Balloon Squash OutdoorMaterials: A balloon for each player, a few cans of shaving cream, and a plastic tarp.
Players should wear bathing suits or old clothes. Be prepared to hose them off when the game is done.
Preparation: Each player needs one shaving-cream filled balloon. Divide players into two teams. Setup the plastic tarp, and put a bucket of cream filled balloons near the tarp.
How to Play: When the signal is given, a player on each team runs over to the tarp. One leader will place a balloon on the tarp, and the player must sit on it until it pops. Then they run back, and tag the next player to go. First team to be sitting down after all their bottoms are "creamed" wins.
Added by Nick
Barbarians (a hyped up "Capture the Flag")Overview - Teams of 4 are competing against each other to get the other teams gold and to capture other team's players, and put them in your jail.
Set-up/Boundaries
Using two ropes, or red surveyor's tape, divide the field into 4 sections. Each section has one prison area, which is marked off with either duct tape or surveyor's tape. Each section also has a "gold depot" which is marked using hula-hoops, or tape. Each team has their own color, which is a flag strip tucked into the front of each player's pants. Every team gets an equal amount of "gold" to start the game, which is white socks, gold socks, and 1 gray work sock.
Start of Game - When whistle blows, teams begin the attack. Another team can only catch you if you are in their section; likewise, you can only catch others in your own section (if you are "green" and you run into the "red" section, then you run across to the "yellow section, red can no longer capture you, but yellow now can). When you capture another team member, take their flag and report to the middle of the field to the scorekeeper, then return flag to the person in your prison.
In addition to capturing opposing team players, you are also trying to get their "gold", without getting caught. You can only take 1 gold piece at a time, and if you are caught inside an opposition section, you must return gold to that team (no throwing gold into your own section).
What Happens When Caught - Having your flag removed by another team player inside their section gets you caught. When this happens, you report to their prison area and can only get out of prison if a teammate tags you out, without getting caught themselves. If your teammate gets caught trying to free you, they must join you in the jail area. Once you successfully get tagged out, you and your teammate get a free passage back to your section. NOTE (the game coordinator may call "jailbreak" and free everyone in jail in all the sections at any given time, usually when there is a lop-sided number of players in prison).
How the Game is Won - The game is won by accumulating points for every prisoner your teammates catch, and for each piece of "gold" left at the end of the game. You can run out of gold during the course of the game, but still get points by capturing prisoners and trying to grab other gold from enemy sections. The team with the most accumulated total points at the end is the winner.
Score Keeping
White Socks- 3000 points each
Gold Socks- 5000 points each
Gray Socks- 10,000 points each
Prisoners- 1000 each player
Supplies Needed
Large, open field
2 Ropes (100+ feet each is ideal)
4 different colored flags, one for each section
White, yellow, gray socks
Bean bag fill for each sock
Scorers pad and pen
Duct tape and/or hula-hoops
Red surveyors or caution tape
Added by Shawn McKnight, Mississauga
Car StuffExplain game before you bring them out to car. You could have a competition between sexes or classes. Each has thirty seconds to get as many as possible into (not on) a small car.
Death BallRent a huge earth ball with a 1.5m diameter...This game is pretty much like “Duck, Duck, Goose”, only better!! Have your group divide into circles, have an outside circle and have a little circle on the inside of the outer circle. Place the earth ball between the 2 circles. Get the group to roll the ball in a clockwise direction around the circle. Have a leader tap the shoulder of someone in the circle...this person has to run in front of the ball around the circle and back to there spot without being hit by the earth ball!
Added by Joel Rub, Australia
Fowl BallPlayed just like baseball only substitute a baseball with a frozen Cornish hen or other small frozen bird from your grocery store freezer.
Don’t use a whiffle ball bat.....it wont hold up!
Added by Jonathan Jackson
Gross Balloon VolleyballAll you need is a Volleyball court or something close to that, water balloons, and lots of gross liquids and sauces. What you do is you add things to all of the water balloons like ketchup, mustard, Tabasco, syrup, chocolate syrup, salad dressing, anything you want. The grosser the better. Fill the gross stuff first - then the water).
The object is to throw the balloon back and forth over the net. (If you don’t have a net, you can do this like an egg toss). The higher you throw it the more likely it is to break when the person tries to catch it.
Make sure that you tell people to wear old clothes in case they get splattered!
Original idea by Matt Johnson
Jell-O TwisterVery messy: best done when it’s warm outside so kids can hose down after. Get a square of cheap plastic and attach pie tins in a 4 x 4 grid by pushing a pull clip through the bottom of both the pans and plastic. Then spread out the clips under the plastic to hold them down. Fill them with already made Jell-O right before youth group. Have a good spinner and kids who will go for it. Play in bare feet.
Added by Young Life
Joust - Sick & TwistedJust like joust, only played outside over a baby pool filled with gross ingredients (oatmeal, instant potatoes, etc.). You can either use buckets or a 4x4 plank of sturdy wood long enough to reach across your pool. (Prop up the ends of your plank so the pool is not crushed).
Two contestants with Nerf joust sticks (or pool noodles) and helmets battle on the plank to knock each other off into the pool.
Lots of preparation required and safety consciousness on this one. Make sure the board doesn’t get too slippery. You might even want gymnastic mats around the pool.
Play near a bathroom and have towels handy for clean-up.
Added by Young Life
King of GoatsChoose a "goat" from the group (or one from each team) and have it removed while the groups are given instruction. The crowd (one group) is instructed to stand o the sidelines and shout instructions to the goat, while the circle group (the other group) is told to from a circle holding hands. The goat is to be put in the center of the circle blindfolded. At the signal, the goat is to start chasing the circle and the circle is to move as a whole to avoid being caught. When the goat is ready to start, the circle group is instructed in his presence to move silently and to make no sound. The goat is to listen to the sideline crowd for instructions where to go to catch the circle. As soon as the start signal is given, the crowd starts shouting instructions to the goat, such as, "Go to the right, the right, now go back, straight ahead." The minute the game starts, the circle team, instructed before the goat arrived, immediately disbands and joins the crowd, leaving the goat in a an empty field. Let the goat run for a short time or until the goat guesses what is going on.
Added by Young Life
Mud-O-WarThe ever popular Mud-O-War is simply tug of war in the mud, through a jello kiddy pool . . . you name it!
Added by Naomi
Scavenger Hunt With a TwistThis ain’t yer grandma’s Scavenger Hunt - but it could be! Split students into teams, assigning a youth leader to follow them around. Provide students with a list of unusual items that they need to get from people's homes or businesses. Your list could include toilet paper, a drink, a bug, soap, a kiss on the elbow, toast, a tack, etc.; stuff people normally wouldn't ask for. The bonus item is a grandmother. All of the items had to be brought back to your meeting area within a half-hour - even the grandma. You'll be surprised how many grandmas are willing to help.
Added by PW Fu
If possible, get someone’s grandmother from the other team without them knowing it (the team, not the grandmother)!
Seltzer MeltEach person will receives an Alka-Seltzer attached to the string. For best results we divided our teens into 4 armies. The field is divided into a huge square, outside of that huge square (4 corners)each army has a home base and a huge trash can of water to refill guns. The object of the game is to melt the opposing teams Alka-Seltzer. The last team standing with Alka-Seltzer’s intact wins.
Hints:
Make sure girls wear swim suits- they will get wet. Use discretion.
Ask students to bring their own water guns (ANYTHING GOES on the squirt guns!)
Added by Steve Holt
Shaving Creme Whiffle BallBasically you just play a game of baseball with whiffle ball and bat, but before each pitch you fill the ball up with shaving creme. So as the bat hits, it splatters everywhere - as you catch the ball you get covered in shaving creme. Usually it turns into a shaving creme fight, but the kids and adults love it.
Added by Tara Spradley
Skateboard and Plunger RaceOutdoor game. Racers sit on skateboards and use plungers as oars in race. Use music in the background.
Added by Young Life
Soap ShrinkGood Camp game:
Divide into teams. Give each a large new bar of soap. Provide one or more kiddy pools filled with water. On "Go!" have teams race to shrink their bars without breaking them. Call time after 5 minutes. Award motel-size bars of soap to the winner.
If you use this as a game with a point:
Sin, though forgiven, almost always has consequences that aren't usually "shrunk" easily.
Added by Young Life
Sock and BopFor this semi-messy game you need old pantyhose and flour. This is similar to the game, Open Gates. Have all the students line up. Then have the leaders on the field with flour stuffed into the legs of pantyhose. One of the leaders will shout out something like, "Everyone with purple on!" and those people must then run. The leaders try to hit them with the 'flour hose' and then they must go back to the other side and wait. The winner is the last "boppee" standing.
DISCLAIMER: ONLY bop in the torso area - NEVER bop below the waist, in the face, or around the neck. BTW, the "boppers" (they don't have to be leaders if you have students mature enough to handle a flour filled pantyhose) can be placed facing each other to create a "run-through" line or they can be placed randomly around the playing field (as kids would in a game of tag).
Added by Kara Schladenhauffen
Super Slip-n-Slide RelayFirst make the biggest (trust me, it needs to be big) slip-n-slide that money will allow. Then put baby shampoo (no tears!) and water all over it to make it as slick as possible. Line your kids up across on of the slides skinny ends. (our dimension are always around 20' x 30') make as many teams as will fit safely (make enough space in between each team so they don't run into each other). On the opposite side of the slide have bats available for "dizzy bat." When you say "go" have a student from each team run and then slide on the mat. If they do not slide all the way across then they have to army crawl the rest of the way. Then they must take their bat, place their forehead on one end of the bat, put the other end on the ground and spin around it 10 times (hence "dizzy bat") Then all they have to do is simply run back down the mat to their team and tag the next person. When done right it is almost impossible to run down the slide without falling down a bunch. Great fun.
Added by Josh Sanderson
Ultimate OctopusThis game is just like Ultimate Frisbee . . . but . . . you guessed it- played with an octopus.
Purchase an octopus at your local grocery store or fish market. Divide into two teams and play ULTIMATE FRISBEE, with the octopus. If you haven't played ULTIMATE FRISBEE, check it out on my outdoor page.
Divide into two teams, each trying to get to the opposite end zone. One team kicks (throws actually) off and the other team receives. When a player catches the octopus they can take only 3 steps then they must throw it. Team work their way down the field, passing to each other until a team scores. If the team hits the ground it's the other teams ball (octopus actually). If a defensive player knocks the octopus to the ground possession switches as well. Defensive players must give any person already holding an octopus at least 3 feet clearance.
Ultimate Wet SoccerUse the rules from ultimate frisbee (move the ball down the field by throwing it, player may take two steps after catching ball, interceptions or missed passes result in turnover), but replace the frisbee with a water-soaked Nerf soccer ball. Not an extremely wet game, but the water gives the game a new twist. We used buckets as goals at either end.
Added by Owen Sallee
Water Balloon StuffGet two sets of those long johns and a bunch of water balloons. Get two volunteers and assign them a team whose job is to stuff water balloons in the long johns. When the designated time is up you count the balloons and the one with the most balloons wins. The winner and his stuffers get to throw all the balloons at the loser.
Added by Michael Nephew
Water Balloon Towel CatchSplit students into teams of four, giving them each a beach towel (tell them ahead of time to bring one from home). Set them a predetermined length apart and have two from each team launch a water balloon with the beach towel. The other two must run and catch the water balloon
Added by PW Fu
Water Capture the FlagPlay capture the flag with a water twist! Instead of simply tagging people or pulling flags off a belt, etc. use the Alka-Seltzer method! Make a badge on the arm of every player like so: wrap a strip of duct tape around the player's arm (t-shirt sleeve), place an Alka-Seltzer tablet on the tape and add two more strips above and below the tablet, so that it is still visible but held on the person's arm by the tape. When your water war badge gets wet- you are out and must go to the "medic tent" to get a new one (medics need to have towels to dry tape before applying new tablet to badge!) Play capture the flag on a large open field, with a "medic tent" replacing the jails. All players get Super-soakers, and when your tab breaks off or fizzez out you must go to the tent, take a 3 min break and get a new one. HINTS: Make sure your playing area is not to big, so that players get soaked quickly. If you have people with hoses guarding the flags, the game is more fun. Also make sure you have refilling stations with faucets for the super soakers. Water balloon launchers can be cool to, but be careful. They tend to knock kids of their feet, without getting them wet.
Added By Eric Price
Wet BaseballStandard baseball rules, but for each base was a hard plastic wading pool and from 3rd base to home was a slip-n-slide. Use a large plastic bat, a tee for the ball which was a splash ball. The kids wore water shoes if they had them and got just soaking wet and had so much fun that they all begged to have it again this year!
Added by Kimberly Wilson
Wet Toilet Paper
Dodge BallSet up a court outside for dodgeball. Plays like dodge ball or any other variation. Use rope to setup a centerline and boundaries. Give each team a bucket of water, 5 gallon buckets works well. Outfit each team with plenty of rolls of toilet paper depending on the size of your group. You'll get about 5 good throws from a roll. Throw more rolls into the court when the action dies down. (It’s really just an excuse to throw wet toilet paper rolls at each other. The actual game of dodge ball didn't last very long.)
Added by J Bucolo