celebrity head game

Materials:

Three headbands or headpieces that you can stick paper into

10-15 index cards

Marker

 Instructions:

1.)    Get three headbands or headpieces onto which you can slot or stick a piece of paper or card into it. 

2.)    Make sure you have 10-15 cards, and write the name of a celebrity in big letters on each card. 

3.)    Then choose three volunteers to sit in front of the group. Place a headpiece with a card on each volunteer. 

4.)    Be careful not to let them see the name of the person on their headpiece. It’s their job to guess which name is on their head, but the catch is the answer can only ask “yes” or
“no” questions. (For example, “Am I a male?”  “Am I on TV?”)

5.)    Each person can ask as many questions as they want until they get a “No” answer, then it goes to the next person and so-on until eventually someone guesses and they are declared the winner!

6.)    This works well if you throw in a ‘local’ celebrity (such as the Youth Pastor, etc)

the popcorn race

Materials:

Two buckets full of popcorn

Two empty buckets

A dessert-sized paper plate for each player

Instructions:

1.) Divide the youth group into two teams (maybe more teams depending on how many teens are present).

2.) The first player scoops their plate into the full bucket of popcorn.

3.) Then they hop on one foot to the finish line and pour whatever is left on their plate into their empty bucket.

4.) Then they run back and tag the next person in line, who does the same process. The process continues until the last players on each team reach the finish line.

5.) The team who has the most popcorn in their bucket at the finish line wins!

Play upbeat, energetic music while game is played. The music starts on “Go” and stops when a team wins.

youth group game – “over the mountain!”

This is a good way to get the teens talking and interacting with each other.  Some groups might need to be encouraged to keep the statements appropriate, but it is typically fun and hilarious!

Materials: Chairs for every player minus one.

Instructions:

1.)    Each player sits in a chair in a circle facing the center. One player stands in the center to start the game, (usually the youth leader after he or she explains it.)

2.)    Whoever is in the center makes a statement that applies to him or her and follows the format “Over the mountain if you have ever/never ___________________.” For example, the youth leader may say “Over the mountain if you have ever got called into the principal’s office.”

3.)    Anyone around the circle who can identify with the statement gets up and moves to a new chair. The last one left standing makes the next statement.

You can decide when to end the game. When time gets short, let everyone know when one round is left.

living sculpture

This is a fun way break the ice among new groups. It also builds teamwork and sparks creativity.

Materials Needed:

Toliet paper, saran wrap, tin foil (or anything you think can offer creativity…Just nothing sticky or messy that could harm clothing)

 

Instructions:

1.) Divide the room into groups.

2.) Have the groups designate one person to be the “artwork.”

3.) Give the teams an allotted time to make a sculpture out of the designated person.

4.) The “sculpture” volunteer stands in a position while the team wraps toilet paper, saran wrap and tin foil or any other materials around him or her to create a “work of art.”

5.) The team with the best sculpture in the allotted time wins.

You can also play fast-paced music in the back ground to add to the intensity of the game.

feather relay

This is a great game to play with a small group of students (10 to 20 or so). If you have a larger youth group, then you will just want to select a few volunteers to play while the rest of the group watched.

Materials Needed:  Feathers, paper plates

Instructions:

1. Create relay teams of about five students each.  Line the teams up in single file lines, relay style.

2. Hand the first person on each team a paper plate with a feather on it.

4. Each team member must race to the end of the room (or to wherever you decide is the end) balancing the feather on the plate. 

5. Once they get to the end of the room, they must turn around and walk back.

6. They CANNOT drop the feather.  If they drop their feather, they must go back to the beginning of the line and try again. (If you think this will drag the game on too long, you can just allow them to stop where they are, place the feather back on the plate, and then start again.)

7. Once they make it back to their team, they must pass the plate and feather to the next person to do the same thing until the whole team has a turn.

The team that finishes the relay first wins.  Have prizes ready to give to the entire winning team – which is why we suggest making the teams no larger than five students!

 

bingo

Here is a cool way to play a group game of BINGO with your entire youth group.
Mix it up by having some “secret super prizes” that correlate with certain squares on the BINGO card – your group will LOVE it!

Materials Needed: BINGO Cards, BINGO Chips, Callout Chips

You can make your own BINGO cards here!

Activity Time: 15 minutes

Instructions:

1. Separate the group into teams of two (or if your group is small enough, each student can receive their own card)

2. Hand each group a BINGO card and some chips.

2. Pull a callout chip out of the bag. If the item called out is on their card, place a chip on that item.

3. The first team to fill a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally will win a prize – the prize should be something cool like movie gift certificates, restaurant gift certificates, iTunes gift cards, etc.

Variation!

Promote this as a huge event! There could be a huge prize like a gaming system, iPod, $200 shopping spree, etc. You could incorporate food (PIZZA!) into the night and have the kids invite their friends to come. End the night with a powerful message from the Word and alter call. This could be a great opportunity to impact lives for God.

pass the hat

MATERIALS NEEDED:
Two hats (can be plastic top hats or regular hats)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Place the group into two circles or two lines – can be an inner circle and an outer circle. The lines or circles should be divided evenly. If you end up being one person short in one line/circle, then someone will have to go twice.
2. The first player in each circle has a hat on his/her head. The object is to pass the hat round the circle or down the line without using their hands. They can use ANY other body part, but not their hands. If they use their hands, they have to give the hat back to the person before them and try to pass the hat again without using their hands. (The kids will get pretty creative with how to pass the hats!).
3. The team which passes the hat round the circle or down the line first without dropping the hat our using their hands wins the game. You can play more than once.

deal or no deal

This is a variation of the popular TV game show that can be played with your youth group. I played this game with a group of kids and they really got into it. Our highest dollar amount to win was $250 and our lowest amount to win was $.50. Our first winner won $.50! It was great. We felt so bad we ended up giving her $50 just for being such a good sport.

MATERIALS NEEDED:
Cash money or whatever you are playing for (other variations could be candy bars or other treats, small prizes, etc.), poster board, cardstock, tape.

ACTIVITY SETUP:
Place the dollar amount (or candy bars or whatever your group is playing for) in descending order on a large piece of poster board. When I play, I use 22 spots on the board with dollar amounts ranging from $.50 to $250.00. If you have a large dry erase board or chalk board, you can save resources and just draw a playing board there. If you want a playing board that you can use over and over again, use stronger material – you can even use a piece of wood and paint it, creating a long-lasting board.

On pieces of cardstock, put the dollar amounts in random order, one dollar amount per sheet. Then, on the other side, number the cards from 1 to 22 (or however many spots you have on your board).

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. The contestant will call out the numbers of three cards to pull. A leader will pull the cards one at a time and display the dollar value on the back of the card (i.e. $5.00, $15.00, etc). The teacher will then cross that dollar amount off from the board (or if you are playing with a permanent board, you can use something to cover the dollar amount up with).
2. After choosing the card, another leader will act as the “banker” and will make a money offer to the contestant to try and “buy” their card from them. The goal of the banker is to try and give the contestant the least amount of money possible. The banker cannot offer more than the highest amount of money that is not crossed out on the board. The goal of the contestant is to walk away with the most amount of money possible.
3. The contestant will then either take the offer the banker has given – DEAL – or chose to keep playing – NO DEAL.
   2nd Round – Open three cases
   3rd Round – Open three cases
   4th – 7th Round – Open two cases
   8th Round and Over – Open one case at a time
4. If the child gets down to just one card left, they will have the choice of keeping their original card or switching out with the last card. The dollar amount on the back of the card they choose is what they win!

sticky nose relay

MATERIALS NEEDED:
Creamy petroleum jelly, cotton balls, paper plates, paper towels, table, bowls.

ACTIVITY SETUP:
Place the table in the front of the room. Place the paper plates with cotton balls on them on the table – one plate for each team.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. You can play this game as teams or individual contestants. If you are playing as teams, recommend small teams of two, no more than three contestants on a team.
2. Coat each contestant’s nose with petroleum jelly.
3. Each team member will take a turn to run to the table, place their nose in their team’s designated plate of cotton balls, and see how many cotton balls they can get to stick on their nose – NO HANDS.
4. They then must return back to their line and place their cotton balls in their teams bowl. They cannot count any cotton balls that fell to the floor while walking back to their line!
5. The team that finishes the above first wins a small prize, BUT, the team with the most cotton balls in their bowl all wins a Grand Prize.

plastic wrap relay

MATERIALS NEEDED:
Small rolls of plastic wrap.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Choose contestants to make teams of two. One person is the “wrapper” and the other is the “wrappie.” If you can, maybe choose teams out of each grade represented in the room – this will create some hype in the room and the kids will cheer for their represented grade.
2. Each team will race to wrap their respective “wrappie” in plastic wrap. You should set a time limit – like three minutes or five minutes. Also, buy a small enough roll of plastic wrap so that they can reasonably finish the task in the given time period. (I made the mistake of buy LOOOONG rolls of plastic wrap and it took the kids forever to wrap each other! It was great though!!! Hilarious).
3. If your time ends and no one has finished wrapping their “wrappie,” then you can either have them stop and see whoever is closest to the end of the roll (you can put each teams roll side by side to see whose is the smallest) or you can let the game go on a few more minutes if the crowd is still into it (they may be cheering for their friends, classmates, etc.).
4. Whatever team finishes their roll first or whoever has the smallest roll at the end of the time wins a prize.