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Did I mention this took place at night? The game had to be abandoned after an hour when someone studied the map and realised they’d dropped everyone off in the wrong place; they were in fact several miles inland and nowhere near the sea. For those who like a challenge, try filling in a risk assessment form for that game and see how many red flags you can spot. Have you got examples from your own childhood? If so then drop us a line at childrenswork@premier.org.uk or tweet us @childrenswork. Remember; do not try these at home. Or in church.
Bunny tails
Where: Indoors or outdoors
Space needed: Plenty to run around in
Number of children: 6+
Equipment: Toilet roll
You need to turn each child into a bunny by giving them a tail. Tear off a length of toilet roll and ask the child to push it into the back of their trousers or skirt. The ‘tail’ should come down to their knees – long enough for someone else to grab but not so long that they’ll trip on it. There are two ways to play this game. The first way is to choose one child not to have a tail - they are the catcher (or farmer). When the game starts the farmer has to run around and pull the tails off the bunnies. If a bunny loses its tail it becomes a catcher or farmer too, and has to try to catch the other bunnies’ tails. Play for a few minutes to see if the farmers can catch all the bunnies or if some bunnies survive. You may find it’s better to start with more than one catcher to even things up.
Alternatively, split the bunnies into two teams. The aim is for each team to steal all the tails from the bunnies in the other team before they lose all the tails in their team. The bunnies can work together to try and hunt and catch the opposition. But as soon as they lose their tail they’re out. When one team has lost all its tails, the other team wins.
Ring on a string
Where: Indoors
Space needed: A table
Number of children: 6+
Equipment: Die, paper and pen
This game works better with older children as it requires everyone to be able to write the numbers one to 25 relatively quickly. To start the game, get everyone to sit around the table and give them a sheet of scrap paper. In the centre of the table place a die and a pen. The aim of the game is very simple: to be the first person to have a piece of paper with all the numbers between one and 25 written on in order.
The first person rolls the die, and then acts according to the number rolled: one (everyone passes their piece of paper to the person on their left), three (the roller swaps papers with one other person of their choice), six (the roller takes the pen and starts writing the numbers one through to 25 on their piece of paper), two, four or five (do nothing).
As soon as the first person has rolled the die the person on their left picks it up and rolls. Keep going around the circle but skip out the person who currently has the pen (they’ll be busy writing!). The game needs to move quickly so the die must land on the table, otherwise that person misses their go. During the game the person with the pen may swap bits of paper and then they must continue from the last number on their new bit of paper. For example, if they’ve written 1-24 on their old piece of paper but it’s been swapped for one with 1-3 on it, they must continue from four on the new piece of paper. When the pen swaps, the new writer must continue from the last number on their piece of paper. It sounds simple but there’s strategy involved in who to swap with and how to stop the person with the pen finishing, all played at a frantic pace!
Simple Game: North, South, East, West
Where: Indoors
Space needed: plenty to run around in
Number of children: 6+
Equipment: None
A classic game that should be in any leader’s repertoire. It requires no props, no music and you can theme it to almost any journey story. Get the children to stand in the middle of the hall. If they can’t safely run to all four walls, put a rectangle of cones or tape on the floor and they can run to those virtual walls. Label one wall North then, going around in a circle, label the others East, South and West. Make sure everyone is clear which wall is which.
The aim of the game is to run to the correct wall when you shout out its name, and the last person to get there is out (it’s always worth having plenty of trial goes so no one is out for a while at the start). The real fun of the game can be quickly shouting out two or three directions in a row eg ‘North! West! East’! and watch the panic as the first literally becomes the last - a valuable lesson!
You can tie this in with several stories about journeys; for example, for Paul’s missionary journey you could use four place names (Syria, Cyprus, Galatia, Lycaonia) and add in ‘on a ship’, where they have to sit in the middle.
