Indoor Youth Group Games – Youth Group Games

Capture the Otter – Extreme Landmine Edition

Tried this with a group of 15-20. Can probably be adapted by adjusting the number of tennis balls, but can’t imagine it working well with fewer than 9 or more than 30 students.

Equipment:
1 otter (any stuffed animal, or even a sock full of marbles, will do)
5 tennis balls

One student is “it” and stands facing the wall. The rest of the youth are out in the playing area constantly passing the balls and otter around. No student may have more than one item, and you’re not allowed to hold anything.

After a few seconds, “it” yells “Stop! One thousand 1, one thousand 2!” and then turns around to face the group. All the students try to hide what they’re holding so that “it” can’t tell if they have the otter, a ball, or nothing. “It” then begins to guess who has the otter. If he calls the name of a student who has nothing, that student reveals his empty hands, and “it” keeps guessing. If “it” correctly guesses who has the otter, then that student becomes the new “it”. But if “it” guesses a student holding a tennis ball, that student yells “landmine” and all the students with balls turn and throw the balls at “it”. Students with balls cannot run toward “it” – they have to throw form where they are. “It” can duck and weave but cannot run away. Then “it” turns back to the wall and play resumes.

by Tom Bogle in All Youth, Indoor Youth Group Games Comments are off

Marshmallow Catch

I love marshmallows, and now the kids in our youth group do too. Whenever they see me with a bag, they know it’s going to be fun. For this game, you divide the kids into two teams. Each team has a “thrower” (I pick one at random) who stands with their back to the rest of their team. They get a bag of marshmallows. The rest of their team stands behind a line with a cup in hand.

When I yell go, the “thrower” throws their marshmallows over their head as their teammates try to catch them in their cups. I give them a time limit. ( 2 minutes) When their time is up, the marshmallows are counted. Then the game is repeated for the next team.

You can also have the teams play at the same time…. a little more fun for competitive kids.

by Heather Bell in All Youth, Indoor Youth Group Games Comments are off

Beat The Guru

Designate someone to be the “Guru” (or master, or superstar, whatever name you like best), personally I think it works best when the Guru is an adult leader. Then take volunteers of challengers who will attempt to “beat the guru” and some minor tasks (stand on one foot the longest, trashketball, catch more popcorns in your mouth, tic tac toe on the marker board, etc). If they can beat the guru in the task, then can win a little treat.

A variation: Beat the Guru: Casino Style
Same game as above, except give each student a cup or baggie of M&M’s or Skittles, and before they challenge the guru, make them make a wager of candies. If they bet 5 candies and they win, they get 5 more. If they lose, they must pay up!

by John Buren in All Youth, Indoor Youth Group Games Comments are off

Blend Of Questions

Find three volunteers who have strong stomachs–the type who claim they’ll do anything! Next, pick three ‘teammates’ for each of your three volunteers.

Tell them that, as a team, they will have to answer a series of questions. For each wrong answer, the ‘volunteer’ on their team will have to take a chug of a drink. (The teams are not allowed to look up any answers…they can only discuss an answer as a team for about a minute)

Next, using a blender, blend up the items listed below in front of all the students. Tell the students that this is the ‘drink’ that they’ll have to chug for each wrong answer.

The team that takes the least number of ‘chugs’ wins.

Food to blend up:
baby food
milk
bananas
chocolate syrup
M&M’s
a can of Soda
frozen veggies

Questions to ask:
– Barack Obama is what number president? (A: 44th)

– What is the capital of the state of California? (A: Sacramento)

– In what European city can you find the Notre Dame cathedral, home of the fictitious Hunchback of Notre Dame? (A: Paris)

– What is the third book of the Bible? (A: Leviticus)

– How many feet are in a mile? (A: 5,280 ft.)

– Ask a question about your specific church
(Ex. What year was our church founded?)

by Scott Nellis in All Youth, Indoor Youth Group Games Comments are off

Project Runway

This is great for a girls’ night or sleepover.

It follows the basic flow of the show Project Runway, you first design an outfit out of random household items (I used garbage bags, aluminum foil and duct tape last time), then you do hair and make-up and finish it off with a runway show and pictures.

You can spice it up to have your own twist and give out prizes for different categories. Last year we gave prizes for best designed outfit and worse make-up.

It was great and the girls had a blast doing it.

by Danielle in All Youth, Indoor Youth Group Games Comments are off

Go Wild

This is a game I made up to play with our youth. This can be played with any age group but the middle school ages and down like to play it best. It is very simple. Just turn on some music and let the kids “Go Wild”.

There are a few rules. 1. No touching any other kids. 2. No jumping on tables. The leader randomly stops the music. Once the music stops everyone must freeze in whatever position they are in. If they move then they are out.

It’s fun to see what positions some kids get stuck in and it’s also fun to start and stop the music a few seconds apart, just to throw them off.

by Jon McCurry in All Youth, Indoor Youth Group Games Comments are off

Trash Can Game – Team Variant

The game is played out just as it is in the Trash Can Game (free-for-all), except that everyone is on one of two teams.

Form a circle around the trash can, then have a leader count everyone off 1-2-1-2-1-2…etc. The goal of each team is to work together to get the other team members to touch the trash can without touching the trash can themselves (though at times self-sacrificing can be worthwhile to take down those difficult opponents). Confusion can set in as people quickly are tagged out and players often ask others which team they are on.

by Jason McKinney in All Youth, Indoor Youth Group Games Comments are off

Pingball

Very similar to baseball. We use a drumstick for a bat and a ping pong ball for a baseball. You get a point for each base and you must run until you get to home plate or are tagged out. Each team gets five outs. Great for small rooms!

by Nick Blacklidge in All Youth, Indoor Youth Group Games Comments are off

Donuts on a String

This is an upfront game that is a lot of fun for the competitors and the crowd that watches. Here is what you do.

You’ll need at least 5 jelly-filled donuts, a long piece of string, and some Ready Whip Cream. To set up the game, tie the donuts to the piece of string, about 2 feet apart from one another, and have an adult leader hold each end of the string.

Invite 5 contestants (who are close in height to one another) to come forward to participate. Their objective is to eat the donut off the string WITHOUT USING THEIR HANDS. If their donut falls off the string and hits the floor, they are out of the competition.

When everyone is in place, have the leader say, “Ready, Set, wait a second! We need to up the ante a little bit.” Break out the can of spray cream, and hose down each of the donuts with it. Now, say “Go!”

NOTE: You will probably want to put down some sort of drop cloth to catch the whip cream and falling donuts. Further, if you want to make this game even more difficult, tell the adult leaders who are holding the string to wiggle it around a little bit. You can also blindfold the students. Both of these tricks make this game VERY hard, though.

by Remix in All Youth, Indoor Youth Group Games Comments are off

Hide and Seek Who?

One person has a minute to hide. Once the minute is up everyone is allowed to find that person. Once the person is found he/she must sit down. The person who found him/her must hide without anyone knowing. And the game continues like that until the last person is found.

by Elijah Edwards in All Youth, Indoor Youth Group Games Comments are off