games for youth
Not all games linked to will be suitable for all groups, or even any youth group. Always check the game and complete a risk assessment. Do use these to springboard to different ideas. And if you've got ideas for games or know of other resources, please let me know. If you want more ideas, read the chapter of my book: 'Icebreakers, games and activities'. Every chapter is about what it says! Simple!
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And remember, PRIZES make every game better, but if you're giving away chocolate, please remember allergies. People who are dairy intolerant have enough challenges in life!
can i teach using games?
I wonder if we sometimes feel that there's a massive change of gears during your session. We start with an unconnected game and there's loads of energy and loads of fun. Then, we get everyone to sit down, not make a noise and tell them we're going to teach the Bible in a fairly dry way. What are we teaching as we do that?
First of all, our Bible teaching should never be dry. Read my book (buy it here) to help stop you being boring. Secondly, download the handout below to encourage you to think about ways to link your games with your Bible teaching.
what's a little friendly competition?
If we lead a Christian youth group, remember that 'Christian' word, even during games.
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"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
1 Corinthians 10.31
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Notice that 'whatever you do'. Does that include playing games or leading games? Yes, it does.
What does that mean in practice?
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We never cheat in games. Nor do we allow other people to cheat. In a minute, we may have to teach that people can't cheat their way into heaven.
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We never allow people to put other people down. There's a better way than 'banter':
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We encourage everyone in the game, and perhaps particularly those on the margins.
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We don't have to use our size, knowledge and experience to win every game. In a chasing game, if we're fast, we can chase the faster players on the other team. We can choose not to play and we can choose to lose, as long as we're subtle.
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We don't always have to choose physical games, otherwise the same people may always do well, and the same people may always not do so well. We can choose some cerebral games too.
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We can do team games as well as individual games. Church is a team game.
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We are always full of grace and kindness. If someone is really sad they came second, we can give out two prizes.
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We have to remember that we are twice the size of some of the people we're playing against. If we run into them, they're going down HARD. Be warned.
making up the numbers
In a perfect world, you'd play this game with 20 people, but you can make it work with any number. Let's say you have 20. You split the group up into two teams. You give each person an A4 piece of paper with a number on from 0 to 9.
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It'll look prettier with each team with a different colour of paper, but don't worry about it. Line them up in two rows on either side of your room. Call out a number e.g. four thousand seven hundred and nine. The four players on each team holding 4, 7, 0 and 9 need to run to the end of the room and get in order showing the number. First team to do it correctly wins a point. Continue with new numbers until you feel like stopping. Start with one digit numbers, but build it up until you've got ten digit numbers! Fairly obviously, you can't use any number with repeated digits, unless you want to put in two sixes or two nines and see how clever the young people are.
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You can use more than two teams. If you've got, say 24 players, use three teams of 8 and don't shout any numbers with a 9 or 0 in them.
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Want to change this up? Use letters and spell words.
balloon in the bucket
A great game to foster teamwork. Get a balloon. Find a bucket just larger than the balloon that the balloon will fit in and place the bucket in the centre of a circle of chairs facing in.
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Have the young people sit on the chairs (with larger groups you may need more circles, buckets and balloons). Drop the balloon into the circle and see how long it takes to get the balloon into the bucket just using kicks with their feet. Chairs need to be far enough away that people can't just trap the balloon and drop it in, close enough that there isn't a lot of space where the balloon can just drop into empty space, because then it will quickly become boring.
through the hoop
Young people stand in teams with first person facing the wall with both hands out straight from their shoulders, touching the wall. Subsequent team members stand with their hands on the shoulders of the person in front.
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Before the game starts, put a hula hoop (the big one, not the crispy UK snack - that wouldn't work) around the arms of each first person in the teams.
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When the game starts the first person must climb through the hoop, without taking their hands off the wall. Each player must then climb through the hoop without taking their hands off the shoulders of the person in front, until the hoop is left on the floor at the back of the team.
Stand up with a cup
We love games that need so little preparation it's ridiculous and yet are fun. Here's one.
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Everyone lies down on their back with a plastic cup balanced on their forehead. First person to stand up without touching the cup wins. If you drop it, you start again.
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Mix it up by starting standing up with the cup on the forehead, then lying down with the cup balanced. Make it a relay with each person in the team having to stand up with a cup, but the next can only stand up after the last person has finished.​
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mountains & valleys
If you want to play another cup game, put a load of plastic cups in the room, half of them up, the other half down. Split the young people into Mountains and Valleys. Mountains are trying to turn the cups upside down, Valleys, to turn them the right way up.
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You can't stack them. You can't guard them. Play till one team has all of them up their way, or till people are exhausted.
cup stack games
If you've got a lot of plastic cups, why not stack 20 or 30 of one colour with just one cup of another couple at the top? Competitors need to move just one cup at a time from the bottom to the top until that different coloured cup is back at the top.
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You can play this as a minute-to-win-it, an upfront game competing against others, or a relay with each person having to complete the challenge.
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An alternative challenge would be seeing how many cups the competitor can stack in a pyramid in a minute or as a relay, having each team member take a stack of 6 cups, stand them upside down on a table in a pyramid, put them back in the stack and hand to the next team member.​
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Make it more difficult by trying to keep a balloon in the air while stacking the cups.
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Paper cups are definitely better for the environment, or you can use reusable plastic cups.
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Watch out for anyone who may not have the same physical dexterity.
Frisbee 4-in-a-row
Why not play 4-in-a-row (you may have played it as Connect 4) on a bigger scale? Mark out a 7 x 6 grid on a hard floor with tape, or on your car park, big enough to land a Frisbee in with a bit of room to spare.
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Split the group into two teams. Each team takes it in turns to throw a Frisbee into a square. If you have a load of Frisbees (i.e. 21 each of two colours!), leave them in the square they land in. Otherwise, if you're outside, just put a circle where one team's Frisbee lands, and a cross for the other team. Each team is aiming to get four in a row to win the game. If the square is already taken, play moves on to the other team.
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You can choose not to count a Frisbee that doesn't land entirely in a square, or you can be kind!
Post-it shake it off
Stick multiple post-it notes on each player. Maybe six on their front, six on their back. For safeguarding reasons, best to get them to stick them on themselves or get a friend to do it.
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When the music starts (not sure which song, but I'm sure you can think of one that will work), players need to try to get all the post-its off just by shaking. ​It might take some time... ​​First person to shake them all off is the winner.
tell me why
With players in teams, shout out a word (e.g. name of your group, hope, faith, etc) and each team needs to find something to do with that word and justify it. Points for brilliance.
Easy to link with a Bible theme.
roller- coaster egg and spoon race
A game for one - you can use it for a minute-to-win-it. Cut a 'rollercoaster' track through a large, piece of cardboard, wide enough to pass the neck of a spoon through and rotate it round. Secure the card in a standing position, perhaps on a table. Put the neck of a spoon in the track and balance a table tennis ball on the spoon. Players hold the handle of the spoon with the ball balanced on the other side of the cardboard, then see how fast they can get the ball to the end of the track without it falling off. If it falls off they go back to the start. You can play how far they can get in a minute and mark on the card their finishing point, or time how long it takes for the whole track.
ball pool balls relay
Divide young people into teams, sitting them in rows. Give each player a plastic storage box. Put twenty ball pool balls in the box of the first player in each team. Teams have to tip the balls over their heads into the box of the next player, without touching them with their hands. If they drop one, they add time to their finishing time, maybe five seconds per ball to make it more challenging.
Nudge circle
You'll need a big room to play this, probably a sports hall. Everyone lies down on the floor in a large circle, heads towards the centre of the circle. They're not evenly spaced, but in twos. Two side-to-side, then a gap, then another two for the whole circle.
Another player is the catcher trying to catch a single person who starts off as a free runner. So as not to get caught, they run away from the catcher and dive down next to one of the pairs on the floor. This nudges the person on the opposite side of the two who must jump up, avoid the catcher and dive down next to one of the other pairs on the floor. They can lie down on either side of the pair.
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If the catcher tags a free runner, they become the catcher. Play until exhaustion overcomes you.
grab a cone
Create a wide circle out of cones with a hula hoop in the middle of the circle. One less cone than number of players. Run round the cones. When the music stops/whistle blows, everyone must grab a cone and place it in the middle of the circle. The person who doesn't put a cone in drops out. Remove a cone and continue until only one person is left.
which leader?
Almost anything can be turned into a 'Which leader?' quiz - baby photos, Santa photos, recording of belches, recording of leaders pretending to be famous people, recordings of leaders singing a song. Anything!
rock, paper, scissors tag
Stand two teams facing each other along the length of your room. One player from each team steps forwards (a bit like David and Goliath!). They play rock, paper, scissors. When one player wins, they and their team have the chance to tag the opposing team before they get back to the wall behind them. Anyone who gets tagged before making it back to the wall joins the tagging team. Play then continues with the next player.
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Mix it up by using different actions:
Squat = Rock
Star jump = Paper
Split jump (i.e. legs forward and back) = Scissors
Coat hanger relay
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Divide young people into teams, standing them in rows. Give each player a length of string - about the length of a shoe lace - which they hold between their hands. Hang a coat hanger on the lace of the first player in each team. Teams have to pass the hanger to the back of the line, without touching it with their hands. Depending how mean you want to be, you can send them back to the start if they drop the coat hanger.
pool noodle relay
Divide young people into teams. Simple relay is passing the pool noodle down the team between people's knees. More difficult is to get people to lie on their backs with their feet in the air (watch out for people with physical needs), then pass the noodle down the team between people's feet!
pool noodle jousting
Another simple, classic and fun youth group game. Give each person who's competing a pool noodle to hold in one hand and a tray or pizza box to balance on the other hand. It must be balanced on fingers, not held.
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When the game starts, the aim is to be the last person standing with the tray/box left on their hand. Each player must try to knock off the tray/box with the pool noodle. No barging allowed!
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No pool noodles? Then roll up newspaper.
sticky hand game
Put a small coin in the middle of a round table. Gather young people round the table, each with a stretchable, sticky hand. You can buy those in bulk as party bag gifts.
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When you start the game, the young people need to try and grab the coin off the table using their sticky hands. First one to get the coin off the table wins.
leader dot-to-dot
So, I had an embarrassing moment on our latest camp. The group were working through a massive collection of tasks in a team challenge. I watched one young person working on a dot-to-dot for ages before I realised the horrible truth: one of our leaders had created a dot-to-dot of me!!!
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If you want to create dot-to-dots of pretty much any picture (aim for a clean background!), then here's the link you need.
paper drop
​Great icebreaker and great to help the group go a bit deeper in relationships in a fun way.
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Everyone sits in a circle, except one person who stands in the middle. The person standing drops a sheet of paper, at the same time as saying someone else's name. The person named has to jump up and try to catch the paper before it hits the ground. If they don't catch it, they swap places with the person in the middle and have to tell everyone something about themselves that others probably don't know. Play continues.
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With a bigger group, have multiple circles.
the peg game
We played this game with our youth last night and it continued way after the whistle. One girl walked home with a clothes peg still attached to her hair!
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You can play it at least two ways. Everyone can start off with, say, eight wooden clothes pegs attached to their clothing - body/arms. Players must take one off themselves and try to pin it onto someone else. If it's dropped, the person who tried to put it on must pick it up. The first person to get rid of all their pegs wins. Or you can start with say five each, then try to grab a peg from someone else and put it on yourself. The person with the most attached at the end wins.
they don't have to have started life as youth games
In my book, Raising the Bar (find out more here), in the chapter 'Putting together a session', I talk about being a "ruthless ideas collector", taking ideas from a wide range of sources. So when I saw these videos of people in a care home playing games, I immediately thought, could we play them with our youth? Of course we could. And you could too!
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Check out some great games ideas here.
secret dancer
Classic youth ministry game or you can play it at home with friends!
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Everyone stands in a circle. One person goes out of the room and they become the Detective. While they're out, you choose a Secret Dancer. They then start a dance move and everyone else copies them.
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The Detective comes in and (depending on the size of your group) has three guesses to work out the Secret Dancer. To make it (in theory, but it never works for me) easier, the Secret Dancer will change moves randomly, and everyone else will eventually catch up with the change. Repeat with different Detective and Secret Dancer.
MADE YOU CLAP
All you need is a ball. A leader stands in the middle of a circle of young people and bounces the ball. When they bounce it, everyone in the circle claps.
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If they don't bounce it and someone claps, that person sits out. Eventually, there is a winner.
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So, fairly obviously, the leader sometimes feints a bounce to encourage the young people to clap.​
eye contact
Is this the perfect game? No prep required. No complicated rules. No skill needed. Really fast. Really fun. Just a little bit annoying...
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Here's the idea. Everyone stands in a circle. The leader says 'Eyes down' and everyone looks at their feet. The leader says '1... 2... 3...' then 'Eyes up!' Everyone then has to look up at someone else in the circle. If that person is looking at them too, they both sit down. Two people are always involved so cheating is difficult. Our youth loved this and it was super fast.
CHAIR FOOTBALL/SOCCER
Youth Pastor Tara Phillips suggested this game. Split your young people into two teams. Alternate the teams ABABAB etc on a row of chairs. Put facing them a second row of chairs, again with the teams alternated BABABA. You get the idea. At each end of the rows of chairs, put a small goal.
Drop a soft football in the middle. Each team tries to kick the ball into the other team's goal. Just like real football, they can't handle the ball. Keep it just the feet.
It's probably good to be REALLY clear at the start which goal is which (maybe start off with all team A standing next to their goal and vice versa). It will get confusing. Tara suggests four three-minute rounds. Add interest by allowing only one foot to be used for one half.
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As always, do a risk assessment and stop before the kicking gets out of hand.
plastic cup scavenger hunt
Every church has an inordinate number of plastic cups. It's the law. All you need for this game is three different colours of cups. Scatter the three colours round the church. Might be best to specify where there are none hidden e.g. the toilets!
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Split into two teams, each to find one colour of cups. As soon as people find a cup, they need to return it to you for a point. The third colour should be hidden in more difficult places. Anyone can find that colour for bonus points.
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Game continues until one team finds all of their cups and all the bonus colour cups are found.
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At that stage, you can then say that the first team finished can now find the second team's cups for bonus points. That saves you finding plastic cups around the building for weeks.
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The team with most points wins!
catch 'n' crouch
Have everyone stand in a circle. Give someone a ball. Have them throw the ball to someone else. When they catch it, the person on each side of them needs to crouch, but they stay standing. They throw it to someone else, and so it continues. If the person catching it crouches, they are out. If the person on either side of them doesn't crouch, they are out too. You'll need to stop at three remaining. Not sure how it works? Check out the video here.
sketch 'n' fetch
Give each team a piece of flipchart paper or a whiteboard and a marker pen. Call up the first member of each team and show them a slip of paper with an object written on it. They have to draw it on the paper/board for their team. When the team knows what they're looking for, they go and find the object. First team to bring back the object wins the point. Be creative with the objects!
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Check out the link to Andrew Bird at the bottom of the page for more of his ideas.
tilted table challenge
Set up a table with no lips at the edge, on a slope side to side. Tape a block covering about two thirds of the width as shown in the picture. Tape plastic cups along the side and end.
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Put prizes or points on each cup. The ones on the end should be better prizes or higher points.
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Give each young person the chance to roll a ball starting from the edge shown to try to get the ball in a cup.
whodo?
Whodo?
is a whodunnit? game, created by Scott Rushby at Testwood Baptist Church, Southampton.
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Teams head round different rooms to find out who committed the crime, where and with what weapon.
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Download printable resources, instructions, detective cards and background music using the button below.
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Move back from the picture and squint at it. Another photo will emerge. Here's my photo to give you an idea of what it can do.
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Check out the AI Emmaus Road for a surprising resurrection talk here.
have you seen illusiondiffusion yet?
Try out IllusionDiffusion for games or for publicity. You load a photo into the website. It works best with simple line drawing (try a well known coffee shop logo for example), but you can use photos too. Generate it as a medieval village and see what it comes up with. Play around with the illusion strength and description till it looks the way you want.
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Try it with photos of celebrities or your leaders.
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One of our leaders, Joel Phelps, took this to the next level with his Minute-To-Win-It game. How fast could someone do the six challenges printed on these photos? All you need is a cup and a table.
sardines
Yes, there is nothing new under the sun!
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Young people love a game of Sardines. One person hides. Everyone else tries to find them and when they do, they bundle in with them/near them. Yes, do your risk assessment. Yes, have leaders wandering nearby to keep people safe.
do i need to mention hide and seek?
team challenges
Why not use games to help build relationships within your group? Split people up into teams across friendship groups, then have them do a mixture of activities together for a good amount of time.
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We use these on our residentials to encourage young people to break apart from their regular friends.
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Have a look at some ideas below, or let me know your best ones.
atoms
It really should be called molecules, but ATOMS is more fun!
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Simple but effective. Split everyone into 3s and have them hold hands to make a circle. You do that by looping one of your hand-holds over the top of a person in another team's head. That breaks them apart from their team and adds them into your team. You're now a four, leaving behind a two.
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You'd better watch your back though, because by the time you've joined them into your team, one of your team may have been snatched.
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The aim is to get everyone into your group, but groups become progressively more unwieldy, so you may just have to give up at some point. Largest group at the end wins.
​Wrap young people with tape so that their elbows are tightly into their sides, leaving only their forearms and hands able to move. In other words, they look a little bit like a T-Rex. Check beforehand that the tape isn't so sticky it's going to damage bare skin.
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Then give people a task to do e.g. make a bed, lay a table, etc. Be as creative as you can be. Race in teams against each other, or play it collaboratively.
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It might be better for them to have a friend of the same sex tape them up. There is a danger if they trip up that they won't be able to stop themselves falling, so have leaders close by.
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t-REx challenge
Picture by OkiSulaeman from Pixabay
floor volleyball
Play regular volleyball, but with a beachball and don't let anyone's bottom leave the floor.
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Mix it up by having people leave the game when the ball bounces nearest them, or they hit the ball out. Last team standing (or sitting!) wins.
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If you haven't got a volleyball net, you can buy a badminton net which fits in a base.
Relay quiz
Split the group into teams. Stand in lines. Stick A to Zs on a piece of flipchart paper for each team on the wall facing each team. You might want to miss out W which is fairly tricky or maybe you say you'll accept creativity!
Each team member needs to run with a pen to their flipchart paper, write down the name of one Bible character beginning with that letter, run back to their team and hand over the pen. First team to fill in all the gaps wins.
It doesn't have to be Bible characters. It can be countries, pop stars, fruit and vegetables, Bible books, first names of people in the church, whatever you want. Try to only have the letters that people can actually fill in!
Ikea line or Scandinavian town?
Photo by Jon Flobrant on Unsplash
It's an either/or quiz. Screenshare the name. Make sure to put all those pesky accents in. But is it a line from IKEA (and you can guess what sort for extra points), a Scandinavian town (and you can guess the country for more points) or maybe both?
Get people to pretend to swing a hammer for IKEA or relax with a (soft) drink in the sauna for Scandinavian town. And for both, they can try to do the two things simultaneously! If you want to make it competitive, people sit down if they get it wrong until there is only one person left.
To save you time, find the meaning of IKEA lines here. [Other Scandinavian furniture shops are available, but I can't immediately think of any...]
Four square and the next level
Who hasn't played four square yet?
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Really simple game. Mark four squares (see left diagram) with masking tape or chalk. One person stands in each square, the rest of the group line up at the bottom arrow. The aim is to become the King by progressing up the squares.
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The King hits a netball or soft football into someone else's square. The person in that square must hit it into someone else's square. Game continues until the ball bounces inside a square, in which case the person who is in the square goes out, or the ball bounces first outside a square, in which case the last person to hit the ball is out. If someone is out, they join the back of the queue. Everyone else moves up. The first person in the queue then starts in the bottom square.
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The only real rule is that the ball must go up after being hit. It can't be slammed down into someone else's square because that would be quick but boring!
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Bigger group? You can make it nine-square and put the King in the middle...
Next level or smaller room? Play Table Four Square
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Same idea, but use four tables, which don't even have to be the same size or height. Play with table tennis bats and a table tennis ball. Players stand next to their table. The King starts by hitting the ball onto someone else's table. That player must return the ball onto a different table. If they don't do that, or their shot misses someone else's table, they join the back of the queue and people move up.
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You've got raised edges on your tables? Don't worry! If someone hits the edge and it goes off in a funny direction, just shout 'chalk dust' and replay the point.
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Thanks Cliff McLelland from St Francis' Church, Valley Park, Southampton for this idea.
becky's pinterest of ideas
Love these little gems you find sometimes - people who put stuff out there to resource the rest of us! Becky Hepworth, Ministry Trainee at Park Church, Stoke-on-Trent, UK has set up a Pinterest page of youth resources, including a really extensive games section. Click on the link below and go to Games. Muffin pan challenge? Sorted!
card snatch
Is this the easiest game in the world?
Split the group into two teams. It doesn't really matter what size the teams are. Put them at opposite ends of the room. Hold a pack of playing cards in your hand. Shout a combination of cards, for example, Kings, Hearts, red twos, cards with four or more club symbols on them, whatever comes to mind. At the same time, throw the cards to separate over as wide an area as possible.
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When you shout the cards, the two teams rush forward and find the cards you asked for. Some are upside down to make it more difficult. They bring the card back to their side to score a point.
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Add more interest by saying that you can tag a member of the other team, if they are holding one of the matching cards. If they tag someone and they are holding a matching card, they get the card to take back to their side and noone can tag them (get them to put their hand up so noone tags them). If they get it wrong, they lose a point. That is a recipe for subterfuge (do I pretend I have one?) and a bit of chaos, but it's quite fun chaos. You might need a referee with each team, to ensure fair play.
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Big group? Add more packs of cards.
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Use it to introduce: a Bible story about separating one group from another. You can work it out.
Photo by Amanda Jones on Unsplash
commandos
One of our group's favourite games
This active game is played in two or more teams. Most fun outside in a long field, but it worked fine for us in a fairly long church.
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The counter stands at one end of the playing area. We had to have two no-go areas in the church which the counter couldn't see.
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The aim is to get from one end of the area to the other without being seen. We have some pillars, and laid out folding tables in four lines, at intervals, standing up, to provide places for people to hide. The last ones were quite a way from the counter.
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The counter rolls a die and shouts the number. They will be counting to this number. Then they shout out 'Fast', 'Medium' or 'Slow' and lower their head. To count, they add 'Dot' between the numbers (Fast is one dot, medium two and slow three). So if it's 3 Medium, they'll count One Dot Dot Two Dot Dot Three Dot Dot Up.
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While they are counting, the young people move to the first row of hides. When the counter shouts 'Up', if they can see anyone moving, or not quite behind the hide, they'll call their name and the young person has to go back to the start to begin again.
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When a team member reaches the counter, they lay their hand on their shoulder and stretch towards their team. The next person in just needs to be hanging on to their team member when the counter says 'Up', making it progressively easier. First team to get all their team to the counter wins.
signs
If you've got 10 plus people, stand in a circle and each say what your 'sign' is. That might be as easy as putting your thumb up or jumping in the air, spinning 360 degrees and landing again. They shouldn't make a noise (!) and they should all be different.
Then, get everyone used to the game, by one person doing their sign, followed by someone else's sign. That person then starts with their sign, and does a third person's. The only rule is: you can't pass it back to the person who gave you the sign. When everyone's sign has been produced, ask for a volunteer to leave the room.
Meanwhile, choose a young person to start with the sign. When the person comes back in, the young person starting secretly does their sign, followed by someone else's and the person in the middle tries to catch the sign.
Play continues until they catch the sign, then that person goes out and you play another round.
the animal game
Stand in a circle. Every young person chooses an animal. With one in the middle, a student has to say their name followed by another animal in the circle.
The person in the middle has to tag that person
before they say their animal, followed by another animal. If they tag them before they say someone else's animal, they are in the middle.
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Want to make it more epic? Give the person in the middle a pool noodle to make the tag with.
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If it's the start of term and people don't really know each other, use this game with people's names as a getting-to-know-you exercise.
scatterball
If your young people are bored with dodgeball (I mean, how can anyone get bored with dodgeball? But just imagine they might be)...
The ball is thrown up in the middle of the room and everyone scatters. After that, if the ball hits you, you sit down. You can no longer win, but you can get other people out if the ball rolls to you and you hit someone else with the ball.
Last one standing wins!
Next level is a more complex game where people sitting down can come back into the game. Find the rules for that variant here.
Floorball scramble
Surely you play indoor hockey. If not, why not? It is a favourite with both the boys and the girls. Companies providing sticks and balls include Unihoc.
Put a net at either end of the room. Split into two teams down each side. Give each person a number and a hockey stick. Put the ball in the middle, shout out a number and have a one-on-one. First to put it in the goal wins a point for their team. Why stop at one-on-one? Two-on-two or three-on-three works just as well, and shout SCRAMBLE for all-play.
Check out the office chair option below!
ankle balloon pop
Give everyone a blown-up balloon and a piece of string (need to be all the same length).
Have them tie the balloon to their ankle so it's hanging off the back of it at its full extent (they can't shorten it). Don't let them tie it on top of their laces, or someone might jump hard on their foot.
At the whistle, they must try to pop everyone else's balloon while protecting their own.
Last person standing wins.
Remember your risk assessment!
back to back
Start with two people sitting on the floor back to back. They must stand up without using their hands. When they succeed, add in an extra person and see how far they can go.
Mix it up by making it a team challenge. Adding new team members one by one, which team can get their whole team standing up without using their hands?
Taskmaster
Channel 4's Taskmaster series has got some quirky games to play, even if all you learn is that charades are far more fun if you use giant sponge hands. You can see the sort of games they play on Channel 4's website, as well as getting the feel of the series.
Now you want some ideas for tasks? Check out what the Guardian (UK newspaper) said were the best 100 Taskmaster challenges.
Sian Pearson, Youth Pastor at St. Andrew's, Kendray produced some great task ideas and leaders' notes for Taskmaster which she shares here:
Image by James Oladujoye from Pixabay
ball in the bucket
Have the group stand in a circle and put a bucket in the middle. While music plays, have them pass two or more (depending on the size of your group) balls round the circle. When the music stops, the person holding it has to get the ball in the bucket. They can throw it, but it must stay in the bucket! If they win, they get a small prize. Keep going.
flockey
So you've played hockey, now mix it up with hockey played using flyswats and table tennis ball. Throw in some extra interest by adding an extra ball sometimes. Use a bin for the goal.
As ever, do your risk assessment and then continue dynamically. If they're likely to clash heads, it's time to stop.
Gaga ball
Have you played Gaga Ball yet? It's dodgeball, but more intense.
If not, check out the link below for the rules. You need a ball and eight folding tables... or you can spend a load of time with wood and joints, then find a place to store it... I think you can even buy a pit! I'd just go for the tables.
ninja
Not sure how I've missed this game for so long, but it's brilliant and not bad as a spectator sport.
Stand in a circle and all adopt a karate pose (no, I didn't really know what a proper one looked like either, but just try). Then go round the circle, trying to hit someone else's hand. You hit - they lose that hand. Two lost hands and they're out. You miss and you're frozen in place. You can only move when it's your turn or when someone tries to hit you.
Only one Ninja is left standing.
splat
Classic game. Everyone stands in a circle, with one person in the middle. That person points two hands with forefinger extended (think 'gun') at a person in the circle and says 'splat'. They duck. The person on both sides turn inwards, and 'splat' each other. First splat wins and the other sits down.
If the person ducking doesn't get down fast enough and gets splatted, they sit down and the other two remain in.
Local rules apply to choose the winner from the last two. Normally, it's a splat off of some sort. Players start back to back. Choose a word e.g. Zerubbabel. The person from the middle says a word which isn't a mile away from Zerubbabel: Zoroastrian, Xerophyte, Zerynthia (maybe best to use an easier word). At each word, players take a step away from each other. When they've run out of other words to say, or the players have nearly reached the wall, say 'Zerubbabel'. Both spin, and the first splat wins the game.
splattergories
Next level - a mix of Splat and Scattergories.
When the person in the middle points at the player in the circle, instead of saying 'splat', they say a category. The person ducks and the first person on either side to name something in that category stays in and the other sits down.
Categories are only limited by your imagination from pop stars to historical novels, from youth leaders to Chinese dynasties, from composers to Geordie TV presenters i.e. coming from Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK. The more bizarre you can make them, the better.
If you want some fairly simple ideas, click the link below.
nerf war ideas
If in your context, it's OK to shoot Nerf bullets at each other (these are sponge, by the way), and you, sorry, I mean your young people, are a bit bored with just running around shooting each other, you can mix it up with these amazing ideas from ​Dan Bright, Youth Pastor at Greyfriars Church, Reading.
Add a Nerf twist to musical chairs by putting out two less chairs than people. At either end of the rows of chairs have two Nerf guns. When the music stops, people sit down. The two who don’t have a seat run to the Nerf guns and have a shoot out. The player hit first is out. Remove a chair and repeat.
making nerf work
Always check your Nerf guns before you start (I mean, you really have to) and put in new batteries. It's not a lot of fun if your gun isn't working or jams with every bullet. Oh, and the young people might not enjoy it either...
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Haven't got enough Nerf guns? Get people to bring their own, but they can't be super-charged (yes, people do). Or let it be known, that when people are getting rid of them at home, you want them. You'll soon have a loft full.
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I have no affiliation with Nerf or Hasbro.
"In terms of setup we have often gone BIG but kept games simple. We will use washing line and rope to drape a bunch of rooms and then use clothes pegs and duct tape to hang fabric from them so it creates a network of coridors like a maze. Smoke machine also definitely comes out! We have rigged up speakers in the past to play music through - either cheese like 007 or really bassy stuff works well.
It’s something I’ve inherited here and have to keep up with the expectations! My predecessor even got the church scaffold tower out one year and set up a leader as sniper! I’ve never quite gone that far!"
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Tim Taylor
Youth Pastor
Highfield Church, Southampton
mixing nerf up
You've got a smoke machine? [Don't worry, I haven't either] Then close the doors into a corridor and fill it with smoke (careful with your smoke alarms). Think about your added risks too.
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Add a cheap laser machine.
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Add in an orange flashing light.
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Everything is an obstacle. Who hasn't got folding tables in church? Your pews can come into their own as cover.
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Enjoy!
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"I bought a massive box of bullets and goggles, and then got them to bring their own blasters... I also have a team member who is seriously into Nerf, so he roped in others from church with blasters and passion and they led the session.
We did one inside with obstacles, and another outside with wide games. For outside, we borrowed massive inflatable Nerf obstacles and saved up big cardboard boxes. Everyone got stuck in. It was awesome."
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Bea Ellaby
Youth Pastor
Christ Church, Abingdon
minute-to-win-it games
I've just come across these party games masters. Loads of them can be used in a youth group setting. Why not try an evening not dissimilar to Taskmaster or The Cube (UK TV programmes)?
Get people up from different teams to play each game while the rest cheer them on, do relays, or have a minute-to-win-it game going all night for people to have a go.
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Pretty much anything Outscord do can be used/adapted for use in youth ministry (probably not the twerking game!). See their other videos here.
human pac-man
You know they'll love it, even if the young people have no idea what Pacman is!
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This video gives you an idea of what you could do. Coloured sheets over the ghost's heads will definitely add to it.
Set up ideas
Task ideas
IRL game not dissimilar to among us
Abby Poole, Youth Worker at Guildford Baptist Church and her brilliant team organised a game similar to Among Us. Why not go for it yourself?
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Find out more by downloading the instructions below.
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I am in no way affiliated to Among Us, nor have they approved this content. If you're not familiar with the online game, check out the Innersloth game here.
OFFICE CHAIR FLOORBALL
So, you play indoor hockey. You don't? It is a youth group favourite. Companies providing sticks and balls include Unihoc. Mix it up by playing on office chairs. No office chairs? Just use normal chairs. Place them in rows two metres apart (a bit like table football (surely, you'll have played human table football before...!)). Mark a cross under each chair and ask the young people not to leave the cross.
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Do a risk assessment, though. Worst case scenario is to allow a young person to play barefoot and have a leader run over their foot with an office chair. I'd suggest keeping the chairs static and wearing shoes.
after eight or oreo race
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Absolute classic. I'm sure it must have been played in the time of Moses. Put an After Eight or Oreo (other wafer-thin mints and biscuits are available) on each group member's forehead. Say 'go' and watch them try to manipulate it into their mouth without using their hands. A great facial muscle work out.
Image by Wikimediaimages from Pixabay
Noughts and crosses relay
Best played with foam noughts and crosses (three of each). In two teams, one person at a time races to the front and places down one of their pieces (either a nought or a cross) on a board laid out (you can use nine hula hoops, or four crossed sticks). They come back and the next team member races forward. Once they have placed all their pieces, they can start swapping their pieces to an open space. First team to get three of their pieces in a row in any direction wins.
Image by Kristin McGill from Pixabay
Don Eskridge's hand games are simple but effective.
el mundo del aprendizaje
Just seen these guys on Youtube. Some really great ideas for games. Loads of simple but fun ideas. As ever, I haven't checked all of them, but you can surely find some brilliant minute-to-win-it or upfront games here. Warning: You might accidentally find yourself doing your times tables again.
"Raising the Bar is a MUST READ for every youth minister."
Matt Wendal, US Youth Pastor
There's a whole chapter on Icebreakers, Games and Activities in my book: "RAISING THE BAR: Nearly Everything You Need to Know about Christian Youth Ministry." Get nearly 400 pages of ideas and support for your youth ministry.
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