Archives by: Allan Hayley

Flashlight Soccer

This is a spin off of the Flashlight Floor hockey game. Split the group into two equal teams. Designate two kids to be the goal keepers and give them each one of those flashlights that strap to their heads. The ones with LED lights work great because they are light weight. Have the kids take off their shoes so they don’t get hurt if they’re kicked in the shins. We used a foam soccer ball so we didn’t break any lights in the fellowship hall. Turn off the lights and watch the fun.

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Human Checkers

Get 32 large sheets of poster board or cardboard and set them on the floor like a checkerboard with empty floor space between each sheet. Get some black and some white garbage bags and cut head and arm holes in them. Distribute the bags to the kids, they become the checkers. Have them take their positions on the board and each team decides which piece will be moved. Rules of checkers apply, jumping of pieces is done in a “Leap Frog” fashion. Have some crowns that you can pick up at fast food restaurants available for those pieces that become “Kings”. This is a good team building game.

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Human Foosball Variation

We tried this variation and the Junior Highs loved it. You will need 10 or 12 eight foot folding tables and four 10 foot lengths and two 5 foot lengths of 2″ PVC pipe. Place the tables on their sides and place 3 or 4 on each side end to end. Perpendicular to the sides place 2 tables on their sides with a five foot gap in the center (the goal). You should now have a rectangular enclosure that will be your Foosball table. Mark the floor with masking tape inside the enclosure with boundry lines for each line of players. Each line of players must hold on to the length of PVC pipe making them move in unison and stay within their boundry lines. The number of players on each line was the same as a regular Foosball game. We had the kids take off their shoes and we used a foam soccer ball.

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Human Whack-A-Mole

What you need:
Two 4 ft. by 8 ft. sheets of corrigated
cardboard
Round trash can lid
A couple of those large blow-up hammers

Use the trash can lid as guide to cut 7 holes in each sheet of card board. They should look like this:
O O O
O O O O
Suspend the cardboard between two eight foot tables and really tape it in place. Have 7 kids crawl under the cardboard and position themselves under the holes. These are your moles. The other kids take the blow-up hammers and try to whack the “moles” as they pop their heads up through the holes.
We set up two games to allow more kids a chance at being moles and gave everyone a chance at the hammers. High score won a prize.

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Conquering the Promised Land

Equipment needed:
Avery #5164 shipping labels
3″ x 5″ notecards
Poster boards and Markers
Pencils
A large wooded area with places to hide for the playing field.
(We played this at a youth camp during our fall retreat and the kids had a blast.)

The premise of this game is Israel’s taking of Canaan under Joshua.
Divide the kids into equal teams and give them tribe designations as follows…
Tribe 1…Perizites
Tribe 2…Hittites
Tribe 3…Canaanites
Tribe 4…Amorites
A separate group will be the Israelites

Additional Canaan tribes can be added depending on how large your group is.
Write down separately the Tribe designation on the Avery stickers and give a sticker to each one of the tribe’s members. They will place them on their shirt sleeves.

On the Poster board write down a Canaan town that the Israelites need to conquer (i.e. Jericho, Ai, etc.)Shechem is required. The more cities you use the longer the game will take to complete.

On one side of the 3 x 5 cards list all the tribes and on the other side list all the Canaan cities. Give the cards only to the Israelites along with a pencil.

You will also need to have two Poster boards with Gilgal written on them. These will be safe haven for the Israelites during the game.

The game is now ready to be played as follows:
The object of the game is for the Israelites to make it to each Canaan city and end at Shechem

Randomly place the Poster boards around the playing field, don’t let any of the kids know where the Poster boards are being placed. Make sure an adult leader stays by each sign during the game, they will be neutral observers during the game. Keep the kids off in one area while this is being accomplished.
Once the towns are set in place let the Canaan tribes into the playing field to lay in wait for the Israelites. The tribes do not need to stay together as a group.
After about two minutes let the Israelites into the playing field.
As the Israelites try to make it to the various cities and are “captured” by one of the Tribes that Tribe’s name is crossed off the list on the card that the Israelites have and then the Israelite is free to continue on his quest. The Israelites can only be captured once by each tribe. If an Israelite is captured by all the Tribes before he reaches Shechem he is out of the game and must return to the starting point and hand in his card.
As the Israelites make it to a city the Adult leader crosses off the city’s name on the list. Cities do not need to be conquered in order, but the Israelites can’t get into Shechem until all other cities are conquered. Once the Israelite make it to Shechem he can return to the starting point of the game and turn in his card.
During the course of the game the 2 cities of Gilgal are free zones for the Israelites. They can’t be captured while at Gilgal and the Tribes can’t just wait around Gilgal for the Israelites to leave.
The game ends when all the Israelites are either captured by every Tribe or make it to Shechem.

You can either set a time limit and give each group a chance to be Israel with the winning team being the one with the most cities conquered. Or let the game play out until all Israelites are back to the starting point and then change teams. Be sure to change the locations of the cities before each round starts to make the play fair.
This game gets pretty intense, one of our kids thought he saw the Sun stand still while we were playing it. Have fun, we did.

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Pac Man

Items needed:
Chairs for the maze
Paper cups
4 Cushions or Pillows
1 Yellow, 1 Red, 1 Blue, 1 Green, 1 Purple, Tee Shirt.
Whistle
Stop Watch
The Pacman get to wear the Yellow Tee shirt.
The ghosts wear the other colors
The game is played like the video game. We set up chairs to resemble the layout (the maze) of the Pacman game. Make sure the aisles between the chairs are wide enough so the kids won’t hit the chairs while running down the aisles. Place a cushion in each of the four corners of the playing field. Down the left side of the aisles place the paper cups on the floor about 1 every 3 feet. These cups are the “white dots” that the Pacman must pick up while trying not to be tagged by the ghosts. The ghosts start out the game in the middle area of the playing field. The Pacman can start in any random place on the playing field. The game begins with a blow on the whistle. The “Pacman” can pick up the cushions at any time during the game, if he has to, and chase the “ghosts”. While the Pacman has the cushion he can’t be caught by the ghosts. The Pacman can only hold the cushion for a minute, after that time blow the whistle and the cushion is removed from the playing field. The cushion can’t be thrown at the ghosts. If the ghost is touched by the cushion the ghost returns to the middle area of the playing field and must remain there for 30 seconds, before returning to the game. You can designate one of the spectators to be the whistle blower and another to be the time keeper. If the Pacman picks up all the cups before being tagged by the ghosts 3 times he is the victor. Once the Pacman wins or is caught 3 times a new Pacman and ghosts take the field. You can keep score by counting the number of cups collected by each Pacman. Prizes can be given to the best Pacman (most cups gathered) as well as the best ghosts team (least cups allowed).

After everyone has had a chance to play you can change the configuration of the chairs for different levels of play.
Who says video games can’t be physically challenging!

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