All Youth – Page 2 – Youth Group Games

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

Box: the Game of the Future

A large box or big plastic garbage can is the goal. If the ball hits any side or the top, the one who kicked the ball is the new goalie. Everyone plays against the goalie. Use a Nerf soccer ball or a volleyball. People will discover that working together is the only way to score, as they can get the goalie running in circles around his goal.

by George Fischer in All Youth, Outdoor Youth Group Games Comments are off

LessIsMore

We took our students and made them homeless for 3 days. We transformed the church into 2 tent city environments (Guys downstairs and Girls upstairs). We slept, ate, and served as “the least of these” the entire weekend. We did NOT take showers, eat amazing meals or sleep well. We worked long hours, smelled really bad, and were hungry and tired. But, I believe this was the most life changing event our students have ever participated in.

Each day we spent working in Soup Kitchens, Homeless/Women’s shelters, Food pantries, and worked on ARK teams (Act’s of Random Kindness). In the evenings we had acoustic worship, group devotionals, and share time.

This event is designed to allow students to see, feel and smell what it means to serve humbly with no expectations. This is meant to be a mentally and physically draining event … This is only for your more mature students!!
*We designated jobs depending on the age and maturity level of each student.

Please let me know if you would like help running and event like this. I can send you files and contact info if your in the Altanta area. michael@placeofhope.org

by Michael Wahl in All Youth, Missions Events Comments are off

Airing Out Dirty Laundry

Tools needed: Rope, clothes line/rope, clothes pins, dirty laundry (old soiled clothes), paper, and magic marker, Bible.

Purpose: To encourage teens to share their burdens through prayer and Godly counsel, not on social network sites or through texting.

Before your class arrives hang a rope across the classroom and hang your dirty clothes up. Make signs which state gossip, rumors, personal information, personal failures, family problems and personal relationship problems. Leave some blank paper for you to solicit responses from your students.

When your class arrives someone in the group will more than likely ask what is going on with the clothes hanging up. Explain to the class that you brought your dirty laundry in so they could see it. More than likely that will get a negative response from the class and you can tell them you thought that they would want to see you’re your dirty laundry.

There are a lot of young people who do not know the term “Airing out your/my dirty laundry out”. Explain to the students what the term means, or used to mean, it’s unacceptable to talk in the community about ones personal affairs. It used to be unacceptable to share information about someone else’s personal affairs. Ask those ways people are airing out their “dirty laundry”. Ask your students if media is being used to air out dirty laundry. Explain to the class how the internet, Facebook, and other social media sites are being used to air out dirty laundry. Just as we would not hang our dirty clothes out in front of our houses for all to see, especially under garments, we should not hang out our personal information for all to see through texting and other electronic means.

Most states have laws now concerning cyber-bullying which can be interpreted by others as being when we put out negative information about others using electronic means (refer to your local state laws).

On each piece of clothing attach the words and the responses from the class. Explain each word and how it can cause damage to the person their talking about and to their own personal testimony. Explain that the internet is a powerful tool but is and can be used for the wrong purpose.

With my class I used Gal. 6:2 “Bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ”. You can also use James 5:16 “Confess your faults one to another”. It should be noted that this should be done with fellow Christians or to Godly counsel, not on a social network site. The purpose of this sharing is so Christian’s can pray for you, and when they share with you, tell it to God and not others. There are many scriptures that address rumors, gossip, ect…. encourage your teens to bring topics to you that burden them so you can show them through the Bible how to resolve or get the answer to their problems/burdens.

NOTE: Today’s teens are faced with many challenges. Explain to your teens that if they receive information about someone hurting themselves or others it is their responsibility to tell a trusted adult who will help resolve the problem. Create an atmosphere in your classroom that your students will share with you but let them know you are obligated to share harmful information also.

by Troy D. Comar in All Youth, Bible Study & Prayer Comments are off

Bible Scavenger Hunt – Around the Church

These clues will lead youth to locations throughout the church building and grounds. On each location, post a few slips of paper with the Bible verse number that points to the next clue. Give the groups the first clue. At the position of the last clue, put “return to the youth room and receive your prize.” This scavenger hunt took 3 groups of 4-6 middle schoolers 50 minutes to complete. It was made up using the New Revised Standard version of the Bible. The clues are arranged from easier to harder.

A few hints: The groups will sometimes pick up a clue that they find without having been led there. To prevent this, tell them not to pick up any clues unless the Bible verse led them there. Or, you could have them check back with a youth leader each time they pick up a clue to make sure they got the right one. If they don’t get the clues in order, it’s likely they won’t find all the clues.

It’s hard to find active things to do indoors here in Michigan, where it’s cold ten months out of the year. The kids really enjoyed this and it was nice for the youth leaders to lean back and watch them run around the church. It helps them become more familiar with both the Bible and the church building too.

Church front door–Matthew 7:7
music room—Psalm 149:1
communion table—Mark 14:22
Tree–Psalm 1:3
oven—Hosea 7:6
nursery–Matthew 21:16
Pulpit Bible–2 Timothy 3:16
baptismal font—Galatians 3:27
Sink—Matthew 27:24
stairs—1 Kings 6:8
ice maker—Psalm 147:17
showers –Psalm 65:10
preacher’s chair—Jeremiah 52:32
furnace room—Daniel 3:23
church office—1 Timothy 3:1
mailbox—Acts 15:30
drinking fountain—John 19:28
Refrigerator—Judges 3:24

by Marianne Grano in All Youth, Scavanger Hunts Comments are off

Tag Ball

I made this up one night when the weather was unexpectedly nice and the youth wanted to play outside. You need a ball (like something you would play dodge ball with), and one person to be “it.”

This is a combination of dodge ball and tag. Whoever is “it” has the ball, and has to run after the other youth and tag them with the ball – dodge ball style. If the person is hit, they are the new “it” and must try to tag someone else with the ball. If the person catches the ball, like in dodge ball, they are safe and the original “it” is still it. My group is rather small, so I played with one “it,” but with a larger group you could have more than one “it” to make things interesting.

Really simple, but my youth loved it!

by Anita in All Youth, Outdoor 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

Ninja Master

The object of the game is to keep your team out of jail and to guess the other teams Ninja Master.

This game works for groups about 10 people or more. The group is split into two teams. Each team is given a designated meeting room and a jail. To start the game each team goes to their meeting space and designates one person on that team to be the “Ninja Master”. Only the people on that team should know who that is. After that is determined everyone from both teams are set free to go and try to tag out the other team.

If someone from team 1 tags someone from team 2, team 1 must escort them to jail. You may only escort one person at a time. If team 1 is escorting someone from team 2 to jail then the team 2 person must give one clue as to who their “Ninja Master” is. No one from either team may write down the clues they are given.

You remain in jail until your “Ninja Master” is tagged and put into jail. Then everyone may escape jail but if the “Ninja Master” leaves before you then you must remain in jail. *Note if everyone leaves immediately after the “Ninja Master” is caught it will become obvious who the “Ninja Master” is so it is better to wait for a moment or two before escaping.

After 8 minutes (you can adjust the time depending on the size of your group, etc.) everyone who is not in jail (those in jail must stay there) goes to their appropriate teams meeting room. Each team has 2 minutes (you can adjust this to your needs) to get to their meeting rooms to share the clues they have been given and determine who they think is the “Ninja Master”. After the 2 minutes are up each team meets in a predetermined space where they give their guess to a designated leader who is monitoring the game. The catch is in order for team 1 to guess then there has to be at least 2 members of team 2 in jail and vice versa.

The winner is the team that guesses correctly. If no one guesses correctly then you start a new round, with no one in jail. Each team can either keep the same “Ninja Master” or determine a new one.

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

Coneball

This game is like a combination of soccer, basketball, ultimate Frisbee, and hit the can (the carnival game)… I know it sounds weird, but trust me, it’s awesome.

Materials needed:
-a slightly deflated kickball/dodgeball
-2 2gallon buckets (like the ones they put paint in)
-2 small orange cones (about 6 inches in height.. if you don’t have cones, we used Gatorade bottles filled halfway with rocks)
-something to mark boundaries on a field (powder or spray paint)
-a field about the half the size of a soccer field (maybe not that wide)
– You will want someone who knows the rules to play referee (and you may want them to have a whistle)

This game will take some setup, but it is a great camp game. One was a favorite of my old youth group.

First you must mark two areas at opposite ends of a rectangular field (maybe half of a soccer field size). At each end of the field you need a 16 ft in diameter circles. In the center of each circle you need to place the 2 gallon drum upside down with the cone/bottle on top. The object of the game is to knock the other teams cone/bottle off of the bucket. However, the players may not step inside the circle or knock over the bucket. If this happens, the point does not count and it is the other teams ball.

To get the ball to the other side of the field, you must pass the ball from teammate to teammate (kind of like ultimate Frisbee). If the ball touches the ground, it is the other team’s ball at the place it hit the ground, and of course the ball can be intercepted. The other team may try and stop the other team from scoring, but they may not touch the other team (think like guarding another player in basketball).

There are no offsides, and “cherry-picking is allowed since it will be difficult for that to actually work.

A few other rules to be aware of:
– Players may NOT run with the ball (like in ultimate Frisbee)
– If the team on defense gets too rough with the other players, you should allow the other team to throw the ball in at the other teams end of the field.
– If the ball goes out of bounds, it is the other teams ball, and they get to throw it in from where it went out (like in basketball).
– If team A throws the ball into team B’s circle, and the ball stops INSIDE the circle, the ball is turned over to team B, and a player from team B may enter the circle to retrieve the ball. The player who retrieves it must pass it to a teammate outside the circle to continue play.
– When a team scores, the other team starts by passing the ball in from their end of the field (again like in basketball).

We usually play first team to 5 wins, but you can also have a time limit as well.

by Jared in All Youth, Outdoor Youth Group Games Comments are off

Jumble Group Prayer

This format of group prayer came out of our youth night one week.

After devotion, we commonly share our prayer requests, I write them down, and we dish them out with volunteers offering to pray each request. Spontaneous, out loud group prayer is something that’s not really comfy for a lot of our kids, and so it can be a real challenge for them.

On the night in question, we had spent so long talking about the prayer requests that we were running out of time to actually pray them. Somehow, we decided that one youth would open the prayer simply, “Dear God, hear our prayers…” and then we would all pray out loud at the same time. When it got quiet, we had another youth ready to close with “In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

It worked really well. We talked about it afterward, and heard comments like, “I didn’t feel as awkward praying out loud like this” and “I didn’t have to worry about making it sound right, because only God was listening and He always understands”. Another comment was, “That was cool, because maybe that’s how prayer sounds to God.” It’s definitely something we will be doing again.

by Jennifer Kerr in All Youth, Bible Study & Prayer Comments are off