All Editorial articles – Page 90
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IssuesReady-to-use Games + Icebreakers: Simple Games
In recent months this page has been taken over by water games, jelly games, games that need a lot of space, games that involve outer space, games involving sharks, games only to be played during an earthquake, games for people with three arms, games for people who know every element of the periodic table, horse games and, of course, ear wax games*.
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IssuesName Games
Does this scenario sound familiar to you: ‘I’m sorry, what was your name? Come again? Just one more time?’ And then it’s too embarrassing to ask them to repeat it for the 16th time. But this academic year things are going to be different. Yes, this year you’re going to get the name of everyone in your group right first time. How are you going to do that?
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Ready-to-use Games + Icebreakers : Water Games
The sun is shining (hopefully), the evenings are getting longer (well, not literally, they’re still the same length of time, but certainly lighter) and it’s time to relax and have some fun with your young people (unless they’re all cramming for exam season). This can mean only one thing: you need some water games.
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Ready-to-use Games + Icebreakers: Gelatinous Games
Welcome to a brave new era…our very own Jamie and Lloyd have taken over the games page in an attempt to find the weirdest and most fun games in the dark recesses of their minds. So what better way to start than with…games involving jelly.
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Ready-to-use games + Icebreakers: The last one
After a number of years writing the games column, this is my final compilation. So I wanted to make sure I left it all out there, and have included every possible game that I have ever come across / played / invented / blatantly stolen from lots of wonderful youth worker friends (for legal reasons I prefer the phrase ‘inspired by’). Here I present to you: the last ever bunch of games. Over and out!
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Issues
Toothpick Games
Have you ever brought resources for a youth group session, only to discover that you end up using only a small percentage of them, and now have to store the rest of them in your increasingly-space-precious youth-group-storage-area (i.e. your spare room)? This month’s column includes some ideas for what to do with all those thousands of spare toothpicks that you got for that one thing months ago.
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Teamwork Games
There comes a time when even the most skilled manipulator of group dynamics has to accept that the group could do with a little boost. A set of creative games can be a great way to work through some of these issues, or at the very least, show the dysfunctional nature of the group. Therefore, here are some teamwork games.
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'Other' Games
Having a connected theme across the games and the rest of the session can be a really helpful way to make introductions to big ideas and concepts. But sometimes, games can just be fun and have no real link to each other or the rest of the session. Here are some unrelated, just-for-fun, with no-real-point-at-all, games. You’re welcome.
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IssuesNostalgia games
Over the last few issues we’ve looked at games we played as kids which we shouldn’t nowadays. But was it really all doom and gloom back then? Did we just spend our childhoods flying kites into electric pylons? Of course not! So let me try and make amends with a column looking back at some of the great games from our youth. Time to get all nostalgic as we remember Opal Fruits, Panini sticker albums, four channels on the telly, Care Bears, non-X-Factor Christmas number ones, Marathon bars, Jackanory and Cabbage Patch Dolls
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IssuesOutdoor games
I don’t know about your church but let me be honest about mine – our halls aren’t great for games. So I’m keen to leave our buildings and play some games in the great outdoors as often as possible. Going outdoors can present its own problems, but let me encourage you to leave your buildings and go run around outside. To help with that, here are three great outdoor games that have worked really for us:
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IssuesGames for small numbers
In the last issue I focused on games that are suitable for the great outdoors: ones you can play when you have lots of kids and lots of space. But I know that there were some of you who, on reading the introduction to that column, would have thrown their magazine straight in the bin. (Metaphorically of course – it should actually go in the recycling.)
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IssuesReady-to-use Mentoring: The listening game
I recently did some mentoring training for a fab youth discipleship programme called The Ascent. I loved their heart for discipleship and willingness to learn new mentoring skills in order to get alongside young people and walk with them through their ongoing faith and life journey.
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BlogThe numbers game
In this week's Youthwork blog, Andy du Feu, director of youth and community work at Moorlands, discusses our obsession with numbers.
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BlogReady-to-use Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy
Guardians of the Galaxy has a colourful and varied cast, including self-appointed ‘Star Lord’ Peter Quill, a roguish smuggler who was
abducted from earth in the 80s, a walking tree called Groot, a talking racoon called Rocket, a genetically altered assassin named Gamora and
Drax the Destroyer. -
BlogA pilgramage into the future
In this week's YW Blog, Richard Passmore of StreetSpace explains some of the practices he has put in place as a leader and how he thinks they could help the future of youth ministry
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IssuesFunny Jones
Comedian Milton Jones is known and loved for his witty one-liners. On the release of his new book – Ten Second Sermons – he chatted to Youthwork’s Jamie Cutteridge.
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IssuesMental health funding
Last month’s announcement of an increase in mental health funding is a response to a report published by a taskforce of serviceusers and experts in the field, offering a comprehensive review of the current state of mental health services in the UK. Recent press reports have been rife concerning the challenges facing mental health services, so news that NHS England have committed to investing more than £1bn a year over the next five years into this area is very welcome, as is the call for ‘parity of esteem’ between mental and physical health problems.
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IssuesFun Games
One question I get asked a lot is: ‘Why do you have games in your sessions?’ You might want me to talk about reinforcing the theme or complementing the teaching, but the main point of a game is to have fun. Church is allowed to be fun (joy is a fruit of the Spirit) and a very good way to have fun is to play together. Of course there should be a time to be contemplative, but there should also be a time to run around screaming while waving your hands in the air (to paraphrase Ecclesiastes 3:7). So for this issue, I decided to go for three games
that are pure, unadulterated fun. -
BlogWaiting for the fruit
Phoebe Thompson on what we can learn from Miranda Hart (and other famous people’s Wiki bios)One of my favourite pastimes is reading biographies of famous actors and actresses. Unlike the sophisticated among us – who purchase inspiring books from respectable book stores on successful individuals – I happily scroll for hours through Wikipedia entries on the latest soap stars.
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Resource On Trial: Fruitfulness on the Frontline
Children’s workers put resources through their paces.
