$1000 Bill ExchangeFor this game you need to make your own money on your computer (careful- it might be a federal offense). Give each person 10 of the bills. They are to try to win as many as possible from their peers by challenging them one on one doing one of three things:
Thumb wrestling
Rock, paper, scissors
Flipping a coin
Rules:
You must accept any challenge
Sudden death, no two out of three
Challenger has to have a coin and is "heads" on the coin toss.
Ape, Man, Girl GameThis is a variation of the Rock-Scissors-Paper game. Have people pair off. When the signal is given each person strikes a pose like an ape, man, or girl. Be sure to demonstrate what each looks like ahead of time. The ape beats the girl, man beats the ape, the girl gets the man. Eliminate the losers and pair the winners until you get a champion.
Added by Youth For Christ
BarnyardThis is a good little game to divide into teams for the day/evening. Have pre-made cards for more than enough kids. Come up with as many animals as you want teams that night. If you want four teams, have four animals. If you predict 35 kids that night make forty cards, four groups of ten. Each group of ten cards will have a particular animal written on it (so you will have 10 chicken cards, 10 cow cards, 10 donkey cards and 10 pig cards). Hand out cards randomly to the kids and tell them to not tell anyone their animal. When you give the signal, have them make the sound of their animal as loud as possible until they find their entire group. First group to totally find each other wins.
Put a twist on the game by putting in only ONE card that says "donkey".
After all of the animals have found each other, there will still be one poor kid out there Hee-Hawing his head off to no avail.
Candy HuntThis game works very well as a crowd breaker for large crowds. Gather a few distinctly different types of candy and tape them under the chairs of your audience before the meeting. Keep in mind when deciding how many types of candy you use that you will want the teams to be as evenly numbered as possible. Have your MC explain the activity as follows:
1. Groups must look underneath their seat, grab the candy bar (or individually wrapped small candy), and then find the other people in the room with that candy bar.
2. Once all team members have found their respective group, they must eat their candy and present their wrappers to one person on the team who will bring them all to the MC.
This gets the crowd up and interacting and provides a boost of energy to your meeting. It is also a good idea to have some high energy back ground music.
Clothes Pin MixerPass out about 4-5 clothes pins per kid in the room and instruct them to pin them on their own sleeves. Explain that when the music begins, the object of the game is to get all clothes pins off themselves and on to someone else. Turn off lights and on strobes and music. (You may want to put girls on one side of room and guys on another- guys can get a little frisky sticking clothespins on girls). Explain that when the lights come on, one or two people should have about 100 pins on them - pull them up and parade the winner.
At the end you won't want them playing with the pins all night during the talk, so dress a tough kid or leader up front in protective gear (motorcycle helmet with face shield, chest protector or thick jacket, turtleneck, scarf, gloves, shin guards, thick pants, etc.); and put a bulls-eye on their chest. Tell everybody to grab all their clothes pins and bring in your human target and play music as they throw or pin their clothes pins at him. Kids can't believe they are doing this, and when you stop the music, all your pins are gathered up at the front.
Added by Young Life
ClumpsEasy game used to divide your group into teams. Simply yell "Form a group according to . . . (GPA, hair color, cavity #'s, sibling #'s, shirt color, etc.)" If you're looking for a certain number of people per team, just say, "Form a group of 7!" If you end up with a remainder, then have staff go around and divide the leftovers on teams.
Communicating ChallengeGive everyone a number. They have to arrange themselves in numerical order by communicating with each other without speaking or holding up fingers. They make up their own sub-language or sign-language and it often is pretty amusing. For Round Two, have people arrange themselves in order of birth or in calendar months.
Added by Youth For Christ
Dollar SurpriseMingling game. One or two people have a dollar. Everyone goes around shaking hands. Persons with dollar pass dollar off to tenth person he shakes hands with. Keep going...if you get the dollar, pass off to tenth person. When music stops, person with dollar keeps it.
Added by Young Life
Find Someone Who(Works well with large groups.)
Give out the "Find Someone Who" list to students and have them go from student to student looking for someone who meets the description on their list.
Example: Find someone who is wearing blue pants.
The student who fits this description signs their name. Students then go off to find someone else that meets a description on their list. The winner is the one who has their sheet filled out first and most accurately. You should read aloud the list with the person's name who signed it. Have the student who signed the list verify the information.
example: Find someone who can belch the alphabet. If Joe signed that item, have Joe come up and demonstrate.
Items needed: Find Someone List (make one up.) Make enough copies for everyone.
Pencils or pens
SAMPLE "FIND SOMEONE WHO" LIST:
Find someone who has a birthday in February and have him/her sign their initials here. __________________________________
Find someone who has been to Colorado before and leapfrog over him/her. Then have the person initial here.______________________
Get seven leaders to sign the back of this sheet.
Find someone who has a birthday this month and sing "Happy Birthday" to them Have the person initial here._____________________
Find someone to listen to you say "toy boat" ten times quickly. Then have them initial here.___________________________________
Get three other people to link arms with you and do the cheer "lean to the left, lean to the right, stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight!" Have each person initial here.________________________________________
Give someone your ugliest face and have them initial here.__________________
With two other people, face the front of the room, put your hand over your heart, and say the "Pledge of Allegiance" in unison. Initial each other's papers._______
Have someone tell you about the best Christmas gift they ever received. Then have them initial here._______________________
Get a hair over 5 inches long from someone else's head. Let them pull it out. Have the person initial here._________________
Give someone a backrub and have them initial here._____________________
Find someone who has blue eyes and have them initial here.______________
Find someone who is left-handed and have them initial here.______________
Find Someone Who BingoSame game as Find Someone Who (above) but the "Find Someone Who's" are organized in Bingo rows on a piece of paper (a Find Someone Who Bingo Card). First one to get 5 across, down or diagonal wins.
Football Team NamesBreak up into groups of 4 requiring at least one person on each team to be a football fan. Pass out one copy of the following list of clues to pro Team to each team. (Answers in parentheses; of course you'll copy this list off without the answers.) The first team to bring their completed list to you wins (or as many as they can come up with). Give prizes to each team member (a candy bar, mug, etc.).
What are these pro football teams???
1. A dollar for corn (Buccaneers)
2. Native American epidermis (Redskins)
3. Sun-tanned bodies (Browns)
4. I O Us (Bills)
5. Opposite of ewes (Rams)
6. 747 (Jets)
7. 7 squared (49ers)
8. Army insects (Giants)
9. Iron workers (Steelers)
10. Trained to kill (Falcons)
11. Six rulers (Vikings)
12. What streakers are (Bears)
13. Louis Armstrong's favorite song (Saints)
14. 52 of them (Cardinals)
15. Rodeo animals (Broncos)
16. Native American leaders (Chiefs)
17. Called bald (Eagles)
18. Ocean going birds (Seahawks)
19. Hostile invasion (Raiders)
20. Credit card users (Chargers)
21. Boxers (Packers)
22. King of beasts (Lions)
23. Toy and fish arms (Dolphins)
24. One-time British enemies (Patriots)
25. American gauchos (Cowboys)
26. Used-to-be girls (Bengals)
27. Six shooters (Colts)
28. (optional) Tin Man fixer (Oilers)
Source Unknown
Give Yourself A Hand!Items Needed: Paper, Markers or Ink pens, Safety Pins
You can either pre-make paper hands or have each participant trace their own hand on paper and pin it on their back. Then the whole group walks around and writes a one word POSITIVE description of the person whose back they are writing on. (ex. Nice, Pretty, Fun, Exciting, Loving, Kindhearted, etc.)
Allow enough time, depending on group size, for everyone to circulate. Then have students come up front and read what everyone said about them.
The Point: This is an excellent motivator for positive self esteem.
Added by Sylvia Tucker
Hi My Name IsA great get to know ya game! Plant several people in your crowd who have a one dollar bill, a certificate to something, or any prize of your liking. Tell everyone that they need to go and introduce themselves to and learn the names of as many people as they can meet. Have your "planted people" give the prize to the 15th person that introduces themselves to them. Once the prizes have been given announce who received them and who had the prizes.
Hug FestInstruct your whole group to walk randomly around the room. About every ten seconds or so, call out a number. Everyone in the game must immediately form a group hug made up of the number of people that you called. This sometimes leaves some people unable to form a group because they don’t have enough people — they are out of the game. Repeat until you only have two people left and declare them the winners.
Our suggestion: Like musical chairs, play upbeat music between calling out numbers.
Added by Young Life
Human TypewritersPin a large card bearing a letter of the alphabet to each person’s arm. Give each person a small card and a pencil. The goal is for letters to get together and spell words. Once they’ve spelled a word, they write it on their card. Then separate everyone and look for new words. Award points for each real word and a prize to the longest list of words. Catch the cheaters who try to exclude vowels or certain consonants!
Added by Young Life
Jelly Bean TradeEveryone for them self. Everyone is handed 10 jelly beans. They are to try to get 10 of one color by trading with other people one at a time. First person to get all ten of a color they want wins.
Lengths Of String MixerEveryone gets a length of string. Each string is the same length as one other person in the room. Students have to match up with their partner. Hint: Use this as a discussion starter. Once matched, you can ask a question for the partners to discuss.
Submitted by Young Life
Milk ChugThree students compete trying to down a half gallon of milk. Then they must compete in a bat/broom spin. Bat or broom is place on forehead. Spin person 10 times, then have him/her run around a cone that has been placed several feet away from him/her and then return to starting point.
Mute OrganizationSimply announce to everyone that you want everyone lined up across the room by birth date. Only catch . . . no talking. Once they are all lined up, ask certain people their birthdays just to be sure.
Then you can have them do the same thing, but by shoe size, height, etc.
Name Tag MixerBefore kids arrive, prepare name-tags by writing an easy-to-read number on each one. Also prepare slips of paper with instructions such as "Introduce #4 to #12, "Find out #7’s favorite pizza topping," "Shake hands with #5 and #13," and so on. Don’t use numbers higher than the number of kids expected. It’s better to make instructions for #1 to #10 and have duplicate name- tags for #1, #2, #3, and so on. Give kids a name-tag and slip of paper, then send them out to complete their assignment.
Ninja, Gun, GorillaSame beat as “Rock-Scissors-Paper”, only you use your whole body. Play it up huge, having someone demonstrate each: ninja-guy in karate stance yelling “waaaaa!”; gun-hold finger gun and say “BANG!”; gorilla-arms in air & beating chest, saying “ooo, ooo, ahh, ahh, ahh!” Ninja beats gun, gun beats gorilla, gorilla beats ninja. Keep going until all are eliminated, fun to find a champ. It helps to have the students who are out to go to the outside and the people still playing in the middle.
Added by Young Life
Organized Mingling MixerGet an even amount of students and staff in the room. (Add your staff as needed to make the number even.) Students and staff mingle to music and shake hands. When the music stops, everyone must find another person and shake hands. The leader calls out a question they must ask of whomever they are shaking hands. Use fun and serious questions.
Sample questions:
1. What is your favorite pizza?
2. What is your favorite kind of weather and why?
3. If you could go anywhere on a vacation for a week, where would you go?
4. What would you do with $1,000 dollars cash right now?
5. Share a moment in your life where you remember being the most happy.
6. Share a moment in your life where you were really sad.
Hint: you can use questions that will kick off that night's discussion.
Submitted by Young Life
Penny on the Chin MixerGive each student a penny and have them find a partner. They must hold the penny between their lip and chin without using their hands. Have them stand back to back. On the count of three they turn and face each other. The first one to drop their penny is out and must sit down. The winner then finds a new partner and moves on. Go until someone wins. Find new partners and eliminate to final couple. If there is a tie, both have to sit down. You may want background music starting and stopping each round.
Added by Young Life
Puzzle MixerAs kids arrive, give them each the piece to a kid’s jigsaw puzzle (min. 10 pcs, max. 25). If you have extras left over, place them back into the correct puzzle frames. Put all frames in the center of the room. Have kids locate the correct puzzles to which their pieces belong. The first group to completely put a puzzle together wins. (Great mixer which also serves as a tool for dividing teams)
Added by Young Life
Questionnaire GameFor this game you'll need as many pens as students and a pre-typed/copied questionnaire.
Have all your students fill out an anonymous questionnaire when they come in, with questions/statements like, "My favorite band is.." "My dream car is...". Once finished, pass the questionnaires out randomly (to someone different than the person who filled it out) and yell "Go!" Students have to walk around asking each other questions, trying to find whose questionnaire they have.
The Point: Good getting-to-know-you game
Real IdentityThis is a great "get to know ya" and a memory game. Everybody is in a circle. Everyone takes a turn saying their name and something about them (example, "Hi, I'm John and I play football"). The next person needs to say the previous person's name and item of interest before saying their own (example, "He's John, he plays football and I'm Mary and I torture small animals."). As this game moves on, people need to remember more and more information. With bigger groups you can have them only repeat the names to save time.
Ro-Sham-Bo TrainEveryone 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 a prize.
Shoe PileHave everyone take off one of their shoes and throw it into a big pile. You might even designate someone as the Shoe Salad Tosser, instructing them to mess up the pile, so people can't remember where certain shoes landed in the pile. Then everyone needs to pick out a shoe from the pile and proceed to find the person who belongs to that shoe. This works well for a large group.
Option II: The other option is to put everyone's shoes in the pile and instruct them that they each need to get their own shoe, put it on, tie it, and stand back up. First one standing is the winner.
Added by Youth For Christ
Shuffle The Deck MixerHand 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.
Submitted by Young Life
Toe FencingAll the players pair off, lock hands, and try to tap the top of one of their partner’s feet with their own feet. In other words, one player tries to step on the other player’s foot while their hands are clasped. Of course, since players are also trying to avoid having their feet stepped on, they are all hopping around the floor in a frantic dance.
When a player has had his foot tapped three times, he is out of the game, and the winning partner challenges another winner. The game continues until only one person is left (or until the music runs out).
Added by Young Life
Top 40 MixerThis is a fun guessing game that can be used as a mixer. Divide the room into teams. Tape-record bits and pieces of some of the top 40 hits of the month, week, or whatever onto a cassette. You can usually accomplish this by recording them right off of the radio. Edit it so that only a second or two of each song can be heard. Then when you play it back for the kids, see how many of them can identify all of the songs.
Added by Young Life
Valentine Candy MixerPass out valentine "conversational" heart candy to everyone, then split up into groups and have each group come up with a poem or funny story using what it says on their hearts.
Added by Young Life
Who's on my backHave everyone secretly write down the name of a person on a small piece of paper. It has to be a person that everyone in the room would know about (eg. Jesus, George Washington, Madonna, Leonardo DiCaprio, etc.) Then have them tape the name on the back of the person on their left. Everyone must now go around and ask people yes or no questions about who is on their back. They can only ask each person one question. The person who can do it in the least number of asks wins.