Alka-Seltzer On The Head Duel
You may run this game as a four-person tournament. Two contestants, each armed with a squirt gun, will take five paces and turn to duel. On each of their foreheads, you will have attached an Alka-seltzer tablet with double stick tape (possibly use big rubber bands if tape doesn’t work). They draw and shoot the water at each other, the first one to dissolve the tablet on the other wins. Use swim goggles for each to protect their eyes. The tablet will fizz and foam all over the place. Have towels close by for clean-up. A cheesy  western song (think Clint Eastwood or Lone Ranger) and some “cowboys” or “cowgirls” add to this one.
Added by Young Life

Annika's revenge
Recently, golfer Annika Sorenstam became the first woman golfer in 48 years to compete in a PGA Tour event. Although she did not make the weekend cut, her performance was no less exceptional.

Rules: This is a boys vs. girls game. Two players on each team. Set up on stage one of those 10 foot long putting practice greens. It should be easy to find an avid golfer who owns one. If not, they only cost around $20 at Wal-Mart. Each player gets 5 putts. Alternate putts boy/girl. If the player makes the putt their teammate gets to do a gag to their opponent of the opposite sex. You pick the gag. You can: have them crack an egg over their opponents head, pour chocolate syrup on them, shoot them with a super soaker, or whatever. If the player misses the putt, the other team gets to do the gag on the teammate. Give a goofy prize at the end, (like a chocolate golf ball). You might want to give the girls an advantage, like make the guys putt opposite handed or have the girls stand closer to the hole.

Baby Bottle Burp
Three girls put a diaper (towel) around three guys, then sit them on their lap and feed them a baby bottle of soda (half full), then make them burp. The first guy to burps wins.

Baby Bottle Burp Extra
We did the Baby Bottle Burp, only first, guys had to feed girls a jar of baby food with the girls wearing bibs _ I use plastic grocery bags & slit the handles at the middle, makes two. Then the girls had to tie the bib around the guy and feed them the bottle of soda and make them burp.
Added by Kim Kopsaftis

Balloon Bite
Two couples race to see how many balloons they can pop by biting them as the balloons are placed between them. Have some balloons with shaving or whipped cream in them. Go fast and have each half of room count out loud for their couple.

Added by Young Life

Balloon Master
Small Group/All Play: Divide the group into 2 or more teams with 3-4 people on each team.
Large Group/Up Front: Choose 2-4 five-person teams.

Give each team a roll of masking tape and 30 balloons. On "Go!" have members of each team roll the masking tape (sticky side out) around one of their teammates below the neckline. Next, have kids blow up their balloons as quickly as they can and stick as many as possible to the taped-up team member. You can either end game here awarding the Balloon Master to the one with the most balloons attached in the time allotted. Or you can set up an obstacle course and when the balloons have been attached, have the player go through and back to their team. Balloons that fall of during the race can’t be re-attached. The team whose player has the most balloons still attached is the Balloon Master.
Added by Young Life


Balloon Shave
3 or 4 kids race to shave a balloon. First put shaving cream all over the balloons. The trick is that when the balloon breaks, the shaving cream goes all over — so be prepared. A little nick put on the razor's edge before hand will assure that the balloons will break.
Variation: Water Balloon Shave
3 couples come to the front of the room. The boys sit in chairs facing the audience and hold a large water balloon on their heads. Their girl partners cover the balloons with shaving cream, and with a single edged razor blade (no razor, just the blade) try to "shave" all the soap off of the balloon without breaking it. Whoever is the first to succeed is the winner.
Added by Young Life

Balloon Squash
Kind of like Balloon Pop Relay, but not!
A race to see who can break more balloons in a given time by sitting on them. Bring 2-4 kids up front with a leader behind each chair to place the balloons (from a bag or other container). Only make the last one a water balloon.
Added by Young Life


Balloon Triathlon
3 kids compete in three events. Have them blow up a balloon until it breaks. Have them blow up a balloon not using their hands, only their mouths. Have them blow up a balloon only using their nostrils.
Added by Young Life

Banana Poke
Bring 2 students up front. Tie their left hands together and give each a banana. They must peel the banana with one hand and poke the other in the face. Round Two: blindfolded.
Added by Young Life

Banana Stuff (aka Blind Banana Stuff)
Bring three guys to the front to see who can eat the most bananas in five minutes while blindfolded. As soon as one banana is peeled and eaten, the contestant will be handed another. Blindfold all three. Instruct the crowd to cheer for their favorites Then have associates silently remove two of the blindfolds and let the guys rejoin the crowd. Start the "contest" and keep the one guy stuffing down bananas as long as possible. When his blindfold is removed and he realizes he was the only one it is quite funny.

Banana Surgery
Have a team peel and cut up a banana into equal parts. (Don’t tell them what comes next until they're done.) Then tell them they must put the banana back together using pins, needles, tape, or whatever. The team with the best, reconstructed banana wins.
Our point: Things taken apart (relationships, reputations, etc.) aren't as easily put back together.
Added by Young Life

Beautiful Boys
Pick six girls and put them in pairs. Then have each pair pick a boy. Now from your local dollar store get cheap makeup, hair clips ,earrings, necklaces, or any thing like that. Put it all out on a tray or table. give the girls two minutes to makeup the guy, then have the group vote on the best looker. You have some great pictures for blackmail later.
Added by Janet Martin

Bellybutton Basketball
Get two volunteers from the audience or you can use teams if you prefer. Using a fish net (one used in a home aquarium) bend the handle so that it fits securely in the front of your pants with net straight out in front attach a rubber ball with a rubber band attached to it at the base of the net (remember those old ball and paddle games, those work best, just remove string and ball and use with fish net). Contestant must swing ball and ring net without using their hands. Lots of fun to watch. Two points each basket! Person or team with most points wins!
Added by Melanie Velaski

Big Bad Wolf
Give 4-6 person teams enough newspaper and tape to build a newspaper shelter of some kind. It must be big enough to get all three inside. The (youth leader) then attempts to blow the shelter down. A prize is awarded to the best job. Afterwards, have a giant paper fight.
Added by Young Life

Blind Tag
Conjure up something with a circumference of about 20 feet, (such as 2 tables pushed together or rope wrapped around 4 chairs). Blindfold two people and dress them in helmet and pads for safety. Put them on opposite sides of this object. Both must always be touching it. Designate one to be "it" and have the bystanders shout to their favorite which way to go to catch or avoid being caught by the other. Beware of high-speed collisions. One variation is to remove one of the two contestants and let everyone shout directions to the unsuspecting victim. Another is to have everyone silent and let them listen for each other.
Added by Young Life

Blind Toy Master
Get 3 toddler toys that have all different shapes which have to fit through the right holes in order to get inside. Blindfold 3 volunteers and have them race to see who can finish the quickest.
Challenge: Put all the pieces in one big pile.
Added by Young Life

Blindfolded Banana Feed
For those partial to banana games but don't want a mess:  Get several guy-girl teams to take turns feeding each other bananas while all are blind folded. First let boys feed girls. Then get girls to feed boys, but first take off the girls' blindfolds. Boys get it in the ear!

Added by Young Life

Blindfolded Sit-Up
Pretend to try and convince 3 people that they can’t do a blindfolded sit-up. The first 2 are in on it. One at a time, they strain but don’t do a sit-up. The third sits up into a cream pie (his face, that is).

Or, you can challenge them to do 10 sit-ups in 10 seconds, five of them with their eyes closed.

Added by Young Life

Board Lift (aka Airplane)
For this upfront game you need a blindfold and a 2x10 at least 3 to 4 feet long – strong enough to support someone's weight. Point: Trust and/or things aren't always what they seem.

Have two informed strong leaders on either side of the board they are going to "lift" with someone standing on it. Have several informed 'spotters' as well that can catch them any way they would stumble. Then, select three players who don't have a fear of heights and have them escorted out of the room.

Have your first player escorted back in. Tell them the object of this game is to see who can stand on the board longest as the guys lift it up a little at a time. This is a “test of bravery.” But assure them that they are going to have one (or both) hands on your shoulders as they are lifted up on the board. Now blindfold your victim. In actuality, the board holders aren't going to lift the board more than six inches off the ground. By virtue of person's weight they will naturally move and ‘shift' the board a little. You (or the game leader) will begin to kneel down slowly till they almost can't really touch your shoulders. At that point the person really thinks they are going up in the air! Have your spotters play it up to the crowd and motion them to cheer and react as though the board is being lifted up high. Then have your two guys tip the board over so the person falls off. They think they're falling 5 feet when it's only 5". Clap for that player, excuse them back to their seat, and go on to your next victim…er, player.

Added by Travis

Bobbing for Apples, Ping-Pongs, and Golf Balls
Pull up 3 guys and have a large fish tank (wider is better than deeper). Explain that it is time to play "Bobbing for Apples "(name of your youth ministry) Style"! Instead of just apples put in ping-pong balls, small apples (like crab apples), and golf balls. Explain that the ping pong balls are worth 1,000 points, the apples 2,000 points, and the golf balls 3,000 points. They will be blindfolded and have 30 seconds to 60 seconds each to get as many points a possible. (A great camp/convention promotion would be to put a $25 scholarship on the line). The visual on this one is hysterical. If your tank is big enough you may even try two at a time.

Other unusual thing to "bob" for: oranges, hot dogs, pickles, eggs, etc.

Added by Young Life

Bobbing for Bananas
This game works best in a church with a baptistry that you've filled with milk and the bananas are sunk at the bottom 4 feet down! (I was young when I did this- so don't email me if you're offended by this!) You can use a bathtub or one of those bigger baby pools too- but a 4 foot baptistry is best! (Use powdered milk to save $$$$)

We had a camera at the entrance to the baptistry, interviewing each "bobber" as they disappeared into the 50 gallon tank for what seemed like minutes before emerging with a banana in their mouth.

Great fun- I did it in 1988, and they're still talking about it!

Boo!
Seven kids, guy then girl then guy, etc. line up, side by side, with informed female student at the end. Have them face sideways, then turn and say, “Boo!” to the next person after the person on the other side has said, “Boo!” to them. They “Boo!” each other back down the line (going the other direction). The third time the leader behind the informed girl gives her a pie behind her back. She pies the guy in front of her when he wheels around to “Boo” her. Be sure to choose a good sport to get pied and have a towel handy.


Brother and Sister
Like the old tv game show, "The Newlywed Game" only with siblings.
Point: Just because you're related to someone doesn't mean you know them. Relationships take effort no matter if you're related or not!

Get several sets of siblings to play this game- see which siblings know each other the best. (select siblings that can be a good sport and won't mind answering the below questions.) A brother and sister couple must work together to score the highest points possible to win. The brother is sent out of the room and the sister answers a series of questions about her brother. She records her answers on a large sheet of paper. When the brother returns, he sits in a chair with his sister standing behind him holding up her written answers. If their answers match, the couple gets a point. (remember- when you ask the brother the questions that you asked the sister, ask them like this: "1. What did your sister say was the dumbest thing you . . .")

Repeat this process by sending the sister out of the room and asking the brother to answer questions. Tally the scores and award the prize. Their answers are usually hilarious.

Questions to the sister about her brother:
What is the dumbest thing your brother has ever done?
What is his favorite food?
What do you dislike most about your brother?
Describe your brother in one word.
What is the meanest thing he has ever done to you?
What does he spend most of his time thinking about?
If you had one wish, what would you wish about your brother?
What is his favorite TV program?
How often does he take a bath?

Question to the brother about his sister:
What does your sister spend most of her time doing?
If your were your sister, what would you change about yourself first?
About how many arguments do you have with her each week?
Who obeys your mom and dad best, you or your sister?
How old was your sister when she kissed her first boy?
What animal is your sister most like?
What is you sister's favorite subject?
How long does she talk on the phone each day?
Does she chase boys?
Added by Young Life

Bubble Blow Up
Have 3 "volunteers" up front. Give them each a Blow Pop sucker. The first one to unwrap it, and bite into it, to the gum, and blow a bubble wins.

Young Life Twist: You need bubble gum, flour, a cake pan, and 3 to 4 kids.  
Bury the gum in the flour. Without using their hands, students have to find the gum and blow a bubble.


Bucket Balance
Choose two teams of four. If you play indoors, lay a big tarp down. Have the teams lie on their backs in a circle with their feet raised to meet in the middle, balancing a bucket of water on their feet. Each team member must remove his/her shoes without spilling the water. This can be a class competition. Have towels handy.

Added by Young Life

Butt Charades
Cut up slips of paper with words on them and put them into a bag. Break up into two teams. Get a volunteer from each team to spell the word he/she took out of the bag by moving their hips (spelling the words with thier butts!). (Make sure they do not say a word to give away clues.) If their team does not figure out the word after two spellings, the other team gets to guess.

Make it interesting by the words you choose, try to keep it clean. We don't want any dirty butts!

Candle Blow/Ginger Ale Drink
Two people sitting very close (knee to knee) in chairs facing each other compete to drink a full container of Ginger Ale. They have a candle (which they can never let go of) in their left hand resting on their left knee, and a lighter and a Ginger Ale in front of them. They may only drink the Ginger Ale when the candle is lit. They may blow out the other person's candle but they cannot touch any of the other person's supplies. The winner is the person who can finish their Ginger Ale first when their candle is lit.

if you move your candle off your left knee, you lose!
if you touch the other person's candle, you lose!
if you touch the other person's Ginger Ale, you lose!
if you touch the other person's lighter, you lose!
you must find the balance between drinking and blowing your opponent's candle.

Candy String Race
Have two contestants face each. Have a long piece of string with a candy of some sort tied to the exact middle. Put each end in a contestants mouth. Say go and the contestants will eat their way toward the center of the string to get the candy. Person who gets the candy in their mouth the first is the winner.

Cell Phone Challenge
This is a cool little modern game idea. Have someone hidden in the crowd with a cell phone on. You have another phone up front with the number for the other one programmed in it. Bring up a kid from the audience, dial the other phone, hand him the phone and tell him to find the other one as fast as he can.

Hints: Test the room to make sure that cell phones work. Also, most cell phones will only ring four times and then will go to voice mail . . . so tell the kid to hit end and send again every four rings!

Cell Phone Pizza Challenge
Find two local pizza places that deliver. During the beginning of the evening, divide the crowd in two and bring up a representative from each side. Hand each representative a cell phone and phone # of two competing pizza places. Have them each order a large pizza, tell the delivery person the situation, and that there's a $20 tip for the one that arrives first. Clearly announce to the crowd which pizza place is coming for each team.

As you are continuing your program, one side of the room will erupt into applause when a pizza driver comes in representing their side of the room. Interview the deliverer and give him the $20 tip in front of the crowd. (You can then have up front games lined up where winners get a piece of pizza.)

Cereal Mania
Here are 5 games that all involve cereal:
1. First is the Snoot Shoot, as you may have seen before. The youth shoot Trix, Kix, or Cocoa Puffs out of their noses. The team whose Puff goes the farthest wins.

2. Rice Krispy Marble Dig. Fill a small swimming pool full of Rice Krispies & marbles. Add water (milk is better, use the powdered kind to save $$$). A representative from each team takes off their shoes and socks and digs the marbles out with their toes.  

3. Cereal Art. Give each team various kinds of cereal, glue, paper, and scissors. No leaders are allowed to help. Tell students the only rule: BE CREATIVE! Fun photo op here. Leaders may judge.

4. Shredded Wheat Toss involves two representatives from each team playing. One is at one end of the room holding an upright bucket on their head. The other is at the other end with a bucket of water and boxes of Large Shredded Wheat. The representatives dunk the shredded wheat one by one attempting to throw them in the buckets on  their team member's head.

5. Cereal Eating Relay. Five members from each team line up. One at a time they race to a table where they fix  themselves a bowl of cereal and eat it, go back, and tag the next team member.

Added by Jason Huddleston

A Young Life add:  Cereal Box Puzzle
Cut off the front panel of several cereal boxes — one for each group you've formed.  Then cut up each panel into puzzle shapes- one for each person in the group. Mix together all the pieces and give one to each person and have them compete to find their cereal.


Chariot Race - Australian Style
Divide your group into teams of 3. Arrange your playing area with a chair or marker at either end of your room or field.  Teams must link arms, side by side. The object of the game is to race around the markers in a circle - all teams in the one direction. If a team is passed by a team behind them then they are out.  If any member of the teams’ arms becomes unlinked, that team is out. The team or teams (depending on time) still in at the end of your allotted time are the winners!
Added by Amanda from Australia

Cheeky, Cheeky
Bring up 6-7 kids - guy, girl alternating with a girl at the end (all are in on it before club/group except for the last guy before the last girl). Standing in line always facing the audience, they quickly relay down the line “cheeky, cheeky" (they say it as they squeeze the other person’s cheek between their forefinger and thumb). Tell them that when receiving the “cheeky, cheeky" they must close their eyes like they would if grandma was doing it, then quickly turn to the next person. Do it over and over, faster and faster, but the last girl each time has lipstick on her fingers and is decorating the face of the guy next to her without him knowing it! He looks goofier each time (make sure it’s a secure guy who can handle it). The girl may need to practice; if it doesn’t work it’s usually because the guy sees stuff on her hand or she leaves a big glob. Have a towel for him to clean up.

Added by Young Life

Cheetos Face
Arrange several groups of two in the front of your room or on stage. One partner gets whipped cream spread (or sprayed) all over his or her face. The other partner stands back about 5 feet and throws Cheetos on the whipped creamed partner's face (they stick!) in a given amount of time. Whoever ends up with the most Cheetos on his or her face wins.
Added by Julie Ohara

Chewing Gum Contest
For this game you need any number of upfront volunteers as you want, sticks of chewing gum, work gloves, and shopping bags in front of each person. Individual sticks of wrapped gum are placed inside the shopping bags, and each volunteer is given a pair of work gloves. The idea is to put on the gloves, pull a piece of gum out of the bag, unwrap it and chew it. You can make teams of two so that one must pass the gloves to their partner after they’re done.

Added by Young Life


Chicken Pox Epidemic
Have the "contestants" "break-out" in chicken pox by covering their arms in washable red marker dots. Give each student a wad of band-aids, and the one who covers the most chicken pox spots in 3 minutes is the winner.
Added by Brooke

Chocolate Drop
Prepare before hand by spreading out plastic on your stage area.  Try to find a place where everyone can see someone laying down.

Get several partners to come up front.  Have one partner lay down on the plastic and the other around the edge of the plastic.  Have the "dropper" stand over their head of their partner with a small cup of chocolate syrup. The "dropper," standing straight up (no bending to get a better aim), dunks marshmallows into the chocolate syrup and with his or her arm straight out, drops it into the mouth of the person on the floor. Points are awarded by the number of marshmallows eaten.
Added by Michael Boyd

Chubby Chihuahuas
Like the age old, much debated, Chubby Bunnies, Chubby Chihuahuas uses "atomic fireballs" (those red hot dime-store candies). RED GOOK GOES EVERYWHERE!!!!!

Circle Dodge
Have two volunteers face each other with one hand at their side. Tape a piece of paper cut into a circle (about 4-6 inches in diameter) on their back. Say "Go!", and each person will try to grab the other person's circle without getting theirs grabbed.

Rules:
You may only use one hand to grab, the other hand must always remain at your side.
You may not block with your hand, you can only turn your body.
You can only grab for the circle; you cannot hit, push, bite, scratch, kick, maim, injure, head-butt, etc.

Clothespins On Face
Get four students up front with many clothespins. They have one minute to put clothespins all over their face. The one with the most clothespins at the end of the designated time is the winner.

Coke Chug
Select three youth to be in a Coke drinking contest.  Have them leave the room to get a drink of water to clear their pipes. (I told my students it makes a bigger burp.)  Fill up a 12 oz. glass with Coke and have the three students chug it.  They all burp and you vote for the best one.  

If you do this with two sets of three.  Have the two winners face-off.  When they leave the room to get a drink of water, fill their glasses with soy sauce.

Added by Mike


Cookie Tower
Get teams of 3 or 4 people up front. Each team member is armed with cookies. Gingersnaps are usually the best; however, Nilla Wafers will do in a pinch. Within one minute, the team members must stack their cookies, one on top of the other, on one person’s forehead. The team with the most cookies stacked wins. (You can try this with Starbursts, too.)
Added by Young Life

Corn Shucking Race
For this game you need several ears of corn. Select 3 volunteers to "shuck" an ear of corn using only their bare feet. No hands allowed. Put tarp down if indoors.
Whoever finishes first, or has done the best job within a given time is the winner. Award an appropriate prize, such as a bag of corn chips.
Added by Young Life

Cotton-ball Vaseline Race
Bring 2 guys and 2 girls up (or one student from each grade).  Give each student a pile of cotton balls. They must move the pile to another location of your choice (could be next to them on the table or across the room in someone's lap) by putting Vaseline on their noses and picking up the cotton balls with their noses. They may not use their hands. The first one to move all their cotton balls wins.


Counting Game
Have everyone in your group pair up and face each other. Each person holds up zero to ten fingers behind their back. On the count of three, have them pull their hands from behind their backs. The first person to yell out the correct sum of all the fingers wins. Do best two of three. Then bring the winners up front to play each other until you have a champion.

Counting Game Variation: The Math Game
Competitors hold just one hand behind their back, revealing the number of fingers at the signal. Whoever yells out the sum of the fingers wins the first round. For Round 2, multiply the fingers. Round 3 is the difference between the two numbers. Rotate through as many rounds as you want. For the left-brained at heart, the Championship Round has the two survivors (who you'll bring up front) square the total of the two sets of fingers. For example, Person A shows three fingers, Person B shows four, so the winning answer is 3+4 = 7 * 7=49
Added by Youth For Christ

Cowboy King
Get five or more guys to be blindfolded horses, and five girls to be riders. Riders will try to guide their horse to another horse and rider to "blast them!"

Here's how it works: After blindfolding the "horse," the rider puts a cup of ice (ammo), in the horse's mouth. The rider guides the horse by pulling on its ears. The only command they can yell is "FIRE." When this command is yelled, the horse spits the ice from its mouth and tries to hit an opponent. The rider then reloads her horse with ice. If a rider gets hit twice, she is out. If it is a hard floor have kneepads for guys. Use western music.

Crowd Pleaser
Send 3 very secure students out of the room.  Explain to the crowd that it was recently learned that when someone is placed in front of a crowd in complete silence, that they will revert back to the experience of their first kiss. As a matter of fact the first things they will say are the things they said after their first kiss! Therefore, the crowd must be completely silent and stare at the person. Don’t leave the poor kid up there for too long.

Added by Young Life

Cupid
Make a heart-shaped target and fasten it to a guy’s back. Give his girlfriend a bow and arrow (with suction cups on arrows) and she stands about 20 feet away, and is given 6 arrows. The idea is that she must hit the heart on her boyfriend’s back, if she loves him. Every time she misses, the boy gets a pie in the face. (Note: Bow and arrow should be the toy store variety. You can use toy pistols with suction-cup darts, also.)
Added by Young Life

Da Breakdance
Ask for three volunteers. Tell them only after they've come forward that they all need to breakdance for 30 seconds, whether they can or not. It is very interesting to see the things people come up with!

Added by Katie Ray

Dance Or Dare
Be like a cheesy game show host (with an assistant if you have one). Call contestants (outgoing kids) up front. They are given the choice to Dance or Dare. They draw a card from a pretyped pile of "dares". If they choose to dance, they are given a dance and a costume prop (for disco, mosh, hand jive, chicken dance, etc.). The dares are similar (sing an Elvis song Elvis style, sing a nursery song opera style, do a frog stance and ribbet in someone's - opposite sex - eyes).  
Added by Young Life

Dancing Musical Chairs
Get 6 volunteers and have 5 chairs up front. Tell them that they are gong to play musical chairs, "but this being (NAME OF YOUTH GROUP), we do dancing musical chairs!" Tell them that they will have to dance, dance, dance when the music starts. Blindfold them and starts the music. Encourage other kids to cheer them on. After a couple of rounds, pull blindfolds off all kids but one. Cheer like mad and let them dance and scramble for seat. Keep it up till they figure it out.

Added by Young Life

Dime on Your Forehead
Take 3 kids out of the room and bring them in one at a time. Demonstrate that there is a special skill of facial movements allowing someone to shake a dime off their forehead without jumping or shaking. Place a dime on your forehead so it sticks and get the dime to fall off. Then as you go to press this same dime on their forehead, press hard for 10 seconds and gently take off the coin so it feels to them like its still there. Have them open their eyes and try to get off the coin that isn’t there. Practice.

Added by Young Life

Diving for dollars
Fill a tub or large plastic tote with ice. Add water until tub is full of both ice and water (a baptistry works - then students must dive!). Then stuff ten ones, two fives and one ten dollar bill in the water beneath the ice. The contestants names are drawn from a hat. This is a great way to get visitor names and addresses. Draw out two or three names. Each contestant gets 30 seconds to dunk their head (no hands)in the ice and water and fish out with their teeth any cash they can find. They get ONE try each, and they get to keep whatever they can catch.

Option: Use Jello for a second week teaser.
Added by Jeff Smith

Dog Biscuit Drop
Bring 3 students up front and have each get down on all fours (like a dog) facing audience (or sitting on knees on chairs behind a table if you have a large crowd). Give each player a pinch-type clothespin to put in their mouth so the clothespin can be opened and closed with their teeth. Put bowls with 10 to 12 dog biscuits in each on the floor (or table) in front of them. Put an empty bowl or brown paper bag beside it. The first person to transfer the dog biscuits out of the bowl to the other container, one at a time, using the clothespin in his or her mouth, is the winner.

If a biscuit is dropped, the person who dropped it must pick it up with the clothespin. No hands are allowed at any time.

Dollar Jump
Hold up a dollar and offer it to anyone who can perform a simple task. Bring the sucker . . . I mean, "volunteer" up front and tell them that the dollar is theirs if they can simply jump over it the way you designate. Lay the dollar on the ground. Have the person stand with their toes to the dollar. They must bend over and grab their toes. Now, tell them that they can't let go of their toes and they must jump over the dollar. No matter how they bend, contort, etc. they won't be able to do it. (I did have a kid one year do it by jumping backwards over it- but that was one in a thousand).

Donut Line
String several donuts on a string. 3 students must try to eat them without their hands. People on either end of string bounce and swing it to make it difficult.
Added by Young Life

Donut On A String
This game is played with 4 people. 2 kids sit in chairs. The other 2 stand behind them with small poles about three feet long with string dangling at the end. On the end of the string is a chocolate covered donut. The donut is to be held out in front of the kids sitting in the chairs. The first one to eat the donut wins. The trick is that as they take a bite the donut will swing away from their face and come crashing back into it leaving a chocolate mark.
Added by Cheez Denard

Donut on a String Variation
Cover the donuts in chocolate syrup. The frosting doesn't always come off, but the syrup makes a messy face.
Added by Rick Reiter, LIFE Student Ministries

Dueling Candles
Figure out a way to connect a candleholder (with 1-3 candles in it) onto some type of helmet. Choose four kids and have them stand 10 feet away from each other. Light the candles, give them squirt guns to try to put out the others’ fire. You may want to hand them bigger and bigger guns (up to a Super-Soaker) until someone wins. Have two semi-final rounds and a final round. Sitting on their knees is best. Music: Billy Joel’s "We Didn’t Start the Fire", "Come on Baby Light my Fire" (Jose Feliciano),  “Fire” (Ohio Players), the 70s song, “Burn Baby Burn” from the movie Saturday Night Fever, or maybe even theme song from the movie The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Have towels, know your water supply, and you will need two good lighters.
Added by Young Life

Egg Obstacle Course
Pick two barefoot kids. Lay eggs on plastic and have them walk through the course (simple). Have them walk through it backwards (still easy). The last time blindfold them and while they are blindfolded, remove the eggs and replace them with peanuts. Make them do it fast so they don't have time to feel with their feet. The audience can coach them. At the end- pull off the blindfold- they will be pretty surprised to see no mess.
Added by Young Life

Face Decorating
Have guys lie on their backs or sit on a chair with their head leaning back on a table and let girls decorate their faces with icing, candy sprinkles and candles. Have someone hold a big mirror so the audience can see the artwork or use a video cam linked to a big screen. Let the crowd choose the best face.
Added by Young Life

Face-to-Face Balloon Race
Buy about 5-6 rolls of thick (foam mounted) double sided sticky tape. Make 2 teams of 4, can be battle of classes, sexes, whatever. Cover each person’s face with the double sided tape (1 strip down nose, across forehead, on cheeks, down chin, etc., and place a large, yet not completely filled balloon on the first person in each line. The object of the game is to press your face into the persons next to you and pass the balloon down without using your hands. If it falls to the floor, have that next person go on the floor and press their face into the balloon to pick it back up. Keep the crowd cheering!
Added by Young Life

Fall Of Faith
A youth ministry classic. Get a person to stand backward on a chair while the rest of the group prepares to catch him or her. Tell the person that they need to fall with their body as straight as possible.
The Point: Team building; a good game for a leadership event.
Added by Scott Street

Feel The Force
You will need: tubes, newspaper balls, or squirt guns. Talk up this game with some classic Star Wars music in the background and two people (preferably Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker characters) coming in the room with a “light saber” (golf tubes) battle. (Yoda is also funny if you can find a mask at a costume store.) Bill it as a battle of the sexes and pull up two girls and two guys to have light saber (golf tube) battles (make sure the tube is not sharp on the end; if so, pad it with foam).

Put the guys back to back with 3-4 feet in between them and explain that each guy is fighting their girl. No hitting above the shoulders. Just when they’re about to begin blindfold them. Blindfold the girls first, explaining that they are blindfolded so that they can "feel the force", then blindfold the guys. After the guys are blindfolded, take the blindfolds off the girls and give them a football helmet for protection. The girls end up hitting the guys without taking hits and the guys usually end up hitting each other. Be careful and safety minded – especially if you’re on a platform. Play Star Wars music in the background while they are swinging.

This same prank can also been done throwing newspaper balls at guys as they furiously try to hit girls that can see them although they are blindfolded. You might try a squirt gun duel with girls un-blindfolded after it starts.

Added by Young Life

Flower Girl
You begin the game by announcing you're going to have a kissing contest (the looks you get from workers are the best.) You have 3 pretty girls come and stand at the front of the room. You tell the guys that they'll walk in one by one and ask each girl, "Are you my flower girl?" If she shakes her head "no", he goes to the next girl. If she nods "yes", he kisses her. The audience will cheer for the best kisser.

Select three guys (good self esteem & good sports, not oversensitive). Then send the guys outside the room and explain the REAL rules. The last girl in the group of three will be the one who nods her head "yes." When the guy gets real close, ready to kiss her, she blows a face full of flour into his face (put the flour in her mouth and wipe it all off her face so he has no idea.) Have towels handy for clean-up.
Added by Kevin Maloney

Foot Signing Contest
Have 5 students come to the front of the room and remove their shoes and socks. Give each a felt-tipped or ball point pen. On the signal, they run out into the crowd and see who can get the most signatures on the bottom of their feet in the time limit. No one person can sign more than three feet. Guys can use both feet. Signatures must be legible.
Added by Young Life

Football Fashion Show
Two small girls race to put on the biggest guys’ uniforms. Take all pads out of pockets and include chewed mouth guard. To add more action, have whoever is in the uniform the fastest grab a football and run it to the finish line. They may end up tackling one another to get to the finish. Marching band fight song music will add to atmosphere with kids cheering.
Added by Young Life

Frozen to a T
Prep: Get as many t shirts as you want to do (2-6). Soak them in water and wring them out until damp. If you leave them too wet students can't play the game. Fold them up nicely & place on wax paper inside your freezer for at least an hour.

Game: Have 2 teams of 4 students volunteer.  Pull t-shirts out of the freezer. (Keep in cooler or wrapped in foil if you have to bring them from home.)

The object: When you say go they have to open the shirt and one of the students has to put it on. The team that does this the fastest wins!

OUR POINT:  This would be a good game to intro a discussion/teaching making the point that some people are willing to endure a certain amount of discomfort in order to reach a goal.

Added by Sterling Lynn

Funnel Penny Gag
Take a funnel and shove the small end down the front of your pants so the wide end is facing up. Put your head back, place a penny on your forehead and close your eyes. Tilt your head forward, dropping the penny off of your forehead and into the funnel. Challenge the kids that no one in the audience can do that three times in a row. Pick the kid that is the most eager to prove you wrong. Set it up for the kid and emphasize how much you must close your eyes for at least three seconds before dropping the penny in. On the kid's third try, pour a huge glass of ice water down the funnel (make sure that the funnel has a big enough opening to allow good water flow!)

Gag a Napkin
Quick, just for fun game to liven up even the most boring banquet. Each person opens up a paper napkin and places a corner of it on his or her tongue. Race to see who gets the entire napkin in their mouth first.

Gargle a Tune
Bring 3 students up front. Hand them each a glass of water. Then, one at a time, show only the person doing the gargling the name of a familiar song. It could be a nursery rhyme or any other familiar song. Have the person take a drink of water and attempt to gargle the tune you have showed them. The rest of the students in the room should be listening close so they can guess the song. Be ready for water through the nose.

Girls Arm Wrestling
Have two girls come to the front and arm wrestle. Encourage the crowd to root for their favorite. Two out of three wins a prize. Or you can make it a championship-elimination kind of thing either along with other games on an event night or stretched out over a month or so.
Added by Young Life

Golf Ball and Nylon Relay
This game can be a relay, but I, personally, think relays just take too much time and leave kids standing there bored . . . so I usually do this as an up-front game for everyone to watch a couple people do.

Tape two lines on the floor about fifteen feet apart. Have ready two pair of pantyhose and four golf balls. Put one golf ball in the leg of the pantyhose and one golf ball on the ground. After wrapping the other leg of the pantyhose around your waist, the leg with the golf ball should be hanging down in front of you just barely touching the ground. With movement from your body alone, you are to hit the golf ball on the ground with the one hanging from your waist. The object is to move the golf ball from one line to the next. Pass the pantyhose to the next person and they must go back. This is repeated until 5-10 people on each team have completed the task.

Items needed: 4 golf balls, tape, 2 pairs of pantyhose

Golf Phwack
This is a great activity to kill time at the beginning of an event- it can be done indoor our outdoors . . . although it works best with a good amount of space.  The same as driving a regular golf ball, the only difference is. . . you use marshmallows.  See who can hit them the furthest distance.
Added by Rick Hilton

Grand Moo Master
Pick 3 contestants out of the audience and send them to another room. You'll bring these contestants back in one at a time, after you explain the game to the audience, saying that when the first two contestants come in everyone has to "moo" at them.  When the final person comes in, no one in the audience is to moo. So, as you bring up the first contestant, explain to him or her that someone in the audience has been selected to moo louder than anyone else and it is the contestant's job to pick them out. On the count of three, everyone moos and the contestant selects someone. It doesn’t matter who they select, because the contestant then joins the audience as you bring in the second, having told the first that he is now the "loud mooer." Repeat the process for the second, having him join the audience, then call in the third. After explaining it again, count to three, and the only people mooing in the audience will be the two previous contestants. Joke’s on them!

Added by Tim Mayfield


Group Charades
Divide the group up and give each group something that they need to act out for the other groups to guess what it is. Suggestions: poison gas in the room, laughing gas, bad odor in the room, etc. You don't need to make it a contest, or you can have staff judge which group did the best.

Guess the Weight
Have several people come up and sit cross legged; the weight guesser lifts each one of them, holds them for a few seconds, then puts them down and guesses. (It goes without saying these should be people secure about themselves.) On about the 3rd person, slip a pan of water under him before he gets down.

Added by Young Life

Guys Best Pick-up Line
To sell this one you may tell a quick disaster date story about asking someone out, telling the crowd that you will need their help. To do this, reenact your scene by building a couch out of three folding chairs covered by a LARGE sheet or blanket (it must cover all the chairs well). After building the couch in front of them, pick a girl to sit on the end chair. Then pull up three guy studs to come give you their best line and move. Demonstrate for them that it all counts here — talk, walk, distance from the girl — that when told to do so they will enter the room one at a time, walk over to the girl, deliver their best line, and sit right next to her with their arm around her. After explaining and demonstrating, briefly send them out of the room. While they are out of the room, pull out and hide the middle chair, replacing it with a pillow on the ground under the sheet. Stand on one end of the sheet while the girl remains on the other end. When the guys deliver their line and begin to sit down, both you and the girl release pressure on the sheet so they will fall right through. Note: the person who takes them out should have three lines ready for the guys in case they can’t think of one. Make sure you build them up afterward!

The point: Great game to precede a talk on dating or sex.  

Added by Young Life

Guys vs. Girls Trivia
Have 5 guys and 5 girls come up. You need 5 of the same prizes to give away to the winning team. Write out a list of about 10 to 15 questions. E.g. How high does a building have to be before it’s required to have a blinking red light for airplanes? Answer: 200 ft. Where is mascara applied? Some of the questions can be geared towards males, some to females, and some a bit tough for both. The teams line up facing the audience on both sides of you. When someone on a team knows the answer they have to hit the floor face down. Sometimes one kids goes down, sometimes everyone will. If the person gets the answer wrong, the other team gets a shot at it. If they miss, then it’s “dead”, so you might want to have a few extra questions and a tiebreaker. The first team to 8 or 10 points wins. You can change the points, players, or number of questions to suit your group.
Added by Joshua Nelson

Hanging Apple
Teamwork counts on this game.
Choose 4 or 5 sets of two-person teams. Hang that many apples (or caramel apples) from the ceiling with a string. Make sure that they are secure. Once you say "Go' the two people will try to finish their apple before the other teams. The first team that finishes wins. The trick is that the apples swing around when you try to bite into them and they can't use their hands, so unless they bite at the exact same time the apple can't even be bitten in to.
Added by Jennifer Fink

An added twist:
To modify the "Hanging Apple" game, we have  someone hold the apple on a string for the person instead of from the ceiling.  The
person eating the apple is on their knees and blindfolded. Right before you begin, switch the apple for a student who can take a
joke with a raw onion.  Great reactions.
Added by Adam Wormann


Hefalump Game, The
Have 3 people who know the object of the game hiding out of the room with a cup of water and a blanket. The leader then explains that he has found a rare creature (the hefalump) and that it is skilled in many areas. To build it up the leader starts to explain how people must be quiet and not stare or point as it may upset the hefalump. The leader then goes outside and fetches the people who have the blanket over their heads and the back person has the cup of water. They come back in and the leader says it can do math, so he starts asking questions like 2+2, then the hefalump using one of its legs taps out the answer. After doing this a couple of times you say even though it has no eyes it can step over things without treading on them. So ask for 3 volunteers to come forward and lye on the floor so you introduce them all and say which position they are in and emphasise one. Then as the hefalump lifts his leg over the one who has been emphasised and pour the water all over that one! Its a total class joke and will have everyone in hesterics!!!!!

Added by Laura Westby

Hobby Hoax
Send 3 students out of the room and tell them to think of their favorite hobby - that you'll interview them onstage so the audience can guess later. While they are out of the room, explain to the crowd that we all know that everyone’s favorite hobby is kissing, so let’s find out about their kissing. When each student enters the room, ask him or her questions about their  favorite hobby, e.g. Where do you like to do it? With whom? Why do you like it so much or what’s your favorite part?
If you're uncomfortable with the 'kissing' theme, you can say 'frog-kissing' or 'cow-tipping' or something goofy.
Added by Young Life

Hobby Pantomime
Take 3 people out of the room. Bring in the first person and act out detailed, exaggerated actions of your hobby. Bring in the next person and have the first act out the hobby for the second. Have the second person act out he hobby for the third. At the end ask each person what they thought they were acting out. You can also act out changing a diaper or washing an elephant.
Added by Young Life

Hose-Head
Bring 2 people up front. Get a pair of women's size small thigh-high panty hose.( or just cut the legs from a regular pair) Put a tennis ball in the end of each one all the way at the toe end. Have the contestants put the panty hose over their head and face (w/ ball dangling in front). They bend over and start swinging their panty hose and ball. Then they try to use their swinging hose to catch the other swinging hose and pull it off the other person's head. The first one to pull it off their opponents head is the winner. They can run around or whatever trying to keep it on their head.

As always, use caution and safety. Make it a rule that if their hose hits the other person or wraps around the other person, they lose. (You don't want them wrapping hose around necks, heads, etc.) You might want to offer eye protection as well.

Another option is to do this with about 6-10 people.

Added by Chuck Linton

Hot Dog Catch (aka Space Alien Dogs)
Bring three guys up front and somehow attach 32 oz. cups around their necks. Put three blindfolded girls in the back of the room (or a good distance away if you're in a large room) and give each of them a dozen hot dogs each. The girls throw the dogs to the guys who catch them in their cups without using their hands.

Added by Young Life

Hot Seat - Discussion Wrap-Up
Have everyone sit in a big circle with one person sitting on a chair in the middle – the "hot seat". That person takes on the role of someone you've talked about in your small group discussion. If there has been some kind of talk or drama or story, then they can pick someone from that. The student in the hot seat has to really try to be that person. They have to try and hold themselves like that person and speak like that person. Not in voice but in what they say.

The people in the circle then have to ask the person questions and they have to answer as the person they are.

It's a good test to see if they've been listening! The person in the hot seat eventually tells the others in the circle who they are portraying if it hasn't been guessed yet.

The point: Helps students retain the info they just learned.

Added by Caroline Gray

Human Bowling
(See also: Turkey Bowling)

Go to local bowling alleys and ask for 12 old pins, they should be able to give you some as they get beat up fairly often. Get a "creeper" (sled on wheels used to slide under a car to due maintenance), or some other sled on wheels, and a motorcycle helmet. Put girls on the sled with the helmet on and have them put their hands behind their back and let a guy (or vice versa the guy and girl thing) "bowl" them down into the set of 10 pins (they must be spread out well, you will need to practice to see how far). Usually bowl 3 competitors and let them do a frame a piece.

You will need 2 folks to set the pins up again quickly and one to catch them so they don’t go through the pins and head first into the wall. Most good sleds can really move up to 20-30 feet or so, so have a good runway. There are great sound effect CD’s with bowling sounds for the background. Also, you have the two extra pins - paint them gold and make into trophies, give one to keep and put the names of the winners on the other as your running trophy. For a sell before the “tournament” (to pump the group  up), have a "human cannonball" fly in on the sled and smack the pins (helmet, chest protector, goggles, shin guards, elbow pads, etc.).

Added by Young Life

Human Christmas Tree
You can play this as an up front game or, if you have a small group, just divide your group into teams. Have as many teams of 3 or 4 as you want. Designate one person "the Christmas tree," and the other team members "the decorators." Each decorator has a bag full of Ornaments, lights, any Tree decorations. Give each team 5 minutes to decorate partner, when finished turn off all the lights and plug in Christmas Trees. Student lights up like a tree. Its hilarious in a dark room.

Added by Blaine Tarnecki

Human Scrabble For Dummies
2 groups of kids line up in the front of the room. Each kid gets a letter hung around his or her neck on a card. All the letters in each group spells a word, but it is all scrambled up. At signal, each group must arrange themselves to properly spell the word. The first group to do so wins.
Added by Young Life

Ice Chest
Get 3 or 4 of your "tough" guys. Tell them  you're going to have a contest to see who is the "coolest!" Have them change into some x_large shirts that you have for them and have them tuck the shirts in. Then have a team mate (or team mates) run with cups of ice to fill up the shirts. You'll need a lot of Ice, shirts, cups, and buckets or actuall ice chests to hold the ice in.

Have towels handy for them when the game is over. You can judge the winners by how much ice they got in the shirt in a given amount of time or by how long the guys could stand having the ice in their shirts.
Added by Ian Longtin

Ice Cream Feed
Lay plastic on the floor. Have pairs lie down head to head and feed ice cream to the person behind them. The first team to empty their bowls wins. This gets messy only on the fed persons face…and neck…and chest.
Be sure to set this up so every one can see.
Added by Young Life

Ice Cream Stuff
Get an even number of students and have them pair up in twos. Have the kids decide who wants to sit and who wants to stand. Place a blindfold on the student standing and give the one who sits a trash can bag to cover his/her clothes. Hand the blindfolded student a big helping of ice cream in an plastic bowl with a spoon. When you say "go," the blindfolded student must feed the sitting student. If any ice cream spills, they must eat it off the floor. Whoever eats it all first wins.
Added by Sara Sinnard

Improv
Divide group into smaller groups and give them a topic to make a silly skit up about.  

Suggestions:  
~ On a bus, someone late for work/school/church.
~ I'm the new youth pastor and this is my group.
~ Fender bender
~ Dumb bank or convenience store robber



IV Bag Suck
Get three large zip lock bags filled with Kool Aid and surgical tubing coming out of the top. Have three people suck until the Kool Aid is gone. First one done wins.

Joust
Equipment:

2 five gallon buckets
2 jousting sticks (4 ft. sticks with foam rubber ends) or two pillows
Soft area to play (grass area or padded floor)

Rules:
Place buckets up-side down, about 3 feet apart.
2 players stand on buckets, each with a joust stick or pillow
When judge says "Go!", each player tries to knock the other player off his bucket.
Discourage "head shots" and other "cheap shots."

King Bo-Bo
For this upfront game, you need a "King", 3 victims...we mean, volunteers, a blindfold, and two rings -  preferably large ones like men's class ring or women's w/large set. Need one person to be King and one helper. "King" is in the room alone sitting on a chair. Have him take one shoe off and put one of the rings on the second toe. Have him put the other ring on regular ring finger. Helper blindfolds first person and leads them into the room and up to the King, King says, "You are in the presence of King Bo-Bo. In order to show your respect you must kiss his ring." He holds out the ring on his hand, after the person kisses it, lifts foot up in front of their face (not touching). When someone removes the blindfold, it appears as if they have just kissed the king's foot!

Our point: Things aren't always what they seem!

Added by Tracy Sheppard

Kool-Aid Taste Off
Ask three volunteers to sit in chairs facing the rest of the group. On a signal they each open a different flavored packet (the small ones) of Kool-Aid. They then lick just one finger and dip it into the packet. The person who in that manner is the first to eat all of the Kool-Aid in the packet wins. It's hilarious because they do not anticipate it being so sour, and they usually end up with it all over their lips.

(Warning:  this stuff is really gross- use your own judgment- kids could become nauseated.)
Added by Young Life

Leg Line Up
Have 5 guys line up for 3 girls to see. Then blindfold the 3 girls. Have the girls feel the five guys' legs up to their knees and guess which legs belong to which guy. The girl who gets the most correct guessed is the winner.

Lemonade
Get 4 "volunteers" up front and have them sit down on stools, facing the rest of the kids. On a low table in front of each of the "volunteers," have the ingredients for lemonade: a 1/4 of a lemon each, a teaspoon of sugar, and a glass of water.

Announce to the kids it is going to be a race to make lemonade. When you say "go" they must first eat the lemon, then the sugar, drink the water, then they have to jump up (twist, spin.... use your creativity) and sit down to mix up the ingredients. The first to do this is declared the winner.

Lemonade Machine, The
Get at least two volunteers to come up front.  They are now titled "the Lemonade Machine."  Have them each bring up a friend from the crowd to be their partner.  Each "Lemonade Machine" sits in a chair with his or her head leaning backwards and with their mouth open.  At "go" their friend proceeds to squeeze one lemon, 1 spoon of sugar and 1 cup of water into "Lemonade Machine's" mouth.  The "Lemonade Machine" stands up and jumps up and down three times and spits the contents of his or her mouth into a glass (make it a clear one for good visual).  Repeat until the glass is full.
Added by Michael Boyd

Licorice Race
Choose 3 guy/girl couples. (See variation below if you don't want to use couples.) Tie a Lifesaver in the middle of a long (or two pieces) piece of licorice. Guy and girl at each end race to eat the licorice and Lifesaver first without using their hands. If it drops on the floor they must get it without using their hands.

This sell could be done by a Dr. Love, Antonio Amore character and is good near dances and homecoming. Any weird love song or song about kissing will do.

Variation:  Also could be done with kids up front and the Lifesaver at the end of on piece of licorice (with their partner holding it) and race to eat it first.  
Added by Young Life

Lifesavers On The Face
Choose 3 guy-girl teams. Each girl gets three roles of Lifesavers and 2 minutes to lick, stick, and arrange them on the guy’s face. Have the audience vote for the winning team. You may make a lifesaver hat out of a foam circle, spray-painted to add to the decor. You may also consider having 2 girls per guy decorate.
Added by Young Life

Marble in Clear Tubing
Wrap 15 feet of clear tubing around a small girl. Have 3 different pairs of guys get 3 marbles from one end and out the other by lifting and spinning the girl. The fastest time wins. If you have the bucks to buy 2 lengths of tube, you can have 2 groups at once racing.

Added by Young Life

Marbles In Jello
Put marbles in a roasting type pan (use a dark colored Jello). Have paper towels handy,and plastic for the floor. Have 2 people for each pan of Jello. Using only 1 foot they race to find the marbles.
Added by Young Life

Marker Fencing
Dress two contestants in white tee shirts and white sweats. Give students protective eyewear (It will add a lot if you can get your hands on some fencing headgear as well). Duct tape two big black markers to the end of two strong dowel rods (bought at any hardware store). Instruct them that the only place they can mark is above the belt and below the neck. Then let them duel. The person to make the most marks of at least on half inch long wins. You can order glow in the dark pens, follow the same directions, and then turn out the lights to determine your winner. Background music will be a must, and white gloves and socks can help highlight the uniforms! Fence away!
Added by Young Life

Marshmallow Pitch
For this game, have kids pair off and give each pair a sack of miniature marshmallows. Each pair should also have a neutral counter. One person is the pitcher, the other the catcher. On "go", the pitcher tosses a marshmallow into the catcher's mouth, and the catcher must eat the marshmallow. The pitcher and catcher should be about ten feet apart. The counter counts how many successful catches are made, and the couple with the most at the end of a time limit or the first to reach twenty successful catches is the winner.
Added by Young Life

Marshmallow Stuff
This works best in groups under 30. We recommend 6 guys and 6 girls at a time. For this game you need a couple, of bags of big marshmallows, a Coke (or other soda) for every two players, and any song with a word or phrase that repeats frequently in the chorus. (One youth worker suggests "My Girl", but any upbeat song will work as long as it includes a frequently repeated pronoun, work, or phrase.)

Your guys should be on their knees with the girls behind them. Give the girls the marshmallows and the guys the Coke. Instruct your players that when you play the song, every time they hear the word/phrase "___________", the girls have to shove a marshmallow in the guys mouth and the guy has to take a drink of the coke. Be ready for some spit ups with a small garbage can or towel under each guy.
Added by Wedo

Melt That Ice Cube
Divide group into two or three teams. Give a large block of ice to each group. The team has to melt the ice any way they can (i.e. crushing, breaking, friction, body heat etc.).
If possible, weigh before and after to determine winner. Prepare for water.
Added by Young Life

Messy Plexi
Prep: Buy or get a 4'x8'sheet of plexi glass donated. Oreos, Cheese in a can, Crackers Call up 2 teams of 2. Tell the students that they need to draw someone using the oreos, cheese in a can, and crackers. When they finish hold up the plexi glass to show the audience and let them vote by applause.
Then tell them the game is just starting. The team that can eat their creation the fastest wins. It's great to see tounges, lips, hair, ears and whatever press up against the glass and the audience will roar with laughter.
Of course you will need to pressure wash the glass each time you use it.
Added by Sterling Lynn

Milk Chug
Three 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.

Mind Reader
This is a fun game where you and another staff person or student leader pretend that one of you has the ability to read minds. Important: pre-arrange with "It" (your assistant) a person that they will pick first. As everybody arrives, tell them that "It"is a mind reader. Send "It" out of the room and point to the person that you have pre-arranged. Have "It" come back in the room and ask him or her which person you just selected while "It" was out of the room. "It," of course, will know and the kids won't be that impressed. But "It" looks two spaces clockwise from the person you just pointed to and remembers that person. When "It" leaves the room again, shuffle everyone around (for their confusion) and then pick that person (that WAS two spaces clockwise from the previous person). "It" will come and pick this person to everyone's amazement. Continue playing this for a few rounds, quitting while they still want more.
Added by Michael Knight

Mock Spelling Bee
This is designed to get you, the leader. It begins by having someone challenge you to a spelling bee. Four kids come up front to challenge you one a time to a power spelling bee. The game goes as follows: one kid at a time steps up and is given an object (for example an egg) and your leader asks them to spell egg. If they do it correctly, they get to put the object on you. If incorrectly, they do not (Obviously by now you will have an egg on your head). Then it is your chance to spell and put something on them, only you are set up each time. For example, your leader may hold up a can of coke to which you excitedly blurt out "coke…c-o-k-e…coke" only to have your leader tell you that is not the word, instead, they read the toughest ingredient on the can (phenylcarbonhydronate acid or whatever) you miss. The next kid steps up and spells another object (oatmeal, syrup, bananas all work). Each time you get drilled and each time you spell back you lose.

Whoever is running the game may trick you in other ways, for example, silent "p's" whatever. A good ender is for them to give you one that you can get right, you in disbelief stare and take a minute to try to guess the catch…then you slowly spell the easy word…on the second to last letter your leader looks at their watch, interrupts saying "whoop, you time has expired, but thanks for playing" and takes off. Your reactions, facial expressions, and acting ability will make or break this one!
Added by Young Life

Mullet Envy
This is a crowd breaker-- Have students get into groups of 5 to 10. Have them select one student who will wear a shower cap. Have the group place 2-sided tape all over the cap and then cut either brown or black yarn to be placed on the tape on the cap to look like a mullet. Then have the mullet ones come up to the stage to be judged on the best one. Have the mulletheads say "Business in the front and a party in the back." into the mic in their best 80's metal voice. Also, while they are constructing the mullet play a couple of mullet songs (KJ-52 mullet song hidden track #9 and Phantom Mullet by Five Iron Frenzy). Party on dude!
Added by Russ Smith

Mummy Wrap
This game can be played as both a "Crowd" game and an "Up Front" game.  In a big crowd, you can throw out 2 or 3 rolls of toilet paper to different sections of the crowd and have them do it right there.  

For "Up front" just pick three groups of three people each. Give each a roll or two of toilet paper. Make sure you give each team the same amount. Two people wrap up (like a mummy) the third person in the group. The object of the game is to: See who can wrap up their "mummy" first or who is most creative in their "mummifying". You may wish to add a few other objects into the game (Q-tips, t.p. rolls, etc.) to aid in the "artistic expression possibilities". You could have the crowd vote or the staff. You need 3 or 6 rolls of toilet paper.

Musical Hats
Good small group game.
You need 6 (goofy) hats. Have 7 kids stand in a circle facing the back of the person in front of them. Each should have a hat except one of them. Then to music they grab the hat of the person in front of them and place it on their heads. Once it is on their head, they let go of it. This continues at a frantic pace until the music stops. The person without a hat is eliminated, just like musical chairs.
Added by Young Life

My Girl
This works best in groups under 30.  We recommend playing 6 guys and 6 girls at a time.  For this game you need a couple of bags of big marshmallows, a Coke (or other soda) for every two players, and any song with a word or phrase that repeats frequently in the chorus.  (One youth worker suggests the song “My Girl”, but any upbeat song will work as long as it includes a frequently repeated pronoun, word, or phrase.)

Your guys should be on their knees with the girls behind them. Give the girls the marshmallows and the guys the Coke. Instruct your players that when you play the song, every time they hear the word/phrase “My Girl," the girls have to shove a marshmallow in the guy’s mouth and the guy has to take a drink of the coke. Be ready for some spit ups with a small garbage can or towel under each guy.
Added by Wedo


Name that Tune with Marshmallows (or Squirt Guns)
4 guys versus 4 girls. Play music in short spurts. One person from each team steps up with a big pot on their head and a big spoon in their hand. When they think they know the answer they beat on their heads for a bell. If the answer is correct each member of the other team puts a marshmallow in their mouth. If the answer is wrong, that person’s team puts one marshmallow in their mouth, and if the other team gets the answer right, they put an additional marshmallow in their mouth. If it is going too slow, you can have bonus rounds with double penalties in which anyone on the team can take a spoon and guess. This can also be done with a kazoo or any other music.

Variation: Do this game with squirt guns where you do one girl vs. one guy at a time. Each person has a squirt gun and squirts the other person until they get the answer right.
Added by Young Life

Numbers Race
Form teams of 10 players (ideally). Each person in the team gets a number on a 3x5 card or slip of paper from 0 to 9. The leader then calls out a random number say for example, “108”. The students holding those numbers – 1, 0, and 8 - run out in front and display the numbers to the leader calling them out in the correct order. Try 1,237,582 and so on. The first team to be in place, in the right order gets a point for their team.  For re-use make up A5 cards, in different coloured paper for each team and laminate them.  Don't forget to distinguish between 6 and 9 - perhaps a line under the numbers.
Added by Amanda from Australia


Oreo Head
3 or 4 kids up front twist Oreo open, moisten the creamier side and stick it to their forehead. Then, without using their hands, they try to contort their faces to maneuver the Oreo down their face and into their mouth. First one wins. Funny faces!
Added by Young Life

Oreos or Peanut Butter Crackers on Plexiglass
Put Oreos open faced on sheets of plexiglass. Choose 2-4 kids and blindfold them. They must race to smash their face up against the glass and lick off the Oreos. Have extra open-faced Oreos ready for when they knock them off. It helps to have the plexiglass framed so that it does not wobble too much. Peanut butter on crackers may be a little stickier.
Added by Young Life

Phone a Friend
Items needed: cell phone (one of those radio/cell phones with the speakerphone is the best) and a sound system.

Pick out a teen and bring them upfront using your cell phone (you have to be able to hear the person on the other line) to make a live call to a friend of their choice. They will identify where they are and what's going on (“I'm part of this contest in my youth group right now . . .”)

Now ask your teen a series of questions about the person they are going to call. They have to guess what the person on the cell will say, such as:
Will they answer before the third ring?
Have they eaten dinner yet?
Do they have shoes on?
Or something embarrassing like: Does their mom kiss them good night?
Give a prize to your teen for every right answer they give. They can keep going up the prize ladder for better prizes, but if they miss they lose everything! Go 5 rounds, start with small prizes like candy bars up to cd's, tickets to a concert, amusement park, money, whatever!

Added by Eric Brown

Pick Your Friend’s Nose
Use a huge piece of paper or a sheet and draw three people on it. Cut out the space for their nose. Three people are chosen from the audience to stick their noses through the holes. The paper has to be big enough to hide their bodies. The rest of the kids try to see if they can pick their friends nose.
Added by Young Life

Pie Pan Bubble Blow
You get three people to come up front and sit in chairs at a table. Then you put in front of them three pie pans that are full of whip cream. At the bottom of each pie plate is a piece of bubble gum. The race is to see who can eat all the whip cream, find the gum and be the first person to blow a bubble. The first person done is the winner. Rules are though they can't use their hands. They can stand or sit doing this. Kids love getting messy!
Added by Stephanie

Pillow Battle
Just like it sounds. Have a girl take on a guy in a pillow battle. Give them each a pillow and explain that they will each get three chances to hit each other. Blindfold them both and tell them they must keep one foot still, although they may dodge the hit however else they want. First, they must ask the question, "Are you there?" The other answers, "I am here." When it is all explained, un-blindfold the girl, but leave the guy blindfolded, so the girl can dodge the hits, but the guy can’t. After the guy misses once, put the blindfold back on the girl, and show the guy that she is still right there. Then re-blindfold him and do the same thing again.
Added by Young Life

Pin The Tail
Say you are playing "Pin The Tail On the Donkey" but you forgot the tails, so have kids use their finger. Play normally but hold a jar of peanut butter in front of wherever the kids put their finger.

Added by Young Life

Ping Pong Ball Blow
Use one or more teams of one boy and one girl and place a cookie sheet with a ping-pong ball on it between them. Explain that the object is to blow the ball to the other side while blindfolded. After they are blindfolded, place the ball on a mound of flour on the cookie sheet.

Added by Young Life

Ping Pong Ball Party Blower
Give several guys a party blower and a ping pong ball each. Have the guys get down on all fours and race their ping pong ball to a given destination and back. The only way they can move the ball is by bopping it with the party blower.

Plead For Mercy
Bring 2 or 3 guy/girl teams up front (works great with dating couples). Have each guy kneel in front of a girl and try to talk her out of putting pie in his face. Clue each girl ahead of time to let him go for a while.

Get the audience to egg each girl on.

Push Over
Have two people come up and face each other about 2-3 feet apart. Their feet should be even (side by side, not in front of one another) and their hands are raised, touching each others palms (like they are playing "Patty-cake"). The object is to make the other person fall, forward or backward by pushing or releasing pressure to your hands.
Rules:

Can't move your feet
Can't move your hands other than forward or back
Can't grab or close your hands

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is
Two guys who have wallets each face the other and see who can "draw" his wallet the fastest and stick it in his mouth (gunfighter style). Another way to do this is to ask for two people who want to win two dollars. When they come up, give each a dollar bill, which they must put in their wallets and place back in their back pockets. On the signal, they go for their wallets, gunfighter style, and each must take the dollar out of his wallet, put it on the floor and then sit on it. The last guy to do so has to give the other guy his dollar, and he loses.
Added by Young Life

Puttin' On The Lips
For this game, all you need is a tube of bright lipstick and paper towels. Have a guy hold the lipstick in his mouth and apply it on the girl’s lips. If you bring up more than one volunteer, give a small prize for the most accurate application.
Added by Young Life

Quick Change
Prepare three or four costumes and grab the same number of volunteers. I used an old military uniform, one of those old polyester Taco Bell uniforms (it was my friends, NOT MINE! ), and a 70's outfit. Each ridiculous looking costume consisted of a pair of pants, a top, a pair of glasses, and a hat. I set the costume in front of each participant, handed them each a balloon, explained to them each the object of the game, and yelled go. Each of them had to blow up the balloon and start bopping (is that a word?) it into the air. The object was for them to get completely into the costume and back out of the costume while keeping the balloon in the air. The result is three people running and hopping all over the room, trying to get dressed while chasing a balloon. Great fun- give it a try!

Rubber Band Head
Put an extra large rubber band around the heads of several people. (Common sense here; be sure it’s snug but not tight enough to snap and cause an owie!)  Place it so that is squashes their nose and folds their ears over. They can use anything to get it down around their necks except their hands (can use wall, other people, etc.). First one through wins.
Hilarious facial expressions as they work it down.

Added by Young Life

Sales Job
Take 3 people out of the room. Tell the crowd to ask questions them to figure out what’s in the bag when they return. Bring one kid in and tell him/her to try to really sell what’s in the bag without giving away what it is. Crowd knows it’s toilet paper (or 3X underwear). Backstage, you’ve told your “salesperson” that there is gum in the bag. Fire him/her up for the hard sell, maybe providing a sport coat and hat. Announce him like he is a 60-second infomercial.

Added by Young Life

Screaming Contest
Hold a screaming contest with prizes for the loudest, most girly-man, longest, weirdest sounding, and shyest person to scream.
Added by Young Life


Shaving Cream Hair-do
Have several guy volunteers come up and have them each select a beautician from the audience. Give the beautician beauty supplies: shaving cream, and other items if you wish (sprinkles, chocolate syrup, etc.). Have the beautician put the shaving cream in the guys hair and try to beautify him as much as possible.
You may want to give a hint to a few kids ahead of time in secret.  Ideas: Abe Lincoln look, punk rocker spiked do, Mickey Mouse ears, Roman headgear. Background hair-doing music is a must!
Have the crowd applause as to the best job to determine the winner.

Shaving Cream Shootout
Bring 2-6 volunteers up front and put a huge blob of shaving or whipped cream on their noses. Place them strategically around the room. With squirt guns, they must try to shoot the shaving cream off the nose of the person on their right. Clearly explain that if they start shooting the crowd on purpose, they will be eliminated. You can use "Wild West" songs for this one. Have towels handy and remember that things will get wet. The first person to shoot off all the cream wins.

Civilized Shaving Cream Shoot-out:
Put a dollop of Shaving Cream on the nose each of 3 contestants and give their partner a squirt gun. Spread the gunner from "Cream Nose" at least 10 feet. First one to clean their partner's nose is the winner.

Added by Young Life

Shoe Stretch
Get two old pairs of men’s shoes, take out the strings, punch holes in the back of each shoe and tie a four-foot piece of elastic to each. Place shoes on opposite sides of the room and tie other ends of the elastic to the legs of the chair. Two people get into the shoes — one in each pair — and walk toward each other. Have someone sitting in the chairs to weight them down, and have them spaced so that the elastic becomes taut just as the two meet each other. The object is, with the shoes stretching the elastic, to exchange shoes in the fastest time possible and return to the other chair.
Rules: 1. Once one’s foot is taken out of the shoe, it cannot touch the floor. 2. Hands must only be used to hold each other up. 3. If a shoe snaps back to the chair then the person must hop back to get it.
Added by Young Life

Siamese Twins Tasks
This game is only as good as the person leading it. Bring a few pairs of kids up front. Have an XXL t-shirt for every pair. Have them both get into the t-shirt and do specific tasks that you ask them to do. You can do this in a drama-like format. You can read a story and have them act it out. (e.g. Once upon a time the Stuck Sisters got up from a good night's sleep. They immediately decided to do their morning exercises. They started with toe touchers. Then push ups . . . now they need to brush their teeth with their one tooth brush . . . ) Fun to watch!

Silent Charades
Divide into teams of 5 to 7 people. Have the members of one team leave the room while the others think of a situation which can be acted out without words (see below for ideas). Then bring in one person from the team that was sent out of the room. Explain the situation he or she will be acting out.
Now bring in the second person from that team. Without saying a word, Person #1 must act out he assigned plot for Person #2. Person #2 may or may not understand the charade, but he or she must subsequently act out the same situation for a third member of the team. Person#3 performs the charade for Person#4, and so on. The last person must guess the original story line.
Remember, all this is done in complete silence. Even the simplest charade can undergo a thorough metamorphosis after being passed down several times. If the lost person cannot guess the charade, person #1 should perform it again and let the last person guess once more.
Here are some classic French charade situations to spur your creativity.
Charade 1:
The original pantomime that you do could include the following: pull the elephant into the room on a rope; tie the rope at a stake; dip a rag in a pail and wash the side of the elephant jumping high to get all the way to the top; crawl underneath, wash his belly and legs; go to the front and wash the trunk inside and out and wash the elephant’s ears as well; and then, wash under his tail (hold your nose).
Charade 2:
You are a high school beauty pageant contestant, anxiously awaiting the announcement of the winner. Suddenly you hear your name! You now step forward to receive your crown and roses. Then comes you victory walk down the aisle, waving to the crowd, you encounter many misfortunes. First, you are allergic to the roses, so you begin to sneeze, but you keep on going waving and sneezing to the crowd. Then, on the way back up the aisle, your high heel breaks and you finish the walk with one heel missing!
Charade 3:
Your are a pregnant mama bird about to give birth. You must fly around the room gathering materials for your nest. Once you make your nest, you lay your egg. Then finish the charade by hatching the egg and finding a worm to feed your new baby.

You can also act out a hobby, changing a diaper, or washing an elephant.

Added by Young Life

Sing A Song
Bring 3-5 volunteers up to the front. Each player gets a cup of water. The youth leader assigns that person a song. The person has to sing it while gargling water. The audience has to guess the song. You can do this with any size group.

Idea by jennifer Ferrallo & Melissa Wallack

Skateboard and Plunger Race
Outdoor game. Racers sit on skateboards and use plungers as oars in race. Use music in the background.
Added by Young Life

Ski Lesson
Have 3 kids with ski poles jump back and forth over a pillow in front of them. When the crowd yells "Bump!" on cue from leader, they must sit down on a chair and burst a balloon. Say it’s a 5-bump course to be done for time.

For the last balloon on the last student use a water balloon. Use fast music to build suspense. An enthusiastic "ski instructor" adds to the fun.
Added by Young Life

Sleeping Bag Wrestling
Have 4 people come up front. Put sleeping bags over 2 of them as they stand on their knees facing each other. They have to wrestle each other to the floor. Then have the next two go, and finally have a championship round. Usually the heaviest person wins so try and pick people that weigh about the same.
Added by Young Life

SnickerDew Race
Choose a number of contestants based on the size of your group, 2 - 6 works best. Give each contestant a King Size Snicker bar and a can or bottle of Mountain Dew. The contestants race to see who can finish their feast first.

If you are feeling extra sneaky, add yourself to the game and give a Joe Nameth-style guarantee that you will win the competition. The key to the win is to give everyone else a candy bar that is nearly frozen. Yours will be nice and soft at room temperature. Just pretend like it is hard to bite into.
Added by Jeff Gunhus

Sound Effects
Supplies needed – blank tape and tape recorder.
Instructions – Your group has 15 minutes to record the sounds listed below. The sounds must last at least 10 sec. but nor more than 15. All members of the group must contribute. You could give a small prize (bag of candy or litre of pop) to the group that adds the most creative sound selection not on the list.

*Herd of cows
*Cat in a dog kennel
*TV Show theme
*Lovesick Coyotes on a moonlit night
*A worship song
*Room Full of Babies
*Traffic

Source Unknown


Spam Carving
Announce, "I need two artistic volunteers!" Give each a can of spam and have them make a creative carving. Have the group applause to judge which one is the winner.

Spam Roulette
Materials needed: Can of Spam, Spoon, and Fun facts about Spam (Phone # to call on the can.)

Bring 3-6 volunteers upfront. Play music. When the music stops, the person must choose a person on his right or left. That person must answer a trivia question about Spam. If they cannot answer, they must take a bit of Spam. (For small groups or upfront, you could also use a Twister “spinner” with the colors representing individuals or teams.)
Added by Young Life

Spell My Feet
Take five people and have them take off their shoes and socks. Take a marker and write a large letter on the bottom of each of their feet so if they sit facing you and hold their feet in the air, you can read the letters. On the first person put an A and a N (one letter on each foot), on the next an E and a T, then GR, OM, and SP. You will call out different words for them to spell and they have to cross legs, stretch, and situate themselves in a position so that the bottom of their feet spell the word you called. You can do this with two teams of five if you want and see who spells the word first.

Use these words:
master
roast
smear
togas
snore
ten proms
get spam
great son

Stocking Race
Sit two or three guys in chairs blind folded. Give them a paper sack with heavy men's gloves and a pair of stockings in each. They race to be the first to put on the gloves and then the stockings. Becomes hysterical when they can't even feel if they have the stockings in their hand or not. You can use work gloves, hockey gloves, big winter gloves, or lacrosse gloves.
Added by Young Life

Straw Game
Each contestant receives 2 straws and a cup of water. One straw is to be put in the cup and the other is not. However both straws are to be inserted in their mouth. Then they race to see who can suck the water out the fastest.
Added by Young Life


Strength Test
All you need is a flat, ordinary bathroom scale. Each person holds the scale with two hands and squeezes it, pressing as hard as possible to register the highest weight on the scale. Or, you could have two people, one holding the scale and the other pushing, attempt to register their highest weight on the scale. Or, you could have two people, one holding the scale and the other pushing, attempt to register their highest score.
Added by Young Life

String Tie Mystery
Here’s a simple little game that also tests your group’s creativity. Hang two strings from the ceiling in such a way that they dangle approximately one foot from the floor (both strings should be about the same length). The strings should be far enough apart that, while holding the dangling end of one string, the other string hanging down is a foot or so out of reach. Challenge anyone in your group to tie the dangling ends of the strings together with no help from the audience. The only thing that can be used in this task is an ordinary pair of pliers. How is it done? It’s simple. Tie the pliers to the end of one of the strings and then swing the string ask and forth. Then hold the end of the other string, and when the pliers swing close enough grab them. Untie the pliers and tie the two strings together.
Added by Young Life

Stud Walk
Take 3 guys out of the room. One at a time tell them to walk in with music playing with their studliest strut while the crowd is clapping and cheering. Each one is to sit down between two girls on a make shift couch (consisting of two chairs and a blanket) There is no chair in the middle where he is going to sit. As soon as he sits down have the girls stand up and he will fall right through the chairs. Have a pillow so he doesn't get hurt. The crowd goes crazy!!
Added by Dave Marshall

Stupid Human Tricks
Announce these ahead of time. Include all the weird things kids can do (roll tongue three times, dislocate body parts, burp the National Anthem). Screen the volunteers before they go on stage and help them be great at what they do.
Added by Young Life

Submarine Ride
A volunteer lies flat on his back on a table with a person at each arm and each leg. The legs are the left and right rudders. The arms are torpedoes one and two. A jacket is put over the volunteer’s head with one sleeve directly over his nose. This is the periscope. The captain (you) yells "Left rudder!" (Person on left raises leg) "Right rudder!" (Raise right leg) "Torpedo one!" "Torpedo two!" (Raise arms). "Up periscope!" (Sleeve is lifted straight up). "Dive! Dive!" (You pour water down sleeve and into the volunteer’s face.)
Added by Young Life

Sugar Salesman
Props: two identical bowls with spoons, one filled with salt the other with sugar. Send kids A and B (both forewarned) and C (unsuspecting) out of the room.

Inform A (who already knows this) that he or she is to try to convince C to buy this bowl of sugar. Then let C know that he or she will have a turn as well trying to sell to B.

Make A put on a cheesy leisure suit jacket (maybe even plaid pants and a white belt). A comes in with a bowl of sugar expounding on how great it is. He/she tries to sell C on buying some of the delicious sugar by having him/her taste it, while taking a huge spoonful himself. C will not be too impressed with A's selling ability. Then tell C that they can top that performance. Have C try to sell some to B. While C is putting on the outfit, switch the sugar bowl for the salt bowl.

Added by Young Life

Sunglass Spit-wad
Put sunglasses on two people and try to get spit wads on their glasses using straws.
Added by Young Life

Super Soaker vs. the Sphere
Get one of those little toddler games that looks like a ball with shapes cut into the side of it. Have one student sit opposite another. One gets the ball the other gets a super soaker. Object is for the one with the ball to get all of the shapes into the ball before time us up. If they can't do it within time, the other youth gets to blast them with the super soaker. But oh, it gets better. Then tell them to switch. After all, it's only fair! We have a couple adults with much bigger super soakers to help convince the youth that "it's only fair!"
Added by Sterling Lynn

Surgical Glove Blow Up
If you haven't seen Howie Mandell do it . . . you're missing out. Get some surgical gloves- rubber- the kind that blow up. Have several contestants come up and pull the gloves over their own heads, all the way down to just above their mouth. Have them blow with their noses, inflating the gloves on their head. After 90 seconds see who's glove is blown the biggest.

Sushi
Have a kid come in dressed as a Geisha girl, holding a large clear bowl with water in it. Pick three kids to come to front of club. Blindfold them. Dip a cup into the bowl. Tell them all to drink the water as fast as they can. Right before they bring the cap to their lips, drop a couple of gummy fish into it!
Added by Young Life


Swinging Marshmallow
Bring 2 or 3 pairs of students up front. Pair them up (player A and player B) and give each pair a four foot long piece of string and two marshmallows. At a signal the pairs tie one marshmallow on each end of the string. Player A in each pair holds one marshmallow in her mouth while standing facing the front of the room. Player B stands to the side of player A at an arm's length, looking toward player A.
Moving only her head, player A begins to swing the string back and forth like a pendulum while player B attempts to catch the swinging marshmallow in his mouth. Both players may move only their head, no bending over. The winner is the first pair in which player B catches the marshmallow.

Talk or Get Squirted
Give an outgoing kid a topic like belly button lint. He/she must talk about it for two minutes. If he/she stops or repeats him/herself, he/she gets squirted. These must be funny kids who can really talk. For a sell on this one you may use a student who just talks and talks non-stop interrupting your group. You may consider giving the kid a bullhorn or microphone so kids can hear him/her.

Added by Young Life

Tire Tube Sumo Wrestling
Similar to Michelan Man Bumber Tube (under TubeMania) – basically Sumo Wrestling for poor people:
Get six large inner-tubes, and tape three together in a stack so a person can fit inside. Take a piece of rope about 32 inches long and cut it into four pieces…tie them into circles, and then tape two at the bottom of each stack of inner-tubes so they can be used as handles. Borrow two football helmets. Then create a ring on the floor with string, tape, chalk, whatever.
Have both contestants wear a helmet and step into their three tube protective uniform (holding the handles on the bottom tube). They try to push each other out of the ring. The first person to go outside the ring with both feet or to fall down loses.

Added by Young Life

To Tell The Truth
Like the old 70's TV game show. Pre-arrange four contestants for this game. Have them share a funny/interesting story that happened to them when they were young that they can say in one sentence. (e.g. My name is Billy and when I was 5, I was walking with my mom and a big guy ran by and grabbed my mom's purse!) If that is the story that sounds the best have all 4 contestants use their real name and say the same story. (e.g. My name is Teresa and when I was 5, I was walking with my mom and a big guy ran by and grabbed my mom's purse!) All contestants will tell the audience the exact same thing as if it is their story- but only one of them is telling the truth. Open up the audience to question individual contestants (like an Oprah show) and three of the contestants will have to lie through their teeth. Then have the audience vote who this really happened to. Then have the real person step forward. Great fun!

Toilet Bowl Rollercoaster
Get four volunteers or pick four people and have a sponsor take them back to a secluded room. have that sponsor tell them that they will go up in front of the crowd, one at a time. Each one will sit in a chair. The object is for them to act out a given scenario WITHOUT leaving the chair:

1. Pretend they are on a major roller coaster
2. Pretend they are riding a bull
3. Pretend they are being tortured
4. Pretend they are getting their shoulders rubbed and they like it a lot

Whoever does the best job - wins.

Meanwhile - the leader is in the other room telling the audience that the four people coming out are going to act out what they do when they are on the toilet. Let them go for about a minute or so and then tell them what they were really doing!
Added by Dennis Humphrey

Toilet Paper Blow
Pick a 4-person team from each class. See how long they can keep one square of toilet paper in the air by blowing it. Or you may have one person stand on a chair and drop the paper to a person standing on the floor who blows the paper up while the top person tries to catch it with a party blow out horn.
Added by Young Life

T-shirt Stuff
Like the good ol' Long John Stuff game, except with a T-shirt. Bring up 2, 3, or 4 guys that are wearing t-shirts and have them each choose 2 or 3 friends to help them. Hand each group 10-20 balloons and instruct them to blow them up and stuff them in their designated team member's t-shirt.

As each group stuffs balloons in their team member's shirt, he will begin to look like the Stay Puff Marshmellow Man. At a given point (when you see that their shirts are almost maxed out), count down from 10, stop the stuffing and have the "stuffers" go sit down. Have the audience vote by applauding who looks the most stuffed.

If the game ended there, I would think it's lame. Here's where the fun begins. Now inform each fat boy that it's time to pop the balloons. Offer a prize to the person that can pop all their balloons first, (there's a catch!) without taking them out and without using their hands. They have to throw themselves on the floor, body slamming their torso on the ground to pop all the balloons. This is hilarious to watch and the audience will love it.

Turkey Bowling
(See also: Human Bowling)

This can be great Thanksgiving tradition. Go to local bowling alleys and ask for 12 old pins, they should be able to give you some as they get beat up fairly often. Also get a 14-16 pound frozen turkey and drill 3 holes in it where they would be placed in a ball. You will need 2 folks to set the pins up again quickly and one to catch the turkey so you don't put a hole in a wall. Have 3 contestants bowl a frame. You may want to put down cheap black plastic (at any hardware store) for an alley. There are chicken dance songs you can play in background or even a kid who hunts may be able to make turkey calls for your background. For a trophy, you may be able to make a turkey out of an old bowling ball (body) and pin (as the head). Use feathers and a red sock as a goblet and paint the ball with winners names. This sell is obviously the job for any turkey!

Added by Young Life

Twinkie Launch
Borrow or purchase a clay pigeon thrower. This was not the kind you hold in your hand, it was the kind that mounts on a base and fires the clay pigeon with a giant spring and a catapult arm.

Without telling them why, I told all participants of the overnighter to bring one wrapped Little Debbie or Hostess product. Later in the evening when the kids needed a snack, I had them all stand in a group at the other end of the gym (our church meets in a gymnasium) and I fired litte debbies through the air with the clay pigeon thrower. IT WAS AWESOME!! As I experimented with it, I was able to fire three or four at once at a distance of 50 feet and a height of about 13 feet. I also fired some bananas which went the entire length of the gym and splattered on the back wall. (oops!)

A word of warning though. This type of clay pigeon thrower uses EXTREME spring tension. If a teen were to play around with it they could literally lose a limb if the catapult arm hit them. I made sure that I covered the thrower up until I used it and then removed it from the auditorium as soon as I was done so that no one would mess with it.
Added by Marc Kidwell, Smyrna Church of Christ

Twinkie Stuff
Two people, one at a time or simultaneously, eat as many twinkies as possible in two minutes or less.

Twirling High Jump
Bring 3 volunteers to come forward and try this simple game. Give each a stick about 24 inches long. Tell them to hold it straight out at arm’s length with both hands so that they can watch it while turning around 20 times. They then must drop their stick and jump over it. Whoever jumps the farthest is the winner. Of course, most kids get so dizzy they can’t even see the stick when they drop it, let alone jump over it. It’s fun to watch. Have the rest of the group count as the person turns around.
Added by Young Life

Twister
Buy the board game twister and play three guys, then three girls. See which gender can stay on for the most turns.

Ugliest Thing in the World
Props: one large blanket and 3 informed guys.

Announce that you have discovered the ugliest thing in the world, and he is so ugly that it is hard to look at him, in fact it's downright unbearable. Only another real ugly person can stand the sight of him. At this point, bring in a guy underneath a huge blanket rigged in such a way that there is an opening around his face, but not exposed to the room. Ask a couple of guys to take a look at him and let us know what he looks like (of course these two guys have been clued in). Each takes a hesitant look at the ugly thing and each reacts very violently, screaming running out of the room clutching at his eyes. Finally pick a cute (but very secure) girl or secure female leader and ask her to take a look. She will probably be a little reluctant about taking a look at him. When she does, the guy underneath runs away screaming.  
Added by Young Life

Unfair Newspaper Smash
Get 2 or 3 couples. (If possible get tall guys and short girls). Tie the boy's right wrists to the girls left wrists. Blindfold the girls first, then boys. After the boys are blindfolded, remove the girls' blindfolds. Give each a rolled newspaper (make it a very light newspaper that doesn't hurt) and tell them on the signal to "smash" each other. The boys can't understand why they are getting smashed but have a hard time trying to find the target.
Added by Young Life

Velcro Head
On 3 people put stockings over their heads and Velcro or carpet tape over that. Leave room for breathing. Put cotton balls on floor and have students roll around trying to get as many cotton balls stuck to their head as possible.
Added by Young Life

Walkman Sing
The title tells it all: It's a poor man's Kareoki. Select a good song (and if possible have the lyrics typed out) Have a kid come up, put on the walkman and do his best to sing along. Have the volume on the walkman loud so the kid can't her his or her self for best results.

Water Balloon Stuff
Get 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 Challenge
On "Go!" have two kids drink two glasses of water with not much spilling. The first one to down all the water is the winner. The next week,  have someone take on the champion of last week. If hyped properly you will have kids begging to be the challenger each night. I started out with 2 smaller girls and am working my way up to the bigger kids. Also something that could be added is a cheap plastic medal to be passed down to the winner each week. This game can go on for a whole semester!
Added by Matt Vanden Heuvel

Weight Gain
Three people weigh themselves, then drink as much as possible in 5 minutes. The winner is the person who gained the most weight.

Weiner Wars
Wiener War I
Those little Vienna weinies are great for this! Give the kids toothpicks and a can of Vienna sausages and see who can make the best wiener creation.

Wiener War 2
See who can spit one of the little weinies out of their mouth the farthest.
Added by Young Life

What Goes Around Comes Around
Great for wacky game nights, or lock-ins. This game requires shaving cream, a spoon,female hair products (bows, clips, hairspray), and chairs to sit in.

Start with the girls sitting. Assign a boy - with hair - to each girl.  Have the boys "shave" the girl's face with shaving cream and a spoon in under 1 minute. After the time is up, let the girls wash off.

Next the boys sit down. The girls get 5 minutes to do as much with the boys hair as they want, besides cutting it. The boys are to stay in braids, curls, whatever for the rest of the night, or until the youth pastor lets them take them out..

Added by Jon Vandivere

Wheel of Misfortune
Run this like a game show with a wheel that has things like "pie in the face" and some possible good things like "$25 off camp." Contestants get whatever the wheel land on. Play music from TV game shows. Have the prizes planned out.

Added by Young Life

Wheelbarrow Eating Race
Get 2 or 3 couples. Set out 3 lines of food items beginning with small stuff (M&M pile) and get larger (Jello or a plate with Spam). The girls wheelbarrow the guys down the row as the guys eat the items. Play music in the background and have towels to clean up with. For a sell you may have a girl wheelbarrow in a guy in total crash uniform gear and have him crash and burn into crowd. You, being the helpful leader, decide to teach them how to do it (“Name of Your Youth Ministry”) style.

Added by Young Life

Whipped Cream Pie Search
Have a whipped cream pie in front of each kid. Tell them that there are 5 M&M's in each pie. The first ones to find all five using only their face will win. But only put 4 M&M's in each pie.
Added by Young Life

Who Hit Me?
Have two guys lie down on the floor (face up, side by side) and put a blanket over them so that they cannot see. Everyone in the crowd forms a circle around them, and one person in the crowd has a rolled up newspaper. The newspaper is passed around to someone who takes it and hits one of the guys under the blanket with it (make the newspaper thin so it doesn't hurt). The "smacker" then gets back into the circle, leaving the newspaper on the blanket. The guy who has been hit counts to 5 and comes out from the blanket and tries to guess who hit him. If he guesses correctly, the person who is guessed goes under the blanket in his place. These are the instructions given to the crowd and to the players. However, one of the guys under the blanket has been clued in ahead of time that he will be given the newspaper and he will reach over and smack the guy laying next to him with it, then pull his arm in under the blanket real fast and play dumb. The guy who is hit will jump up, and his guesses will always be wrong. (Hit the clued-in guy once in a while so that it won't look quite so rigged.)

Added by Young Life

Who Wants to Be a Bible Millionaire?
This game is a clone of the hit T.V. show "Who Wants to be a Millionare?" Here's how it works:

The game is nearly identical to the TV version, with a few minor exceptions.

All contestants know one or two weeks in advance what portion of the Bible the questions will come from. (We generally give two weeks' notice and often cover an entire book, such as one of the Gospels.)

The Grand Prize is $50 and the prize ladder for correctly answered questions is as follows.


Question #1 = $1
Question #2 = $2
Question #3 = $3
Question #4 = $4
Question #5 = $5 (first milestone)
Question #6 = 10
Question #7 = 12
Question #8 = 14
Question #9 = 16 (second milestone)
Question #10= 20
Question #11= 25
Question #12= 30
Question #13= 35
Question #14= 40
Question #15= 50
(You may decide upon less money; but I have found the lure of $50 to be a *big* motivator. You may elect to charge a small fee from contestants and observers.)

Obviously the easier questions come at the beginning and gradually become much harder toward the end. Students know that one has a very limited chance of winning the Grand Prize without having carefully read the entire material at least once or twice. (Yet the questions should not be so hard that they are nearly impossible to answer...)

Lifelines are the same except for one. Instead of the "Call a Friend" lifeline, we substituted a "Check the Bible" lifeline, where a student has thirty seconds to look for an answer in the Bible.

"Fastest Finger" questions may be anything you want, but should be easy enough for anyone to answer. Sheets of paper and pens may be handed to each potential contestant and then the Fastest Finger question is read audibly. The first student to raise his/her sheet of paper (and who has the correct answers) gets to compete for the Grand Prize.

Some students may not do Fastest Finger well. Another option may be to ask the question and have students fold their sheets and hand them in. Then the host draws one sheet at random.

To involve more people, you may invite other students not answering questions to be "guest hosts" and read the questions to the contestants.

We put all the questions on MS PowerPoint, dimmed the lights and showed the questions on a large screen.
Added by Aaron Blanco

Will it Float?
Inspired by David Letterman. For this game you will need a video camera, a digital camera, and a number of items which you will launch into a lake or pool. Take a photo of the object, a watermelon for example, then video tape someone dropping it into the lake or pool.

Choose 4 contestants; show them the picture of each item, one at a time. Have the students guess whether or not the item will float. Then show the footage of you throwing the item into the lake. Who ever guesses the most right wins. If you do use the lake, if the item is not biodegradable then tie fishing line on it to retrieve it. The more random the item, the better.