Youth Workin' It

Consultancy and Resources for Youth Workers and Organizations Worldwide

5 Great Food Games For Youth Groups

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Food games for youth groups
Youth group tic-tac-toe fail

Food. Games. Two words that young people love to hear. This week’s Best Of Youth Workin’ It therefore has activities that combine these two favorites. Here are 5 great food games for youth groups:

1. M&Ms Race – This M&Ms relay is a fast and frantic youth group game that all of your young people can take part in. It’s easy to set up and doesn’t need many resources to play.

2. Banana Sprite Challenge – This is a great food game that can get really messy (and we don’t mean messy in the conventional way 😉 ). It’s therefore an activity that it’s worth having a trashcan standing by for, just in case!

3. Guess The Taste – This is one of the funniest youth group games I’ve ever used. Blindfold young people, get them to eat weird food combinations and see if their taste buds can discern the different flavors, all while the other youth laugh at how gross the food combinations are. What could be better?

4. Rock Star Rider – This is another food game involving M&Ms, with 3 different versions that you can play with your youth group.

5. Spaghetti And Marshmallow Tower – In addition to being a fun but challenging game, it’s also perfect to use for team building and working on communication skills.

Question: What other food games for youth groups do you know of? We’d love to hear about them in the comments below.

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Spaghetti And Marshmallow Tower – Youth Group Games

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Spaghetti and marshmallow tower
Image courtesy of bignoseduglyguy, Flickr

The Spaghetti And Marshmallow Tower is a classic youth group game that you may well have played as a young person yourself.

In case you’ve never played it (or forgotten how it’s done), here’s how to play it:

Resources

  • 1 pack of spaghetti per team
  • 1 pack of large marshmallows per team
  • Measuring tape

Preparation

One of the best things about this game is that there isn’t really any preparation that needs to be done! All you need to do is split the youth into teams and give each team a pack of spaghetti and a pack of marshmallows.

If you only have a small youth group, you could always have the young people do this activity individually. It’s a great team building activity though, so we’d suggest having them all work together rather than separately.

Rules

Teams have to build the tallest tower that they can using only the marshmallows and spaghetti. The tower has to be free-standing, so the young people aren’t allowed to support it once it’s completed.

Set a time limit that they have to finish their tower by. Warn them when they’re about 1 minute from the end so that they can ensure that their tower’s free-standing.

Winners

The winning team is the one that has the tallest spaghetti and marshmallow tower. If it’s not easily identifiable which is the tallest tower, use a measuring tape.

In the unlikely event that two teams have towers that are the exact same height, set up a tiebreaker. Teams have to pick up and move their construction to the other side of the room. The team with the tallest freestanding tower once it’s been moved is the winner. (n.b. players aren’t allowed to fix any breakages while it gets moved).

Talking Points

Not only is the spaghetti and marshmallow tower good as a team building activity, but it can also be used as a conversation starter for many different talking points. Here are some suggestions:

  • Having a firm foundation in life
  • Having balance in life
  • Working as a team
  • Setting goals
  • Supporting each other

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

Question: Do you play a different variation of the spaghetti and marshmallow tower? We’d love to hear any other ideas you have in the comments below.

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M&M Game – Rock Star Rider

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M&M GameThis M&M game is based on Van Halen’s legendary rider demands, which included a requirement that each venue provided a bowl of M&Ms, but with all the brown ones removed.

Here’s how to play the Rock Star Rider M&M game:

Resources

  • Large bags of M&Ms – 1 per team
  • Personalized M&Ms (if playing that variation – see below)
  • Bowls – 1 per team
  • Paper plates – 1-6 per team (depending on which variation you play – see below)
  • Prize (if applicable)

Preparation

Split your youth group into teams. If it’s a smaller group, this M&M game could be played individually. Otherwise, split the group into teams with the same number of players.

Rules / Variations

There are a few different ways to play Rock Star Rider:

1. Authentic Experience – The youth have to empty the bag of M&Ms into the bowl. In keeping with the Van Halen tradition, they have to remove only the brown M&Ms and place them on the paper plate (only one plate per team is needed in this version).

2. Super-Demanding Rock Star – The youth empty the bag of M&Ms into the bowl. In this version, they have to separate out all the different colored M&Ms on to separate paper plates (6 plates per team will be needed – one for each color). This version will therefore take a little longer than the first version.

3. Needle-In-A-Haystack – To play this version, you’ll need to order personalized M&Ms beforehand. You’ll also need to be the one to empty the bags of M&Ms into the bowls before you start playing.

Next, put one personalized M&M into each bowl. It’s best to put this at the bottom of the bowl and should be the same as one of the six regular colors, so that it’s camouflaged.

To play, teams have to find the personalized M&M. If one of the teams achieves that too quickly, consider continuing the game by playing one of the other two versions of the Rock Star Rider M&M game.

Winner

The team that completes their task first. Consider giving a pack of personalized M&Ms as a prize – this could have your youth group’s logo on it or something else distinct to your youth group. Use the banner below to get a discount on your order.

MMs game - rock star rider

 

 

Question: Can you think of any other variants of this M&M game? Let us know in the comments below.

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Chocolate Bar Game – Youth Group Game

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Chocolate Dress Up - Youth Work Game
Ah, Cadbury’s – so much better than Hershey’s

What’s this – a youth work game on a Monday? In case you missed our announcement, Saturdays are now going to be youth work blog posts of the week, with Monday being youth activities day that will cover youth group games, youth retreat ideas, youth group fundraisers, etc.

Today’s game is a classic from my own childhood – the Chocolate Bar Game. I’ll be honest – I’ve no idea if that’s what this game is called, but “The chocolate, knife, fork, scarf, hat and gloves game” seemed like it’d be a bit of a mouthful.

What you need

Surprisingly enough:

  • A chocolate bar that can be broken into squares (e.g. Hershey’s, Cadbury’s Dairy Milk, etc) but leave it in its wrapper
  • Plate
  • Knife
  • Fork
  • Scarf
  • Hat (ideally some kind of winter hat, but any will do)
  • Gloves
  • One die

How to play

Sit the group in a circle, with all the equipment in the middle. Have one of the youth roll the die and then pass it on to the next person in the circle. The first person to roll a six should rush to put on the scarf, hat and gloves, unwrap the chocolate bar (once the gloves are on) and then use the knife and fork to cut the chocolate bar up and eat it.

While this is going on though, everyone else in the circle is still rolling the die. As soon as another six is rolled, the person cutting up the chocolate bar has to take the winter clothing off and pass to the person who rolled the six, so they can take over.

The die should still continue to be rolled as this changeover is taking place, so another six could easily be rolled before the previous person has had a chance to cut at the chocolate.

The chocolate bar game should keep going until the entire bar is gone.

How to win

Eat the most chocolate! This really depends on how lucky you are with the die being rolled – sometimes in the chocolate bar game there will be sixes in quick succession, so you don’t get a chance to have any chocolate. Other times, a six won’t get rolled for ages and someone will be able to get some good chunks of chocolate in their mouth!

Your most competitive youth (aka me when I was that age) will get really impatient if people take their time rolling the die, so be prepared to remind them that it’s only a chocolate bar game!

Due to the additional challenges that are created by putting on the winter clothing and having to use a knife and fork, the chocolate bar game could work well in youth work sessions covering subjects like overcoming obstacles, patience, dealing with frustration, etc.

Question: What other types of youth work sessions do you think this game would work well in? Let us know in the comments below.

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Guess The Taste – Youth Work Game

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Guess The Taste - youth work game
Why think up your own gross food combinations when you can have Jimmy Dean do that for you?

Today’s youth work game is Guess The Taste –  a game that can be as funny and disgusting as your imagination can make it. It’s perfect for using when you want just a couple of youth participating up front, with everyone else watching.

The aim of the game is for the young people to identify different flavors while blindfolded. Now, you could be nice and make it fairly simple by just giving them one thing at a time to taste. But where’s the fun in that?

The better way of playing Guess The Taste is to make disgusting food combinations. Not only do the victims have to isolate the different flavors while blindfolded, but you can also make the flavor combinations taste really gross.

Here are some suggestions of disgusting food combinations you could use, but like I said before – let your imagination run wild:

  • Oatmeal & shrimp*
  • Cold baked beans & tuna
  • Onions & mashed banana
  • Sliced meat & peanut butter
  • Chocolate pudding* & celery
  • Ramen noodles* & jam
  • Cornflakes & ketchup
  • Olives & cottage cheese
  • Beef jerky & blueberry yogurt
  • Skittles & ranch dressing*
  • Brussel sprouts & BBQ sauce
  • Sardines & donuts
  • Soup & cheese puffs*
  • Ravioli & milkshake
  • Rachel’s trifle in Friends. Although, what’s not to like? Custard – good. Jam – good. Beef – gooooooooooood.

Tips:

  1. Have a couple of buckets on hand, just in case there’s any upchucking
  2. Make sure the youth taking part don’t have foods they can’t eat (e.g. allergies, religious reasons, vegetarian/vegan, etc)
  3. Hold up signs saying what each combination is as they’re about to eat them, so that the rest of the youth can know what’s about to be eaten (and react loudly!)
  4. For even more laughs, have an adult volunteer take part

* For fellow Brits, a translation:

  • Shrimp = prawns
  • Chocolate pudding = similar to chocolate Angel Delight, but more gloopy
  • Ramen Noodles = Super Noodles
  • Ranch dressing = a little like salad cream or mayo
  • Cheese puffs = Wotsits
If you enjoyed this idea, check out our other youth group games.

Question: What disgusting food combinations can you think of? We’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments below.

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