P – Z Games

Games OC and SD

Paper Bag Skits

Create one paper bag kit for each team. Place random items into the paper bags. The items can vary in each bag. Each team is given a bag and must create a skit that is in the theme. Every item in the bag must be used, every person on the team must play a part. Theme ideas: “Bible Parable” “Disney/Pixar Animated Movie” “Super Bowl Commercial”, etc

 

Pass the Egg

Divide into teams and line the teams up, or have them gather into a circle. Each teams gets one raw egg. They must pass the egg around the circle. First team to pass around the circle without breaking the egg wins.

Variations:

  • Over and Under – pass the eggs over-and-under: Teams line up with alternating players facing each (note every other person is back to back).The first player passes the egg up over their head, the next player takes the egg and passes it low between their
  • 2 eggs: left hand to left hand, and right hand to right hand, both going around circle at same
  • Skip: Players skip the person next to them and pass the egg to 3rd person. All feet must stay in place. Teens lean across, around, or behind to Egg goes around circle twice so each person touches it.
  • No hands variations: neck to neck, knee to knee, elbow to elbow, or feet to

Pile up

Start with teens pulling their chairs into a circle

The leader gives a command like “If you have blue eyes, move three places to the right.” Everyone with blue eyes moves and sits (or piles up) on those who are sitting 3 places to the right. Give the next command, move teens in both directions, and various numbers of places to skip. Commands can refer to grade level, number of siblings, birth month, favorite TV shows, age, color of clothing, etc. Have adult helpers remove the empty chairs

 

Pillow Jousting

For each station you need:

  • solid “plank” wood from lumber store either 2×6 or 2×8 approx 8 feet long
  • stands to hold the plank about one foot above the ground. Chairs or mason blocks work well 2 pillows

Divide the teens up into teams. Each station can accommodate 2 teams. The teams line up and each send a

“jouster” up on to the wood plank. The jousters use a pillow to try and knock their opponent off the plank. Proceed with pairing off and each team counts their wins or Winner stays up and takes the next opponent from the other team.

 

Popcorn Race

You will need a bucket full of popped popcorn and an empty bucket for each team, plus a dessert-sized paper plate for each player. Divide the youth group into two or more. The first player scoops their plate into the full bucket of popcorn. Then they hop on one foot to the finish line and pour what ever is left on their plate into their empty bucket. Then they run back and tag the next person in line, who does the same process. The team who has the most popcorn in their bucket at the finish line wins!

 

Protect the President

For this game all you need is a volleyball-sized Nerf ball. All the kids stand in a wide circle with two people in the middle. One person in the middle is the President. The other is the Bodyguard. The people in the circle have the Nerf ball, and throw it at the president. The bodyguard may do anything to block the ball with his body jump, squat, dive, etc. The ball may NEVER touch the president. If the ball touches the President at any time, the person who threw the ball (or the last person to touch it) then becomes the Bodyguard, the Bodyguard becomes the President, and the President goes back into the circle.

 

Pyramids

Select 10 players for each team. The first team to build a pyramid using all their players, (without falling over) wins. Start with the first four or five players on their hands and knees. Put the next three or four in the same position, only on the first layer of people. Continue until all the players are in the pyramid. Play upbeat, energetic music while game is played. For variations, make cards with Letters, Numbers, and Shapes for the team to try and build. For instance a bridge, the letter W, a goalpost, etc

 

Quick Fire Math

Teens pair up into groups of two facing each other. They have their hands behind their backs. The leader gives a countdown such as “3, 2, 1”. On “one” the teens bring their hands forward with some fingers up, and some down. They try and quickly count all fingers showing – their partners fingers and their own – for a total. (The total will be some number between 0 and 20). The first partner to correctly announce the total wins and moves forward in the eliminations. Play again just winners, and then another round from those winners, until one teen is victorious.

Variations include setting up brackets by gender, school, hair color, etc with a grand playoff at the end.

 

Rabbits, Rabbit Traps, and Tornado

Gather the teens into groups of three. Two teens hold hands, they are the rabbit traps. The third teen is in the middle of them, that person is the rabbit. One or two teens are “it” and they call out “RABBITS” and all the rabbits leave their rabbit trap and go look for a new one. “It” (who called out RABBITS) must run and look for a rabbit trap as well. Whoever is left over will be it and they can call out whatever they like from this list. Each call has a designated action.

RABBIT TRAPS, the rabbit traps must unlink themselves and go find a rabbit. (If rabbits are called the rabbit traps must stay in place and not move and if rabbit traps are called the rabbits must stay in place and must not move).

TORNADO everyone must move around and become a new set of three who are the rabbit and rabbit trap.

If any person is the announcer for three times during the duration of the game a small penalty will apply such as

sing a song, do jumping jacks, tell a joke, etc…

 

Rock, Paper, Scissors Train

Everyone grab a partner. Rock paper scissors- if you lose you go follow behind the person that beat you and they will do it again with another pair. Keep this up. A large train will build behind the people that keep winning- eventually someone will have everyone behind him- he or she wins

 

Send Me Your Champion

The group should be divided into about 4 or 5 teams. The set-up should be that the person announcing Send Me Your Champion should be about 100 yards away from the teams. (the game is like a race to see who will send their champion the fastest to the announcer) The announcer will have about 30 or more or less, depending how long you want the game to go on for, pieces of paper. These pieces of paper can say things like Send Me Your Champion who is carrying a rosary. So if anyone on your team has a rosary they must run up and be the first one to give the announcer the rosary in order to get the point. Another piece of paper can say Send Me Your Champion who is wearing something that is hand-made, and the same process is repeated, the person must run and be the first one to get the point.

List of Send Me Your Champion Ideas to get you started:

Wearing a hat (the youth might get creative and put like a scarf around their head) Wearing a green shoe and a black shoe

Is wearing all their teammates shoes (the youth might tie all the laces together) Two dollars in quarters

Picture of their mom with them (it can be in the cell phone or a wallet picture) A Christian song

 

Shepherd and Sheep

It’s Duck, Duck, Goose but with Shepherds and Sheep. And yes teens actually love playing this.

 

Shuffle The Deck Mixer

Hand everyone a playing card as they come in. During the mixer, call out different combinations that they have to form a group with. Example: four of a kind, a flush, two pairs, etc.

 

Shuffle Your Buns

Arrange chairs into a tight circle. One chair remains empty. One person stands in the middle. When the game starts the person in the middle tries to sit in the empty chair while the people sitting in the chairs ‘cover’ the empty chair by ‘shuffling their buns’ and moving in a clockwise manner. If the person in the middle sits in the chair before it is covered, then the person in the circle who didn’t cover in time is now in the middle.

Twist1: Have a leader watch and be the ‘judge’. Leader can call out ‘switch’ and the circle changes direction to counterclockwise when ‘covering’ the empty chair.

Twist2: For extremely large groups (40+). Have two empty chairs and two people in the middle trying to sit. Energetic music is a must.

 

Slippery Limbo

Lay a tarp down on the floor. Take some dishwashing detergent and spray it down on the tarp. Add a little water, and you have a slippery surface. Then have the students to line up to do some limbo. If you feel like the floor is too hard, do this activity outside or lay some mats under the tarp.

 

Snowman

Break into teams – one team member volunteers to be the snowman for their team. A jar of marshmallow fluff or Cool Whip is spread on their face. Other team members then decorate with M&Ms and other candies. Awards can be given for “most M&Ms”, “best artistry”, “most creative”, “fastest done”, etc

 

Straw and Paper Race

You will need one piece of paper that is a 4-inch square for each team and a straw for each player. Divide the youth group into two or more teams. The first player must use the straw to pick up the paper, by sucking in through the straw. Then, they must carry the paper to the finish line and back, but they must have the paper stuck to the end of the straw while they run. If the paper falls off, they must get it back on the straw, by sucking in through the straw, and continue on. Each player takes their turn until all players have had a chance. The first team to be sitting in a straight line wins!

 

Suit’s you!

Seat everyone on chairs gathered into a circle. The leader stands in the middle with a pack of regular playing cards. Name everyone in the circle for one of the card suits – Spades, Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades, Clubs, etc. If the number of people divides exactly by 4, add an empty chair to the circle. When everyone is named, the Leader turns over the first card and calls out the suit – say Clubs. All Clubs move one seat to the left. This will mean they have to sit on the lap of the person next to them. The Leader calls the next card and the people named for that suit move, and so on. The winner is the first person back to their own seat.

HOWEVER, teens can’t move if there is someone on their lap, and if there are 4 or 5 people on their lap, they are stuck for ages!

 

Sumo

Teens squat down and cross their arms across their chest. Teens must stay in a full squatting position and their arms must remain crossed. When the facilitator says go everyone tries to knock the other teens over. If they are knocked off their feet or if they undo their crossed arms to catch themselves, they are eliminated. Teens slowly walk around in a squatting position and bump into others trying to get them to call over. Last person still upright wins. Variation: Play as teams – 2 teams face off. Winning team advances to the next round.

 

T-Shirt Challenge

You use a men’s size t-shirt, place it flat out on the ground, and then see how many kids can get on the t-shirt with no feet or any body part touching the ground or floor that is not covered by the t-shirt.

 

These Ten Things

Do what it says, and then write down the person after each thing. Whoever finishes first wins.

You don’t have to do them in order.

  • Find a person wearing Vans, and tell them what you want for Christmas next
  • Go up to someone you haven’t ever talked to, and tell them your favorite awkward moment or embarrassing little kid
  • Find someone who’s Dad is going bald, and tell them something
  • Ask an adult or teen leader if you may walk backwards across the room. Then, make and give them a thank-you card. (Paper and pens on the table)
  • Tell someone you always talk to, that you appreciate
  • Find someone who has a birthday this month, and sing happy birthday to
  • Ask someone on the (insert name of high school here) football, swim, or soccer team, for something random and then apologize to
  • Go up to a sophomore and play patty-cake.
  • Tell anyone what your favorite kind of food
  • Find five other people, and sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” together (the whole thing).

 

Think Small

The objective is to see if you can get everyone in a medium to large group to touch a small object at the same time. For a group of 20 see if everyone can touch a soccer ball simultaneously. If they succeed at that task try a softball, ping pong ball, a marble.

 

This Is a What?

Another game that seems simpler than it is. Have everyone sit in a circle. Pick up an object and tell the person next to you, “This is a marble.” He asks, “A what?” “A marble,” you answer. “A what?” he asks again. “A marble,” you say. “Oh, a marble,” he says. The pattern is now established. He then takes the marble and turns to the next person and starts the pattern. As the marble goes around, you start on the next object and the next object. Eventually there will be a lot of these conversations going on at once. The goal is to see how many objects you can pass around the circle.

 

Traditional Egg Toss

Choose partners, start close together and begin playing catch with the egg. With each toss the partners take a step away from each other. Winning team is the one farthest apart with an intact egg. Can also be played with water balloons.

 

Turkey Bowling

While this is an excellent idea for Thanksgiving, it is still fun year-round. Lay plastic tarps on the floor. Take ten bottles of soda (still full), and lay them out in a bowling pin pattern. Buy one frozen turkey per team (keep the turkeys frozen until service). Then team members take turns using the turkey like a bowling ball to knock down the soda. Be aware that the sodas may “explode” and spray your audience.

 

Two Truths and a Tale

Ask all players to arrange themselves in a circle. Instruct each player to think of three statements about themselves. Two must be true statements, and one must be false. For each person, he or she shares the three statements (in any order) to the group. The goal of the icebreaker game is to determine which statement is false. The group votes on which one they feel is a lie, and at the end of each round, the person reveals which one was the lie.

Variations: “Two Truths and a Dream Wish.” – Instead of telling a lie, a person says a wish. That is, something that is not true — yet something that the person wishes to be true. For example, someone that has never been to Europe might say: “I often travel to Europe for vacation.” This interesting spin on the icebreaker often leads to unexpected, fascinating results, as people share touching wishes about themselves.

 

Workout

Everyone lays down in a circle, with legs in front of them – the feet would meet in the center of the circle. The leader goes first. They sit up and says “Hi, I’m Jenny!” Then everyone else sits up too and chorus “Hello Jenny!”. Everyone down again, next person, repeat. When everyone has done this once you add something about yourself, like “Hi, I’m Bob and I like burgers!” (… and I come from Michigan / and I’m 15 years old / etc). The group sits up and choruses “Hello again Susie!”. The later rounds can be more or less giggly/challenging depending on how closely you instruct the participants to match the type of statement the leader makes. At first do all rounds with only name and one or two additional personal facts. For an experienced crowd you can make it more challenging by adding additional facts and by deciding how people should move, or piling on extra moves for the later rounds, example. sit up and then raise your arms & touch your toes& wiggle your nose.

 

Wormy Pie Relay

Make “pies” by placing gummy worms on a paper plate and then cover with whip cream or cool whip. Contestants place hands behind their backs and eat their Wormy Pies. Have a speed contest either as a whole group or as teams.

Variation – want to add a gross factor? Bury pickles, sardines, Spam or other edible unexpected items in the cool whip/whip cream.

Football Trivia – Guess the name of the NFL Team

This is perfect the week before the SuperBowl. (Take out the answers and have teams of two compete – first team who gets all the teams wins)

  1. Goliaths NY Giants 2. Seven Squared SF 49ers 3. Lions and Tigers oh my                                                           CHI Bears 4. 747                                                                                    NY Jets
  1. Hostile attackers OAK Raiders
  2. Various iron workers PITT Steelers IOU’s                                                                            BUF Bills
  3. Helpers to relocate GB Packers
  4. Flipper MIA Dolphins
  5. Trained to hunt ATL Falcons
  6. Ruled the seas MINN Vikings
  7. Opposite of ewe LA Rams
  8. Mythical Monsters TENN Titans

14 American Vaquero                                                     DAL Cowboys

  1. Under the Pope PHX Cardinals
  2. Credit Card Users LA Chargers
  3. Indian leaders KC Chiefs King of beasts                                                               DET Lions
  4. Jungle Cats CIN Bengals
  5. A dollar for corn TB Buccaneers
  6. Ocean going bird SEA Seahawks
  7. Burnt epidermis WASH Redskins
  8. Heavenly Halo’s NO Saints
  9. Rodeo horses DEN Broncos
  10. Six Shooters IND Colts War Movie                                                                           NE Patriots
  11. “Never more” BLT Ravens
  12. British Sports Car JXS Jaguars
  13. Black Cats CAR Panthers
  14. Symbol of the United States PHI Eagles

Looking for games to play from a screen with your whole group? Our favorite resource is DownloadYouthMinistry.com. Most have a small price tag to purchase. There are loads to choose from.