All Games articles – Page 2
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IssuesParachute Games
There’s one prop that our children love more than any other – the parachute. There’s something about a giant piece of coloured material that screams fun. You can play all these games with a 3.5m parachute, but if you can get your hands on a 5m or a 7m one, that’s even better. There’s plenty of choice online so have a look and see what you can find, and what will fit in your room!
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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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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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Issues
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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Issues
'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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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. -
Blog
Games Master: Team Dodgeball, Spaghetti Quiz, SMS - (Silly Messy Simple) Game: Leader in the Stocks
Three easy games to use with the creative minds behind Messy Church children in your group.
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IssuesSpecial day games
In the last few games columns, I’ve asked you to think back to games you played as kids which you definitely should not play anymore. Thank you for sending in suggestions, and it gives me great pleasure to announce the top five:
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Issues
World Cup games
Every four years, youth workers around the world put aside their denominational and national differences, and unite in a glorious moving-of youth-work-meetings-around-the- schedule-of-matches-at-the-FIFA-World-Cup. To help justify you halting your regular schedule and programmes to basically watch football on TV, here are some World Cup themed games.
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BlogClassic games
Is it really that time again? Has it come round so soon? Yes it’s everyone’s favourite Games master of the year: the classics column! Here are games that have been enjoyed for generations – let’s introduce them to a whole new audience! Isn’t it great to have games that children, parents and grandparents can all enjoy?
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Issues
Christmas Games
Christmas is often perceived as simply being a time of fun, frivolity and food. As youth workers who are interested in the holistic development of the young people we work with, why not battle this inadequate view of what the season is all about by playing these games, which neatly encapsulate fun, frivolity and food. I have included a handy ‘reason-for-the-season’ link for each game too incase you wish to take your group ‘deeper’ into the Christmas story.
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IssuesChristmas Games
As I sit here staring out of the window, watching the leaves on the trees turn brown, looking at the conkers spread across the pavement and seeing my Facebook feed fill with back-to-school photos, it can mean only one thing: it’s time to write my column for the Christmas issue. Yes, such are print deadlines that even Tesco would blanch at mentioning the C-word this early in the year, but that is the sacrifice I’m making for you, dear readers.
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Issues
Games Master: Three Easy Games to Use with the Children in Your Group
Toppling pyramids; Samson, Delilah and the Lion; Heads Down Thumbs Up.
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IssuesGames children love
Sometimes you can spend ages trying to think up games to play when all the time there’s a ready-made source of inspiration right in front of you – children! If your group is anything like ours, they’ll be very keen to tell you what games they enjoy playing. So I decided to ask our children which games were their favourites. Here’s their top 15:
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Issues
Childhood Games
I was talking to a fellow children’s worker about the games we played as children, and we realised that quite a lot of them are completely inappropriate now. The 1970s and 80s were more naïve times, and we thought it would be fun to look back at what we played then - if only to realise how much things have changed.
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Issues
Games Master: Party Challenges
This issue I’m going to do something different. Rather than games, I’m going to cover challenges. I’ve found that these can work very well
when you have a lot of kids but not a lot of space. Split your hall into various stations and at each station have a challenge. Then split the kids into teams with about five children in each team. Ideally you’d have the same number of teams as stations but it doesn’t matter if you have fewer teams. (If you have one more team than stations set up an extra drinks break station.) Give each team a minute to understand
and practise each challenge, and then three minutes to do as well as they can at each one. Rotate the team around the stations after each period. To find out the overall winner, give each team a point for the position they finish in at each station (best at that challenge = one point, second best = two points, etc), and the team with the fewest overall points wins. Emphasise in all the challenges that they should be working as a team. The challenges may seem easy but when you see the panic every time you call ‘ten seconds left!’ you’ll know it’s working well! -
Issues
Games Master: Cat and Mouse, Flour Power, Story
Three easy games to use with the children in your group.
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