everyone has to get onto an island to be safe, anyone
not on the island in ten is eaten by a shark and so out of the game.
Remove islands at your pleasure forcing more and more people out
of the game until you have a champ!
Shockwave Divide
the group into 2 even teams. Have teams sit on the floor facing. Members
from each team must hold the hands of the team-mates next to them,
preferably behind their backs so that the other team cannot see them. At
the end of the line, place a spoon on the floor between the last two
people. On the other end, you need an impartial person (you or a
volunteer) to flip a coin. Everyone except the two people at the
beginning must close their eyes, or sit facing out and all must be
silent. When the coin is flipped, if it is heads, the people at the
beginning squeeze the hand of the person next to them, who then squeezes
the hand of the person next to them, and so on. When the squeeze gets to
the end, the last person can open their eyes and grab the spoon.
The team that grabs the spoon first sends the person from the end
of their line to the beginning and everyone shifts down one.
The object is to be the first team to rotate all the way back to
the starting position. If the coin is tails, nothing happens and you
flip again. If the people at the beginning of the line squeeze on tails,
they go to the end of the line (rotating backwards). They also go
backwards if anyone on their team opens their eyes prematurely or makes
any noise. It is helpful to have judges standing behind each team to
watch for erroneous squeezes and to listen for noises. Shoe Box Relay Give
each team one or more ordinary shoe boxes. If you have enough, give 1 to
each player. players put their feet in the boxes and hoof it around the
goal and back. It's fun to watch. Shoe Shucking Race Divide
into groups of six. Each
team member must lie on his back with his feet in the air, meeting in
the center of the circle. A
container of water is placed on the elevated feet.
The object is for each member to remove his shoes without
spilling his water. The
team to win is the one with the most shoes off at the three minute time
limit. Ski Game needed:
2x4 Skis, 2 Groups of 5-10 Prepare
a four 2x4's, (or larger if possible), with ropes at each end by
drilling through the wood and pushing the rope through and knotting it.
Have each group stand on a set of the "skis" (Pack as many
teens together as possible). Then they have to race about 100'. This is
another good problem solving puzzle. (They have to yell
"RIGHT" - "LEFT" - "RIGHT" and so on). Slimy Twister Age
Group: All Youth Get
as many twister boards as you want. On each one of the colors you put a
paper plate full of some type of food representing that color.(i.e.. egg
yoke for yellow, blueberries for blue, green jello for green, ketchup
for red) you play the game like you would normally play. (Make sure the
youth is prepared ahead of time for the mess and stains to follow).
Snowless Snowball Fight This
is a fun game to play if you like having snowball fights, but do not
have any snow. You'll need white pantyhose and flour to make the
snowballs and how many depends on your group size (about 1 to 1.5 per
person). You take the pantyhose and cut the two legs apart from each
other. You take an 8 oz paper cup, fill it with flour and put it into
the bottom of the pantyhose leg. Then you tie off the pantyhose with two
square knots on top off each other, cut the pantyhose in between the
knots and you have a snowless snowball. Repeat the process where the
knot is still in the leg until you have used it all. You should get
about 8 per leg from "queen size" hose.
Now you have snowballs that do not hurt too bad when they hit you
and you can use throw them over and over again. With these snowballs you
can play any number of games. One
is to have the group break up into two teams with a brave youth leader
as the leader, or should I say target for each team.
Split the area of play in half and have the leaders positioned a
good ways away from each other in a designated place with only a little
room to move around (a circle 4 ft. across is good). Then have the teams
try and hit the other team's leader. If a person is hit with a snowball
while on the enemies side, they have to drop their snowball and return
to their territory. The team that ends up with the leader that has less
flour on them is the winner. To make the game a little more interesting,
surprise everyone by entering waterballoons in as ammunition half-way
through the game.
Soccer Shuffle Age
Group: All Youth You
will need chairs and a Nerf soccerball. Divide group into 2 teams. Form
2 lines of chairs facing each other. Team 1 on one side and Team 2 on
the other (See below). Each team must kick the ball and try to score to
their right hand side. The ball must pass the last 2 people on the end
to score. However, it cannot go over the heads of those two. Hands must
be kept behind their backs and a "hand ball" results in the
ball being dropped by the referee near that person's goal. (Kind of a
penalty shot). XXXXXXXXXX
Team One o XXXXXXXXXX
Team Two People
will get kicked, but keep encouraging them to go after the ball. :) Give
enough room so they can reach the ball, but not too close so that
they're not in danger of getting kicked anywhere else.
Spoon Game The
version we played was with a deck of cards and one less spoon then there
is people. We sat in a circle, the spoons in a pile in the center, and
one person would start passing the cards one at a time to the right,
each person picks out a number that he/she wants to collect. When one
person collects three of a kind they yell SPOONS!!!! and everybody dives
to get a spoon. the person that does not get a spoon is out. You would
eliminate a spoon each round and play until you have a winner.
The "spoons" game is the one where everybody sits in a
circle with a number of spoons in the middle corresponding to the number
of players in the circle minus one. Then cards are passed, one at a
time, around the circle from the deck and the player may start
collecting them until they reach four of a kind (they're only allowed to
keep a total of 4 cards in their hand at a time). When the first player
gets four of a kind, that person nonchalantly picks up one of the spoons
and continues passing the cards. As soon as the first person picks up a spoon, everybody else
grabs a spoon. Of course one player is "spoonless" and is out
of the game. The game starts again and repeats until only one player is
left. It's hilarious fun trying to watch your cards and the spoons at
the same time. Stack Tilt Age
Group: Early and Mid Adolescents Bring
a box of ginger snaps or graham crackers. Have one or two kids volunteer
to be stackers. The rest of the kids take turns lying on a couch on
their backs. The stackers see how many crackers can be stacked in a pile
on each forehead. The person with the highest stack wins. Usually
laughing knocks the stack over early. Steal The Treasure Players
sit in a circle. One blindfolded person sits in the middle, with their
treasure (keys, rattle) in front of them and their stick (rolled up
newspaper) in hand. A thief is chosen from the circle to attempt to
snatch the treasure, without making any noise to alert the guard in the
middle. If the thief is swatted by the newspaper stick, he must return
to the circle. If the thief succeeds in stealing the treasure, they
become the new guard. Stick the Lifesaver On Someone's Belly Game Stick
the licked lifesavers on someone's face game" (Christmas version)
This is an old take-off of the "stick the licked lifesavers on
someone's face game" but with a holiday flair. Get three or four or
five guys (the less hairy the better) and have each guy assemble a team
of five or six others to build a Christmas wreath on the guy's stomach
using licked red and green Christmas mints, lifesavers, and red gum (for
the bow). You'll find that once you put one of those Christmas mints in
your mouth it gets real sticky and sticks to a bare tummy pretty well.
Give all of the teams about five minutes to "build"
their circular wreath and let 'em go at it.
After five minutes, have all of the teams sit down and then vote
on the best one. Feel free to use other candy, too. Gummy Worms, Jolly
Ranchers, and other mints work well and add color. Just make sure that
you run a test beforehand to make sure that it sticks well. As a rule,
the more slobber...the better. You'll want to get guys that don't mind
revealing their belly and getting a little sticky. As a side note...
don't use Big Red or cinnamon gum for the bow. It burns a little when it
gets wet and is put on someone's tender tummy and sits for a while.
Doubt me? Try it yourself.... I did ouch.
Stick Spinning Get
a broomstick and have a member of the group hold the bottom to his/her
chin. Now, looking at the tip of the stick have him/her spin as fast as
possible, keeping eyes on the tip. After they seem quite dizzy, tell
them to drop the broomstick and step over it.
It's hilarious, you have got to try it! If you're doing a campout
or something at night, try "star" spinning - focusing on a
star instead. Have them walk 10 feet or so. Story Noises Off! 1.
Have two volunteers come to the front of the room. One will stand facing
the class/audience. The second volunteer will stand behind the other,
with his or her back away from the audience. 2.
The class will come up with a title to a story. 3.
The person facing the audience must create a story from the given title
while the other volunteer creates sound effects. The sound effects can
either accentuate the story or encourage it. Swamp Crossing Divide
group into two teams. Give each team 3 "rocks" (construction
paper cutouts about 1 1/2' x 1 1/2'). Make a start and finish line
(maybe 30 feet apart) and tell them that they must get their whole team
across without touching the water, using only these rocks to get across.
They may move the rocks as they go, however, only one foot can be on a
rock at a time. A cool puzzle to try and figure out! Great for building
cooperation skills! Swinging Marshmallows Divide
up and find a partner. Place
a marshmallow at the end of a string.
Have one partner hold the string with his teeth and have the
other person lay down and try and catch the marshmallow in his mouth.
No hands or feet can be used.
To make this more interesting add chocolate syrup to the
marshmallow. T-shirt Tower Place
a T-shirt on the floor and see how many people can get on the shirt
without anyone touching the floor.
One group’s record is 11. The Great Turkey Dressing Age
Group: All Youth Divide
into appropriate number of groups (we used 4 groups of 9 people each).
Give each group a paper sack filled with the following: newspaper, 1 pr.
pantyhose, 4 sheets tissue paper, 1 roll toilet paper, scissors and
tape. Each team has 10 minutes to select and dress one member of their
team as a turkey. We did this at our Wednesday Night youth meeting. The
kids had a great time and the creativity was unbelievable! Thread the Spoon Number
of participants: 10 minimum, 5 per team. Max. 10 per team. Equipment:
1 spoon and about 20 ft of yarn (avg. 4 ft per team member) Preparation
is everything for this game! At least one hour before you play, cut the
yarn into long segments, allowing about 4 feet of yarn per team member.
If in doubt, always make your yarn longer than necessary. Tie one end of
one piece of yarn to the end of one spoon. Do this for each team. Put
the spoons (with the yarn attached) in the FREEZER to chill for an hour
- the colder the better. You may want to dip the spoons in water first
to add a little ice build-up. When you're ready to play, divide the kids
into equal size teams. I recommend at least 5 per team. Hand the spoon
to the first player and instruct them to put the spoon down their shirt,
through pants legs (or skirts) and out by their feet. The fact that the
spoons are cold will be apparent very quickly. The first person should
also be instructed to hold the end of the yarn while the rest of the
team repeats the threading process. NOTE:
the spoon does not, and should not, go in undergarments; only inside of
shirts, slacks, etc. The object of the game is to see which team can
"thread the spoon" from the first person to the last. When
done, the entire team will be stitched together! [Note:
My group found it even funnier to freeze the string into a small sized,
plastic margarine tub. That way it's not just a cold spoon but a block
of ice they have to slide through their clothing.] Toe Fencing *
Source: Play It! - Great Games For Groups, page 98 Cool
game and if set to music, looks like a new kind of dance. All players
pair off and lock hands and try to tap the top of one of their partner's
feet with their own feet. Players hop around trying to avoid being
stomped on. After being tapped 3 times, that player is out and the
winning partner challenges another winner.
The game continues till only one player is left. Sounds
interesting!
Triangle
Tag Groups
of Four Indoors
or Out Three
of the four people hold hands. The loose person is "IT". One
person of the three has to be tagged. The triangle of three runs and
spins to keep that person from being tug. "IT" tries to reach
across or run around the other two to tag the third person. Twenty Questions For
somewhat small groups (3-15 people). You
give the group a scenario and they try to figure out the missing pieces
and the answer to the scenario by asking the leader yes or no questions
(a question that can only be answered by yes, no, or doesn't make a
difference). 1.
Man with a backpack There
is a man with a backpack on lying face down in the middle of the desert
dead. How did he die? Parachute
jumper that died from his parachute not opening up. 2.
Men and bicycles Two
men lie dead at a table in a room with 52 bicycles. How did the men die? Two
gamblers shot each other while playing cards. (Bicycle Brand Cards)
Unicorn Age
Group: All Youth Divide
group into half and number the kids on each side. Next, have the
corresponding numbered kids line up. Using a marshmallow, each team has
to place it between their foreheads and carry it in relay style to the
finish line. The first one timed wins. Variations:
water balloons, wet sponges, eggs. What Am I? The
youth sit in a circle. One person goes outside the room, while he is
away the others decide what he should "be" when he comes back.
He has to ask each youth member in turn what he has to buy for himself.
One may say black boots, another a whistle, another a flashlight, etc.
If the shopper goes right around the circle without guessing what he is
(policeman), he must go out again, and the campers will choose something
else. Who Sir? Me Sir? Age
Group: Early Adolescents Have
the kids sit in one row containing just enough chairs for everyone. Have
the kids number off, then say, "I'm looking for the one who stole
my cookie jar and I believe it was number seven". You can say any
number, but the corresponding kid has to say "Who sir, me
sir?" to which you reply "Yes sir, you sir". The student
then says, "No sir, not I sir", and the leader asks,
"Then who sir?" and the student replies, "Number two,
sir". Then the second students says, "Who sir, me sir?"
and the leader says "Yes sir, you sir" and the game continues
like this until a student messes up by saying the wrong word, hesitating
too long, or answering to the wrong number. The student who messes up
goes to the end of the line, and many students will have a new number.
The point is to get to the front of the line, so the kids will want to
keep returning the "questioning" to a person sitting closer to
the front of the line to give them more opportunities to mess up so that
the students can move up. The leader can add to the confusion after the
kids understand how to play by talking very fast or by talking directly
to one student while saying another's number. Our kids love this game
and the leader doesn't have to worry about what to do with kids who are
"out" of the game because they are never out. Zoom Circle Players all sit in a circle. One person starts the zoom circle by turning their head either left or right (facing the person next to them) and says, "Zoom". The next person must (quickly!) do the same with the person next to them. Concentrate on smooth flow for a continued length of time. The next step: "Screech zoom". As the Zoom hits you, make a braking motion with your foot, and say "Screech zoom". The Zoom must now reverse direction. The next step: "Profigliaro". As the Zoom hits you, you can point across the circle to a specific person and say "Profigliaro". (To avoid confusion, you may wish to say "Profligliaro -- John" or something). The selected person may now restart the Zoom in the direction of their choice. Next step: "Schwartz!" The recipient of a Profigliaro can reject it by holding their nose, turning their head and saying "Schwartz!" The Zoom then falls back to the pointer's responsibility.
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