Activities You Can Do!
Expand your youth conference to include one, two, or three of these group activities. They're easy to facilitate and your participants will have a blast getting to know each other as they work together to master these challenging games.
Have the participants stand in a single-file line facing forward. Have each participant put their right hand between their legs and their left hand forward. With their left hand grab the right hand of the person in front of them. On "go," the person at the back of the line lies down on their back with their legs together (still holding hands with their neighbor). As this person lies down the group will walk backwards across them. When the next person in line gets to the end of the first person they also need to lie down keeping their legs close together and continuing to hold hands. This continues until everyone is lying in a line on the ground. Once everyone is down, the last person to lie down will get up and walk back over the line of people. As each person stands up they pull their neighbor with them as they continue to walk over the line.
Yurt Circle
Have the group join hands and expand their circle outward until everyone feels some pull on their arms from the people on either side. Tell the group to count off by two's. Each person should have his or her feet placed about shoulder width apart and to be in line with the circumference of the circle. Tell the group to move slowly and carefully and ask all the number one's to lean forward and the number two's to lean back, without bending at the waist. If the group is able to cooperate with one another each person can exert quite a strong pull on their supporting partners, and accomplish a remarkable forward and backward lean. After some practice have the one's and two's change positions and try it again.
Blind Man's Pass
Set up an obstacle course, or map out a certain path you want the group to follow. Have the group hold hands in a single file line (max of 8 people per line). Everybody in the group is blindfolded except the leader. The leader has to lead the rest of the group through the obstacle course or pathway without giving verbal or physical directions (using claps, grunts, etc.). To make it more challenging you can mix it up by giving certain people handicaps such as loss of hearing, speech, or limbs.
Variation: Do this with partners and have them switch back and forth. One of the partners is blindfolded and the other cannot speak. The seeing partner must lead the blindfolded person along the path without speaking or touching them.
The object is to move the entire group from one side of the river to the other without falling into the hot cocoa before the time runs out and using only the few marshmallows (props) you have. You will need about 1/3 the number of props as people. You can use paper plates, boards, or other stepping objects. Make the river about 40 feet across. Only one person at a time can be on each prop, but they may be picked up and moved at any time. You can make up any scenario to add to the overall experience such as crossing toxic yogurt or man-eating eels. The key to the game is that only part of the team can go at once and some must come back to help the rest. You can also make it more challenging by adding handicaps such as blindfolds, no talking, etc.
All Aboard
For this activity you will need one large blanket, sheet or tarp. Spread your sheet out on the ground and ask the group to climb aboard. The entire group must be on the sheet without anybody touching the ground. The first time should be easy. Then have the group step off and fold the sheet in half. Continue this process reducing the size of the sheet however you like. You'll notice that it gets harder to fit your group into the space the smaller it gets. This is where you have to get creative!
Totem Pole Shuffle
You will need a board long enough for your group to stand across (approximately 10 feet long). Have the group divide themselves in half. The first half stands on the right end of the board and the other half stand on the left end so that both groups are facing each other (like on a teeter totter). The object of the activity is to have the group exchange ends of the board without touching the ground. Everyone on the right side must end up on the left and visa versa. If anyone falls off the board or touches the ground, everyone will have to go back and start over at the beginning.
Flip Flop
With a large tarp or blanket placed on the ground, the team stands on it and then tries to flip the tarp over without stepping onto the ground. Working as a team is the most important part.
Welded Ankles
Use a length of rope or masking tape to mark start and finish lines for the area to be crossed. Have people link arms and line up on one side of the marked area standing ankle to ankle. Feet and ankles are NOT tied together. They must cross the space without their feet becoming separated. If contact is broken the whole group must start over.
Instead of crossing an open area, challenge the line of people to rotate 180 degrees to face in the opposite direction without breaking ankle contact, or form a circle and rotate 360 degrees.
Divide the group into teams of 10–15. Each group must choose a method to get them across the finish line, about 40 feet away (running, skipping, hopping, doing somersaults, piggy-backs, etc.) Once a group has chosen a method and has used it to cross the finish line, no one else can use that method. Be creative.
Hoop Relay
Have the group stand in a circle holding hands or wrists of the people on either side of them. Start with one hoop over the head of one of the participants and have the group wiggle the hoop up and over their bodies onto the body of the person next to them. Gradually add more hoops to the circle, eventually sending hoops in opposite directions. Add variations to the relay by reversing the direction, adding handicaps to people in the group, “racing” hoops, or by having a timeframe. Hula-hoops, inner tubes, or any other article that forms a circle can be used. Watch the make-up of the group. Some hula-hoops or inner tubes may be too small for a person to physically be able to fit it over and around them, so we suggest avoiding hoops that are too small for all to participate.
Catch Up
For this activity you will need one ball for every five to six people and a volunteer for each ball. Have the group form a circle with the volunteers standing in the middle and facing the outside circle. Each volunteer has a ball and picks a person on the outside circle to throw the ball to. Those people should be equally spaced. The game begins by each volunteer tossing the ball to their designated person. The designated person quickly tosses it back to the volunteer who then tosses it to the next person in the outer circle in a clockwise direction. The outer person then tosses it back to the volunteer and so on. The balls continue to move clockwise around the circle. The goal is to catch up to the other balls moving around the circle. If a ball is dropped, it is picked up and put back into play wherever it left off. The round ends when a volunteer's ball catches up with another volunteer's ball. Pick new volunteers and play again!
Just like regular tag except you cannot walk or run, you must shuffle. Shuffle means never breaking contact between the ground and your feet as you move.
Frozen Tag
Split the group into two teams. Each team tries to tag the other team. Once tagged you are frozen and must stand with your feet apart. You can only be unfrozen when a team member crawls through your legs. Once everybody on one team is frozen the game is over.
Transformer Tag
Split the group into two teams. One team has a hand on their head and the other team has a hand on their backsides. If someone on the other team tags you, you transform to their team and switch your sign (heads to tails or tails to heads). Object of the game is to get everybody “transformed” to your team.
Blob Tag
Ask an individual or pair to be IT. If you get tagged you hook onto IT and become a chain until everybody is part of the BLOB.
Name Tag
Whoever is IT must call out the correct names of people before they tag them or it doesn't count.
Have the group sit in a large circle close enough to fill in all the gaps. One person stands in the middle and completes a “HAVE YOU EVER” sentence with a question that is TRUE for him or her. Then for whoever else the statement is true they must leave their position and find an empty one that was vacated by someone else who answered YES. For example, if I asked, “Have you ever flown in an airplane,” then everyone who has, would change places. You cannot slide to an empty place next to you. Get up and move. The person in the middle also tries to get to an empty space. The last person to be standing now asks another “HAVE YOU EVER” question.
Ooga Booga
Have the group get in a circle and put their arms on their neighbor's shoulders. Everybody looks at their feet and chants, stomping their feet with each word, “Ooga booga, ooga booga, LOOK!” Once you say look everybody must look up at somebody (not their neighbor). If you have eye contact with anybody you are both out of the circle and must act out a dramatic dying scene. The game continues like this until there are only two people left.
People to People
Have the group pair up, you be the caller. If there is an odd number have the odd person be the caller. The caller calls out pairs of body parts for the partners to connect. For example, “elbow to elbow” each pair would connect one of their elbows to one of their partners' elbows. While maintaining that position the caller can call out another set. For instance “Left foot to right foot” or “ear to ear.” After the caller has given out a few directions they call out “people to people” and each pair must quickly find a new partner. If the caller is a youth they must find a partner and the person left without a partner is the new caller. As your group goes from partner to partner encourage them to learn each other's names
Name Roulette
Begin by going around the group with each person saying their first name. Divide the group into two adjacent circles. Everybody in each circle faces inward with one person from each circle standing back to back so that the two circles are touching. On GO the two circles rotate clockwise while looking forward into the center. When you call STOP, the circles will stop rotating but remain looking at the center of the circle. Then you call LOOK and the two people who are now back-to-back turn around to look at each other. The first person to correctly call out the name of the other person wins that person for their team.
Can be played to music like musical chairs.
Peek-a-Who
Begin by going around the group with each person saying their first name, then divide into two groups. Separate the two groups with a large blanket held up by two volunteers, so that the groups can't see each other. When the blanket is raised each group huddles together and selects one person to sit facing the blanket. When the blanket is dropped the two selected members try to guess each other's name. The first person to correctly call out the name of the other person wins that person for their team.
Variation: Have the selected members sit back to back and guess each other's name based on clues given to them by their team.
Priest, S., Sikes, S., and Evans, F. (2000). 99 of the Best Experiential Corporate Games We Know . USA : eXperientia.
Bower, Nancy. (1998). Adventure Play . Needham Heights : Simon & Schuster Publishing.
BUILDING TRUST
Skin the SnakeHave the participants stand in a single-file line facing forward. Have each participant put their right hand between their legs and their left hand forward. With their left hand grab the right hand of the person in front of them. On "go," the person at the back of the line lies down on their back with their legs together (still holding hands with their neighbor). As this person lies down the group will walk backwards across them. When the next person in line gets to the end of the first person they also need to lie down keeping their legs close together and continuing to hold hands. This continues until everyone is lying in a line on the ground. Once everyone is down, the last person to lie down will get up and walk back over the line of people. As each person stands up they pull their neighbor with them as they continue to walk over the line.
Yurt Circle
Have the group join hands and expand their circle outward until everyone feels some pull on their arms from the people on either side. Tell the group to count off by two's. Each person should have his or her feet placed about shoulder width apart and to be in line with the circumference of the circle. Tell the group to move slowly and carefully and ask all the number one's to lean forward and the number two's to lean back, without bending at the waist. If the group is able to cooperate with one another each person can exert quite a strong pull on their supporting partners, and accomplish a remarkable forward and backward lean. After some practice have the one's and two's change positions and try it again.
Blind Man's Pass
Set up an obstacle course, or map out a certain path you want the group to follow. Have the group hold hands in a single file line (max of 8 people per line). Everybody in the group is blindfolded except the leader. The leader has to lead the rest of the group through the obstacle course or pathway without giving verbal or physical directions (using claps, grunts, etc.). To make it more challenging you can mix it up by giving certain people handicaps such as loss of hearing, speech, or limbs.
Variation: Do this with partners and have them switch back and forth. One of the partners is blindfolded and the other cannot speak. The seeing partner must lead the blindfolded person along the path without speaking or touching them.
MAKE THEM THINK
Marshmallow RiverThe object is to move the entire group from one side of the river to the other without falling into the hot cocoa before the time runs out and using only the few marshmallows (props) you have. You will need about 1/3 the number of props as people. You can use paper plates, boards, or other stepping objects. Make the river about 40 feet across. Only one person at a time can be on each prop, but they may be picked up and moved at any time. You can make up any scenario to add to the overall experience such as crossing toxic yogurt or man-eating eels. The key to the game is that only part of the team can go at once and some must come back to help the rest. You can also make it more challenging by adding handicaps such as blindfolds, no talking, etc.
All Aboard
For this activity you will need one large blanket, sheet or tarp. Spread your sheet out on the ground and ask the group to climb aboard. The entire group must be on the sheet without anybody touching the ground. The first time should be easy. Then have the group step off and fold the sheet in half. Continue this process reducing the size of the sheet however you like. You'll notice that it gets harder to fit your group into the space the smaller it gets. This is where you have to get creative!
Totem Pole Shuffle
You will need a board long enough for your group to stand across (approximately 10 feet long). Have the group divide themselves in half. The first half stands on the right end of the board and the other half stand on the left end so that both groups are facing each other (like on a teeter totter). The object of the activity is to have the group exchange ends of the board without touching the ground. Everyone on the right side must end up on the left and visa versa. If anyone falls off the board or touches the ground, everyone will have to go back and start over at the beginning.
Flip Flop
With a large tarp or blanket placed on the ground, the team stands on it and then tries to flip the tarp over without stepping onto the ground. Working as a team is the most important part.
Welded Ankles
Use a length of rope or masking tape to mark start and finish lines for the area to be crossed. Have people link arms and line up on one side of the marked area standing ankle to ankle. Feet and ankles are NOT tied together. They must cross the space without their feet becoming separated. If contact is broken the whole group must start over.
Instead of crossing an open area, challenge the line of people to rotate 180 degrees to face in the opposite direction without breaking ankle contact, or form a circle and rotate 360 degrees.
RELAYS
Forty Ways to Get ThereDivide the group into teams of 10–15. Each group must choose a method to get them across the finish line, about 40 feet away (running, skipping, hopping, doing somersaults, piggy-backs, etc.) Once a group has chosen a method and has used it to cross the finish line, no one else can use that method. Be creative.
Hoop Relay
Have the group stand in a circle holding hands or wrists of the people on either side of them. Start with one hoop over the head of one of the participants and have the group wiggle the hoop up and over their bodies onto the body of the person next to them. Gradually add more hoops to the circle, eventually sending hoops in opposite directions. Add variations to the relay by reversing the direction, adding handicaps to people in the group, “racing” hoops, or by having a timeframe. Hula-hoops, inner tubes, or any other article that forms a circle can be used. Watch the make-up of the group. Some hula-hoops or inner tubes may be too small for a person to physically be able to fit it over and around them, so we suggest avoiding hoops that are too small for all to participate.
Catch Up
For this activity you will need one ball for every five to six people and a volunteer for each ball. Have the group form a circle with the volunteers standing in the middle and facing the outside circle. Each volunteer has a ball and picks a person on the outside circle to throw the ball to. Those people should be equally spaced. The game begins by each volunteer tossing the ball to their designated person. The designated person quickly tosses it back to the volunteer who then tosses it to the next person in the outer circle in a clockwise direction. The outer person then tosses it back to the volunteer and so on. The balls continue to move clockwise around the circle. The goal is to catch up to the other balls moving around the circle. If a ball is dropped, it is picked up and put back into play wherever it left off. The round ends when a volunteer's ball catches up with another volunteer's ball. Pick new volunteers and play again!
HEART RACERS
Shuffle TagJust like regular tag except you cannot walk or run, you must shuffle. Shuffle means never breaking contact between the ground and your feet as you move.
Frozen Tag
Split the group into two teams. Each team tries to tag the other team. Once tagged you are frozen and must stand with your feet apart. You can only be unfrozen when a team member crawls through your legs. Once everybody on one team is frozen the game is over.
Transformer Tag
Split the group into two teams. One team has a hand on their head and the other team has a hand on their backsides. If someone on the other team tags you, you transform to their team and switch your sign (heads to tails or tails to heads). Object of the game is to get everybody “transformed” to your team.
Blob Tag
Ask an individual or pair to be IT. If you get tagged you hook onto IT and become a chain until everybody is part of the BLOB.
Name Tag
Whoever is IT must call out the correct names of people before they tag them or it doesn't count.
ICE BREAKERS
Have You Ever?Have the group sit in a large circle close enough to fill in all the gaps. One person stands in the middle and completes a “HAVE YOU EVER” sentence with a question that is TRUE for him or her. Then for whoever else the statement is true they must leave their position and find an empty one that was vacated by someone else who answered YES. For example, if I asked, “Have you ever flown in an airplane,” then everyone who has, would change places. You cannot slide to an empty place next to you. Get up and move. The person in the middle also tries to get to an empty space. The last person to be standing now asks another “HAVE YOU EVER” question.
Ooga Booga
Have the group get in a circle and put their arms on their neighbor's shoulders. Everybody looks at their feet and chants, stomping their feet with each word, “Ooga booga, ooga booga, LOOK!” Once you say look everybody must look up at somebody (not their neighbor). If you have eye contact with anybody you are both out of the circle and must act out a dramatic dying scene. The game continues like this until there are only two people left.
People to People
Have the group pair up, you be the caller. If there is an odd number have the odd person be the caller. The caller calls out pairs of body parts for the partners to connect. For example, “elbow to elbow” each pair would connect one of their elbows to one of their partners' elbows. While maintaining that position the caller can call out another set. For instance “Left foot to right foot” or “ear to ear.” After the caller has given out a few directions they call out “people to people” and each pair must quickly find a new partner. If the caller is a youth they must find a partner and the person left without a partner is the new caller. As your group goes from partner to partner encourage them to learn each other's names
Name Roulette
Begin by going around the group with each person saying their first name. Divide the group into two adjacent circles. Everybody in each circle faces inward with one person from each circle standing back to back so that the two circles are touching. On GO the two circles rotate clockwise while looking forward into the center. When you call STOP, the circles will stop rotating but remain looking at the center of the circle. Then you call LOOK and the two people who are now back-to-back turn around to look at each other. The first person to correctly call out the name of the other person wins that person for their team.
Can be played to music like musical chairs.
Peek-a-Who
Begin by going around the group with each person saying their first name, then divide into two groups. Separate the two groups with a large blanket held up by two volunteers, so that the groups can't see each other. When the blanket is raised each group huddles together and selects one person to sit facing the blanket. When the blanket is dropped the two selected members try to guess each other's name. The first person to correctly call out the name of the other person wins that person for their team.
Variation: Have the selected members sit back to back and guess each other's name based on clues given to them by their team.
REFERENCES
We would like to acknowledge the following authors and their respective books.Priest, S., Sikes, S., and Evans, F. (2000). 99 of the Best Experiential Corporate Games We Know . USA : eXperientia.
Bower, Nancy. (1998). Adventure Play . Needham Heights : Simon & Schuster Publishing.
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