Amoeba Tag
Select one teen to be “it”. This person will be the one who will first “tag” other teens. Explain to the group that when you are tagged you join hands with the teen who tagged you. This will create an “amoeba” as the group of tagged players grows. Only someone with a free hand can tag another player, so only the teens at the front and the back of the chain can tag at any given time. The group must move as a unit to accomplish their goal of tagging every teen and resetting the game with a new “it.”
To start the game “it” counts to ten to give players a chance to scatter.
Ankle Balloon Pop
Give everyone a balloon and a piece of string or yarn. Have them blow up the balloon and tie it to their ankle. Then announce that they are to try to stomp out other people’s balloons while keeping their own safe. Last person with a blown up balloon wins.
Antique Statues
Provide dark t-shirts that are wet with water to volunteer team members and allow them to change. Give each team a large bowl of flour. Team members cover their volunteer with flour and create antique statues. Team that gets the most flour on “statue” instead of floor wins
Variation – create themes – Disney Characters – Movie Villains – Saints – Sports, etc
Balloon Hoop Race
You will need a hoola hoop and large balloon for each team. Divide the youth group into two or more teams. The first player must take the balloon, put it between their knees, and run towards the hoola hoop that is being help by an adult at the finish line. They must get the balloon in the hoop, without using their hands. If they drop the balloon on the way to the hoop, they must stop, pick it up, and go back to the spot where they dropped it from. Once they get it in the hoola hoop, they pick up the balloon in their hands, and run back to their line, giving the balloon to the next player who will follow the same procedure. The first team to have everyone complete the process, and are sitting in a straight line wins!
Balloon Tag
Blow up a balloon for each teen (and more if you want to play more than once), and tie it to a strand of string or ribbon like the type frequently attached to balloons you purchase. The string/ribbon should be 2 – 3 feet in length. Teens tie the balloon to their ankle. Object of the game is to be the last teen with an intact, inflated balloon. All wait until the leader calls “go!” Then the teens run and try to stomp and pop someone else’s balloon while protecting their own. Add music to make this even more fun.
Banana
Break the group up into groups and give each group a banana and tell them to cut it up. Then give them tape, tacks and glue and ask them to put it back together again. After attempting this impossible task, stop to discuss how hard it is to repair errors that we make. Sometimes they cannot be repaired, so it is wise to think carefully about the consequences of things we say or do before taking action.
Banana Split Activity
Get together the ingredients you need to make 64 banana splits. 64 of each of the following: Bowls, spoons, bananas, ice cream, chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, whip cream. Divide the ingredients to be eight servings
- a stack of eight bowls. Divide everybody into eight even groups and give each group only one ingredient. Now every person in the group has a stack of 8 of one of the needed ingredients. Once all the ingredients are handed out, get everybody to form new groups that have all eight of the banana split There should now be newly formed groups of 8 people which now have enough supplies to make one banana split for each person in the group. When each group has made their splits ask them to sit down and share something like – favorite childhood movie, book, super hero, etc.
Better Bucket Brigades
You need a large open space and at least four large buckets, one paper cup per person. Before teens arrive, arrange the buckets on the field, fill up the starting buckets with equal amounts of water. Divide the group into equal teams with at least five players in each team. The more players in a team the better. Have players line up in a straight line between the full bucket at one end of the field and the empty bucket at the other end. Give each player a paper cup. The player closest to the full bucket is the “scooper” and the player at the end of the line is the “dumper.” At the signal the “scooper” scoops a cup full of water from the bucket and pours it into the cup of the player in front of her. That player turns and pours the water into the next player’s cup before turning and getting a fresh cup of water from the scooper. Players continue scooping and passing water until the full bucket is empty. Victory is determined by which team has the most water in their bucket at the end of the relay. In case of a tie, the win goes to the team that finished ahead of the other.
Variations: One Cup. Instead of giving each player a cup, use only a few cups per team.
Over-and-Under. Again, each team has just a few cups to work with. But they have to pass the cups over-and-under: players line up with their backs to the goal bucket, the first player passes the cup up over her head, the next player takes the cup and passes the cup low between his legs.
Spread the Wealth. Instead of having players groups close together, have them spread out so that they cannot pass the water directly. Teams will have to decide whether they should run to each other or try tossing the water. Let the teams come up with creative solutions, but have one rule – each player must handle each cup of water at least once as it travels down the line (players can handle a cup of water more than once if they like.)
Bible Spin
Let your youth seat in a circle either on the floor or on chairs, place a spinner in the middle. Spin it. Whoever it points to must pick up the bible and open it randomly without thinking twice. Wherever the person opens he/she must read just one verse and then must just share in one minute what he/she gets from reading that verse. Do this until almost everyone has had a chance.
Bible Team Pictionary
Split into 2 teams and move into “sides”: boys vs girls, Confirmed vs candidates, by schools, etc. Have a large white board at the front of the room. Create the playing cards by using 3×5 index cards and putting bible words, persons, or objects on them, examples: 10 commandments, heaven, hell, bread, Holy Spirit, cross, Mary, etc. Play the game like Pictionary– a team member picks a card and has 1 minute to draw it, while their team tries to guess. The other team should be silent. If the team guesses they get one point, if they do not guess correctly the other team gets one minute to try and win the point. Teen “artists” cannot write numbers or letters. If the “artist” doesn’t know what is on the card, have them pick another card.
Big Squeeze, The
Easy and fun game for a big group. Divide into 2 or more teams (more people, more teams) and announce that each team will be racing to squeeze into the shape of the item mentioned. For example: if the leaders yell out the word “football” the teams must squeeze into the shape of a football as would be seen from above. Keep score- first team to 10 wins. Be sure to play fun music as the teens are “squeezing”. As soon as you pause the song, yell out the shape and watch them scramble to group up.
Ideas – Squeeze into the shape of . . . California
A dog
A pair of sunglasses A baseball bat
A shark
A map of the U.S.A. Your youth minister
Blind Square
You need a team of more than four people, blindfolds for all team members, a level playing field and about 20 – 50 ft. of rope. The rules are simple, each player needs to keep at least one hand on the rope at all times.
Working together, the team must try and form a perfect square in a given period of time. (Five to ten minutes works well.)
Blind Water Balloon Volleyball
Using a van or opaque shower curtain, lay down two bedsheets on each side of whatever his hanging in the center as the “net.” You should not be able to see through the “net.” Have each team sit on their bedsheets with their water balloons. Each team tries to throw over a water balloon so that it hits the sheet on the other side.
Because the teams cannot see the other team, it is harder to be ready to catch the flying water balloons.
Bobbing for Ho-Hos
Got milk? Got some Ho-Hos? How about a big bowl? That’s all you need for this game. Like bobbing for apples, you put the milk and Ho-hos in the bowl and let people bob for the chocolate treats. The person who gets the most of them wins.
Bombs Away
Find a space in your youth area about four feet wide by twenty feet long. Use some tape to mark this game area out clearly. Take six or seven pieces of construction paper and randomly place them in the area that’s been marked off.
Break your group into two teams. Each team is to pick a ‘guide’ who will direct teammates down the four foot by twenty foot corridor while they are blindfolded. Blindfolded youth must walk from one end of the corridor to the other end without touching the tape boundaries or any of the bombs (pieces of construction paper). Use a stop watch to record the duration of each youth’s effort.
When a youth steps on a bomb or on or past a tape boundary, hit a pot with a spoon or make some such loud noise simulating a bomb going off. Record the number of times errors are made.
Total the times needed for each team to walk the maze and add ten seconds for each time a bomb goes off. After each youth attempts to traverse the maze, change the locations of the construction paper so that no one can memorize the locations of the bombs. The total team time plus the penalty seconds will determine the winning team.
Build a Snowman
You will need one cup of icing or Cool Whip for each pair of players. You will also need a small handful of colored candies for each pair of players. Teams play as partners. On “Go,” one of the partners puts icing all over the face of the other partner. They are to put the colored candies on their face to decorate. The object of the game is to see how nice they can make their snowman look, not how fast can they decorate them. You can set a time limit, especially if you have a big group of teens. The winning team is the one who gets the loudest cheers! When using Cool Whip, the game can be extended by using squirt guns to “melt the snowman”.
Cell Phone Scavenger Hunt
Create a list of items and ideas. Such as a Rub a Statue’s belly, A Cross, 3 People over 30, a bunch of white flowers, etc. Assign points to each item. Send the teens out in teams with an adult leader to locate the items. Each team must have one member who has a cell phone that can take photos. All items get photographed on a cell phone. First team back with all items wins. Or team with the highest point value at the end of the allotted team wins. Hints – set boundaries: are you staying on church property or is this activity on a field trip, define the geographical boundaries. Include “an image of God” then at the end suggest the teens keep their God image on their phone – when they are feeling low at school or home they need only reach for their cellphone to be reminded they are a child of God
Circle Soccer
Have the teens form a circle facing into the center, give one teen a soccer ball. Teens stand with their feet spread about 3 feet from leg to leg. They have their feet right up against the feet of the person standing next to them. One player starts by throwing a soccer ball across the circle, trying to get the ball through the leg opening and have the ball exit the circle. The “target teen” tries to block the ball from going out. If the ball does go between their legs, that teen turns and faces out so now they are playing backwards to the group. If a backwards player has the ball go between their legs, they are then eliminated from the circle. Teens need to defend against the ball going between two players as well. If the ball goes in the opening between two teens then both teens turn around. Players may not reach over and throw the ball between the legs of someone standing right next to them.
Circle Toss
Gather the teens in circle. The leader has a supply of random objects to throw, (examples tennis ball, stuffed animal, t-shirt tied into a knot, etc), it doesn’t matter what they are as long as they can be thrown. The leader starts by calling a teens name and throwing the first item to them. That teen throws it to someone else, saying their name, and so on and so forth. When it gets back to the leader, he/she brings out another object and repeats the process. This can be repeated as many times as objects you have. Or start throwing multiple objects at the same time so that there are several items flying. For added fun, time it and see how fast they can get it while still clearly saying the next person’s name.
Chocolate Game
Supplies for each group: chocolate bar, pair of dice, rubber gloves, apron or large shirt, fork and knife. For each group place a supersize bar of chocolate, still in its wrapper, in the center of a table. To make the game last longer, you could add additional layers of wrapping paper. The group sits around the table and take turns rolling the dice, one roll at a time, until someone rolls a total of six. The 1st person who rolls a six gets to start eating the chocolate block — but only after they put on the pair of rubber gloves and the apron/large shirt, and then runs once around the table; Then with only with the knife and fork they must remove the wrapper and cut and eat the squares of the chocolate one at a time. While each player is getting ready (ie gloves, apron/shirt, run around table) to eat the chocolate bar, the rest of the group keeps taking turns rolling the dice. If someone rolls a six, then the person who rolled the six before him relinquishes his right to the chocolate block, and the 2nd person must try to eat the chocolate before someone else rolls six. The game is over when the chocolate is finished.
Consequences Hot Potato
A variation of traditional Hot Potato. Gather teens standing into groups of 5 to 8. Each group gets a “potato” type object. Music starts and the “potato” gets passed or tossed within the group. When the music stops whoever is holding the “potato” must perform a consequence announced by the Leader. Suggested consequences – jump up and down 4 times on one leg, hug someone who is wearing green, chew a piece of gum and blow a bubble, etc. Please be aware of the limitations and sensitivities within your group.
Clusters
Have the group mill around, call out a number. People have 30 seconds to be found in a group of that number. If you called out 3 then groups of 2 or 4 will be eliminated. Groups can steal a person from another group, or defend itself against an interloper who would attach and disqualify all of them.
Cross the Line
A variation of Red-Light Green Light – Cross the Line. Line the youth up in a straight line at one end. Draw a line, or place a string or colored tape on the ground for a finish line. Then ask a series of questions with the following as examples:
How many of you slept in a tent the past year? How many of you have gone to a circus?
How many of you play a musical instrument?
How many of you went out of state for a vacation this past summer? Who saw a good movie last summer?
Who can warn us of a bad movie, to be avoided, that you saw in the past year? Recite a Bible verse.
Criss-Cross
Divide into 4 teams. Send each team into a corner. The object of the game is to see which team can get to the opposite (diagonal) corner the fastest using the designated method that the leader calls out (eg. if the leader calls out “hopping,” the teams must hop to the opposite corner). This will create a “bottleneck” or “traffic jam” in the middle each time. Keep score of which team wins each crossing. First team to 5 wins.
Good Crossing Methods:
- Hopping
- Wheel barrel (one person holding a partner’s legs while they walk on hands)
- Crab Walk
- Sprint
- Backwards Walk
- Skipping
- Crawling
Cups and Downs
Supplies: 20 identical cups – plastic Solo Cups work well – for each group
Divide group into 2 teams. If group is very large divide into several sets of teams, each team with 10-15 players
Name the teams as “Ups” or “Downs”.
Place the 20 cups in the middle of the room, with half right side up, and half upside down.
On your “start” the teams race to their middle and “Up” team needs to turn as many cups up the right way as possible, as the “Down” team is attempting to turning them all upside down.
At the end of your time – count the up cups, and the down cups, and declare the winner. Add fun and energetic music.
Cup Stack Relay
Each team lines up about 15 feet from their table which has 15 cups stacked up like a pyramid. The first player
will run to the table and collapse their pyramid so that all the cups now sit inside each other, and then runs back
to their group. The next player runs up and restacks all the cups back into the pyramid formation before running
back to their team for the next player. Continue this pattern, one builds the next one collapse. The last player
should re-build the pyramid, which means the 1st player may need to go twice. 1st team where all players have
had a turn and the team has a standing pyramid wins.
Dance
Everyone gets into a circle and one teen is chosen to go first. They have to perform one action such as jumping, scratching their head, etc. The second teen repeats the first teen’s action, and then adds their own. The third teen has to repeat the first and the second teens’, and then add their own. This then goes on around the circle, with each teen acting out all the movements IN THE RIGHT ORDER, or they are “out” and have to watch for the rest of the game.
Donut on a String
Tie a donut to a string and the string to a pole. Then have someone lay on the floor. The other person has to hold the pole so that the person laying on the floor can try to eat the donut without using his or her hands. The first team to eat the whole donut wins. (It’s really harder than it sounds.)
Duck Duck Goose Variation
Everyone holds hands and makes a circle. There are going to be two people holding hands outside the big circle, we’ll call them IT. IT will be on the outside of the circle and they will go around and then touch the hands of any two people who are linked together. The two people who have touched will then run around the circle in the opposite way as IT and try to get back to their place before IT gets there. If they do not make it before IT then they will become IT and the game continues. If any two pairs of people do not make it back when they are IT, a small penalty will be given to them, such as sing I’m a little Tea Pot, or say a prayer, or do the Macarena, etc…
Elf Defense
SUPPLIES NEEDED: two different colored balloons, 25 to 50 of each for two teams of play. Form two teams of elves. Each team must defend its treasure (a pile of balloons) while attempting to steal or destroy the other team’s treasure. Use one color of balloons for one team, and another color for the other team. Designate a time period (five to 10 minutes) to play the game. When the time ends, each team’s unpopped balloons count 100 points each. Stolen, un-popped balloons count 200 points each
Amy McEntee
Kimberly Kay Cox
Mark Mogilka
Armando Cervantes
Anna Betancourt
Andrea Chavez-Kopp