Food Games - Youth Workin' It

Ready, Aim, Starburst! – Youth Group Games

May 20, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

Ready, Aim, Starburst! is a great youth group game because of its versatility – there are many different ways to play it based on how many young people you have participating.

Here’s how to play it:

Resources

Large bag of Starburst candy
Masking tape or sidewalk chalk
Pen & paper (optional – to keep track of scores)

Location

Ready, Aim, Starburst! can be played both indoors and outdoors. To make it easier to prepare though, we’d recommend playing outdoors using the chalk.

Preparation

Create 5 concentric circles on the ground using the masking tape or sidewalk chalk (if playing outside). About 10-20 feet away (depending on how hard you want the game to be), create a straight line on the ground, also using the tape or chalk.

Rules

To play this youth group game, give a player 10 pieces of Starburst and have them stand behind the line. They then have to throw each piece of candy towards the circles, trying to have them land as close to the center circle as they can.

Scoring

Players earn zero points if the candy lands outside of the circles. They then earn 1 point for having the Starburst land in the outer circle, 2 points for the next circle in, through to 5 points for having it land in the center circle.

If any of the pieces of candy land on a line, they earn the higher number of points. i.e. if it lands on the line between 3 and 4 points, they earn 4 points.

Options

As we mentioned above, the best thing about this game is how versatile it is. Here are some different ways to play it:

Up Front – If you have a very large group, you may want to select a handful of youth to play this up front. As all the action happens on the ground though, make sure all the non-playing young people can see what’s going on. If playing outdoors, have them stand in a circle around the playing area. If you’re indoors on a stage, try to hook up a video camera so that it can be displayed on screen for everyone to watch
Lock-in / Games Night – Organize a knockout tournament so that everyone can play. Create brackets or pair everyone up and have them play against each other. The winners of each round go through to the next round until you have an ultimate winner
Teams – Create several sets of the concentric circles and split the youth into the same number of teams, giving each team 10 Starburst pieces. The young people then take it in turns throwing all the pieces of candy so that they each get a turn. If you have enough volunteers, allocate one per team to keep track of their scores

Prize

If you want to offer the winning player / team a prize, give them all the Starburst!

Discussions / Meetings

This game can be played simply because of how fun it is. It can also be used before a session to lead into a particular topic that’s going to be covered during your meeting or discussions.

Here are a few topics it could be used for:

Helping youth set goals
Teaching youth how to set SMART targets
For Christian youth groups, it could be used as an illustration for how sin is “missing the mark”
To emphasize team work – e.g. if you played the team version, the winning team may have had a player(s) who didn’t score many points, but as a team they were able to work together to succeed

If you liked this idea, check out all of our other games for youth groups.

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Baked Bean Land Mines – Youth Group Games

May 13, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

If you’re interested in playing a somewhat messy outdoor game, this week’s addition to our list of youth group games should do the trick – Baked Bean Land Mines.

Here’s how to play it:

Resources

Cans of baked beans
Can opener
Masking tape
Blindfolds
Wet washcloths & towels (for after)

Location

Preferably somewhere outdoors with a reasonable amount of space, although it can be played inside with a tarp (or on hardwood floors).

Preparation

Mark out a pathway on the ground using the masking tape. Two lines of tape should be used to create a path for the players to walk through, rather than just one line being used to walk on.

See the image below for an example path. It can widen and narrow as they walk along, or the lines could be equidistant the whole way if you prefer.

Once the path’s marked out, add some piles of baked beans at various points along the path. These should be large enough to make it hard to avoid, but not so large that it’s impossible for them to step over. If you have enough beans, also run a trail of them all the way along the strips of masking tape.

Team Options

There are several ways you can play this game depending on how many young people you have in your youth group:

Up Front – Select 4-6 people to play, with everyone else watching
Small Group – If you don’t have more than 12 or so people, you might have time for everyone to take part
Large Group – Select 4-6 people to play, but have everyone else in the group give incorrect directions to those taking part

Instructions

Once you’ve selected who’s going to be playing, split them into pairs. One of them will be a guide, while the other will be the person following the guide’s directions.

The person being directed needs to take off their shoes and socks and put on a blindfold. If possible, do this before they get to see the pathway so that they don’t have any idea what kind of direction the path takes.

Move the person being directed to the start of the pathway. Their guide then has to direct them along the path to the end, avoiding the baked beans if possible and ensuring they stay within the lines on either side.

Do this for all the pairs taking part. The winner is the team that steps in the least amount of baked beans.

Timer

Make this youth group game even more frantic by adding a time constraint. This will make the blindfolded player hurry when following directions, increasing the likelihood of them stepping in some beans.

Alternative Options

If you don’t want to use baked beans, canned peaches can be nice and squelchy too.

For youth groups that don’t have any outdoor space and don’t have a tarp available for playing this indoors, use dry food instead – Pringles, oyster crackers or corn flakes will all work well for this.

Discussion Ideas

This game is a great introduction into a discussion about following directions or communication. It can also work well as a way to highlight the importance of working as a team and trusting each other.

For Christian youth groups, it might be worth playing the large group version listed above, where everyone is calling out incorrect directions and the blindfolded player has to listen carefully for their partner’s correct directions. This can then be tied in with John 10: 1-5, focusing on how it’s important to follow Jesus rather than the paths that other people may encourage us to take.

If you liked this game idea, check out all our other games for youth groups.

Question: What would you do to make Baked Bean Land Mines even more fun? Let us know in the comments below.

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Marshmallow Toss – Youth Group Games

April 8, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

This week’s addition to our series of youth group games is the Marshmallow Toss. It’s a fun and flexible relay game that can be used with just a handful of youth or with a larger group.

Here’s how to play the Marshmallow Toss:

Resources

Marshmallows
Buckets
Masking tape

Preparation

Stick a line of masking tape on the floor. About 15 feet away, place the buckets on the floor in a line that’s parallel to the tape, with about 2-3 feet of space between the buckets.

Teams

Split the youth into similar sized teams, with the same number of teams that you have buckets. If you only have a small youth group, have them play individually instead.

For extremely large groups, having all the young people participating may not be feasible. Instead, play this game up front – with either just a few youth playing against each other or with two teams of five players playing it as a relay.

Marshmallow Toss Rules

Get the teams to line up behind the tape with a bucket in front of them and give the first person on each team a pack of marshmallows.

Their task is to toss the marshmallows in to the bucket. They should to this by taking it in turns by playing it as a relay game, thereby ensuring everyone gets a go.

Winner

The winning team is the one that successfully tosses the most marshmallows into their bucket.

Alternatives

If your group would find the above version too easy, here are a couple of more difficult ways of playing the Marshmallow Toss:

Use mini marshmallows and small plastic cups instead of regular sized marshmallows and buckets. Place a small stone in the bottom of each cup to weigh them down so that they don’t get knocked over
Place the buckets farther away if you have enough space in your group’s room

If you liked this idea, check out all our other games for youth groups, including a number of marshmallow games.

Question: What other alternative ways of playing the Marshmallow Toss can you think of? Let us know in the comments below.

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3 Fun Easter Youth Group Games

March 25, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

It’s not long until Easter and this is always a great time of year to do some fun activities. In case you’re short of ideas, here are three Easter youth group games you can play with your young people:

1. Easter Egg Hunt

Get loads of plastic Easter eggs and fill them with candy. The number of eggs you’ll need will depend on how many youth you have, but try to go for at least 5-10 eggs per student.

You’ll be splitting the young people into teams and each team will be searching for eggs of a certain color, so if you’re anticipating that you’ll have four teams, you’ll need an equal number of eggs in four different colors.

Hide the eggs as widely as you can. Even if your youth group meets in a room that’s solely for them, are there any other rooms you can hide the eggs in as well? If so, do this but make sure they’re not going to disrupt any other activities or groups that might be held elsewhere, whether it’s in a church or a community center.

If the one room is all you’ve got, get creative! Hide the eggs in as many obscure places as you can:

Inside seat cushions
On top of ceiling fans
Taped behind curtains
Behind books on bookcases
Taped on the underside of tables

Once you’ve split the young people into teams, make it a race to see which team can find all of their eggs first.

2. Choc-Chuck-Bucket

For this Easter youth group game, you’ll need masking tape, one bucket per team and a large supply of Easter candy. Small chocolate eggs in wrappers are ideal, but jelly beans will also work (although you’ll need to rename the game!) You can use chocolate eggs that aren’t in wrappers, but it’ll probably mean you’ll spend much longer clearing up after as these types of eggs will break into pieces.

Put down a long line of tape on the floor, leaving enough room for all the youth to line up behind it. Next, place the buckets about 10-15 feet away in a line parallel to the masking tape.

Split the young people into teams, have them stand behind the line of tape and give each team the same amount of candy. Their objective is to take it in turns to throw a piece of candy into their bucket.

Either give them a time limit that they have to be finished by or just keep playing until each team is out of candy. The winning team will be the one that managed to get the most candy into their bucket.

3. Easter Scavenger Hunt

The final game idea is for you to organize an scavenger hunt. There are many different ways you can do this, the most common of which is to make a list of Easter-themed items for players to find and collect (or take photos of).

If you’re a Christian youth group, another option is to prepare a list of clues based on the Easter story, with the young people then having to search for the answers.

To make this activity nice and easy for you to organize, check out our sister site where you can find free Easter scavenger hunt lists, clues, riddles and more, including the two ideas listed above – check it out here.

Question: Do you have any good Easter youth group games that you organize for your young people? Let us know in the comments below.

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Oats So Simple – Youth Group Games

March 11, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

This week’s youth group game idea is called Oats So Simple as it uses oats and… well… it’s simple to organize.

It’s also a perfect activity if you’re looking for a messy up front game.

Here’s how to play it:

Resources

Lots of oats
Water
Buckets (1 per player)
Tarp
Pens with lids or unsharpened pencils (10 per player)
Towels

Preparation

Mix the oats and water in the buckets so that it has quite a slimy consistency. Adding more water will help reduce the amount of oats you’ll need, but don’t make it too watery as it’ll make the game too easy.

Once you’re happy with the consistency, add 10 pens or pencils into each bucket and ensure they’re hidden beneath the surface. As mentioned above, pens need to have lids and pencils should be unsharpened – this is so that the members of your youth group who’ll be playing this game don’t accidentally stab themselves!

Lay out a tarp or sheet on the floor where you’ll be playing this and put the buckets on top.

Instructions

Pick some young people to come up front to play this game – one person for every bucket that you have. To make it even more fun, have one of your volunteers take part as well.

Get them to take off the shoe and sock from one of their feet. Their task is to use their foot to locate all 10 pens in the bucket and to pick them out one at a time using their toes.

The winner is the person who manages to pick out all of their pens first.

Tip

Consider having a volunteer stand next to each player to help them balance if necessary. This is more important if the game is going to be played on a stage at your youth group – that way they won’t topple off the front of it.

If you liked this idea, check out all of our other games for youth groups.

Question: What would you do to make Oats So Simple even more challenging or fun to play? Let us know in the comments below.

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