Group Games - Youth Workin' It

Michelin Man Game – Youth Group Games

September 2, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

Here’s a great youth group game that can be played with all your young people in teams or with just a handful of them up front – the Michelin Man Game.

Here’s how to play it:

Resources

Balloons
Oversized clothing
Rulers

Preparation

Get hold of some oversized clothing from a thrift store. You’ll need at least one large top per team (either a T-shirt or sweatshirt), but also having a pair of large pants for each team will make this even funnier.

If you’ll be playing this as an up front game, blow up all the balloons in advance so that they’re about 5″ – 6″ in diameter – this part can be skipped if everyone will be playing in teams.

Teams

If you want everyone to participate, split them into equal sized teams by gender – this will hopefully reduce the risk of wandering hands.

For use as an upfront game, pick two to four teams with two or three people in each team.

Instructions

Entire Group Playing

Give each team the same number of balloons and the same items of clothing. They have to pick one person on the team to wear the clothing – it’ll work out best for them if it’s the slimmest person.

The rest of the players have to blow up the balloons so that they’re 5″ – 6″ wide – they should use the ruler to make sure they’re large enough. The person wearing the clothing then has to stuff the balloons inside their top (and pants if applicable).

Do this for about 5-10 minutes – the length of time will vary depending on how many people are blowing up the balloons and how large the clothing is.

Towards the end, the player wearing the clothes will probably need help stuffing the last few balloons in – make sure there are leaders on hand to ensure things stay appropriate.

Up Front

This version is much more fast and furious. As the balloons are already blown up, it’s simply a race to try and shove the balloons inside the clothing.

Initially the non-oversized clothes wearing players should help their teammate by passing them the balloons to stuff inside, but towards the end they’ll probably need to assist by pushing the last few balloons in.

Winner

The winning team is the one that has the most unburst balloons inside the clothes at the end. There will probably be some burst balloons along the way, so those don’t count.

Tip

Don’t forget to get photos!

Question: How would you make the Michelin Man game even better? We’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below.

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7 Fun Outdoor Games For Teenagers

August 5, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

When the weather’s nice, it’s always fun to play youth group games outdoors. A few weeks back, we produced a list of great water games which proved to be really popular.

Outdoor games don’t have be wet though, so here are 7 ideas you can use if you want your teens to stay dry – but not necessarily clean!

7 Fun Outdoor Games For Teenagers

1. The Welly Wang – Strange name, strange game, yet strangely fun! This is a game we played when I was in the UK and it’s actually pretty hard throwing a welly (gumboot) a long distance. It’s perfect for using if you want to put together some kind of Youth Group Olympics event.

2. Banana Sprite Challenge – This competitive race can also be played inside, but it’s best done outside due to how messy it can become. It also means the youth who aren’t playing can stand back far enough to not get sprayed 😉

3. The Egg Toss – This is definitely one you don’t want to play indoors! It’s a youth group classic for good reason – competitive, potentially messy and loads of fun.

4. Human Battleship – This one was also on our list of water games, but there’s both a dry and wet version. You need quite a bit of space to play Human Battleship, so it’s best used as an outdoor game unless you have a large room available inside.

5. Ready, Steady, Starburst – Help improve your young people’s target practice (but not dental health) with this activity.

6. Baked Bean Land Mines – Like the Banana Sprite Challenge, it’s best to play this outdoors as it can get a little messy, although of a more squelchy variety. It’s perfect for using if you need a game about trust or following directions.

7. Barnyard Animals – And finally, here’s another fun candy game. It’s quite a goofy game, but the promise of candy means teens are more than happy to play it. It’s also good for using in a session about communication.

Question: So those are our 7 ideas of outdoor games for teenagers – do you have any other similar youth group games? We’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below.

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Image credit: Len Colwell, Flickr

Great Balls Of Paper – Youth Group Games

July 29, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

Newspaper Games If you want to play a fun youth group game that can be used in all kinds of ways, give Great Balls Of Paper a go.

It’s active, versatile and requires no preparation – here’s how to play it:

Resources

Loads of newspaper
Wastepaper baskets or buckets
Masking tape (optional)

Preparation

No preparation is necessary – perfect for when you need to switch from one youth group activity to another without having time in between to set up.

Location

This can be played indoors or outdoors.

Instructions

The basic instructions for this game are that you’ll have some young people holding a wastepaper basket on top of their head.

About 10-15 feet away from each of them, other youth will be standing with some newspaper. Their challenge is to scrunch up the paper and try to throw it into a basket.

Options

As we mentioned, this game is pretty versatile, so here are some different ways it can be played:

Upfront Game

Pick 6 or 8 young people to play this upfront and split them into pairs. One person from each pair will be the basket holder and the other will throw the newspaper

Relay Game

To get your entire youth group playing this, organize it as a relay game. Split them into teams, with the basket holders standing in a line.

Their teammates stand in a line and take it in turns to throw paper.

Rapid Fire

Split the youth into four teams. The teenagers holding the wastepaper baskets need to stand in the center of the playing area with their backs to each other, thereby facing in four different directions.

The rest of the players need to stand in a row in front of their teammate, effectively creating a square/diamond around the players in the center. When you say go, they have to start throwing the paper.

This means there’ll be loads of newspaper flying through the air at the same time. It also means that if they’re not careful, they might miss their team’s basket and fill up an opponent’s instead.

Tip

Use masking tape on the floor to indicate where the basket holders should stand, as well as to mark out a line that the throwers should stand behind.

Winners

There are also a couple of ways to choose a winner:

Time Limit – The winning team is the one who gets the most paper in their basket within a certain time limit
Target – The winners are the ones who are the first to get a set number of newspaper balls in their basket. This version will need volunteers keeping count so that you know who reached the target first.

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

Question: What would you suggest to make Great Balls Of Paper even more fun? We’d love to hear your suggestions in the comments below.

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Balloon Soccer Relay – Youth Group Games

July 15, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

If you like to organize fun and competitive youth group games, here’s another one to add to your collection – the Balloon Soccer Relay.

This is a great relay game for teenagers, but can be played with young people and kids of any age. It’s therefore perfect for using even when you have a wide range of ages taking part in youth group activities.

Here’s how to play it:

Resources

Balloons
Cones
Masking tape

Location

This game can be played both indoors and outdoors, providing you have enough space to play. It’s best not to play outside on a windy day though, as otherwise the balloons can blow everywhere.

Preparation

Blow up the balloons – do one for every team and have a few spare just in case any burst during the game.

At one end of the playing area, lay out a line of masking tape – this will be the starting line. Alternatively, you can use a line of cones if you have enough of them.

In a parallel line about 20-30 feet away, make another row of cones. There should be one cone per team and they should be about 5 feet apart.

Teams

Split the youth group into same-sized teams, ideally with at least four people on each team.

If you have a small group and so only have enough players for two or three on each team, have the teams do the relay two or three times round to make the game last a little longer.

Balloon Soccer Relay Rules

Have the teenagers line up behind the masking tape (and with a cone in front of them at the other end) and give the first person in each team a balloon.

Explain that they have to kick the balloon like a soccer ball from the start line, around their cone and then kick it back to the start line. The next person on their team then has to do the same thing and so on.

The only part of the body they’re allowed to use is from their knee down – no hands allowed!

Winner

The winning team is the one that has all their players complete the relay game first.

Difficulty Level

If you want to make the Balloon Soccer Relay harder to play, here are a couple of ways you can do this:

Make players use their right foot to kick the balloon up to the cone and then their left foot to kick it back
Add extra cones along each team’s course that they have to dribble the balloon round, like it’s a soccer drill

If you liked this idea check out all our relay games, as well as all our other games that are great for using with youth groups.

Question: How could you make the Balloon Soccer Relay even more fun – or difficult? We’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below.

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Getting To Know You Game – Youth Group Games

July 8, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

If you want to plan a fun team building activity for your youth group, here’s a great ‘getting to know you’ game that your teenagers will enjoy as it’s also a little goofy.

Here’s how to play it:

Resources

List of statements
List of actions

(Having pre-prepared lists is optional – this is something you could wing if you need a game to use on the fly or if you’re just feeling creative.)

Preparation

None

Location

If it’s nice weather outside, this is a good youth group game to play outdoors, especially as it should give you a little extra space. It can just as easily be played indoors though.

Instructions

Have your students get into a large circle, with at least a foot or two between them providing there’s enough space where you’re playing (this is so that they don’t bump into each other doing some of the game’s actions).

Explain that you’re going to make a series of statements to help both them and you with getting to know each other better. If the statement applies to them, they have to do the action you say straight after.

For example, you might say “If your favorite color is purple, hop on your right leg”, so anyone whose favorite color is purple needs to get hopping.

The key thing with this is that they have to continue doing all the actions throughout the game. If there are loads of statements that apply to them, they might therefore have to hop on their right leg while scratching their head with their left hand while rubbing their stomach with their right hand while blinking quickly while sticking their tongue in and out, etc!

The only time they would stop doing a certain action is if a new action requires that they use that part of the body, or if it conflicts with another action.

For example, if they’re hopping on their right leg and then another action later on is to pretend they’re kicking a soccer ball with their right leg, they don’t have to hop anymore (unless you want them to land on their back by trying to do both).

Similarly, if they’re hopping on their right leg but then they have to stand on their left leg only, they’d stop hopping on their other leg.

Tips

Start off with easy actions that get gradually harder as the game progresses – this means the game gets even more fun as you go along
Have your volunteers take part as well
For tiring actions – like hopping on one leg – change it up by using that body part for a different action later on (although there’s no guarantee the corresponding statement will apply to the young people who are already hopping)
Be safe! Due to all the different weird movements, make sure the students aren’t going to hit / kick / fall into each other. If playing this outdoors, it’s therefore best to do it on grass rather than in the parking lot.

List Of Statements

Here’s a list of some different statements you can use in this getting to know you game:

If your favorite color is purple…
If you like playing soccer…
If you have a brother…
If you can speak more than one language…
If you like playing video games…
If you like Mexican food…
If you have brown eyes…
If you were born in September…
If you’ve been on a cruise…
If you like broccoli…
If you want to be a firefighter when you’re older…
If you like drinking water…
If you suffer from hayfever…
If math is your favorite subject…
If you have a pet dog…

For ideas of other questions you could use, check out this worksheet or these getting to know you scavenger hunt ideas.

List Of Actions

Here’s a list of actions that can go with the statements above:

…stand on your left leg only
…nod your head
…rub your stomach with your left hand
…hop on your right leg
…pretend you’re throwing a football with your right hand
…close your left eye
…scratch your head with your right hand
…stick your tongue in and out
…blink really fast
…pretend you’re kicking a soccer ball with your left foot
…look upwards and point up at the sky with your left hand like you see Superman
…open your mouth wide
…turn around in a circle slowly
…sit down on the floor
…whistle as quietly as you can

If you liked this idea, you can find loads more getting to know you activities here. We also have many more youth group games that you can use.

Question: What other statements and actions would you use with this game? We’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below.

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Image courtesy of rickpilot_2000, Flickr