CHAD SWANZY

Showing newest posts with label group games. Show older posts

Sunday, February 21, 2010

DOUBLE OLYMPIC FREEBIES (Group Games 60 and 61 of 70)

Posted by chad at 4:01 PM Labels: group games 0 comments

So it's the winter olympics and if you have some hoola hoops around then you need to exploit the games. I told our students that the five hoola hoops we had in the room were the original Greek rings of competition. Anyway, grap your hoops and enjoys these quick easy games.

Supplies: Songs you can dance to and severa hoops.

How to Play: Split the group in two by gender. Line them up in separate lines, one line per gender. Have them join hands in one line, not a circle. It will look like a game of red rover. They must pass the hoop through their line without letting go of hands. If there is one gender that is significantly less than the other they may have to go down and back several times to make it fair.

Supplies: Music you can dance to and hoops.

How to Play: Hoops are laid on the floor and music is played. When the music stops a number is called and students must jump into the hoops in an amount of students equal to the number called. Last students to a hoop beyond that number are out.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

VALENTINES BINGO (Group Games 59 of 70)

Posted by chad at 8:31 AM Labels: group games 0 comments

Valentines Bingo is pretty straight forward. Download and print the cards. Sometimes scribd (my document server) acts squirely. If you have trouble printing or accessing these. Please leave a comment or direct message me on twitter and I will get these emailed to you. There are 10 different cards per set. The spaces have phrases from Valentine candy hearts. So there are 60 different cards here. For us we had students get in groups of two per card. Have fun, keep it moving fast, and gave a prize.

BAD ROMANCE (Games 58 of 70)

Posted by chad at 7:57 AM Labels: group games 0 comments

Supplies: Adult Diapers, Toilet Paper, Paper Hearts, Tape, Valentine Decorations

How to Play: Bring up 2 or 3 volunteers to be decorated. Ask for volunteers to decorate. Group teams evenly and give them their supplies. Each team has to decorate one of their team members as cupid. The best cupid wins. Yes, diaper goes over the clothes, toilet paper can be made into sash, tape is position hearts on cupid.

Monday, February 1, 2010

PTERODACTYL SMILE (Group games 57 of 70)

Posted by chad at 3:15 PM Labels: group games 1 comments

Group your students in circles of 8-10. Everyone must keep their teeth covered with their lips while playing this game. If the whites of the fron of their teeth show they are out. One person in the group starts. While they have their lips covered they must say pterodactyl to either the person to the left or the right of them. They can say it as loud as they want or in whater way they want so long as their lips do not reveal their teeth. The person for whom the word pterodactyl is being passed to must also not crack a smile revealing their teeth. Now they can pass it back or turn to the other person. It's actually hard to do this as people will do anything to knock someone out by being funny.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

BRAIN FREEZE (Group games 56 of 70)

Posted by chad at 8:08 AM Labels: group games 0 comments

We played this game last night and it was pretty awesome. We had this student win because the entire time he was playing he danced to the music. This was exceedingly epic. He also probably raised his body tempertaure giving him the advantage.

Supplies: Box of traditional popsicles.

To Play: Showcase the popsicles. Students get excited... it's popsicles. "Who likes popsicles?" Grab three volunteers and bring them to the stage. Volunteers will race against each other to see who can consume the fastest three popsicles. This is seriously hard. The faces the kids make as the brain becomes frozen is hilarious. Now, before you get too touchy feely I looked up the physical and medical aspects of it. There is no actual harm done to the body but the students are in charge of their consumption so we're not forcing them to consume. It's three popsicles not a plunge in the depths of the arctic. Have fun cause this is a great game. You should be throwing remaining posicles (in wrappers) to the rest of the crowd.

KAYNE YODA TAYLOR (Group games 55 of 70)

Posted by chad at 8:00 AM Labels: group games 0 comments

We made this game up last night. My boy Andy Baxter came up with the motions. It's basically paper, rock, scissors. Here is how you play.

Get the students in pairs. Have them stand back to back. Count to three and on three they whip around choosing one of these three motions.

For Kayne - Of course one hand is holdig a pretend microphone the other is doing the heisman pose.
For Yoda - Arms up like a dog begging but hands up in the air instead of limp (like a dog begging) as if summoning the force.
For Taylor - You're making a roaring sound and your hands up like bear paws claws out like a tiger kitten.

The reality is that you can come up with whatever you want for hand signs. Of course you have to have the winning combos and here they are.

Kayne defeats Taylor. Taylor defeats Yoda. Yoda defeats Kayne.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

XTREME MATH (group games 54 of 70)

Posted by chad at 3:40 PM Labels: group games 1 comments

xtreme math, originally uploaded by chad.swanzy.

We played this game last night.

SUPPLIES: Pre-printed pages of numbers. One large number per page. Nine pages of numbers 1-9. You need as many sets of nine pages, one number per page, as you will have teams that you want to compete with.

INSTRUCTIONS: Divide into groups of nine. Give each group a set of numbers, one per page of numbers 1-9, with each person holding only one sheet of paper with one number. Assign a leader to each group. To compete the leader will call out a number for all of the groups to listen to. As soon as the number is called the groups must quickly line up in the order of that number in a line for the leader to read from their perspective. The group that lines up correctly is the winner.

Possible combos (there are more.) 987,654,321 - 876,543,219 - 765,432,198 - 135,792,468 take some time to write this out before hand and come up with at least 12 combinations. The leader may need to call out the number several times.

Monday, January 11, 2010

GROSS GAMES CLUB or EVENT

Posted by chad at 10:51 AM Labels: equipping, fun, group games, know your stuff, younglife and wyldlife 0 comments

I have another sweet file from the relic Wyldlife folder I harvested from one of our old computers. This is a rundown for a Gross Games club we did. Keep in mind this is 2005. Use to your liking. Also, I always plan two more games then what I think we need in case we are running ahead of schedule. Seven games is good but not necessary. Enjoy and keep loving students.

Clubbers Hang Out Around Fire Pit while New Clubbers Register

Bring Clubbers in & Welcome

-LEADER stalls saying, “Hey everyone welcome to Wyldlife… Glad you’re here…we have a couple of things to talk about before club begins…We need everyone to turn off your cell phones (cue for music and walk on character)

-CHAD & DAVE – Jersey Boys Cleaning Crew walk in.

Game 1 Baby Food Roulette – Works like hot potato. Clubbers make a circle and start passing a paper bag with baby food in. When the music stops the clubber with the bag has to open the bag and eat the food. We will do several rounds of this for fun.

Game 2 Plexi-Glass Relay (2 Volunteers needed) A couple of strips of easy-cheese and several Oreos will placed onto a clear sheet of plexi-glass. Both clubbers must be the first to successfully consume their allotment of cheese and Oreos off the glass in front of club.

Game 3 Eat That Food – Clubbers sit scattered throughout the room. When the music starts a beach ball will be thrown into the room. Clubbers will tap it around keeping it up in the air. When the music stops the last person to hit it must come to the front of club and pick out a sealed paper bag from a group of sealed paper bag. They open the bag and whatever is in it they must eat. Game keeps going till all bags are gone.

Game 4 Hose Head (2 guys and 2 girls needed) Guys put a panty hose over their head down to their neck. The girls will be handed a banana and must feed the banana to their teammate through the hose. The first crew to eat their banana wins.

Game 5 Banana Foot Feed (2 Guys & 2 Girls) – Guys lay on their back with head placed at the feet of their girl partner. Girls sit in chairs. A Banana is placed at their feet and when the game begins the girls must peel the banana open and feed it to their male partner using only their feet.

Game 6 Ice Cream Feed (4 guys 4 girls) Guys and girls partner up and lay with backs on the ground so that they make a straight line with the tops of their heads touching. The guy is given a scoop of ice cream in a cup and a spoon. When the game begins they must scoop their ice cream and reach over their heads to their partners head and feed them the ice cream.

Game 7 Hawk A Sausage (6 clubbers needed) Clubbers are given a Vienna sausage and they must spit it as far as they can across club to see who can hawk the sausage the furthest

Big Louie and Jimmy exit and return to Jersey to pursue their professional lives.

Bryan & Justin sell the Christmas Party & the Rampage Hockey Game.

Club Songs

1. Complicated, Avril

Camp Sell

2. You & Me, Life House
3. Unwell, Matchbox 20

Club Talk

Dismiss, Hang with Kids

Thursday, January 7, 2010

HOSED (Group Games 52 of 70)

Posted by chad at 8:36 AM Labels: group games 0 comments

Supplies: 2 Pair of "Q Plus or Q2" sized pantyhose

Directions: Select 16 to 20 volunteers from your youth group or club. Divide them evenly in gender and number into two teams. Give each team a pair of hose. When the game begins they must cram whatever they can into the hose that is on their person ie; shoes, socks, jacket, hat, shirt, etc. The team with the most articles in the hose within 1 minute is the winner.

IMPORTANT: Lay these rules down. 1. We don't want to see your unmentionables so don't go overboard.

BINGO (Group Games 51 of 70)

Posted by chad at 8:25 AM Labels: group games 0 comments

No, we did not invent bingo. We played it last night and so I thought I would share this slide I made.

Tips on playing bingo with student ministry.
1. Cards and pens for everyone.
2. Move fast and call fast (a sequence every three seconds.) It's funnier to go fast.
3. Have a great prize because it will be lame without one.

Printable Bingo Cards. PDF download.
Printable Call Sheet. PDF download.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Christmas Game "Trucker or Santa"

Posted by chad at 10:15 AM Labels: group games 1 comments

Follow the link for a sweet Christmas Game you can play with your students that I put together for our middle school service this Sunday. It's pretty simple. You can tape a line down the center of the room and show the first image (zoomed in on a trucker or santa). Once they've seen the image tell them to pick a side to stand on; one side trucker the other side santa. Then show the zoomed out picture. Have non-winners take a seat and keep playing until the end of the game or until you have a winner.

Trucker or Santa (.ppt)

Should you have any difficulty downloading the file let me know and I will gladly email it to you.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Pop & Fresh (Group Games 50 of 70)

Posted by chad at 11:18 AM Labels: group games 1 comments

If you have a couple bucks you can play this game and it's pretty easy.

Supplies: A can of biscuits.

Instructions: Spilt your group up in teams. How you split them up is up to you. Larger groups make the game last longer. Have the groups form lines. First person in line places a raw biscuit on their forehead. To win the game the teams must pass the biscuit from forehead to forehead without using their hands. The team that passes it all the way down the line first, wins.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

In Defense of Games

Posted by chad at 1:34 PM Labels: group games 1 comments

Every now and then I'm asked about why we choose to do games and mixers. Usually I'm asked the question from a co-leader or vocational peer that doesn't do games and wants to find validation for it in a perceived fault with my response. I can't help them with that but I can tell you why I do games and mixers.

1. We love to create energy and excitement around being together.

2. We trust our small group leaders to shepherd kids both in and outside of the service.

3. We want to create an opportunity for students to be engaged who are new.

4. We do not make anyone play the game. They are free to stand and watch.

5. We normally have one group game and one volunteer game in our rundown of songs, the lesson, announcements, and small groups.

6. We don't play games or do mixers that are demeaning.

7. The Bible says, "A cheerful heart works like medicine to our soul." The world needs merry medicine.

8. We use games and mixers to break up routine and wear students out a bit so they are ready to listen and engage in small groups.

For a list of some of the games we play, instructions, and slides that you can use with them click the group games label on the sidebar or at the top of this post.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Fun with Spit Wads (Group Games 49 of 70)

Posted by chad at 4:33 PM Labels: group games 2 comments

Materials: Straws (one for each volunteer) Paper (one for each volunteer) Chairs (One per team) Sunglasses (One per team)

How to Play: Invite volunteers to play. You need 1 guy and 3 girls per team. Two teams is enough or a team per class if you like. Place guys in chairs and give each guy a pair of sunglasses to wear. Place a set of 3 girls across from each guy. The 3 girls and their 1 guy in the chair constitutes a team. Each girl gets a straw and paper. Girls should be standing equal distance from their guy to make each team have a fair chance. To win this game the girls must shoot spit wads and get as many as possible on their guys sunglasses before the game ends. The game is best when played for 60 seconds.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

SIT SOWN IF... (GROUP GAMES 48 OF 70)

Posted by chad at 8:28 AM Labels: group games, younglife and wyldlife 1 comments

YL Playbook is a great place to grab some games. I don't know if we will ever become a superpower like the wonder twins but on my end of the "shape of a bucket of water" end of the deal I formed a slide above for this mixer game. I'm typing the directions here but giving you a link to YL Playbook so you can grab the mixer questions.

Materials:
list

Directions:
Ask the entire group to stand. Instruct them to sit down when the statement characterizes them and remain seated. Encourage them to be as honest as possible. If you have trouble because most are not sitting down, give them general characteristics (sit down if you are under 15, if you have on white socks, if you are in love).

THE QUESTIONS...HERE!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

FREE GAME 2 Liter Challenge (47 of 70)

Posted by chad at 1:21 PM Labels: fun, group games 5 comments

We played this game last night. The game came from YLPLAYBOOK. I made the slide (click slide to make larger then save to desktop). Enjoy. Video for how we did it below directions.

Materials:
3 2-liters of pop

Directions:
Have three teams of two up front. Give each team a 2-liter of pop. The rules are that they can pass the 2-liter back and forth as they drink it. The first team done wins.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

This was so incredibly successful...

Posted by chad at 10:38 AM Labels: fun, group games, student led gathering 1 comments

We gave our small groups a break for the summer but promised to meet once a month for a mini-reunion under the guise of an event we would host on Tuesday nights called "TMINUS." The premise is that we would post instructions and info 48 hours from tminus on our website. The depth of student response and readiness is in the hands of the kids. We created viral incentive to spread the word by making our first tminus a competition between groups. They got points prior to the event for recruiting incoming freshmen, texting me, bringing visitors, well... see for yourself...

T-MINUS “Showdown & Shindig”

Let’s have a little competition to settle the best of the best. Points will be awarded for various events throughout the night. This will be a Gathering group vs. Gathering group Showdown. “The Gathering… you know who you are!”

Where to Be: Lakeline Mall Foodcourt no later than 7pm! (but we will not stay there… after party for this night will be at AVERY RANCH pool so have your parents pick you up there.)

What to Bring: Digital Camera, towel & swimsuit (for the after party… don’t wear your swimsuit to the mall)

What will happen? All you need to know is that you better be there and you better bring it. This is a team competition night and we’re going to tell you how to start off with mega points before the real competition begins.

GET POINTS NOW!

- The Gathering group that has the most members present “at or before 7pm” gets 20000 points.

- Another 10000 points awarded to the Gathering group who comes in themed out team attire.

- Any new person there who has never been to a Gathering is worth 2000 points for the Gathering group that brought them.

- Any incoming 9th grade student who you bring is worth 2000 points. (Somewhere, someone you know has a list of all the 8th grade students from middle school going into 9th grade.)

- 500 points for every text I get that tells me… 1. Your full name 2. Who your Gathering leader is. ***Only one set of 500 points per phone number… so tell your friends they better text me!*** TEXT 954-643-5992

- 10000 points for the first Gathering group to text me who their student leader is for this competition. 8000 for the second, 6000 for the third, 4000 for the fourth, 2000 for the fifth. Text me who they are and who your Gathering adult leader is.

The clock is ticking. Prepare for fun. You now have 48 hours….

The next thing we did was post this video on facebook six hours before the event.

When the kids showed up they competed against each other in a video scavenger hunt at the mall. Here is my list for them. The leaders did such a great job. The kids had a blast. Afterwards we went to my neighborhood pool and my hook-up at Chipotle dropped free burritos for us and the kids. It was just a great time of hanging with kids and loving on them. Oh yeah... the list.

THE BOSS’ DEMANDS

Take a group picture of everyone sitting on one bench outside at the front of the movie theater entrance. 10000

As many pictures of someone on your team shaking a stranger hand. Only one photo per stranger. 2000 per stranger

Cram your team in a photo booth then take a picture of it with your camera. 30000

Bring back one of either one of these items (business card, brochure, or promotional piece with a store logo) from as many stores in the mall as possible. 1000 per item (one item per store)

Get one member of your team to try on a pair of Chuck’s then take a picture of it with your camera. 15000

A picture of Jacob from the movie Twilight. 40000 points

Get a group of three strangers to simultaneously play an air guitar, air drums, and air vocals at the same time then take a 40icture of it with your camera. 20000

A picture of Harry Potter. 5000

Have everyone put on a pair of sunglasses then take a picture of it with your camera. 10000

Have two people from your team do pushups in front of GNC then take a picture of it with your camera. 15000

Take a picture of a member of your team with a sales rep from the following stores; Macy’s, JC Penny, Sears, & Dillard’s. 20000 per store Must be able to see nametag with logo.

A picture of Edward Cullen. 500000

Place all of your team in a human pyramid then take a picture of it with your camera. 40000

Take a picture of one of your team members washing their hands at Bath & Body Works. 2000

A picture of one of your team members in front of a Troy Aikman jersey. 2000

Bring back a chicken nugget. 20000

Bring back a lock of someone’s fresh cut hair fro a salon. 25000

Bring back as many receipts and movie stubs as you can. 1000 per item

A picture of three of your team members underneath Dumbo the flying elephant. 20000

A picture of five of all of your team sleeping in one bed. 25000

A picture of three of your team members riding on a merry go round. 10000

A picture of one of your team members riding on a riding lawn mower. 25000

Take a picture of all of your team members laying flat on their back together somewhere in the mall. 35000

Cram everyone into one bathroom stall then take a picture of it with your camera. 50000

Place one of your team members on a boat then take a picture of it with your camera. 20000

A picture of each of your team members with chopsticks in their nose. 5000 per team member

Bring back a chik-fil-a straw. 1000

Take a picture of one of your team members giving a stranger a piggy back ride. Must have stranger’s permission. 50000 per stranger

Bring back a packet of mayonnaise. 1000

Have one of your team members sing to a stranger and hold their hand then take a picture of it with your camera. 35000

Have someone pose reading a Twilight book then take a picture of it with your camera. 15000

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

GROUP GAMES 46 of 70 (DO YOU KNOW YOUR LEADER?)

Posted by chad at 11:16 AM Labels: group games 1 comments

This is an old game but wrapped in a new package. It's easy to play and not only creates energy for the night but also gets leaders before kids. Using the Einstein chalkboard generator you can write whatever you want and use it as a slide. I put the name Eric in the equation but you can put your own leader's name in there using the Einstein generator.

Supplies: A willing leader and tape.

How to play: Mark a line dividing the room in half with masking tape before program. Bring your leader up. Ask them a funny or interesting question that is closed (requires a yes or no, true or false answer.) Before the leader answers have the kids move to either side of the tape as their response. Example: "Okay students... first question, Eric learned to snow ski before the age of five. If you think this is true step over on the side of the tape if you think that there is no way this happened step over here. Then let the leader answer. Those who were wrong are out and you keep asking questions till you have only one kid left. Try to present funny but obscure statements that can go either way.

Eric has never been to Disneyworld.
Eric's first kiss was his freshmen year of high school.
Eric would rather have Cheetos than Doritos.
Eric lived in Europe for a whole year in college.
Eric's first pet was a boa.
Eric has never had a traffic ticket.
Eric's broke a state record in track.

As you create scenarios it is a lot of fun to ask your leader before group a few questions to give the game that wow moment for kids. "I never knew that about Eric! That's awesome!" It's also fun to watch the kids go back and forth and laugh as they were wrong and are out.

Monday, March 9, 2009

New Game... Zoo Animals (with video)

Posted by chad at 2:20 PM Labels: fun, group games 0 comments

Caution: This game is not a group or up front game do not use this in program... it will bomb. This IS however a great hang out and act stupid game.

Supplies: None

How to Play: Form a circle. Each person must come up with an animal and a sign for their animal. The game is similar to "Apple loves Grape." A cadence of claps is done in unison with the caller giving their animal sign to the beat and then afterwards giving another players animal sign on the second beat. It is then passed to the person the caller called out in their second animal gesture. That person then gives their sign followed by someone else's sign. It's a "hot potato," if you will, of animals and signs. You must stay on beat and give both the correct signs to stay in the game.

Three kids in the group below were waiting for their rides late one night.

Watch the video demonstration below.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

just a reminder

Posted by chad at 10:06 AM Labels: group games 3 comments

In a bind... if you can find a bag of cheetos, and either shaving cream or whip cream you can play Neato Cheeto.

Supplies: Shaving Cream, Bag of Cheetos, Two Chairs, A Drop Cloth, Towels

How to Play: Call up two guys and two girl volunteers. Give the girls one large hand full of shaving cream per student. Have them apply it to their male teammate who is sitting in a chair facing the group. Have the girls wipe their hands so they can graspcheetos. The guys will have shaving cream all over the beard area. Girls will throw cheetos at their male teammate's face. The team with the most cheetos on their guy's face wins. Give them a minute or a plate full of cheetos to finish. This is a fun game and good laughs. Dismiss them to clean up after the game is finished.