Group Games - Page 4 of 13 - Youth Workin' It

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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Water Balloon Dodgeball – Youth Group Games

April 1, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

If you need a fun youth group game idea, why not try playing a twist on a youth group classic – Water Balloon Dodgeball.

Here’s how to play it:

Resources

Water balloons – at least 5 per young person
Buckets / large tubs
Cones / markers
Towels

Location

For this game you’ll need a fairly large open space outdoors, especially if you have a large youth group.

Due to all the running around and potential for youth falling over, it’s best if this is played on grass.

Preparation

Place a couple of cones at one end of the playing area and a couple of cones at the other end
Fill up all the water balloons and place in the buckets. Also fill the buckets with water to reduce the chance of the balloons bursting prematurely
Place the buckets in the middle of the playing area

Water Balloon Dodgeball Rules

All youth should stand at one end of the playing area behind the cones
When you say go, they have to run to the other end while you throw water balloons at them
If they get hit by a balloon before reaching the other end, they’re out
Once all remaining players are lined up the other side, say go and have them run back while you continue throwing water balloons at them

Winner

The last young person who’s managed to dodge being hit by a balloon.

Prize

Offer the ultimate prize for winning this version of dodgeball and allow the winner to throw the remaining water balloons at you (and your volunteers if they’re game!)

If you have enough balloons left over, you could instead play a leaders game of water balloon dodgeball, with the youth who won taking your place as the thrower.

Tip

For extremely large youth groups, you might need to have some of your volunteers help you with the throwing.

If you liked this idea, check out all our other youth group games, including many more that involve water.

Question: Can you think of any other ways you could play Water Balloon Dodgeball? We’d love to hear your ideas 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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Girl Scout Cookie Game – Youth Group Games

March 4, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…… nope, not Christmas – Girl Scout cookie time! In honor of these tasty treats, here’s a youth group game that uses the best Girl Scout cookies of all – Samoas.

Quick sidenote – in addition to her regular youth work job, Shae also leads 3 girl scout troops. She’s therefore organizing several cookie sales and our apartment has been stacked with cases of cookies – having this many Samoas and Thin Mints laying around is very dangerous.

Resources

Samoas
Drinking straws – these need to be fairly thin, but still quite strong

n.b. This activity can also be played with similar shaped cookies like Keebler Fudge Stripes in the US or Fox’s Party Rings in the UK.

Preparation

None

Teams

Split the youth group in to smaller equal sized teams – 5-10 players per team is best.

Instructions

Have each team stand in a straight line facing each other’s backs. Give each player a drinking straw and the first person on each team a Samoa cookie.

To play this game, they have to slide the cookie on to their straw. They then need to turn around to the next person on their team and slide the cookie down their straw on to the next person’s straw.

If they’re successful, the player with the Samoa on their straw turns around and passes it on to the next teammate. This relay continues until it reaches the end of the line.

If you only have a small youth group and therefore only have a few young people on each team, have them transfer the cookie back down the line to the first person to make the game last longer.

Specific Rules

Players aren’t allowed to touch the cookie with their hands unless it drops on the floor
If the cookie falls on the floor, it has to be put back on the straw of the last person who had it
Players can touch their straw, but only the section between their mouth and the cookie. If this ends up being to easy for your players, play the game a second time where they’re not allowed to touch the straw at all

Tip

Have some additional cookies available in case any drop on the floor and break during the game.

Prize

Give the winning team a box of Samoas to share.

If you liked this idea, check out all our other game ideas, including loads of other food games.

Question: What other girl scout cookie games are there? Let us know in the comments below.

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Alphabet Soup Game – Youth Group Games

February 25, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

This Alphabet Soup game is a great youth group game that can either be done with all the young people in smaller teams or with just a handful of them as an upfront game.

There’s also an option to make it a two part game if you want to make it a little more gross at the end.

Here’s how to play it:

Resources

Several cans of alphabet soup – one or two cans per team if done in groups or one can per person if done as an upfront game
Tables
Bowls / dishes
Cheap plastic tablecloths (optional)

Preparation

Empty the cans of alphabet soup into the bowls and put one bowl on each table
Cover the tables with the cheap tablecloths. This may not be necessary if using plastic tables, but can be worth it if using tables made of a material that might be damaged by this game

Teams

As mentioned above, this can be done as either a group activity where all the youth are involved, or as an upfront game where only a few young people participate with the rest of the group cheering them on.

Part 1 – Alphabet Soup Game

Rules

Players / teams have to use the letters from the soup to create words. Set a time limit that they have to be completed by – 5 minutes should be enough.

It’s worth mentioning to them in advance to be careful when picking up the letters – if any of the pasta letters get broken, they can’t be used in any of the words.

Points

There are a couple of different ways you can award points in this game:

Earn one point for every word of 3 letters or more
The longer the word, the more points you earn. e.g. 3 letters = 1 point, 4 letters = 2 points, 5 letters = 3 points, etc.

Consider offering a couple of bonus points to the person / team with the longest word.

Part 2 – Eat Your Words

Rules

Once the first part of the game is over, you can add in this additional Eat Your Words challenge. For this, each player has to eat all of the words they’ve created.

The only thing is, they have to do this without using their hands – the only way they’re allowed to eat the alphabet soup letters is by sucking them up from the table.

If you’re doing this in teams rather than as an upfront game, have them pick one person per team to take part in this.

Winner

The winner of this second part is the person who managed to eat their words the quickest.

If you liked this idea, check out all of our other games and activities.

Question: What other ways can you think of to play the Alphabet Soup Game? Any tips for making it more messy / funny / gross? Let us know in the comments below.

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