Games
Running by Numbers: If the chute is a large one…the children love to run underneath and switch places with others – number the children 1 to 4, or whatever colour they are holding on the parachute around the circle – and then call out a number or colour once the parachute is aloft. (Lots of screams for this one.)
To spice things up you can call 2 numbers or more with just the leaders holding onto the parachute.
Cat and mouse
Equipment required: Parachute
Although some might find this dangerous – just make sure the cat is crawling on all fours and not running upright. One member – the mouse – is under the chute, everyone is shaking it – quite close to the ground and another member (shoes off) crawls on top and tries to hunt and tag the mouse.
The winner is when the mouse is caught.
CATHEDRAL – everyone lowers the chute and then on the count of three raise their arms high once the chute is quite high – everyone takes 3-4 giant steps toward the center and pulls the chute behind them and sit down with their bottoms on the edge of the chute.
This can be a good time to talk about camping, Church etc.
All you need to do to escape is get all the children to lift the parachute above their heads and get out of the parachute.
Setting: Indoors or outdoors
Equipment: 2p coin (or any other coin you have at hand)
Rules:
the children can only move by jumping with feet together
“IT” moves by taking large paces
Any player moving outside the boundary is out.
Once a player has moved, they must stand still. They cannot move feet etc.
The children scatter in the playing space – you need a defined space, that is not too large (or the game goes on for ever!), we use a tennis court size for about 20.
The leader (or whoever is “IT”) holds a coin & stands in the middle “IT” tosses the coin.
If it is “heads” then the players move 2 jumps (see above) in any direction.
If it is “tails” then “IT” moves one pace in any direction.
The aim of the game is for “IT” to “tag” another player by touching any part of them with their hand.
To “tag” another player, “IT” can reach out in any direction etc, but ONE foot must remain in its original place.
Players can of course try to move their body out of reach, but BOTH feet must stay in their original place!
(Resourceful older children and seniors soon figure out that they should go for the feet when trying to tag as they cannot move & also how to make their reach longer by lying down etc!)
This is great fun, requires a minimum of equipment (and we all have a coin of some sort don’t we!) & can be done in virtually any space! (We have played it in a marquee at a wet camp, in a car park while waiting for a late bus, in the meeting room, even in a swimming pool!
If space is limited, restrict or change the size of moves each person can make!)
Equipment required – You need cotton balls and straws and a small straight course or table with a starting and finishing line.
The kids blow the cotton balls to the finish line by blowing through the straws.
Skittle Game – 1 bag of skittles and 1 print out with questions. One at a time they take a skittle and answer a corresponding question. A couple of the questions are ‘Camp’ specific so you will need to avoid those or make up new ones.
Fruit and Veg Bingo – I bought lots of different fruit and veg and cut them up into little bits. They all had to try a piece of everything and see if they could identify any of them. (Pineapple, pomegranate, mango, kiwi, pepper, blueberry, sweet potato, broccoli etc…). After this I asked them to draw their favourites in the grid or any we hadn’t bought. We then played fruit and veg bingo!
My Healthy Lunch Box – Ask them to draw on a scrap of paper, if they could pick anything, what would go in their lunch box. Have a chat and ask them to share one item each with the group. Then briefly discuss the different food groups on the worksheet and why it’s important to have a healthy lunch. Then give them a worksheet each and help them to read and use the check list on the side and draw what would go in a healthy lunch box.
This game is excellent for a competitive group. It tires everyone out really quickly and can provide a good opportunity to award a prize to the winner.
You have one person to be the leader or “Captain”. He has to call out different actions but is limited to some (or all) of the following actions to call out. Pick and choose the best actions for your group. Or make up your own and share them in the comments.
Man Overboard
Players have to drop to the floor into planking position.
Captain’s Coming
Players must stand at attention and salute the ‘captain’.
Starboard / Port
Players must run to the designated side of the room.
Scrub The Deck
Players must squat on the ground and scrub the deck.
Climb The Rigging
Players must stand up and pretend to climb the rigging.
Man The Lifeboats
Three players have to pair up. They must sit in a row with the two on the end holding their hands out to make a boat shape and the person in the middle rows the boat.
Find North
The players have to pair up into groups of three and point in one direction.
Titanic
A boy and girl pair up. The guy gets on one knee and holds the girl by her waist while the girl sticks her arms out imitating the scene from the movie “Titanic” or boys pretend to drown and girls pretend to paddle.
How To Play Remember Me?
This is great for using as an ice breaker, or at camps when other companies join together.
Get your two teams to mingle together for a couple of minutes, and introduce themselves to each other.
The two teams sit on either side of the bed sheet. Two leaders pull the bed sheet up, hiding both teams from each others view. Then both teams select a player silently for the round, and both players move and sit facing the bed sheet in the middle. When the leaders can see that both players are ready, they drop the sheet so they can see each other.
The first player to yell the other person’s name wins a point for their team.
Keep playing rounds until everyone has had at least one go.
What’s required?
1 Bed sheet or a screen to separate the members.
How To Play Wave- Hide and seek
There is one person who is the seeker, the rest of the people are hiders. The seeker puts the hose or rope into the shape of a circle. After the seeker counts to a predesignated number (i.e. 2 minutes) the seeker will try to find those hiding and after the seeker finds a person and says their name they go to the circle and in order to go hide again they must see a person hiding wave to them and then they may leave the circle and hide once again. The game is complete when all players are in the circle or everyone has got bored.
Materials Needed
A hose or rope and a large area out in the open or in a Church Hall. Also leaders are required to ensure the rules are complied with.
For this activity you need some stickers (address labels), post-it notes or just some paper and tape.
On each sticker, write the name of someone famous or a well known character.
Stick one to each person’s back without letting them see who it is.
Once everyone has a sticker, each person has to try and identify who is on their back by asking Yes or No questions of each other. For example:
Am I a male?
Have I been in any movies?
Am I a cartoon character?
etc
A variation is to stick the names on people’s foreheads 🙂
Get some carpet dollies, scooter boards or just on hands and knees and make this happen. You can use bungies or ropes to pull them back after they have collected as many balloons as possible. Kids will never forget this.
Here are the rules:
1. A player is pushed by their team to the centre of the room and attempts to grab (or place under a basket) as many balloons or balls as possible and return them to his or her team’s corner.
2. The scooter can NEVER STOP. As soon as the player reaches the centre, he or she must be immediately pulled back.
3. You can either send the same player back to the centre, or have the whole team rotate through being “hippos.”
4. Only balls that are completely in the team’s corner count as points. Balls will quickly become scattered around the room, and it is not enough to have balls “close” to a corner. If a ball is close, the team can send the hippo towards that ball instead of to the centre.
5. The game ends when all of the balls are gone, or when the timer runs out.
NOTE: Please have members WEAR HELMETS. When players meet in the middle, the last thing you want to have happen is for their heads to smash in to one another.
This games is aimed at the Seniors and Young Leaders and is very fun.
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 beforehand 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.
* Pick on person from the class to be the caller. They have to be blindfolded, or close their eyes.
* Name the four corners of the hall / playground (the names can be anything, e.g. flowers, food…)
* The rest of the class have 30 seconds to run to one of those corners.
* The caller then shouts the name of one of the corners.
* Whoever is in this corner is out.
* Continue in this way until there is only one child left.
Alternative games
Instead of blindfolding a person you can use a dice. The corners are numbered 1 to 4 and the children all run around the hall, on a blast of a whistle they get into any corner. Leader rolls the dice. If a 2 is rolled then anyone in that corner is out. If a 5 or 6 is rolled everyone is safe and the game continues until there is one person left in. If the children need to let off a bit more steam if a 5 or 6 is rolled anyone that has been previously out can come back into the game and then the leader/adult decides when to end the game.
Another alternative is to get the children to do activites like hopping, crawling, lunges etc to the corners for a great warm up. Or if doing themes, pretend to be an animal etc.
Or another adaptation to this is instead of being out, the children in the corner had to do an activity (10 jumping jacks, 10 sit ups, 10 press ups).
Kids squat down and have to jump like frogs.
Get two people to be ‘it’ and they should work together to get everyone stuck in the mud by touching them. Nobody can run or get up unless they are stuck in the mud!
The game is a short warm-up idea which is fun and simple. It’s called ‘Fish and Chips’.
The children stand along a marked line in the centre of the hall/playground. This line is called ‘Fish and Chips’. A marked line to the left is called ‘Fish’. One to the right is called ‘Chips’.
When either fish, chips or fish and chips is called out, the children run and stand on that line.
Age Range: 5 to 11
In the hall / gym, split the children into two groups then number them. For example if there are 20 children in the group split them into groups of ten then number each child from 1-10.
Have them sit on opposites sides of the hall / gym, then call out a number i.e. 3
Both number threes will get up and run to the middle of the hall where a duster (preferable a soft one not one with a hard back) and two newspapers rolled up (the hockey sticks) are waiting. Each child takes a newspaper stick and tries to hit the duster into their goal.
If someone scores another number is called out and the next two will have a go. If no one scores after a few minutes to make sure everyone has a go call out another number and the ones playing must drop their “sticks” where they are and the next students have a go.
This can also be played in pairs when the teacher calls out two numbers etc.
Age Range: 5 to 11
Choose two ‘catchers’, who link arms/hold hands. They chase the others (as in ‘tig’) and catch them.
If you are caught, you join the chain. When four people are in the chain, the chain splits into 2 sets of 2.
This goes on until you have a WINNER!!!
Age Range: 5 to 11
This activity is ideal for use as a warm-up.
1) The children should begin by walking around the room in any direction.
2) On the various commands listed below, they should carry out the appropriate action:
Command
Action
JUMPING BEAN
Jump around the room
RUNNER BEAN
Run around the room (looking out for other people).
OR Running on the spot (more suitable for younger children than running around the room)
BROAD BEAN
Stretch your arms and legs out as wide as you can.
Walk around the room taking as large strides as possible
Jump in a star shape
BAKED BEAN
Lay on the floor in a star shape until the next command is given.
OR Lie on floor and Sunbathe
JELLY BEAN
Move around the room slouching and doing silly movements
Wobble like a jelly
CHILLI BEAN
Shiver and shake
FROZEN BEAN
Children have to stand very still.
MR. BEAN
Walk around with a puzzled/vacant expression, muttering under your breath!
BEAN SPROUTS
Stand on tiptoes and make yourself as tall and thin as possible.
STRING BEANS
Stand on the spot, making yourself as long and thin as a piece of string
OR Find 2 partners, hold hands and run around in space.
OR Make a long thin shape
OR pretend to play an “air guitar” or violin!
BLACK-EYED BEANS
Children stand still and ‘shadow box’ by punching the air in front of them (obviously not touching anyone!)
Stand on the spot with one hand over one eye.
BAKED BEANS ON TOAST
Lie flat on the floor, spreading arms and legs out as far as possible.
OR Children lie in middle of area as close to each other as possible
OR Find a partner and lay on the floor
DOUBLE BAKED BEANS ON TOAST
Two sets of partners join together and lay on the floor
BABY BEAN
Lie on the floor in the ‘foetal’ position
BEAN PIE
Children should all run together to form a group
The children arrange themselves into groups of four, three of them create arches with their body and the other crawls underneath them.
BEANY BABY
Walk around the room, crying like a baby or be like a bean bag!
FRENCH BEANS
Stand in one spot and do the can-can
OR Strike a pose and shout “Bonjour!”
OR Cross your arms, kick your legs and point your toes while saying ‘ooo la la’ in a french accent!
Put 1 hand on your hip and put the other hand in the air and make a circle facing the ceiling while shaking your hips as if you are doing the hoola hoop on your waist.
OR Strike a pose and shout “Oooh la la!”
BACK TO BACK BEAN
Find a partner and stand back to back until the next command.
SEAN BEAN
Based on the well known actor and Sheffield United fan. The children stand with their hands in the air – celebrating a goal and shouting the well known sheffield united exclamation : “C’mon you red and white wizzaarrrrrrrddddsssssssss!!!!!!!!!”
Pretend to play the character “Sharpe”, or playing football.
COFFEE BEANS
All cough madly (hands over mouths of course)
KIDNEY BEANS
Stand still with arms and upper body bent forwards at waist.
OR Bend over and try to touch your toes!
OR Freeze and bend into a C shape and shout Chillie Con Carne!
OR Make a Kidney shape on the floor
BUTTER BEANS
Slide around on bottom (indoors)
OR Make a cuboid shape
HUMAN BEANS
Running on the spot (i.e. we humans dash about and get nowhere fast!!!!)
SANTA’s BEEN
Walk about wobbling your tummy saying “Ho,Ho, Ho”.
FULL OF BEANS
Dance around really energetically!
WHERE’VE YOU BEAN?
Puzzled expression, with hand over eyebrows peering into the distance
HAS BEANS
Walk around with a pretend walking stick as if old and frail.
Point behind you, look behind you, or walk backwards.
All lying on the floor pretending to be dead.
Walk Backwards
BEAN THERE,
DONE THAT!
Children walk haughtily with noses in air, waving one hand
JELLY BELLY BEAN
Students lay on floor on their bellies and wiggle.
NOT A BEAN
Wandering around the room looking sad
OLD BEAN
Walk round slowly like an old person.
DWARF BEANS
Moving around on your knees.
TINNED BEANS
Children get into small groups
BEAN HURT
Children rub their knee etc. as if they have been pushed off a swing!!
FLAT BEANS
You can use this at the end of the activity the children lie flat on their backs.
BEANSTALK
Children could start crouched on the floor and grow up slowly until they are straight and tall like the beanstalk in ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’.
OR children run up the bean stalk when you shout GIANT they climb back down and chop the beanstalk down.
MAGIC BEAN
Children either wave their magic wand or waggle their fingers as if casting a spell.
OR children return to the exact spot they started the game in (useful to get them to find identifying features of their starting point).
OR children skip around room waving a wand.
BEANIE
Children crouch down on haunches, wrap arms around knees, and bounce on balls of their feet.
GREEN BEANS
Children stretch themselves very tall in a space.
MICROWAVE BEANS
Children run around, touching the floor, and jump up (with a PING!) into a star shape.
MEAN BEAN
Stomp around the floor looking mean and moody.
LEAN BEAN
Children get into pairs, and lean back to back supporting each others weight.
BEAN HAD
Children roll around the floor pretending to laugh.
TOOTHBRUSH BEAN
Walk around the room, pretending to brush your teeth.
LAUGHING BEAN
Children walk around the room laughing!
CRYING BEAN
Children walk around the room crying!
SAD BEAN
Children walk around the room pretending to be sad!
HAPPY BEAN
Children walk around the room pretending to be happy!
SPRING BEAN
Children start in crouching position and then spring up suddenly towards the sky!
CHICKEN BEAN
Children crouch and scratch around like chickens with their arms folded in as wings. Chicken noises could be made.
LEMUR BEAN
Children put their hands as though they are paws in front of their chests and look around eagerly like a Lemur!
THREE BEAN SALAD
Children get into threes, one on the bottom sitting on the floor, the next on their lap, the final one on the middle ones lap.
BEAN BAG
Children get into pairs. One sits on the floor, the other on their lap
Pretend to be a bean bag, being thrown between two people.
A child would inflate as a beanbag by breathing in deeply through nose and exhaling through their mouth.
BOGGIS, BUNCE AND BEAN
After reading Fantastic Mr Fox, a year 3 child suggested: ‘Boggis, Bunce and Bean’ – Children get into 3s, and each pretends to be one of the three farmers (one fat, one short, one lean (all mean)).
NEVER BEAN
Children curl up in a ball on the floor, as though they have never been born.
SUPER BEAN
Children freeze in an arabesque and can also make a suitable sound like Superman.
BEAN CASSEROLE
Children all join hands, or have a group hug!
WAX BEANS
Children strike a pose and hold it like they are made out of wax.
SNAP BEANS
Children snap their fingers.
HILL OF BEANS
“Hill of Beans” as we old timers used to say in reference to something not mattering very much as “It doesn`t amount to a Hill of Beans.” The children could do the Mountain Climbing exercise (Get on your hands and one foot with the other foot stretched back and switch legs several times).
EDAMAME BEAN
Children have to assemble in groups of three or four, curl up into the fetal position in a row on the floor, as if inside a pod and then pop out one at time.
BEANO
Children could walk around pretending to be devious and looking naughty!
COWBOY BEAN
Children hold hand in air as if they are lassoing a cow. The children call “ye how”!!!!
BEANOCULARS
Lie on floor with a partner side by side and roll towards and away from each other.
You could also ask a particular child to demonstrate a particular bean action, and ask other children to guess what type of bean it is!
1. Each postwoman collects letters from the Post Office one at a time.
2. There are 32 letters, each with the name of a different town.
3. Each letter must be posted in the proper letterbox for that town, before you return to collect the next letter.
4. There are eight letterboxes, each with the names of four towns, set up in your delivery area.
5. Postwomen must be careful, because some towns have names similar to each other, eg. HONLEY and HANLEY
6. The winning Postwoman is the first one to report to the Post Office that she has posted all her letters AND has the least number of wrongly posted letters.
7. The Post Office will know who has posted each letter in a letterbox, because each Postwoman has her own individual number (1-24) which is marked on the back of each of the letters she collects from the Post Office. Please make sure that your letters are marked with your number.
You will need to download this document with the towns on to cut up and use in this game.
Age Range: 7 to 11
Place enough small flexi cones on the floor so that there are at least one for each child. Half of them need to be placed on the floor in the normal way, and half upside down. This creates the cups and saucers.
Divide the class in two, depending on whether they are a cup or saucer and they have to turn the flexi cones over for their team. The team with the most cones turned over within a set time, e.g. 30 seconds, wins.
The game can be repeated by lengthening the time, travelling in a specific way e.g. hopping, or having an uneven split of cones to start with.
Here are some variations:
1) When you have finished this game you get each team to go back to their side, then on the whistle each team member runs out and collects one cone and takes it back to their side. When all the cones are gone from the middle they can steal one cone at a time from the other team. The team with the most cones at the end wins. Make sure they only take one cone. You can add penalties such as taking 5 off a team if they take more than 1 at a time.
2) Place 4 hoops around the hall / playground, one for each colour cone. Have a good team and a bad team… the good team has to run out collect one cone and put it in the correct colour hoop, the bad team has to run out collect one cone and place it in a different colour hoop. When they have all gone from the middle, the good team has to try to sort the cones out into the correct colour hoop and the bad team has to mix them up. Only one cone can be pickd up at a time and if a cone is picked up it must be put into a hoop (you can not just pick up a cone and throw it out
You’ll need a few scarves, pieces of cloth etc for a blindfold.
Pick around 2-5 kids (depending on how many are in your group/class) and blindfold them up. Then get the others to find a space and stay there, but make sure they don’t go too far away. The blindfolded ones have to try and find the others. If they find and touch one, they have to go and get a blindfold and join in too! The last one not found, wins!
Tips: Everybody could talk and giggle and shout ‘Here I am!’ to help the blindfolded, but remember, they cannot move! OR if you don’t have enough blindfolds, the ones who have been found have to run around, tapping the blind ones and talking to confuse them!
Age Range: 5 to 11
This is a very simple warm-up game.
Start with the children spaced out. Then name an object in the room (e.g. something yellow, a wall, your best friend, opposite sex, John Smith, teacher etc.). Then, the children have to run over to that object, get down on their knees and ‘worship’ the object by repeatedly bowing and exclaiming ‘oh, (wall) we love you’.
Change the object continuously and give children different options so they’re not all in one corner (e.g. a wall, a window) and identify good examples of ways to get up quickly to the class.
Age Range: 5 to 11
Stand in a circle with a group however large.
The teacher/leader stands in the middle with a ball and throws it to each person. When the teacher/leader calls “header it” you MUST catch it and when the teacher/leader calls “catch it” you MUST header it.
Other commands can be added later to increase the complexity!
This activity is great for getting children to learn how to react quickly.
You will need: 1 Tennis Ball
Gather 0-12 children together and stand them in a circle/semi circle.
One of you holds out a tennis ball with a straight arm and drops it (and catches it when it bounces)
The children need to try and clap before the tennis ball hits the floor.
To make it harder you can drop the tennis ball nearer to the floor, and also pretend to drop the ball and see who reacts when they shouldn’t have.
Mixing it up
To make it more interesting you can throw the ball up in the air, and instead of clapping, the children must stamp their foot on the floor before the ball is caught.
Change from throwing and dropping to make this more interesting.
It’s the classic game of password. Before the game write down tons of bible words onto slips of paper. Words such as Ark, saved, Moses, temple, sacrifice, cross, apostle, etc.. Fold all the passwords up and put them in a bowl. To play divide group into pairs. One pair goes at a time. One person from that pair picks a word. They must say one word to try and get the other player to guess the password, of course they can’t say the password or any derivatives of it. After their partner makes a guess, they can offer another one word clue. They keep doing this until the person guesses the password. They must try and get their partner to guess as many passwords as they can in a two minute period (have a timer). The team will score 1 point for every password they get guess. They can pass on a password if they think it’s too hard, or their partner just can’t guess it, but this will deduct 1 point from their score. Have each team take turns, and alternate the guesser and the guessee after every round.
Come up with plenty of bible related clues that can be depicted in drawing. Some examples:
Moses parting the red sea
David and Goliath
The Last Supper
Daniel in the Lions Den
Have one person draw for their team at a time. They have one minute to get their team to guess the clue. If the group is younger give two minutes. If the team guesses correctly then they receive a point. If not the other team gets one guess to steal the point. After the next team takes their turn.
Alternate between teams. Play as many rounds as you want, or play first team to 10 points.
The first gathering we had with our group, we sat around the living room (after dinner) and I had a glass bowl filled with those glass beads that you use in fish bowels or decorator jars… the craft section in Wal-Mart has them… anyway, I asked everyone to draw out “as many as they think they want or may need”. Some drew one or two and one lady took two handfulls. After everyone had drawn – I then told them that we wanted them to, for every glass bead they had, share something about themselves that not everyone would know or something they were thankful for. This was really an awesome time and God moved mightily in that group. It started with the typical, I’m 30… thankful for my job,,, kids… wife… and so on. But as it went round and round people really started opening up and sharing and it was so…. great.
In this word game, players compete to make out the longest word from a set of defined letters. At the start, each player contributes a letter to a pool until there are nine letters. The objective of the game is to make words using the nine letters. Whoever makes the longest word is the winner. Another variant of the game is to make as many words as possible, regardless of how many letters are used.
This picture game involves players taking turns to draw a pair of legs, a body and a head; players have to make sure no one can see what they are drawing. Each player is given a small piece of paper and begins by drawing a head on the top and folding the paper to hide the head before exchanging the paper with another player. The game continues by exchanging the pieces of paper and drawing the body and legs. At the end of the game, all the pieces of paper will have complete figures with a head, body and legs, drawn by different players.
The Any Occasion Free Christian Game website recommends bible balloon pop at a Christian women’s party. The hostess inserts slips of paper into balloons before blowing them up. The slips of paper all have funny and silly commands on them such as “Recite the 10 Commandments in the style of a Southern Baptist preacher” or “Sing one verse of a hymn while spinning in a circle.” The hostess places the balloons all around the party space. One guest gets a chance to pop the balloon of her choice. She then reads her paper and completes the instructions on it. Each lady takes a turn until all the balloons are popped.
Prior to beginning the game, create a list of famous people and divide the group into two teams. One representative from each group will be required to act out a person from the list of famous people using voice imitation or gestures. Group members will then have the opportunity to guess the person he or she is portraying within three minutes. The group with the most correct guesses wins.
Divide the group into two teams of six to ten players, having each team sit in a straight line. Players in both teams will be required to pass a predetermined message by whispering from one person to another until all team members have been told the message. At the end, the group with the most accurate message, to be announced by the last person in each team, wins the game.
Using only markers, plain paper, cards containing lists of objects and a timer, an entertaining game for any church gathering can be achieved. After splitting the group into two teams of five or more, a designated representative from each group will be required to draw a number of items in three minutes from their selected card. During this time, members of each team will be quickly trying to guess the items that are being depicted from their representative. The group with the most number of correct guesses will be considered the winning team.
With only a boxed gift, wrapping paper, a few written dares and some music, an entertaining church gathering game can be created. Before the game, wrap the boxed gift, such as chocolate candies or a toy, in multiple layers of paper. On each layer, write a specific dare that can be easily performed. Dares should be fun in nature and easy to complete. Ask players to sit or stand in a circle. When the music is started, each player is to take turns passing the present around the circle. When the music stops, the person left holding the gift is to remove a layer of paper and perform the written dare. The person that tears away the last layer of paper and successfully completes the dare will then be entitled to keep the boxed gift.
Cut about 3/4 of the centre from a paper plate for each adult, leaving part of the centre connected to the rim. Fold the remaining portion of the plate upward to make a paper plate hat. Write the name of a Bible person, animal or event on the portion of the hat that is folded upward. Place a hat on each person without him seeing the word. Guests go around the room and ask others for hints about who they are. Those who guess who they are remove their hats until everyone has figured out their secret names.
Give each participant 10 pennies to arrange in a triangular pattern, as they would arrange bowling pins. The game moderator asks one person a Bible trivia question. If that person answers correctly, she removes a penny from the pattern. Continue around the group until someone removes all her pennies.
Create Bingo cards from a software program, a Bingo card generator website or just write on blank cards. At the top of the card, replace the five letters in Bingo with the five letters in the word Bible. Have a “salvation” space in the middle of the card instead of a “free” space. The card can use numbers or words as desired. The object of the game is to play Bingo. However, after every three or four calls from the game caller, the group stands and moves one space to the left or right of their chairs, leaving their Bingo cards at the former spot. Some players will become frustrated with having to leave a card that is about to win, while others will appreciate getting away from a card that is not doing well. To make the game more lively, move to the left two or three times, then back to the right to keep the group moving in different directions. At the end of the game, everyone gets a prize.
Play a game that children often play to show how gossip quickly gets turned into something it did not start out to be. Have several slips of paper prepared with Bible verses written on them. The adults sit in a circle or around a table. One person picks a verse strip from a bowl. That person whispers the verse into the ear of the person on her left or right. Each person in the group whispers the verse as they understood it. The last person to hear the verse repeats out loud what he understood the verse to be. Repeat the game with another verse chosen from the bowl.
Charades is engaging and takes a bit of imagination to play. Old and young alike will enjoy Bible charades. Write the names of Bible characters on slips of paper and fold the papers. Put all the names in a box or a hat. To determine who goes first, write a number down on a piece paper, but don’t show it to the players. The player who guesses closest to the number without going over will play first. Use an egg timer and set it for two minutes. The player then performs the role of the biblical character without speaking or making any sounds. The other players attempt to guess the name of the character before time expires. The first player to correctly guess the name of the biblical character gets one point and then takes the stage and draws a name from the box. If no one correctly guesses the name of character before time is up, the player performing the clues gets one point.
Scavenger hunts are always enjoyable as a before or after picnic activity. Create a list of items that are representative of themes, topics, people or places in Bible stories. Most of the items on the list can be objects that are part of the church like stained-glass windows, icons, hymnals, Bibles and the altar. The creator of the list can also hide small items around the church and the grounds. Once the list of items are selected for the church picnic game, the creator must write hints about the identity of the object and clues as to where it can be found. Players may compete against each other or play in teams of two or more. Another way to play the game is to make a list of Bible verses, but leave out one noun word from the verse. Give each team or player a small Bible as reference. The object of this version of the game is to find the object that is the noun omitted from the Bible verse. Make sure that the verses are selected from the same version of the Bible that the players get as their reference. The team that completes the entire list first, wins the game. If no one completes the entire list before the picnic is over, then the player or team with the most items found is the victor.
Play Bible Target by teams of two or more or by individuals competing against each other. Prepare a large flat piece of cardboard by cutting four or five holes about four inches in diameter. For a durable game board that can be used year after year, use a thin sheet of plywood. Paint the board with scenes from Bible stories. Assign a different point value to each hole in the game board. Use small bean bags, which players toss at the board. The goal is to get bean bag through one of the holes on the board. Each hole is worth a different number of points, so players will almost always try to target the holes with higher points. Make the holes that award more points a little more difficult to hit by painting patterns or bright distracting colours around the hole. Design higher point holes a little smaller in diameter to make it more difficult for players to get the bean bag through the hole. Each player gets to toss three bean bags at a target hole. The player with the most points after three tosses is the victor of the game. For more fun and to add an element of learning, players may be required to correctly answer a question about the stories illustrated on the board before they can toss their bean bag.
Equipment:
A bunch of keys, a chair and a blindfold
Game Description:
This game is designed to test the hearing of the child on the chair. A bunch of keys is put under the chair in the centre of the room and the leader selects one person to sit on the chair blindfolded. The leader picks a child to go and try to pick up the keys without the blindfolded child noticing. As soon as the blindfolded person hears a noise of the person they point in that direction and that person is out if the direction is correct, if not the child still has their turn of trying to pick up the keys.
TOP TIP: The larger the bunch of keys the harder it is to move them without been heard.
Equipment
None
Game Description
This game is ideal for new leaders, new members or simply an icebreaker.
The players form a circle and to begin one person stands up and says “My name is Sean, and I like sausages, then turns to the person to the right of him”
That child would then say their name and what they like, and then repeat what they have just heard i.e. My name is Sam and I like the X Box, and Sean likes sausages.
This continues around the circle with trying to remember what everyone else has said. Leaders can either give a little bit of assistance or the game can stop and start again with the person to the right to try getting around the full circle.
This helps to make sure everyone knows everyones name, and going around a couple of times or the alternative way can mix it up.
Equipment:
Parachute & One soft ball (or introduce a second throughout the game to make it more interesting)
Game Description:
Everyone stands holding on to the parachute. Divide the parachute in half and one team plays against the other. Fling the ball on top and to score a goal one team has to fling or shake the ball off the other team’s side of the parachute. Play up to as many as you like.
Equipment:
Parachute
Game Description:
This is a good exercise to end the session, but please make sure no children are left outside the parachute as the temptation to hit the children who are underneath the parachute is rather high! Ask the children to pull the parachute tight, bend down with it so that it rests on the floor. Then ask them to lift it high to make a mushroom and when they pull it down to pull the parachute behind them and sit down on it. You should now have all the children inside the parachute making a tent. This is an ideal time to tell a story or have discussions with the children.
TOP TIP: Ensure that more than 2 adults are inside the parachute.
Equipment:
Parachute
Game Description:
A popular chasing game that involves one child be selected to be the mouse and the other to be the cat. Blow the first whistle for the cat to go underneath the parachute and crawls around the outer rim, while all the other children kneel down and make waves. On the second whistle the cat goes on top on its hands and knees and tries to catch the mouse. If the mouse makes it around the outer rim of the parachute and back to its place without being caught by the cat then it becomes the winner. The children kneeling around the parachute making waves must help the mouse not the cat.
Top Tip: Make sure that the children who walk on the parachute have removed their outdoor footwear to reduce the risk of damaging the parachute.
Equipment:
Parachute
Game Description:
This is a good warm-up game whereby the children have to run underneath from one side of the parachute to the other whilst all the other children lift it up to make a mushroom shape. To make it more difficult once warmed up once the parachute is up and shouted a command you can have the children pull the parachute down as soon as possible in order to trap those running underneath.
Use the following to encourage different groups of children to run undereath but you can easily make up your own.
All those who like watching Postman Pat
All those who are boys/girls
All those wearing red
All those who are holding a certain colour of the parachute
All those called….
All those wearing a tie
All those who have long hair
All those who like Marmite
Equipment:
Parachute
Game Description:
This is a simple exercise to get the children used to the parachute. All the children are asked to bend down and take hold of the parachute. When the leader calls ‘up’ or ‘1, 2, 3, parachute’ the children lift the parachute up as high as they can – making a mushroom shape. Pulling the parachute down creates a refreshing wind and enables you to repeat the exercise again. Another version of this exercise is to ask the children to lift the parachute high in the air and then walk in towards the centre.
Equipment:
One soft football sized ball
Game Description:
The game may be played indoors or outdoors. The playing field shall be a rectangle, divided into two equal sections by a centre-line, with an area behind the playing area for the children who are out to go and stand behind the opposition
The object of the game is to eliminate all opposing players by getting them “OUT”. This may be done by hitting an opposing player with a LIVE thrown ball below the knees.
During play, all players must remain within the boundary lines. Players may leave the boundaries through their end-line only to retrieve stray balls. They must also return through their end-line. Once a player has the ball in their hands they are not allowed to move but can pass to another team member for them to have a shot.
The first team to legally eliminate all opposing players will be declared the winner.
Divide the players into 2 or more evenly numbered teams. Each team stands in 2 lines facing inwards, with players facing a space opposite them.
The first player in the left line holds the ball.
On “Go!”, the ball is passed in zig-zag fashion down the lines until it reaches the last player on the right hand side. That player then runs to the head of the left hand line, while the other players change sides as they move down a space.
The first team back in the original position and standing at alert is the winner.
Equipment:
One soft ball
Game Description:
The children form a circle with legs apart and with their feet touching their neighbours feet. A ball (a light, soft sponge ball is ideal) is thrown into the circle and the children use their hands to try and knock the ball between the legs of the other players. They are allowed to defend themselves. The ball cannot be knocked through their neighbours.
If the ball passes through someones legs, that person is out. They come out of the circle and the circle moves in to close the gap so that the game can continue. The first children who are out can help to retrieve the ball, and once enough children are out, a second game can be started to keep them occupied. As the number of children in the circle gets fewer the game becomes more frantic.
