Youth Workin' It

Consultancy and Resources for Youth Workers and Organizations Worldwide

The Mat Turn Game – Youth Group Game

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The Mat Turn game - youth work gameThe Mat Turn game is a great game to play when resources are limited and as a way to encourage your youth group to work as a team.

Resources

Piece of fabric, blanket or large piece of paper (mark one side with a marker or piece of paper with an X – this way you can tell when the group has turned the mat over)

The Mat Turn Rules

  1. Have the group stand on the mat
  2. Explain that using teamwork, they must turn over the mat without stepping off. If they touch the floor or another object outside the mat (e.g. a chair, table, wall, etc), they must start over from the beginning

The Mat Turn Solution

The mat can be turned over at the corner, with members of the group stepping on it as it flips over. Alternatively, a corner can be brought across the mat and stepped on little by little by group members – see an example and printable sheet here.

Suggestions

(n.b. Don’t give these hints too soon)

Suggest that by standing on one foot, they can get closer together and have ‘less’ on the mat, thereby making more room to move the mat around.

You can also use positive sounds and gestures to one or two group members who make suggestions that are correct.

The Mat Turn game is a great communication or team-building game, particularly when a youth group is forming. You can also go over Hopes And Fears at the start of a new youth group coming together.

If you like this game, you might like our other youth group game ideas.

Question: How would you use the Mat Turn game in your youth group? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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The Magic Stick Game – Youth Group Game

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The Magic Stick Game - youth work gameThe Magic Stick game is one that will confound your youth group, while showing the importance of working as a team.

Resources

One large stick, tent pole, broomstick, etc

One of the best parts of the Magic Stick game is that it requires very few resources and can be done anywhere – I did it in Rwanda with a broomstick!

Objective

Lower the stick to the ground while everyone keeps their fingers straight and touching the Magic Stick.

How To Play

  1. The young people make two lines facing each other
  2. Each youth puts both of their first or pointer fingers out straight at chest level
  3. Youth facing each other should have their fingers set ‘every other’ with the youth across from them
  4. Set the Magic Stick along the group’s fingers
  5. Tell the youth they must lower the stick to the ground- but everyone’s fingers must be touching the stick at all times
  6. When the stick gets too high, reset the line and the stick
  7. Reset the stick if the youth are curling their fingers around the pole, making an X with their fingers or using other fingers to lower the stick

Solution

This can be achieved when a young person takes the lead and counts “1…2…3… lower”, then everyone lowers the Magic Stick at the same rate.

For a printable copy of this activity with images showing finger placement click here.

If you liked this game, you may like our other youth group games.

Question: How would you use the Magic Stick game in your youth programming? Let us know in the comments below.

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The Human Knot Game – Youth Group Game

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The Human Knot Game - youth group gameThe Human Knot game is an oldie but a goodie for many youth workers, but for those that don’t know how to play this youth group game, here are the directions:

Resources

People!

Objective

Untangle the circle without letting go of each others hands

The Human Knot Rules

  1. Have your group stand in a circle (n.b. This game is difficult to play with more than 12 young people. If you have a larger youth group, split them into several smaller groups to play)
  2. Everyone puts their hands into the center
  3. Instruct them to grab 1 other person’s hand with one hand and then grab another person’s hand with the other. The rules for grabbing hands:
    • It cannot be the person directly beside them
    • It cannot be both the hands of the same person
  4. Once everyone is holding hands, they need to try and untangle themselves without letting go of anyone’s hands – they may need to duck down, climb over and spin around.
  5. Everyone may not be facing inward at the end and that’s OK; as long as the circle is untangled and everyone’s hands are linked but by their sides, it is complete.
The Human Knot game can be used for team building, problem-solving, as an icebreaker or just for fun.

I’ve also had it suggested, by youth workers in Rwanda, that it would be a good game to play with young people dealing with issues of HIV and AIDS (it would also work well with other types of prejudice and intolerance). In Rwanda, some of the youth are unwilling to touch or be near young people with HIV/AIDS because they’re afraid they would ‘catch it’. This could therefore be an excellent game to get them touching and interacting in an appropriate and fun way.

If you like this game idea, check out our other youth group games.

Question: How has playing The Human Knot game benefited your youth group? Do you use it to teach any lessons? Let us know in the comments below.

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Barnyard Animals – Youth Work Game

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Barnyard Animals GameThe Barnyard Animals game is H-I-double L-arious!

It’s a good getting-to-know-you game, but also works really well for sessions about communication. For churches and other faith-based organizations, it works well as a ‘game with a point’ about hearing from God.

Youth workers also enjoy this game, so you might even find a good use for it at a training or team retreat. I’ve even played this with 5-11’s in a children’s ministry. So many uses and so much fun – how can you go wrong?!

Resources

  1. Lots of individually wrapped candy/sweets (I find Starburst works well)

(Yup, that’s it. Easy on the budget – this game just gets better and better!)

Set-up

  1. Spread the candy around the field or large room – scatter it like seed all over the space
  2. Split your youth into groups of 3-6 (depending on your group’s total size)
  3. Have them choose who in each group is the ‘Farmer(s)’ and who are the ‘Animals’. If there are only 3 or 4 in a group have 1 Farmer, otherwise have 2
  4. Have the ‘animals’ decide on a barnyard or farm animal that they would like to be. They also need to come up with a motion for that animal and its sound.

To Play

  1. Farmers are the ONLY youth who can pick up the candy on the ground.
  2. Farmers can only pick up candy that ‘their animals’ are standing by, pointing at and making their animal sound and motion. So farmers need to really listen for their animal’s sounds.
  3. Animals do not need to stay together. In fact, you want them to spread out to collect the most candy, but they do need to point with their fingers or toes at the candy and do their animal sound (loudly!) and their animal motion. Animals CANNOT collect the candy – they can only identify it.
  4. Two different animals (e.g. cows and pigs) might be pointing at the same piece of candy. In that instance, it’s up to the farmers to get the candy for their team. You may want to encourage some competitive tactics, but definitely discourage too much physical violence, it is only candy.

To Win

Once all the candy has been collected, count up the pieces – the team with the most pieces of candy wins. Then let each team divide up the candy they’ve collected between their members.

Tips

  1. While rabbits are found on some farms/barnyards, they don’t make good ‘animals’. I learned that the hard way when some girls were just wiggling their noses and thumping their feet during the game and came last. Excellent choices include sheep, pigs, goats, chickens, cows and horses.
  2. Have each group show you their animal, sound and motion before the game begins. You might end up with sheep that sound like goats or two varieties of birds that sound similar (crows and falcons – yes, I learned this the hard way too!). Help encourage them to make very different and distinct sounds, because it will be important later.

Reflection – making it matter

You can reflect afterwards and make it a game with a point by asking questions about communication or other topics you want to draw out of the game based on your session.

  • As the farmer, was it hard to hear your animals among all the noise of the other barnyard animals? How did you find your animals?
  • As the animals, how hard was it to communicate with your farmer(s)?
Question: Have you played Barnyard Animals before? If so, how did you use it in your youth group or session? Let us know in the comments below.

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M&Ms Race – Youth Group Game

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Image courtesy of Adam Selwood, Flickr

An M&Ms race is a fantastic youth work relay game as it’s one that can be used in many ways – with just two people, in two or more teams, adults vs youth or pretty much in any way you like.

Resources

  • M&Ms
  • Drinking straws (one per person playing game)
  • Plates (two per person/team)
  • Chairs or small tables (two per person/team)
  • Prize

Set Up

  • Place two chairs or tables about 10-12 feet apart, with a plate on each one
  • On one of the plates, empty a bag of M&Ms and leave one straw for each person taking part
  • Each set of two chairs is for a team, so if you’re going to play the game with four teams, you’ll need 8 chairs and 8 plates, etc.

To Play

To play the M&Ms race as a race between individuals, each person taking part stands next to a chair with M&Ms on it. The object of the game is to transfer the M&Ms from one plate to the other, using only the straw.

The participants have to put the end of the straw on an M&M and suck. Continuing to suck, they have to walk or run over to the other plate and drop the M&M on it. They then run back to the plate full of M&Ms and keep going.

To play the game as a relay between teams of two or more people the same rules apply, other than each youth on a team takes it in turns to transfer an M&M.

Further Rules

  • Youth aren’t allowed to touch the M&Ms at all
  • If they drop an M&M, they have to go back and start again
  • When they drop the M&M on the plate, if it bounces off and falls to the ground, that one doesn’t count – only M&Ms on a plate are counted

To Win

You can set it up for teams to win in one of two ways:

  1. The first team to transfer a set amount of M&Ms is the winner
  2. The team which transfers the most M&Ms in a set time limit is the winner

Prize

If you want to give a prize to the winners, personalized M&Ms are a perfect way of doing this. Use the banner below to get a discount:

M&Ms relay race

 

 

If you liked this idea, you may also like our other youth group games.

Question: Do you play the M&Ms race in a different way? Let us know in the comments below.

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