HUMAN SKITTLES
This is a game based on bowling, not sweets; don’t eat the young people - that would lead to problems further down the line.
10 mins
Divide your group into two equal teams and send each to a different end of your meeting space. Get one team to arrange themselves into a triangle formation with the point facing towards the opposing team (like an arrangement of bowling pins), with each ‘human skittle’ about an arms-length apart from each other. They will be the pins at which the opposing teams will try and aim. Give the opposing team a (foam!) ball and a line from behind which to ‘bowl’, and get them to try and knock all the pins down, taking it in turns to bowl until all the pins are down.
Obviously you won’t actually be hitting the ‘pins’ over, simply hitting them will do, but ensure that the ball is bowled (i.e. rolled underarm) rather than thrown. Keep a close eye out for rebounds, and eliminate every ‘hit’ pin after each bowl, moving them out of the pin formation, and leaving the remaining pins where they are. Record how many shots it takes to remove all the pins. Once the first team has finished, swap the teams over so that the second team is now bowling at the first.
Repeat as necessary to allow each group member plenty of opportunities to bowl and stand in different positions in the triangle, ensuring each team has an equal number of goes. Award the victory to the team with the lowest total number of bowls taken to bowl out the opposition.
Group work benefits: knocking each other down is a crucial skill on church committees. Wait - scrap that. Standing together, even while under pressure, is a crucial stage of development for any group.
TRACK THE PULSE
Hopefully this is just the name of the game - but if it all goes wrong it doubles up as first aid instructions.
5 mins
Get your group to stand in a circle and hold hands with the people either side of them. Find a volunteer to be ‘it’ and send them out of the room while you pick someone in the circle to start the game. Bring back your volunteer and then get your second person to secretly begin the pulse passing around the circle. The pulse is simply a squeeze of a hand, and moves around the circle in a consistent direction (it doesn’t matter whether it’s clockwise or anticlockwise, as long as it keeps moving in the same direction). The job of your first volunteer is to try and identify the pulse as it moves around the circle; give them three chances to find it before picking a new volunteer. They need to identify the person who is passing on the pulse at the moment in order for it to count as a successful guess. To make the game fair, hands must be displayed at all times.
Group work benefits: passing the buck quickly is important. Wait - wrong again. Sharing responsibility is a wonderful thing.
CHINESE DRAGON
The biggest dragon-related event in youth ministry since Sisqo’s first, second and upcoming, third albums.
10 mins
Pick six people from your group and get them to stand with their hands on the shoulder of the person in front of them (forming a Chinese-style dragon). Ask the rest of the group to form a loose circle around them. The aim of the game is for the group to eliminate the dragon. They do this by hitting the person at the back of the dragon (as we all know Chinese dragons are most vulnerable at their tail) with a foam ball (which is, of course, the natural foe of the Chinese dragon).
The dragon needs to try and stay alive as long as possible by preventing the ball from hitting the person at the back of the chain. The head of the dragon can use their arms to deflect the ball, and by moving about quickly they should be able to keep the tail fairly well protected. If the person at the back is hit by the ball then they are eliminated, and the person who was in front of them becomes the new tail which needs to be hit, and so on until the whole dragon is defeated. Pick some new volunteers to become the next dragon and play again. The group will hopefully develop techniques of passing the ball around the circle. If this is not happening be prepared to give hints. Depending on the size of your group make the dragon larger (or smaller) as appropriate.
Group work benefits: as we all know the Chinese dragon is the natural enemy of any group, and learning to destroy it is a useful group skill.
BLIND SQUARE
A game involving blindfolds and squares. The clue is in the name.
5 mins
For this game to work you will need a cord or rope long enough for the whole group to hold onto while they are spaced comfortably apart. You will also need enough blindfolds for each member to be blindfolded. Get your group into a circle, holding onto the rope, and blindfold them. Explain that you are going to give them a shape which they need to form themselves into (eg square, triangle, circle). Once they have managed to do this, get them to form shapes as instructed again, but this time without speaking. For another variant on the challenge, don’t tell the group what the shape is, but give one member of the group (still blindfolded) a model of the shape and get them to communicate to the rest of the group what they can feel.
Group work benefits: getting a group to perform an unnecessary and difficult task is perfect preparation for life.
