2012

YOUTH GROUP GAMES

Linda.faithgirl7

7/24/2012

INDOOR GAMES
1. Apfelbeien
Zwei pfel werden in zwei Schsseln mit Wasser gelegt oder an zwei Kordeln in Kopfhhe aufgehngt. Zwei Spieler oder zwei Zweierteams treten gegeneinander im Wettessen an und mssen so schnell wie mglich ihren Apfel verspeisen. Es drfen jedoch keine Hnde, Arme oder Fe verwendet werden sondern lediglich der Kopf. Wer nach einer festgelegten Zeit den grten Teil seines Apfels verspeist hat, ist der Gewinner / das Gewinnerteam.

2. Hndekreis
Alle Spieler knien sich in einen Kreis am Boden und sttzen ihre Hnde vor sich auf den Boden. Dabei berkreuzen sich die Arme jeweils mit den Armen des linken und rechten Nachbarn, so dass ich zwischen meinen beiden Hnden zwei fremde Hnde (eine vom linken und einem vom rechten Nachbarn) liegen. Nun wird im Kreis herum geklopft: Ein einfaches Klopfen bedeutet, dass die Richtung beibehalten wird. Klopft jedoch eine Hand zweimal (schnell hintereinander), so wird die Richtung gewechselt. Verschlft eine Hand ihren Einsatz, fliegt diese raus. Mit der anderen Hand darf man noch weiterspielen. Das Spiel sollte in einem zgigen Klopfrythmus (Sekundentakt) gespielt werden. Wessen Hand als letztes berlebt hat gewonnen.

3. Electricity
Arrange everyone into two equally numbered teams. Have both teams line up in parallel lines. At the end of the line, place the object about five feet away (in equal distance from both ends of the line). Youll be at the head of the line. Explain the rules: Everyone in line will need to hold hands and close their eyes. Only the first person of both lines can open their eyes. Flip the coin in the air, catch it, and reveal the quarter to the first person of both teams. If the quarter comes up as heads, the first person squeezes the next persons hand. The second person squeezes the next persons hand, and so forth. At the end of the line, the last person runs to grab the object. The team that grabs the object first wins a point for the round. If the quarter comes up as tails, then no one squeezes anyones hand. If theres an accidental hand squeeze and the quarter comes up as tails, the team that grabbed the object loses a point for the round. For the second round, the first person goes to the back of the line and the game continues. The first team that reaches 10 points wins the game.

4. Chair Basketball
Place masking tape on the floor to split the room into two equal sides. Divide everyone into two equally numbered teams. Arrange the chairs into three equal, spaced rows (or as close to being equal as possible). Place a basket on the corners of each side. Ask for one volunteer from each team to be the runner. The Runners will be able to get up from their chairs and

pass the ball to their teammates- but cannot pass to the opponents side. Runners cannot shoot the ball as well. When you say go, each team tries to toss the ball into the basket. A basket made from the third row is three points, second row is two points, and first row is one point. The team with the most points after fifteen minutes wins the game.

5. Interview Game
Split everyone into pairs. Distribute the list of questions and pens/pencils to one person in each pair. The person with the paper will be given five minutes to ask as many questions as they can about their partner based on the questions on the list, without showing their partner the questions. The questions may be asked in any order. After five minutes, have everyone stop asking questions. Announce how the points are distributed (in the Interview Game Points download, the highlighted questions are worth three points, while the unhighlighted questions are worth one point). Have each person calculate the number of points they received. Whoever has the most points wins the game.

6. Four On A Couch
Split everyone into two equal teams and ask them to sit in a circle. Add one empty seat in the circle. When starting, each participant needs to sit next to his/her opponent on both sides (alternating team members), including the four people on the "couch". Hand out the pieces of paper and pens (one per person). Ask everyone to write their names on their piece of paper and to put their pieces of paper in the bag. After this, pass around the bag and ask everyone to draw one piece of paper with someone else's name on it. Each person should read their own piece of paper without letting anyone else know what his or her paper says. Explain that the goal of the game is to get four of their teammates on the couch. The person on the right of empty chair/spot calls the name of a game participant. The person whose piece of paper has the called name sits in the empty chair. Whoever sits on the right of the new empty chair calls out another name. Start by asking the person to the right of the empty chair to call a name. The person with the piece of paper with the written name sits in the empty chair. Continue this pattern. The first team to have four of their members on the couch wins the game.

Four On A Couch Set-up:

7. Salad Bowl
Have everyone sit in a chair, arranged in a circle facing inwards. Distribute the pieces of paper and pens, one per person. Ask each person to write their names on a piece of paper and place each piece of paper inside the hat or bag. Then, ask one volunteer to be in the middle of the circle. Explain the rules: The person in the middle takes a piece of paper from the hat or bag. The volunteer describes the person listed on the paper as quickly and thoroughly as possible, while the people sitting in the chairs attempt to guess who is listed on the paper. The volunteer cannot use letters, "sounds like", or hand gestures in the game and must be polite. Once someone correctly guesses the person listed, then the person in the middle of the circle draws another piece of paper and the process continues. The person in the middle has 45 seconds to collect as many pieces of paper as possible. When time runs out, the person sitting to the right of the volunteer will be the next person to be in the middle of the circle. The person that collects the most pieces of paper wins the game.

8. Amoeba
Players stand in a circle and hold hands. A chair is in the middle of the circle. The leader says 3-2-1-go at which point players, while holding tightly to the hands of the players next to them, try to pull the circle back so that other plays are pulled into the chair. If a player touches the chair, they are out. If two players let go of each others hands, both of those players are out. The last one remaining wins.

9. Fishbowl
At the beginning, each player writes down 3 names that everyone would know on a small piece of paper, then folds those papers in half and puts them in a bucket. Two even teams are then formed. Teams should sit next to teammates forming a semi-circle (and a complete circle with both teams). One team begins and the first person draws a name from the bucket and tries to get teammates to guess what it is (details described later). If guessed correctly, the person takes the paper out of the bucket and passes the bucket to the next person. The more correct guesses means the more points a team gets. After one minute, the other team gets to do the same. Following that, it goes back to the first team and the two teams alternate until all of the papers are gone from the bucket. These small sessions are a part of a larger round. A round is defined as the time from a full bucket to an empty bucket. There are three total rounds and each round has unique rules for guessing what's on the paper. Round 1: Player may say everything but the name on the piece of paper. Round 2: Player may act out anything but may not say a word. Round 3: Player may only say one word. Nothing more. No actions allowed. At the end of round 3, whichever team has won more names throughout all 3 rounds is the game winner.

10.

Ha

Players form a circle. One person starts it and with their palms together, they make a chopping motion to point at someone else in the circle during which they say "Ha!". The person who is pointed at must then put their hands (palms together), in the air and say "Ha!". Following that the two people on either side of the person who was just pointed at must, with their palms together, point inward to that person and say "Ha!" simultaneously. Then the person who was pointed at points at another, and the pattern continues. The catch in this game is that players need to follow a certain beat. When played successfully, the game sounds like Ha, Ha, Ha, Ha.... all evenly spaced out. The order that repeats is: Ha! (person points at someone) Ha! (person receives point) Ha! (people adjacent to person pointed at point inward) If anyone messes up the beat (fails to go, goes too soon), or says "Ha!" when it is not their turn, they are eliminated from the game.

11. Ninja
Players stand in a circle. Players take turns, going around the circle. The player who is up can make one quick motion in order to slap the hand of another player. The motion must last not much more than 1 second. The player freezes in the position he or she ends in. The player being assaulted must try, also with one quick move, to evade being hand-slapped. This move must also last not much more than 1 second and the player then freezes in whatever position he or she ends in. If a players' hand is slapped, they are eliminated from the circle. If a players' move is not swift and quick, they are eliminated from the circle. Optional: Players are eliminated if they try to evade an attack when the attacker was really attacking someone else.

12. Mafia
Players sit in a circle and one player is the facilitator. The facilitator tells everyone to go to sleep (put their head down) and selects (taps on the head) 2 mafia members. The facilitator does the same for 1 doctor and 1 detective. The facilitator then tells the mafia members to wake up (put their head up). The facilitator asks the mafia members who they want to kill and the two, using non-verbals, decide upon one person. The facilitator then tells the mafia to go to sleep. The facilitator then tells the doctor to wake up. The facilitator asks the doctor who he or she wants to save, the doctor points, and then the facilitator tells the doctor to go to sleep. The facilitator then tells the detective to wake up and asks the detective who he or she wants to arrest. The detective points, and then the facilitator tells the detective to wake up. The facilitator then tells the townspeople (everyone) to wake up. The facilitator then tells the story of what happened last night. The facilitator can come up with an elaborate story of what happened but the basic storyline is one of the following:

- The mafia killed someone - The doctor saved someone - The detective caught someone The townspeople can then vote on who they think the mafia member in the circle is. After making an accusation, the facilitator can call for a vote. If more than 50 percent vote to remove that member, then that member, regardless of if he or she was the mafia, is killed. From that point on, that member watches the game and sees all the actions that occur while the townspeople are asleep. If one or two of the mafia members are the last in the game, the mafia win. If the mafia members are eliminated before the townspeople, the townspeople win.

13. Paper Plates

Sit comfortably in a circle and relax in a room. Each person is given a paper plate and some markers. That person then writes their name on the paper plate. After everyone has their name written, everyone passes their paper plate one person to the left. Each person writes a note (or one positive adjective) on that person's paper plate that they think describes the owner of the plate. Then then pass the plate to the left again and the process continues. This continues until everyone receives their own paper plate back, filled with encouraging messages and words about the strengths their peers see in them.

14. Paper Telephone

Each player receives a stack of papers. Each stack of papers should contain the number of sheets for how many people are playing (i.e. if 6 people are playing, each person should have 6 pieces of paper for a total of 36 sheets altogether). The facilitator instructs players to put a small number on the bottom right of each sheet in incremental order (first sheet has a 1, second sheet a 2, and so on...). Then the players stack their own sheets so that 1 is on top and the highest number is on the bottom. The facilitator says go and every player writes a message on the 1st sheet. The message can be whatever desires. After 1 minute, the facilitator says switch and all the players slide their entire stack, with the message on top, to the right. The receiving player takes the stack, reads the message, and then puts the message on the back of the stack. The player then, on the 2nd card, proceeds to draw a picture representing the message the first player wrote. After 1 minute, the facilitator says switch and players again slide their entire stack to the right, this time with the number 2 card (drawing) on top. The receiving player looks at the drawing, puts it in the back of the stack, and writes a message about what the drawing was. The facilitator continues saying "switch" every 1 minute with players alternating from writing to drawing and back to writing and so on. When the stacks of paper are all used, the players should slide the stack to their right one final time and the originator of the stack should now have their own stack. Players may read through the stacks, laughing at the modifications their original sentence took as it passed through multiple pictures and multiple interpretations of those pictures.

15. Psychologist
Players sit in a circle. One player is selected at the psychologist and that player must leave the room. While psychologist is gone, facilitator asks group to come up with one problem they all have. Examples include: - Everyone is afraid of walls - Everyone thinks they are on the moon - Everyone believes they are 3 years old - Everyone is late for a class The psychologist outside the room can come in whenever the facilitator says. The rest of the players then must subtly act out or have conversations that give hints about what the problem is. The psychologist gets 3 guesses to identify what the problem is.

16. Silent Football aka Sir Mayor Sir

Players sit in a circle. The facilitator explains how the game works. The facilitator starts the "football" by tapping on his right or left leg once, twice, or three times. If it's one tap on the right leg, the "football" goes one person to the right. If two, then two people, if three, then three people. Whoever receives the "football" must tap their leg in the same manner to pass the football on. (There is not really a football, it's imaginary - following the taps is what is important.) If a player wishes to pass the football further than 3 people the player must point using their elbow and eye contact at the person they are passing it to. The facilitator then gives the rules which are as follows: - No laughing - No pointing - Must be aware of the "football" if it comes to you - May not tap unless you have the "football" - No talking unless asked to talk The above provides a framework for the game but it is not what makes the game fun. Here is where it really starts to get good... The facilitator explains that if anyone sees any other people breaking any of the four rules, that person may raise their hand. The facilitator picks them by saying "Citizen ______". The player raising their hand must address the facilitator by saying "Sir Mayor Sir..." and then give their complaint. The facilitator/major then facilitates a discussion about the grievance done to the community by this breach in rules. If the person is found to be guilty, the mayor can ask for the citizens thoughts on what an appropriate punishment might be (i.e. sitting in the center of the circle, having to talk in a high/low pitched voice the rest of the game, etc). The creativity of the mayor along with the citizens is what makes this game good. When the dispute is resolved (or before if the mayor wishes), players return to the game of silent football until another dispute arises.

The game is finished whenever the major wishes. (For this game to work, players should know each other well so that "punishments" are not taken personally and that players are comfortable with one another that they can be silly/creative)

17. Super Ninja Game

Players form a circle. Each player comes up with their "super ninja move". This move involves a sound and an action. For example, a player making a large forward sweep with their arms and saying "Ka-Pow!" would qualify. After each person has shared their super ninja move (more than once preferably), the leader explains that there is a hierarchy to the circle. The leader is in the top position, the person left to the leader is in the second to top position, third to the left is third to top, and so on, and the last position is the position to the right of the leader. The leader then yells out "What time is it?" and everyone else responds by saying "Super Ninja Game". (It does not make grammatical sense. That's okay). Then the leader presents his super ninja action/sound followed by another player's super ninja action/sound. The player that corresponds to that action then has to give first their super ninja action/sound and then another players. This continues until a player does not respond quick enough or a player messes up in giving the ninja action/sound. If a player messes up, that player must go to the bottom of the circle (position to the right of the leader). All the players lower than that player move up one. In addition to moving up, they take on the super ninja action/sound corresponding to that new location. Players above the player who got out do not move and so do not take on a different action. If the leader gets out, the leader would go to the lowest spot and everyone would move up and there would be a new leader starting the rounds.

18. Look Up Look Down

Players stand in a circle, all with their heads looking down. The facilitator yells "look up". All players look up at someone else (they cannot change who they are looking at after they look up). If two people happen to be looking at each other (i.e. make eye contact), they both have to scream. Whoever screams last is eliminated from the circle. If someone screams when they are not making eye contact with anyone, they are also eliminated. The facilitator then says "look down" and everyone looks down. The facilitator then says "look up" and the process continues. The game continues until there are only two players left. When there are only two people left, rock paper scissors or the game "Star Wars" can help pick a winner.

19. Sing Your Heart Out

Group splits into multiple teams. At least 4 teams are required and ideal team size is 5 - 8 people. The facilitator yells out one word for all the teams to hear. The teams then have 2 minutes to write down all the songs they can think of involving that word. (For instance, if the word is \"love\", the teams may write down \"Can you Feel the Love Tonight\", \"The Barney Song\", \"I Knew I Loved You Before I Met You\". After the 2 minutes are up, all the teams

stand up. The facilitator then points at a team that starts and they need to sing at least 6 words from one of their songs, including the selected word in their song. The facilitator then points at the next team and that team must do the same. The facilitator continues doing, cycling through all the teams, until a team either repeats a song or does not have a song to sing. If this happens, the team must sit and the remaining teams continue on. The last team standing wins.

20. Rock Paper Scissors Train

All the players find a partner and play rock paper scissors. Whoever loses must put their hands on the should of the winner, forming a train. The front person of that train leads their train to another train and the front people of each train play against each other. The train that losses attaches to the back of the winning train. This continues until only one train remains.

21. Shuffle your Buns

Players start sitting in a circle all facing inward. One person is selected and stands up in the middle of the circle, leaving one empty chair in the circle. Person in the middle trys to sit in the empty seat. The people sitting down have to slide to the empty chair to their side. If the person gets in the seat then whoever was suppose to move now is in the middle. While playing leader yells switch and the group changes the direction they were moving. Additional. To play as an elimination game have music that when it stops who ever is in the middle is now out.

22. Balloon Frenzy

The aim of this balloon game is to knock the opposing teams balloons to the floor whilst keeping your own in the air. Basically you have all the balloons for each team blow up their balloons and stand on opposite ends of the room. When the whistle is blown all the balloons must be launched into the air and cannot be held but only hit, like volley ball. As soon as a balloon hits the ground that balloon is eliminated (it is good to have runners to collect the sunken balloons) The first team to sink all their opponents balloons to the ground is the winner. We like to do this in rounds like the best of three, its a super fun balloon game!

23. Banana Chomp Relay 2

Using the Bananas with the kids' names on them, pile all the bananas in a heap at the front of the room. Using the same teams line them up at the back of the room. Give each team member a number. We had numbers 1-5 on each team. The leader needs to yell a number, and the kids with that number from each group run up, find their banana, run back to the group, and eat it. The team that finishes eating all their bananas first, wins. Our kids loved this one!

24. Chairball

Set up your hall like a foosball table: With chairs as the black and white team. The 'black' chairs face to the right goal and the 'white' chairs face to the left goal. The goal could be a bucket, 2 chairs or maybe someone standing on a chair. The 2 teams have to sit in the chairs and hit the ball (or balloon) with their hands and try to get a goal at their end. Pretty sure that's all!

25. Blindfolded Llamington Eat

The aim of this game is for a blindfolded person to eat the lamingtons that are placed randomly on a tray as fast as they can. Rules: They are to use no hands only their mouths and have to find the lamingtons on the tray. Serve about two lamingtons per tray. It's very funny to watch! The person with the quikest time wins. P.S someone needs to hold the tray stilland wipe it out after each persons turn.

26. Chocolate Game

Place a chocolate bar in the center of the table. The candy should stay in its wrapper and, to make the game last longer, you could wrap the candy in layers of gift-wrapping paper as well. Each person sitting around the table takes a turn at rolling the dice. The 1st person who rolls a six gets to start eating the candy bar -- but only after he puts on a pair of rubber gloves, a cap, facemask; an apron, and only after he runs once around the table; Then with only with a knife and fork he must remove the wrapper and cut and eat the squares of the chocolate one at a time. Add or remove whatever steps you want to make the game easier or more difficult. While he is getting ready (according to the instructions above) to eat the candy bar, the group keeps taking turns rolling the dice. If someone rolls a six, then the person who rolled the six before him relinquishes his right to the candy bar, and the 2nd person must try to eat the candy before someone else rolls six. The game is over when the candy bar is finished.

27. Click Click Bang Bang

The leader will point to 4 people and say "click click bang bang." and ask who did it. People will assume that is was the person who was pointed to first. but really the first person who talks is the killer. it took me like 15 minutes to finally find out how you play this game!

28. Create A Commercial

This game can either be done using a video camera and a TV, or just acted out on the spot. Split your group up into teams and give each team a random object which they will need to advertise and maybe something like a theme (ie "school" or "hospital") that they will need to run with. Send each team off to prepare their commericial then either get each team to individually film their ad, or just bring them all back to the hall and get them to act it out in front of each other. Great for a sleepover and always provides lots of laughs! Maybe have some light-hearted judges on the side also?

29. Creationary
A friend suggested this game to me and we played it at youth group the following week to give it a test run and it worked really well. It's called "Creationary" and works in a similar way to pictionary and sculptionary. You'll need a random assortment of lego blocks. Prepare a good list of (10 or more) words which won't be too challenging to make with lego. For example: tree, house, car, dinosaur, hospital Divide the group into teams and give each team a supply of lego blocks. Each team sends one player up to find out the first word. They then have to return to the rest of their team and "create" the word out of the lego. Once a player in their team guesses what word they've created, that player runs up to the leader with the words and gets the next word. This continues until the team completes all the words. We sometimes add in an extra challenge. Once a player guesses the word they need to run a lap of the church, then get the next word and continue. Here are 2 sample lists I used: List #1 House; Garden; Soccer; Sunshine; Apple; Truck; Cow; Stairs; Police; Circus. List #2 Tomato; Boat; Fire; Bed; Computer; Moon; Chicken; Doctor; Break; Worship.

30. Cup Stack Relay

Line two teams up next to each other with a table a few metres away from the start of the line, each team has 15 cups stacked up like a pyramid. The first player will run to the table then collapse the pyramid so that all the cups now sit inside each other. Then the player will proceed to restack all the cups back into the pyramid formation before running back to their team for the next player to do the same. The first team to run through all their players wins. I got the idea from speed stacking its on youtube if your unsure.

31. Cups and Downs

This game is best played with a small group. Place 20 or more cups in the middle of the room, put half of them upside down and the other half the right way up. Divide the group into 2 teams and give each team a name (ie ups or downs) - the 'up' team needs to turn as many cups up the right way as possible, and the 'down' team needs to flip them upside down. When the allocated time limit is over, count all the cups and whichever team has the most turned up their way wins.

32. Fruit Basket Turnover

Everyone sits in chairs that are facing in a circle except one player - that one is in the middle. Go around the circle and give everyone 1 of 3 fruit names (or 4 or 5 - depending on how many is playing and don't forget to give a name to the one in the middle). The youth leader (or the one in middle, if youth leader wants to play) will call out one or two fruits. Those who have that fruit as their "name" must get up and go to another chair, . . . FAST! We have a rule

that you can't go to the chair next to you to make people run everywhere. The one in the middle tries to find an empty chair so someone else will be "it" and not him. Or, call "Fruit Basket Turnover" and EVERYONE must find a new chair. You could keep playing on and on or someone can be "out" when they have been in the middle more than once - just be sure to put one chair out and place someone else in middle to keep playing. You do not have to use fruit you can use anything, like biblical names, or numbers, or books of the Bible, just don't choose too many. Keep it about 3 to 5 different "names" depending on the size of the group. We love this game and play it quite often. It is a blast! Hope you enjoy!

Fruit Juice Face-off

Each team must line up behind an empty bowl. At the other end there must be a bucket of water with one of each type of fruit in there (preferably one for each team member). In the middle, between the bowl and the bucket, there can be some kind of obstacle like a chair. When the leader says "Go!" the first team member must run up to the other end, and army crawl under the chair, then stick their head in the bucket and grab one of the pieces of fruit using no hands. Once done, they must bring it back the same way they came and drop it in the bowl. Then the next team member can go and do the same thing. Meanwhile the rest of the team must crush the fruit in the bowl with potato mashers to begin making the fruit juice mix. It might help to have some fruit juice already in the bowl to make it a bit more juicy! When all the fruit items have been collected and crushed in the bowl, the team must completely finish their mixture by drinking it through straws. The first team to do this wins!

Icebreaker Questions
A great way to help people open up to each other is to ask them fun questions that allow them to express their personality or interesting things about them. This youth group icebreaker game basically just provides a way for kids to find out more about each other - it would work well for a small group introductory session. Here is a list of 13 icebreaker questions to help break the ice: 1. If you could have an endless supply of any food, what would you get? 2. If you were an animal, what would you be and why? 3. What is one goal you'd like to accomplish during your lifetime? 4. When you were little, who was your favorite superhero and why? 5. What's your favorite thing to do in the summer? 6. If they made a movie of your life, what would it be about and which actor would you want to play you? 7. If you were an ice cream flavor, which one would you be and why? 8. What's your favorite cartoon character, and why? 9. If you could visit any place in the world, where would you choose to go and why? 10. What's the ideal dream job for you? 11. What's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten? 12. If you had to describe yourself using three words, it would be... 13. If someone made a movie of your life would it be a drama, a comedy, a romantic-comedy, action film, or science fiction?

Identity
Divide your group into 2 teams. Each person writes the name of a well known person they would like to be play for this game on a notecard. "Well-known" can mean famous (Madonna) or very well known (Abe Lincoln). The leader then collects the notecards (one team at a time) and writes on a piece of posterboard the names. Teams sit together and posterboard is displayed by the corresponding team. Teams go back and forth trying to figure out which person on the other team has chosen what well-known person ("Will is Abe Lincoln" or "Lauren is Madonna"). If they guess right that person then joins their team. Game goes until all players are on one team and that team is the winner. You are keeping secret the identity of the person you wrote down but teams work together to figure out who is who.

If I Went to Mars...
Group is seated in circle. First person begins, 'My name is ... If I went to Mars, I would take.(a object beginning with the first letter of their name e.g. "Aaron's apple")' Next person in circle then says, 'My name is ... If I went to Mars, I would take (1st person's name and object) and (their object). Third person continues, aiming to remember each previous person and their item before adding his/ her own. Person is 'out' if they either forget name or object, or make a mistake in recalling name or object. Game is over when there is only one person 'left' (or you have a set time, say 5 minutes).

Matchbox Nose Race

You need an empty matchbox for each person and a hall (preferably carpeted). The matchbox must be empty, and is 5.2cm x 3.7cm x 1.6cm. In the hall, measure out a 20m track, which is as straight as possible. If your hall is less than 20m long, then go up one wall and along the adjacent wall - do not have more than a 90 degree turn in your track. Contestants line up at the start, with their hands on the floor, and their noses on a matchbox which is on the floor. On your command they push the matchbox with their nose to the finish line. They are disqualified if they touch the box with anything other than their nose. A variation of this could be with a ping pong ball and a straw. Players have a path made for them from two strips of masking tape. They have to blow the ping pong ball with the straw, making sure the ball stays inside the 'path'. If it goes out, they have to start again.

Matchstick Truth or Lie

Before playing, designate two actions for 'true' and 'false' (such as hands on heads or hands behind back)and hand out five matchsticks to each player. When it is a players turn they say their ONE STATEMENT about themselves (true or false). There is then a countdown (usually by the Youth Group leader) at which point the youth do the action which they beleive reflects the statement said by the player. The player then reveals the correct answer and those who got it wrong must give the player one of their matchsticks. Once everyone has had a turn get them to count up how many matchsticks they have, the player with the most wins.

Messy Chiocolate Eating Competition

Tie the chiocolate to a string. Split the group into pairs - each pair being a "team". One people lies on the floor and one holds the string. The string holder has to dip the chiocolate in the bowl of syrup and take it to the other team member. The team member who is lying down has to try to eat the chiocolate. The first to finish it is the winner.

Murder in the Dark

This game is very simple. Make a room be able to go from pitch black to full light with the flick of a switch, and I'm serious pitch black. Cover up emergency lights and exit signs, unless it's illegal in your area. Shuffle and pass out a deck of cards. Make sure that there is only one Ace and one King in the stack. The student who draws the Ace is the murderer, and the student who draws the King is the police officer. When everyone has drawn cards, turn off the lights. The job of the murderer is to walk around amongst the students and kill people by slicing throats with their index finger. If a student "runs into" a dead person they yell out "MURDER IN THE DARK." At this time the lights need to be turned on. If the person killed was the police officer, the game ends. Everyone should guess who the killer is, and if the police officer chooses to reveal him/herself they can make one person show their card. They do not have to reveal their identity. If the guess is correct, the game is over. If not, the lights turn back off. The police officer only gets one chance per round. This repeats until all people are killed, the officer is killed, or the killer is identified. When this is over, take up the cards, shuffle, and play again. Evidently there is no way to win. The game is incredible fun, and students usually end up playing for hours.

Never Have I Ever

Hold out 5 fingers (well, 4 and your thumb) Go around the circle and one at a time, each person announces something that they have never done, beginning the sentence with the phrase "Never have I ever..." For example, a person could say, "Never have I ever been to Europe." For each statement that is said, all the other players drop a finger if they have done that statement. So, if three other people have been to Europe before, those three people must put down a finger, leaving them with 4 fingers. The goal is to stay in the game the longest (to be the last person with fingers remaining). To win, it's a good strategy to say statements that most people have done, but you haven't. Be creative and silly (but not rude, of course).

Party Blower Matchbox Race

Line up everyone in one long line. Give each child a party blower and empty match box. On knees blow match box to the other end of room. First one to other side wins. Not as easy as sounds.

Play Dough Pictionary

Split the group into groups of about 5 pleople and distribute them around the room. Each group is given a ball of play dough. The leader should stand in the middle with a list of objects, stories or Bible characters. Once the game starts, one person from each group runs to the leader to get a word and then runs back to their group and uses the play dough to create the object or character. During this process, the rest of the team tries to guess what is being created by asking 'yes' or 'no' questions, which the creator answers with a 'yes' or 'no'! Once the object is guessed correctly, another member of the team runs up and tells the leader the answer and gets the new word. The process continues until a team wins by getting through 5 words. The person who is creating cannot talk or write the word.

Porridge Pants
This game can either be played as an up-front game or as an all-play game. Either bring 4 people up front or break your group up into even teams of 4-6. Each team nominates one volunteer. Each volunteer puts on a very large pair of overalls or pants (way too big for them). Duct tape the bottom of the pant legs to their ankles. The remaining group members are given a quiz. For each correct answer, nothing happens. Each incorrect answer results in the volunteers getting a bowl full of cold porridge (or oatmeal) poured down their pants. When all the quiz questions are finished or all the porridge is poured, have the volunteers run around an obstacle course with their squelching porridge filled pants on. You may like to include things like "star jumps" to make it even more fun. Memories.

Schokolade-Essen
Dieses uralte Spiel besteht darin, reihum eine Tafel Schokolade um die Wette zu essen. Dabei gelten folgende Regeln: Man darf zum Essen nur Messer und Gabel verwenden. Zudem gibt es noch eine Pudelmtze, einen Schaal und dicke Handschuhe, die man anziehen muss, bevor man mit dem Essen beginnt. Als weitere Hrde muss man mit dem Wrfel eine 6 gewrfelt haben bevor man loslegen darf. Das ganze spielt sich so ab: Die Kinder sitzen um den Tisch herum. Die Tafel Schokolade wurde gut eingepackt mit dickem Papier und Paketband. Nun drfen die Kinder reihum wrfeln. Wer eine 6 wrfelt schnappt sich zuerst Mtze, Schaal und Handschuhe. Dann bekommt er Messer und Gabel und macht sich ber die Schokolade her. Whrend dessen haben die anderen Kinder natrlich schon weiter gewrfelt und wahrscheinlich ist die nchste 6 bereits gefallen. Vermutlich sogar bevor man Zeit hatte, die Gabel in die Hand zu nehmen. Ein lustiges, hektisches Schmausen steht bevor... Als Variante kann man das Spiel auch mit einem Pckchen Kaugummi und (dicken) Gummihandschuhen spielen. Lustig ist es auch, zwei Teams gegeneinander antreten zu lassen. Das Team, in dem sich zuerst acht Spieler jeweils einen Kaugummi in den Mund gesteckt haben, gewinnt.

Hole dir die Kiste

Die Mitspieler sitzen auf einem Stuhl mit berkreuzten Beinen. Eine kleine Schachtel (Schuhschachtel, Zigarettenpackung o..) wird auf den Boden gestellt. Aufgabe ist es nun mit den Zhnen diese Box aufzuheben, ohne mit den Hnden oder Fssen den Boden zu berhren.

Activity
Es werden zwei Mannschaften gebildet. Der/die SpielleiterIN oder die Mannschaften denken sich eine gerade Anzahl an Begriffen aus und schreiben dies auf einen kleinen Zettel. Weiterhin werden mehrere Zettel mit einen Symbol fr Zeichnen (Stift), Pantomime (Strichmnnchen) oder mndliche Erklrung (Mund) vorbereitet. Nun kommen die Zettel mit den Begriffen in eine Urne (z.B. Mtze), die Zettel mit den Symbolen in eine andere Urne. Dann zieht ein Mitglied der einen Mannschaft aus jeder Urne einen Zetteln und mu den gezogenenen Begriff auf die, durch das gezogene Symbol, vorgeschriebene Weise der eigenen Mannschaft erklren. Hierzu hat sie eine vorher festgelegt Zeit zur Verfgung, z.B. 1 Minute. Hat die Mannschaft, den Begriff erraten oder ist die Zeit abgelaufen, ist die andere Mannschaft dran. Fr jeden erratenen Begriff gibt es einen Punkt. Gewonnen hat am Ende die Mannschaft, die die meisten Punkte hat. Der Spielleiter dokumentiert die Punkte, achtet auf Einhaltung der Regeln und fhrt die Stoppuhr.

OUTDOOR GAMES
Body Body
All players are given one card. Make sure only two cards are kings. Players do not show their cards to anyone but themselves. Players then put the cards back in a pile. Those that drew the kings know they are the killers - those that did not are civilians. Players walk around a dark house at night (darker the better). A killer kills people by squeezing their shoulder. The squeezed person then falls to the ground silently and lies there. When someone comes across a dead body, they yell "Body Body!" and everyone comes to that place and the lights go on. Everyone then votes to decide who they think the killer is (based on where people were/are in the house). Whoever gets the most votes is eliminated. The dead person and the person voted off both sit in a designated area (the graveyard). This continues until only the killer(s) are left or the killers are successfully voted off.

Blinded Volleyball
Have your group split up into two teams and set up like they are going to play volley ball. Then take and set up the net and put the sheet over it so each team cannot see the other team and tell the kids to play volley ball. Pretty funny to see the reactions as the ball comes over the net. Also, you can have the kids stay on their knees or make them sit down to play. if inside you can use different types of balls like nerf stuff but I would not recomend balloons it does not move fast enough.

Body Part Musical Chairs

Have everyone form a big circle of chairs with the chairs facing outward. Remove one chair. Have music ready. When the music starts everyone must walk around the chairs (again it's fun if you make them jog). When the music stops, a caller yells out a body part. Then everyone races to touch that body part to a chair, one person per chair only. If they touch a chair before the body part is called, they are out. The one person who doesn't get a chair is also out. To speed it up, you can remove more chairs. We usually start out simple - nose, hair, left elbow, etc. but towards the end we get more complicated - your bare feet, someone else's left hand (they must grab one of the people who are already out). The object is to be the last one left.

Countries
This is a really great running wide game - good for burning off a lot of energy. However, it's also a good wide game for those who might not like to run as it involves a lot of strategy. 1. Set up a wide field with 2 halves. We usually divided the field using a long hose. 2. Scatter lots and lots of empty ice cream containers all around the playing field, making sure it's relatively even on both sides to begin with. (You don't need to use ice cream containers, just use something light, unbreakable, cost efficent and something that you can get a lot of the more the better!) 3. Divide the group into 2 teams. Each team needs to start on their designated side. 4. The basic aim of the game is get as many buckets (or objects) onto your side as possible. 5. While a player is on their team's side - they are safe. As soon as they cross the line (ie have no feet in their own half) then they can be tagged. Once they are tagged, they must stay where they are, squat down and wait to be rescued. 6. To rescue a team mate, all you have to do is tag them, then they are free to run back to their side. However, even while they are escaping they can be caught again. 7. To get a bucket, just run to the other side, pick up 1 bucket (and only 1) and bring it back to your half. 8. If you get tagged while capturing a bucket, you must drop it where you are. 9. You may NOT move the buckets that are on your side. 10. So there are 2 ways to play the game, you can run like crazy and rescue as many players as possible and get buckets. OR You can use stealth and sneakily cross over the other half and pretend to be on the other team (easier to do with large groups... or when you're not 6 foot 8 tall). What you do when you've falsely convinced others you're on their team is completely up to you! Be Creative! However if they ask you straight out, you can't lie, and if they touch you, you are caught.

Blind Volley Ball

1. Sort Youth group into two teams, and then move them to the volley ball court laid out earlier. 2. With one of the BIG balls the teams play normal volley ball, eliminations. So no points are awarded but the team left standing is the winner of the round. 3. RULES: Now a team member is out: if the ball hits the ground closest to them, if they fail to get it over the net and it hits the ground, or if it is their fault even though a player tries to save an un-savable hit. 4. Spiking is permitted - and is good strategy to be used especially when no one can see it coming. 5. Serving the ball must be conducted behind the back line of the players side of the court. ALL ways to get the ball over the wall is permitted but no holding or grabbing the ball.

6. When people are out they can be brought back in IF their team hits the opposing floor with the ball on the full (without hitting anything after being hit by the player. This game continues until one team is left standing and they win that round, you can modify to play in with your program but we usually swap sides every round or so. The cost is only to buy the BIG bouncy balls, pretty much when you have the bouncy balls you can use them again ad again to play this game. Other than that make sure the balls aren't too hard to prevent injury and HAVE FUN!!!

Bucket Balance
Get 4 kids to lie down on their backs in a small circle with their legs sticking up in the air. So their feet should be touching at the top, making a kind of table. Put the full bucket of water on here. The aim is for all of the kids to remove their shoes in the given time limit... so this will mean keeping the balance of the bucket, while one or two players take a foot away and remove the shoe.

Dizzy Donkey
Love this game - so funny... 1. Beforehand, cut out a pair of donkey ears using the cardboard or paper. 2. Split your group into two even teams. And line each team up single file down one end of the room. At the other end of the room set up two chairs side by side. (you may want to put some distance between the chairs here to avoid collisions as people tend to go wildly in all directions) 4. Have the first two competitors line up at the starting line. To get them completely whacked dizzy have them hold their nose, thread their other arm through the middle (like an elephant trunk), bend over and spin around quickly drawing circles around themselves with their arm pointing to the floor and almost touching the floor. (I dare you to try it...) 5. Once sufficiently dizzy shout GO. The competitors must pick up their ears holing them up to their head like donkey ears and run to the other side of the room. First person to sit on their chair wins. 6. Spin up the next pair of competitors and let the chaos begin - again. Another variation we tried was giving people faux donkey tails to wear. To achieve max impact get people to run as soon as possible after spin up.

Egg and Custard Game

This is a wide game that we play across the grounds of a school, best done at night time. Each team is given an egg and a cup of custard. The aim of the game is to complete all the mini challenges with both the egg and custard in tack. The game starts with each group being given a clue which will lead them to their first challenge. Once each challenge is completed, they gain points for their team and the next clue which leads them to the next challenge. In between challenges, the teams must be stealth as there are spotters on the loose, who take points off the teams if they are spotted. This is a great element to the game, as not only are you taking care of a cup of custard and an egg, you have to work as a team to hide from the spotters.

Examples of mini challeneges include an egg toss (stand in a circle and throw the egg to one another),obstacle course (across a playground maybe), tyre jump (like the army, each team member must take their turn running with the egg and custard through the tyres) etc. Be creative with the challenges, the aim is to make it more difficult to keep all the custard and your egg. When all challenges are complete, they head back to the end where points gained and lost are tallied up and the winner declared (or you can do it as a time trial). Awesome awesome game, but very time consuming.

Explosive Relay
Split into two groups and go to opposite sides of the room. You can either play this game in the dark, or get everyone to put on a blindfold. When the leader says go, both groups try to cross the room. If anyone touches another player, they both "explode" and are out of the game. Once everyone crosses over, have them peek through the blindfold (or turn on the lights) and reorient themselves. Have them cross again and again until one or two persons are left to win.

Extreme Bucket Ball

You start out by setting up 2 chairs on each end of the room or wherever you are playing. If you play outside, make sure you have a good size gap between the two chair. You're going to pick 2 teens to stand on the chairs. They are going to be holding the buckets. Everybody else will be divided into 2 teams. The more even the teams are, the better! The catch is that you cannot move with the ball! Once you catch the ball, you have to freeze and throw it to another member of you're team then they have to freeze and so on.You do this till you get it into you're basket! The other team has the chance to steal the ball as well! The person on the chair can move the bucket around to catch it, but cannot come off of the chair.

Fresh
Fresh is a classic youth group running and strategy game. It's good for those kids who like to show off their speed, but also for those who'd rather stand still and out wit someone. It can be a really complicated game to explain, so take care in reading the instructions. Summary ----Overview: The aim of the game is for each team to try to capture as many of the opposition players as possible. Layout: The playing area needs to be divided into three sections as in Figure 1 below. Nomans land, team A's end zone and team B's end zone.

Freshness: A key part of the game is the "freshness" of each player. The simplest way to think about "freshness" is this: You are only "fresher" than another player if you enter nomans land after they entered. A more detailed description follows: Imagine the end zones as fridges. When a player exits their end zone (and enters no-mans land) they are "fresh" for the first instant, but as time continues, their "freshness" fades away. For example, if player A exits their end zone, they are currently "fresh". But as soon as player B exits their end zone at any time after player A does, player B is now "fresher" than player A. Again, if player C exits their end zone after player A & player B do, they are the "freshest". Playing the game ----1. Each team begins the game in their end zone. 2. The question is often asked, why would someone want to leave their end zone? Well, the aim of the game is to capture as many opposition players as possible, so do that you'll need to draw them out. Team tactics can often include sending out distractions and taunting opposition players, so you'll be able to capture them. Once one player is tagged, that's when teams start sending in people to rescure their team mates and the game gets more interesting. 3. A player can be caught by a fresher player tagging a non-fresh player. The mechanics of "fresh"ness are described above in the summary section. When a player is caught, they must walk back to the oppositions end zone with the player who caught them. 4. All the caught players must form a line in the centre of the end zone line. The line must extend out into no-mans land. Caught players join the back of line. See Figure 2 below.

5. To rescue a caught player, you must tag the player. Once you've tagged them - you both have a free walk back to your team's end zone.

6. The game ends when the one team is entirely caught, or when the designated time is expired.

Gargon
This game is to be played in the dark. take apart flashlight into it's parts and have the person who is "it" (the Gargon) to go around the building and hide all the pieces separetly. EACH PIECE MUST BE VISABLE IF THE LIGHTS WERE TURNED ON. (no hiding in cuboards closets etc.) Send the group into the area to hide and search for the flashlight parts. After one minute, the Gargon is sent out repeatedly saying "GARGON, GARGON" and must say it through out the whole game to warn of it's presence. The goal of the group is to find each part of the flashlight, put it together, and shine it on the "Gargon", ending the game. HOWEVER; anyone the "Gargon" touches must sit down and is 'caught.' To be freed a person holding a part of the flashlight can touch the person who is 'caught.' Note: If a person holding a flashlight part is 'caught' the flashlight part cannot be transferred to a new person. the gargon takes it and re-hides the piece. Hint: have the group find a set place to store the pices during the game. so the pieces don't get taken by the gargon all the time. once they have them all then assemble the flashligt and catch the Gargon.

Daniel, the lion and the king

We have Daniel, and the lion and the king. Daniel beats the lion, the lion beats the King and the King beats Daniel. One team will gather over one side and the other team will gather to the other side. Each team is going to talk about whter they want to be Daniel, the lion, or the king. Once your team has decided what they want to be, both teams will walk up to the centerline to fight. Once your teams meet in the centerline, youll say 1,2,3, fight. The team that beats the other team (it depends on the sign that they have done) has to try and tag the other team before they get back to thei base. If you tag someone from the losing team before they get back to their base, then you can bring them back over and they will become part of your team.

Human Battleships
One of my favourite things is taking something normal and making it life-size. The game of battleships is great fun to play normally, so naturally - a human version is twice as fun. You'll need to divide the area/room into 2 by setting up a barrier or sheet in the middle something that you can't see through. Then divide the group in half and send one team to each side. Get each team to pick one player to start as the bomber, the rest of the players need to sit spread themselves across the area and sit down (or lie down) as a battleship. These players cannot move. Each team takes it in turns to get their bomber to sit at the back of the area and throw a ball over the barrier to the other side. If their ball hits someone from the other team, the player that gets hit must then say "You sunk my battleship!" and they are out. They can now become another bomber for their team and they must sit with the other bomber.

You'll need to make up rules - like whether a ball can bounce before hitting someone, or whether both people are out if it hits two people in a row who are next to each other. Once an entire team is out, they must all yell "YOU SUNK MY BATTLESHIP!"

Human Relay
Each team stands in a straight line behind one another at the start line. When the relay commences the first member of the team has to carry the second team member across to the finish line. Once there the person that was carried has to run back to the team and carry the next person across to the finish line. The game is finished when all team members are over at the finish line. You may wish to suggest to the teams to plan out their order in the line according to who needs to carry who. (It works the easiest if you go from strongest or heaviest to the weakest or smallest - you may wish to let them figure it out also). The youth from year 8 to post highschool loved this game! It is also very amusing to watch and I recommend recording it on video!!

In The Tomb, Out of the Tomb

Draw a long line using yarn or masking tape. Have the children line up in a straight line facing the leader on the right side of the line. The right side of the line is called "In the tomb" and the left side of the line is named "out of the tomb". The leader yells "out of the tomb or in the tomb". Upon hearing the command the children jump from one side to the other. If the children jump in the wrong direction or don't jump to the other side when it's a vaild command they are out of the game. The last player in wins the game. The leader will try and get the players to miss jump by pointing to one side as they yell to jump to the opposite side or by repeating the same side and/or changing the pace.

Man Mines
Two teams. One team lies down and makes an obstacle course for the other team in a set area. These people are the man mines. Once in place, they are not allowed to move or talk until round is over. One person is blind-folded from the other team and that person has to make it across the set area without touching any of the man mines. This can only be done if he rest of the team (who are outside the set area) shout directions for the blind folded person. This can be played either scored, or first one over.

Marshmellow Wars
Split the group in to 2 teams, giving each team an equal amount of marshmellows. Basically its played like paint ball or dodge ball. Give a count down- everyone seperate -then teams try to hit the other team with marshmellows. We do 3 hits your out rule. But if the team can catch it- it doesnt count. There are other variations, such as everyone is on there own, or like capture the flag. This has become our youths favorite game.

SCAVENGER HUNT Mall Disguise Scavenger Hunt and List

Split everyone into groups of four or five groups at the mall. Explain the rules: All teams must go out find as many people on the list as possible within one hour. The people on the list will be dressed up in a variety of costumes and disguises, scattered in the main mall "hallway" areas. If a team finds a listed person, the team must ask the person, "Who is your grandma?". If said correctly, the disguised person will give a special sticker or stamp on the document next to his or her photo. Each team must come back within 1 hour - if a team is late, then each minute past the time will count as a point deducted from the final score. The team must stick together at all times. Hand each team two lists. Make sure to record the time that each team comes back and track deducted points. When the teams return, collect their documents. The team with the most stickers or stamps wins the game.

Video Scavenger Hunt

Split everyone into groups of four (make sure each group has access to a driver, car, and a digital camera). Explain the rules: All teams must go out and find as many items or perform as many actions on the list as they can. Once they find the items or complete the action, they must take a video of the item or action. At least two members of the team must be in the video doing the actions. Each team must come back within one hour - if a team is late, then each minute past the time will count as a point deducted from the final score. Hand each team two lists. Prepare the laptop, cables, and television by the time the teams return. Make sure to record the time that each team comes back and track deducted points.When the teams return, view the videos together and record the points using the Scoresheet. The team with the most points wins the game.

Photo Scavenger Hunt

Split everyone into groups of four (make sure each group has access to a driver, car, and a digital camera). Explain the rules: All teams must go out and take as many pictures from the list as they can. Once they find the items or complete the action, they must take a picture. At least two members of the team must be in the photo doing the actions. Each team must come back within one hour - if a team is late, then each minute past the time will count as a point deducted from the final score. Hand each team two lists. Prepare the laptop, cables, and television by the time the teams return. Make sure to record the time that each team comes back and track deducted points. When the teams return, view the photos together and record the points using the Scoresheet. The team with the most points wins the game.

A Light In Darkness

-This is a great, fun game for leading into topics like spiritual warfare, reaching the lost, etc. -This is best played with low lights and room to run and hide. You will need enough glow bracelets for everyone once they, "find the light". It also helps to have hooded robes for the demons. 1.Use a cross with a light attached. Everyone starts out being, "lost" in the dark with a base of some kind where they return to if caught. You can either chose 2-3, "demons" beforehand or have some surprise guest adults join in as demons. (our youth loved this!) 2. The lost are looking for the lighted cross. While they are looking the demons can tag them and escort them back to base where they have to stay for a 5 minutes or have them do jumping jacks, etc. 3. If the lost find the lighted cross, a helper at the cross will give them a glow bracelet signifying they, "have the found the light" as Christians. The helper will also give the lighted ones a prayer on a piece of paper they have to read out loud to chase off demons trying to stop them. The helper also gives them a paper slip with a CLUE for the lost as to where the lighted cross can be found. We used Scripture as a clue. 4. The lighted Christians now try to find the lost and give them the clue to the lighted cross. The demons have to work in pairs to harass Christians but can go solo to catch the lost. 5. The goal is to seek and save the lost. A variation is to only give out a few bracelets and to have the Christians try to get as many lost to the cross as they can. The lost also can have the option of staying or leaving once they got to the cross. 6. Most importantly, be sure to talk it over with youth when done. Ask questions about parallels with facing real fear, evil, having the light of Christ, etc. As a leader be sure to have Scripture on hand to support answers and dialogue. Have fun!

Molecule
This simulation game is a great one to play on a youth camp. It involves a lot of running and team work but also involves some problem solving skills. You'll need a decent bunch of leaders to run the game and to fill the all roles. ROLES Mad Scientist Singing Raspberry Bush Banana Man 0011 - Dame Bond Mr. Milko Chief Chiko Strawberries & Cream Police / Prison Guard(s) RULES Teams start in dining hall Told a report of the terrorists mad plot to annialate the world through chemical warfare Our only chance of survival is to find the molecule of all molecules that will act as a counter attack to anything that comes our way Problem: only one person knows the make up of this molecule - the Mad Scientist The Mad Scientist will only allow you see his secret molecule for a short time - be sure to pay close attention to the bonds and elements required

Your task/mission - if you choose to accept it - is to find the keepers of the various elements and bonds to replicate EXACTLY the Mad Scientist's molecule in order to win the prize AND save the world You may visit the Mad Scientist more than once - Only one team member may enter The Lab at any time You may also visit the rest of the keepers of the elements more than once, but will only receive TWO elements at a time Upon each visit you will be given a task which your entire team must complete before your team receives any elements A maximum number of elements will be given to each team - so DON'T eat the elements or you won't have enough to complete the molecule! PRISON Be warned - There are a number of police out to catch you and your team members If caught, you'll be imprisoned for 2 mins before being released back into the molecule building race EXTRA INSTRUCTIONS To make up the molecule, use a random assortment of the lollies you have bought and stick them together using toothpicks to create a molecule structure. Make it complex enough to be challenging to remember, but don't make it so confusing that it can't be replicated.

MINI OLYMPICS Over Under Game

Split everyone into two equal teams. Have both teams line up in parallel lines. Drop a sponge ball into a bucket of water, and hand the bucket to the first person in line. Everyone in line needs to be facing the front. When you say go, the first person of both lines needs to take out the sponge ball from the bucket and pass the ball over the head to the person behind them. The second person in line must pass the sponge ball between their legs to the third person behind them. The third person passes the ball over their head to the next person, and so forth in the same over-under pattern. At the very end of the line, the last person has to pass it forward in the same pattern as before. The first team that passes the ball back to the first person wins the game.

Toilet Paper Costume Game

Arrange everyone into teams of about four or five. Give each team a roll of toilet paper and a roll of masking tape. Each team selects a volunteer from their group. The goal of the game is to wrap the person up in the most creative and original toilet paper costume (for example: Statue of Liberty). The teams have only 10 minutes to wrap the person up using only toilet paper and masking tape.

After 10 minutes, tell everyone to stop. Have the teams present their costume to the judge and convince the person to choose their costume. The judge will have to decide who has the best-looking costume, and is ultimately, who is the winner.

Zoom In Game
Separate everyone into teams of 5. Give each team a piece of paper and pen. The object of the game is to identify as many objects from the Powerpoint as possible as a group. The first zoomed slide is worth 5 points, the second zoomed out slide is 4 points, the third zoomed out slide is 3 points, and the fourth zoomed out slide is worth only 1 point. Each team tries to identify the object as soon as possible, to get the maximum amount of points. As soon as the group thinks they know what the object is, they have to raise their hand and write their answer down on the piece of paper. *Youll need to ask and take note on which slide they wrote down their answers. Go through each slide, giving each team 1 minute to look at, discuss each slide, and an opportunity to write their answer down. Once their answer has been written, they cannot change their answer. Once the object is revealed, the team that has the correct answer will receive the amount of points for the slide that they stopped at. For example, if a team correctly identifies the object by the second "zoomed out" slide, the team is awarded 4 points. If the team answers incorrectly, they do not gain any points for that round. The team with the most points wins the game.

Paper Maze
The leader gathers a bunch of paper and lays them out in a grid on the floor (5 x 5, 8 x 8, etc the larger the more difficult). The leader then takes another piece of paper which the players never see and draws a representation of the grid on the paper. The leader then draws a route that is the correct way through the paper maze. The leader then asks all the players to circle up around the grid on the floor. After explaining the object of the game, the leader says that there are two rules. First, that no one may talk. Second, that the only word the leader may say is no. A player the leader selects starts and begins by stepping onto one of the papers on the perimeter of the grid. If the player stepped on the same piece of paper that the leader marked as the start, the leader remains silent and the player has a chance to take another step. If the player steps on one of the papers that is not the starting page, the leader says no and the player returns, and the next player in the circle gets up. Players slowly, with guessing, make their way through the maze, having to remember the path that the previous players took. Players continue going one after another from around the circle until the maze has been solved.

The Orange Game

We are going to be passing fruit around a network of five people. The goal will be to get each person to hold the right clour of fruit. To start the activity, the fruit is distributed randomly. You are only allowed to pass fruit to someone beside you who has an empty hand. You may

have to give up your own coloured fruit to help reach the goal. With a bit of cooperation each person ends up with the right pieces of fruit.

Blanket Race
Each team has a blanket. Each team will have five people carrying the blanket and one riding. Start at a line, and race around a certain point and back. Players must go down and back 10 times with a different person riding each time. Person who gets off the blanket has to take up carrying the next run, so players swap out who is carrying.

Pool Clothes
Great game for pool party. Drop two complete sets of clothes (shirt, pants, socks, shoes) into the deep end of the pool and let them sink to the bottom. Have to players start on the opposite end of the pool. When the facilitator says go, both players must jump in and swim to the clothes on the bottom and begin putting the clothes on while in the water. The player who gets their set of clothes on first wins. (Can separate group into teams and have multiple rounds with the team cheering for their player.)

People Roll
Players divide into teams. A start line is chosen and a finish line is chosen. Players select one person who will be the roller and the rest of the team pairs up. When the facilitator says go, the team in pairs are holding hands so the person selected can move from one pair to another. As the people at the back of the line have the person move of them onto the rest of the people, they must stand up and run to the front of the team, strech hands again, so that the team can continue covering new ground. If at any point the person touches the ground, the team must restart at the start line. First team to make it to the finish line wins.

Flip the Cup

The facilitator puts a bunch of cups on their side all over a room. The facilitator then divides the group into two teams. The facilitator tells one team to flip the cup so that it is upright, while the other team wants to flip the cups upsidedown. Players may not hang on to a cup - they may only touch it to quickly flip it. Players may flip a cup that has already been flipped by the other day. The facilitator says "go" and players begin flipping cups to match their teams' goal. After 5 minutes, the facilitator says stop. Each team gets 1 point for a cup matching their team's goal. (Being exact on this count is not nearly as important as just having fun.) (It is helpful to give a warning that destroyed cups will cost a team 5 points for whoever destroyed it.)

Aardvark Race

Set the game up by having two lots of two bowls facing each other (One on one side of the room and one on the other side of the room) Have 2 teams line up on one side of the room. Have each person in the team have a straw. To start the game have the fist person inhale a bean in there straw. The bean will saty at the end of the straw as long as the person is inhaling air. The first player then has to crawl to the other bowl and blow about the bean into the bowl. If the person drops the bean in mid voyage the person has to engulf it off of the floor and continue. The team with the most beans at the end of the time limit wins!!!

Baby Burp
You need two people per team, you can make as many teams as you like, and one person is the "parent" and the other is the "baby". Set up on opposite ends of the room or playing area (the bigger the area the better) two stations. In one station place the babies bottles that have been filled with soda in the other place the clothing, which can be a cloth for a diaper and saftey pins, a bib, and or a bonnett. Have the "parent" stand near the clothing station and the "baby" near the bottle station. You start the game with the "babies" cralwing to the "parent". Once they get there the "parent" has to dress the "baby". When the baby is dressed completely the parent runs for the bottle and has to run back to the baby and feed the baby with the baby sitting on their lap. Once the baby drinks the WHOLE bottle they have to burp. The first baby to burp wins.

Bag Of Goodies
Gather all kinds of really horrible foods - ones that are quick to open and eat. For instance, baby food, fresh produce, chips, crackers (small box), etc. Everybody is behind a line, 10 ft. One member/leader is holding the garbage bag with these items in it. The member behind line has to go up to the bag, pick something out, by feeling, not seeing what it is, eat it there, then run back to end of line. Race to the finish. If you don't like something, you still have to eat it since you picked it. (Be aware of food allergies). More cruel choices are onions, salami, warm ginger beer (remember, you have to chug it!), a whole pack of gum/candy. This works well if you are a hungry bunch!!:)

Biblical Detectives
This kind of thing can be really fun if it is done properly and works out well. Basically the idea is to create a scavenger hunt for the kids using words from the Bible to make up clues. ie. refer to each chapter / verse / word to make up a sentence - (NIV) Isaiah c12 v2 w 1 = "surely". So use a whole lot of those to make up a sentence, or clue, which leads the team to the location or area of the next clue. So one clues leads to another which leads to another which eventually leads to the end. You can add in a lolly or prize at each clue to add some more excitement to the game. Be very careful of which versions and translations of the Bible you use. The first, and only, time I have played this game was when I used the net version of NLT which was newer than the NLT bibles at my church. So most of the words were off so the sentences didn't make sense! Double check this, or the game will just be a whole lot of kids running around looking for needles in haystacks!

Chair on the Wall

This is an event for the real he-men in your youth group. There is no equipment required, except a blank patch of smooth wall. Line up against the wall, with your backs right against the wall. Slowly move down the wall, "walking" your feet out, until you are in a sitting position - i.e. your thighs are parallel to the floor, and your kness are at a 90 degree angle. Your back should still against the wall. Your hands should be on your thighs or knees. The winner is the last person who can remain in this position. Disqualification occurs when you lift a foot off the ground; when you touch the wall or floor with your hands; when you touch the floow with any part of your body other than your feet; when you move your back off of the wall completely, or when you scream out in pain and fall into a heap of muscle spasms.

Pea Pipes
Simple relay structure for this game. 4 teams line up at one end. Place a bowl of peas (or whatever you are using) at the other end. The first player from each team has to run to the other end and pick up a pea by sucking it on the end of the straw. Then they must carry it back to their team. If the pea falls off while they are returning, they must pick it up again (with the straw) and continue back. To win, a team must get all of it's players to bring back 1 pea each.

INDOOR AND OUTDOOR GAMES

Matchstick Truth or Lie
Before playing, designate two actions for 'true' and 'false' (such as hands on heads or hands behind back)and hand out five matchsticks to each player. When it is a players turn they say their ONE STATEMENT about themselves (true or false). There is then a countdown (usually by the Youth Group leader) at which point the youth do the action which they beleive reflects the statement said by the player. The player then reveals the correct answer and those who got it wrong must give the player one of their matchsticks. Once everyone has had a turn get them to count up how many matchsticks they have, the player with the most wins.

Matthew Matthew One One

Players are numbered off: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, 1,2,3,4,5,6 etc. Matthew sits in the super chair. This person starts clapping, two claps on legs, two claps with fists (more quiet). Matthew starts by saying "Matthew Matthew, Number Number" where number is the number or book that he/she send it to, say five. Then Five says "Five Five, Two Two". Just say someone makes a mistake or fouls - i.e. gets out of rhythm, says the person

next to them, says the person who sent it to them, claps incorrectly, speeks out of place. Then they stand up and goes down to the lowest number. everyone below that person stands up and moves up one number so that thier number changes. The aim of the game is to get to matthew and stay there. Variations 1. Matthew can speed up the rhythm every time it get back to them. 2. If someone sends it back to whoever sent it to them both are in a lock, they must keep on sending it to each other until someone makes a mistake/fouls.

Moshi Moshi
Sit in a circle. Pick one person to be "IT" that person leaves the room. Everyone else picks one person to be the "Liar" then the person who is "IT" comes back in and sits completing the circle. The person who is "IT" whispers a rumor in the closest persons ear. Like, "Moshi moshi! Did you know that.."Freddy" has a big nose." (Picking a persons name and telling a funny thing about them.)When you get told the rumor, that player responds, "I didn't know that!" And that player carries that rumor all around the circle. The "Liar" once told then changes the rumor. Instead of "Freddy" having a big nose, the "Liar" changes the name to someone else in the group. Like "Sierra has a big nose. Then that rumor is carried the rest of the way around the circle. The last person to hear the rumor, says aloud what he/she heard. Then the person who is "IT" has one time to guess who the liar was. Is he/she guesses right, then the "Liar" has to be "IT" if not, then the person stays "IT" Recommended for 10 or more people.