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Outdoor Games
3D Kickball
Mentoring Program
Lighthouse Groups
Acid River
Alumni Database
Take the group out in the woods, or anywhere suitable. Make sure
you have 3 coffee tin cans that are strong and sturdy as well as two
boards roughly 4 feet long and half a feet wide. Set down two ropes
about 10 to 12 feet apart. The object is to get everyone on the boards
or cans at the same time and then to get everyone off successfully
without anyone falling off and touching the ground with their feet - or
else they fall in to the imaginary "acid river." If one person falls off,
the whole group has to start over. This activity will build
communication skills, leadership skills and fellowship skills.
Links
Blob
The Blob begins innocently enough as a mere individual playing a
game of tag. As soon as she catches someone, she joins hands with
him. Now he's part of the Blob, too, and they both set out hand-inhand in search of victims. Everyone the Blob catches (only the
outside hand on either end of the Blob can snatch at players) joins
hands with it and becomes part of the lengthening protoplasmic chain.
And thus the insidious Blob keeps growing. Unlike your run-of-themill mad scientist created Blobs, this one is not content merely to
ooze along, seeking its prey. It gallops around the field, cornering
stray runners and forcing them to join up. (You'll have to agree on
boundaries for this game; some people will go to any lengths to avoid
meeting with an untimely end at the hands of the primordial slime).
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Moreover, the Blob can split itself into parts and, with its superior
communal intelligence, organize raiding parties on the lone few who
have managed to escape. The thrilling climax occurs when there's
only one player left to put up a heroic last-ditch stand on behalf of
humanity. But alas, there is no defense against the Blob, and
humanity succumbs. (If that seems unfair, well, that's the plot.)
Dragon
Split the group into two parts. Get them into line and have them wrap
their arms around the waist of the person in front of them forming a
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long chain. Stick a rag or handkerchief in the back pocket of the last
person. The goal is for the front person of one group to get the "tail"
of the other, while the tail of the group tries to avoid getting caught.
Can be done indoors as well if you have enough room.
Electric Fence
Divide group into two teams. For each team, find two trees close
together. Take a length of rope and create a sort of web by cutting the
rope and tying sections together with duct tape. The teams must get
their entire team through the holes of this fence without being
"electrocuted" (touching the rope). First one to do so, wins. A great
activity that was a lot of fun!
Flicker
This is a great large group game for all ages. You need a large
playing field. Players should be spilt into two evenly matched teams
and go to different sides of the field. The game is played like
Ultimate Frisbee or Football Frisbee. You will need a volleyball
sized ball to play. The object is to score goals on the opponents
end. Players run up and down the field passing the ball between
teammates. The ball cannot hit the ground or it is given to the
opposing team. If the team without the ball intercepts, knocks down,
or blocks the ball from the offensive team it then becomes their ball.
The main rule is that they cannot maul the person with the ball.
There has to be four feet between the person with the ball and the
defender. Once a person catches the ball, he/she cannot run with it.
He has to pass. The team eventually scores by catching the ball in the
opponents endzone. Both feet must be in the endzone to score.
The game is then restarted from the midfield by the team who just got
scored on.
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until all but one of the team captains has every color. I was thinking
of making each of the goals to represent gifts like "faith, hope, love
and charity" instead of using colors.
Pantyhose Games
BANANA HOSE
Divide the teens into pairs
Give them one banana and half a pair of panty hose(i.e. one leg of
nylon)
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Pac Man
This is a fun game for any age and it takes about 15- 20 minutes to
play. Choose two volunteers from the crowd. Have everybody else
pair up with a partner and link arms. Then after everyone has a
partner, have the partners spread out a little. Then choose one of the
volunteers to be Pac Man and the other to be the ghost. Hand the
ghost a hat or a towel. The object of this game is for the ghost to
touch Pac Man with the towel or hat. If the ghost does this then Pac
Man becomes the ghost and chases after the new Pac Man (old
ghost). There is a catch though. All these partners that are linked up
are Pac Mans helpers. At any time the Pac Man can link arms with
a pair of people. When this occurs the person that is on the far end of
the link releases and becomes the new Pac Man. For instance, there
is a pair 1 and 2. Pac Man comes along and links arms with partner
1. This means that partner 2 releases and becomes the new Pac Man.
This game continues until the leaders want to break it up. You can
also have 2 ghosts and 2 Pac Mans. The rule about this type of play
is that ghost 1 must chase Pac Man 1 and ghost 2 must only chase Pac
Man 2! Have fun!
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Soap Shrink
* Source: Quick Crowdbreakers and Games for Youth Groups (Group
Publishing) page 89
"Create in me a pure heart, O God" or other "cleansing" verses.
Good for any group size. Divide your group into any number of
teams. Give each team a large, new bar of soap. Provide one or more
kiddy pools filled with water -- enough pools so that one person from
each team has access to one. (**I used water buckets-- one for each
team**) On
"GO" have teams race to shrink their bars of soap without breaking
them. Team members will need to take turns furiously "washing their
hands" to shrink the soap. If a bar of soap breaks, it's disqualified.
(**I allowed them to start over with a new bar of soap and try to
catch up**) Call time after five minutes. The team with the smallest
bar of soap wins. (**This worked as an indoor game pretty well -although a little messy. But the clean-up was easy and fun with
mops**) Award hotel-size bars of soap to winning team members.
Take this a step further and add a brief study of Psalm 51:10
Tetherball Contact Dropout
Source: Serendipity Youth Ministry Encyclopedia, page 22
Age Group: Early and Mid Adolescents
Leader sits on the ground and swings a tetherball violently overhead
like a lariat as close to the ground as possible. Players join around in a
circle within range of circling tetherball. When the leader says "Go,"
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all players must move within radius of the tetherball circle and jump
the ball and rope as it circles under them. If a player is touched or
knocked down then they are out.
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