Youth Group Games

STRANGE FOOD TASTE TEST

John the Baptist had a very strange diet (At least for us in the modern western diet). Hide a selection of food in containers. Ask a child to come forward. Place a blindfold on the child and have them taste and try to guess the food. If possible, include honey as one item and link back to the lesson on John.

LOCUST RACE

Create two paper locusts. Children should race to blow or fan the locust across the room. Play as individuals or as a team relay race.

RACE BACK

Part of the idea of repentance is to turn around and run back to God. To turn from sin and to God. For this game, have children walk away from the leader as they count. Children take one step for each number. At some point, the leader shouts – “Repent!” The children should turn around as quickly as possible tun back to the start line. The last child to turn return is out of the game.

MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS

Place cones or bowls around the activity area. Set up half of the bowls upside down (mountains) and half of the bowls right-side up (valleys). Split children into ‘Team Mountain’ and ‘Team Valley’. On “go, children should try to turn all the cones to match their team. At the end of the game, the team with the most cones wins. Read Luke 3:5 and talk about how John prepared the way for Jesus.

MAKE IS SMOOTH

Give each child a piece of rough wood and some sandpaper. Ask them to make the wood as smooth as possible. Speak about how John came to prepare the way for Jesus. To make the path smooth for Him.

DON’T LAUGH

Have one person sit in front of the group and try not to laugh while everyone tries to make the person laugh. No one is allowed to touch the person. Talk about how it’s hard to resist laughing, especially when everyone around us is doing it. Talk about how we must resist temptation, even when we see others giving in and doing wrong things.

TEMPTATIONS MATCH GAME

Write out each of Satan's temptations and Jesus’s responses on a piece of paper. For example: Satan - "Command this stone to become bread." - Jesus - "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone.'" Make a set for each team that will take part. Place all of Jesus responses on one side of the room. Place Satan's temptations folded into a bowl. On go, ‘the first player from the team must pick a temptation from the bowl and run to the other side of the room to collect the correct response. If they return with the wrong response, the papers are returned. If they are correct, the team can keep them. The first team to have the correct responses to the three temptations wins.

BIBLE PICTOGRAMS

Write some well-known Bible verses on pieces of paper and fold into a cup. This game can be played as teams or individuals. The first player must choose a paper and try to draw the Bible verse on a board or piece of paper. The other players must guess the Bible verse.

1 point for guess the verse (more or less),

2 points if they know if it’s in the Old or New Testament.

3 Point for knowing the book or 5 points for the whole Bible reference.

SHOELACE RACE

All children should remove their shoes and place on one side of the room. Split children into teams. On “go”, the first child, runs find their shoes, carries them to their team and their teammate ties their shoes for them. The next player does the same. The first team to have all their players with shoes on wins. Speak about how John the Baptist recognized Jesus was special and said he was not even worthy to tie Jesus’ laces.

UNDER THE RIVER

Lay a large tarpaulin on the floor. (It will represent the river). Split children int teams. On go, children can race under the tarpaulin and to the other side. When the first play makes it across than the second player can start. The first team to get all their players across wins.

RIVERBANK

Create a line on the floor. One side of the line will be the river and the other the bank. Have the children line up on the bank side facing the river. The leader shouts out commands, • River (Children jump into the river) • Bank (Children jump onto the bank) • Riverbank (Children put on foot in the river and one on the bank) If a player gets it wrong, they are out.

GUIDE THE WAY

Create a path on the floor using masking tape, chalk, or a rope. Choose one player to blindfold. The must try to make it around the path without crossing the line. The other players should shout out directions for them to follow.

WHAT’S IN THE BOX

Cut two holes on either side of a large box that players can place their hands through without seeing inside. Gather items to place in the box one by one. Place one items in the box Select a player and ask them to place their hands inside the and guess the object. Repeat with different objects.

BLIND ART

Split players into pairs. The players should sit back-to-back. Player A is given a picture. Player B is given some paper and a pencil. Player A must describe the picture without Player B seeing it. Player B must try to draw the image. When finished, swap places.