Up Front 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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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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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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Human Battleship – Youth Group Games

April 22, 2013 By Stephen Pepper Leave a Comment

Human Battleship Are your young people tired of playing the same old youth group games and activities each week?

If so, it’s time to pull out the big guns (pun intended!) and play Human Battleship.

Resources

2-3 rolls of masking tape
Post-it notes
Pens
2 sheets of paper

Preparation

Use the rolls of masking tape to create two separate grids on the floor, similar to a regular game of Battleship – this is therefore best played in a large room (or outdoors).

The number of squares you need for the grids in Human Battleship will depend on the number of youth in your group. A good rule of thumb is to have 2-3 times as many squares as you will youth.

When doing this, bear in mind that you’ll have two grids. So if you think that you’ll have 20 youth, you’ll need 40-60 squares, which means there will be 20-30 squares per grid.

Next, write out A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3, etc on post-it notes – do two sets of these (one for each grid). The number of letters used will be the same as the number of rows, with the subsequent numbers matching up with the number of columns in each grid. For example, with a 5×6 grid you’d write out post-its for A1-A6 through to E1-E6. Lay these post-it notes on the floor in each square.

Finally, draw the same grids on the two sheets of paper, labeling each of the squares in the same way as the grids on the floor.

Human Battleship Rules

Split the youth group in to two teams, with each team selecting one of their members as a General.

The two Generals are given the sheets of paper with the grid lines drawn on them, along with a pen. They then need to turn away from the grids on the floor so that they can’t see where the other players position themselves.

Each of the remaining players then need to stand in a square. When they’re chosen a space, they should pick up the post-it note so that they know which cell they’re in.

Once they’re all in place, the first General calls out a cell number (e.g. D4) for the opposite team, crossing off that square on his sheet. If he “hits” one of the players, they’re out – when they’re hit, encourage the Human Battleships to pretend like they’re sinking, hamming it up in the process. (Consider offering a prize to the best sinking ship impression!)

Once the first General has chosen a cell, the second General should take a turn. Keep playing until there’s just one team with at least one Human Battleship remaining.

Ultimate Human Battleship

If you want to play a more extreme version of this youth group game, prepare some water balloons before the game. When a Battleship gets hit, throw one of the water balloons at them – this acts as both the missile hitting the ship and represents them sinking in the water. Alternatively, use a Super Soaker to shoot them.

Needless to say, it’s better to play the Ultimate version outside!

If you liked this idea, check out all of our games for more fun activities.

Question: Can you think of any ways to enhance how you’d play Human Battleship? Let us know in the comments below.

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