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.
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Archives by: Kevin Lam
Link Tag
Everyone splits off into two and finds a space within the play area. They then link arms. The youth leader picks a twosome as volunteers! One member of the twosome is IT and the other runs from IT. This works like a normal game of chasing except that the person who is running can grab the free arm of any person in any other twosome at any point they like. When they do this they become a part of the twosome and the member of the original twosome who was not grabbed must now run from IT and try and link up with another twosome. If IT catches the victim, then the victim becomes IT and IT becomes the victim and must run and link up with another group.
Read morePile Up
Players sit in a tight circle on benches or chairs. Seats should be clearly distinguishable. “It” determines the actions of the group by stating a detail:
Everybody wearing jeans, move two spaces left.
Everybody with blonde hair, move three spaces right.
Those with matching descriptions move as directed, and sit down, be it on an empty seat, or a person’s lap. (To preserve people’s health, limit the pile to about four people maximum.)
Shuffle Your Buns
This is a circle game that requires just enough seats for everybody. “It” stands in the centre while the circle is occupied completely save for one empty seat. When the game starts, “It” must try to sit in the empty seat. Other plays scoot around to prevent this. Another leader may yell “switch” to change direction of shuffling. If “It” manages to sit, the person who should have prevented this becomes the next “It”.
Read moreSteal The Treasure
Players sit in a circle. One blindfolded person sits in the middle, with their treasure (keys, rattle) in front of them and their stick (rolled up newspaper) in hand. A thief is chosen from the circle to attempt to snatch the treasure, without making any noise to alert the guard in the middle. If the thief is swatted by the newspaper stick, he must return to the circle. If the thief succeeds in stealing the treasure, they become the new guard.
Read moreWhat Am I?
The youth sit in a circle. One person goes outside the room, while he is away the others decide what he should “be” when he comes back. He has to ask each youth member in turn what he has to buy for himself. One may say black boots, another a whistle, another a flashlight, etc. If the shopper goes right around the circle without guessing what he is (policeman), he must go out again, and the campers will choose something else.
Read moreZoom Circle
Players all sit in a circle. One person starts the zoom circle by turning their head either left or right (facing the person next to them) and says, “Zoom”. The next person must (quickly!) do the same with the person next to them. Concentrate on smooth flow for a continued length of time. The next step: “Screech zoom”. As the Zoom hits you, make a braking motion with your foot, and say “Screech zoom”. The Zoom must now reverse direction. The next step: “Profigliaro”. As the Zoom hits you, you can point across the circle to a specific person and say “Profigliaro”. (To avoid confusion, you may wish to say “Profligliaro — John” or something). The selected person may now restart the Zoom in the direction of their choice. Next step: “Schwartz!” The recipient of a Profigliaro can reject it by holding their nose, turning their head and saying “Schwartz!” The Zoom then falls back to the pointer’s responsibility.
Read moreBlob
The Blob begins innocently enough as a mere individual playing a game of tag. As soon as she catches someone, she joins hands with him. Now he’s part of the Blob, too, and they both set out hand-in-hand in search of victims. Everyone the Blob catches (only the outside hand on either end of the Blob can snatch at players) joins hands with it and becomes part of the lengthening protoplasmic chain. And thus the insidious Blob keeps growing.
Unlike your run-of-the-mill mad scientist created Blobs, this one is not content merely to ooze along, seeking its prey. It gallops around the field, cornering stray runners and forcing them to join up. (You’ll have to agree on boundaries for this game; some people will go to any lengths to avoid meeting with an untimely end at the hands of the primordial slime).
Moreover, the Blob can split itself into parts and, with its superior communal intelligence, organize raiding parties on the lone few who have managed to escape. The thrilling climax occurs when there’s only one player left to put up a heroic last-ditch stand on behalf of humanity. But alas, there is no defense against the Blob, and humanity succumbs. (If that seems unfair, well, that’s the plot.)
Kaos And Control
This game involves simple equipment and lots of open space, like a park or an oval. Australian Rules football ovals have proven to be the best. An overview of the game is as follows. There are two teams, one called Kaos, and the other Control (as in ‘Get Smart’). One team (team A) is equipped with one leg of a pair of stockings, that has a small amount of flour in the end. The other team(team B) does not have these. Divide the oval in to two halves for each team. Team A has control of one of the halves, and B the other. The object of the game is for the members of team B to run through the members of Team A without getting hit by the stockings full of flour to a checkpoint or base at the other end. If they are hit, then they are taken prisoner by the other team. Both sides have a chance to run through the other side, and the winner is the team that gets the most people to the checkpoint. This game does require some old clothes and can be run with a large group of teenagers at a youth group, school or camp. I don’t know if this game has any biblical basis, but is definitely a lot of fun for all.
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