GAME: I and Y

I found a great little game over at YouthLeaderStash.com called I and Y that I tried out with my students last night, and it was super fun! Here's a copy from their site (by the way, their website is AWESOME and you should check it out by clicking right here!!):

"To play this game, you will need a room or space that has boundaries and is open and uncluttered. You can use all your students to play this game.

Select one person to be “it.” The person who is “it” is the “I” and everyone else are the “Y’s.” The tagger raises his or her arms straight above their head to make his or her self into an “I” and everyone else puts their arms above their heads in the shape of a “Y.” The goal is to be one of the “Y’s” at the end of the game. The goal of the “I” is to tag someone else so that they are no longer the “I” but one of the “Y’s.” The “I” has to collide with the “Y’s” and bump them with something other than his or her hands so that someone else is “it” and becomes the “I.” In this easy-to-learn game of tag, the “I” has to bump a “Y” (“bump” not tackle, kick, whack or smash) to no longer be “it.” The game can be played for as long as you can allow. Fix a set time and put on a timer so that everyone knows how long they have to try to be a “Y” and not the “I”."

I made a few little tweaks to the game:

- Players - ALL players - can only take little shuffle baby steps.

- While a player is moving, they must say what they are in addition to keeping their hands up.  So, I's say "i-i-i-i-i-i" and Y's says "why-why-why-why-why."  This, combined with the baby-steps, makes for some HILARIOUS looking kids!

- The "bump" of another player is only a sideways hip bump.  NOTHING ELSE.  It seemed like it could turn inappropriate really quick, so I made this a rule.

All in all, it turned out really fun.  Try it and let me know how it goes!

GAME: Group Hug

Group Hug is a great no prep, no prop game that's super fun to play with your group!  The only thing you need is a medium-to-large-sized group.  (Works best with 20+ people.)

Set-Up:  Have everyone stand up and start "milling" around.  Just tell them they have to keep moving.  If they aren't actually doing this, make a rule that they have to walk from one side or corner of the room to the other.  Sometimes it helps to play music during the "milling" phase to get them moving around.

Play:  As they are moving around, call out a random number (usually 2-6, depending on how many you have playing).  Everyone must rush to get into a group hug of that number of people.  If anyone finds themselves alone or in a group of the wrong number after the mad rush, they are out (have them sit down or stand against the wall).  Keep playing until there are just a few kids left.  You can paper-rock-scissors if you want a winner, but I usually just get everyone back in when it gets down to 5-6 people.  Do a few rounds, and then call it before it gets boring!

Tips:  There's not much to this game really.  It's really simple!  Make sure to keep kids moving so they don't just clump up together and keep getting into the same hug, and also make sure you do different numbers each round, otherwise it will get repetitive (and pointless!).

Have fun!

GAME: Celebrity Spotlight

Here's a no-prep, no-props, quick and easy game you can pull out of your back pocket anytime at youth group.

SET-UP:  None really.  You just need a group of people and a room/area where you can send someone off where they can't hear you.

PLAY:  At the beginning of each round, you send someone out of the room.  After they are out of earshot, you decide as a group what famous person/character the person outside the room will be (let's use Shrek as an example).  You then call the person back in the room.  They stand up front, and then everyone else in the room begins to raise their hands, and as they are called on by the person up front, asks them questions that hint (SUBTLY) to who the character is.  For example - "Is it easy being green?", "Do you really have layers like an onion?", "How's the princess doing?", or "Why are you so mean to that donkey?"  Keep playing until the person up front guesses who they are or makes it clear that they are not going to get it (at that point, have a funny way to tell them time's up, like a loud sound effect or something).

TIPS:  Make sure to make it VERY CLEAR to the big group - the question askers - to keep their questions subtle, and only hint towards the celebrity/character.  In the above example, you don't want someone to ask, "Did you know your name rhymes with Shmek?"  Sort of defeats the fun... Also, when you're choosing the celebrity/character, keep them fairly well-known.  If you pull out some obscure person/character, the game isn't fun because no one will know what questions to ask and the up-front person won't know who they are.

Have fun!

GAME: Shuffle Your Buns

So this game is actually an old youth group standard, but believe it or not, I'd never played it with my youth before!  All that changed last night...  And it was hilarious!  They loved it!  Here's how to play:

SET UP: You'll need a circle of chairs, with one chair for every person in the group (I usually have them grab a chair, then stand behind it until we're in a good circle shape, then have them sit down).  Pick one person to stand in the middle, so you should have one empty chair.

PLAY:  The goal is for the person in the middle to sit in the empty chair.  BUT, everyone in the circle is going to try to prevent this, and the way they do it is by shuffling their buns to the empty chair.  When the person finally does sit in the empty chair, the person to their left is the new person in the middle (and they have to move all the way to middle and wait for you to say go to move toward the empty chair).

TIPS:  Remind your students that this isn't a full contact UFC match.  They're just trying to sit down, not take someone out!  Also, make sure your chairs are close enough together so that kids are able to shuffle to the one next to them, but not too close together (it can get crazy).

Have fun!

GAME: Human Tic-Tac-Toe

Set-Up:  You'll need 9 chairs set up in a 3x3 grid.  Space them apart some, enough so that youth can move in between them easily.  Divide students into two equal teams lined up single-file on opposite sides of the grid.

Play:  Play with regular tic-tac-toe rules.  One team is "X's", the other is "O's" (you could have them make the letters/shapes with their arms when they sit down).  Pick a team to go first, and have the first person in line run to a chair.  QUICKLY point to the first person in line for the other team and have them go.  Keep the back and forth going quickly until one team wins.  Play best 3 out of 5, or however long you want to keep it going!  When a game is over, send the kids sitting down to the back of their lines, so that everyone gets a turn.

Tip:  If you don't move fast enough, it can get boring, AND kids will strategize too much which leads to stalemates.

Have fun!

- Tim B.