To play this youth ministry game you don’t need a four square and you do not need to be outside.  Grab some painters tape and map out a larger four square area on the floor.  Try to make it about 2-3 times as big as a regular four square and you can make it a rectangle shape (like a gym) if you need to.  Doing so will actually make the game a little more interesting.

The game is played just like 4-square except with teams.  Each area should have room to allow about 3-4 people to comfortably move around.  Number the four squares in order and make teams.  You need at least four teams.  If you have more than four teams have the extras line up outside of square number four.

Square number one will serve the ball by bouncing it on their side and slapping it to another square.  Whatever square it lands in has to hit it into another square before it bounces a second time.  When someone misses or hit the ball out of bounds, they go to square four and everyone else moves up towards square one.  (square three moves to two, two moves to three, etc.)

You can make up your own rules as things comes up such as can teams hit it twice, can you play off the wall, etc.

Ask any questions in the comments section below!

Enjoy!

I recently discovered this site that will create PDF files that blow up pictures in to multiple page files.  It can take a regular pictures and make it in to to 16-100 page poster that you can simply tape together.  Of course, as a typical youth minister, I think ‘what possibilities!’  The site is called BlockPosters.

I am sure I will come up with several games from this but here is the first one I will use for our next big event.  I will be sure to let you know how it goes.

Make 5 or 6 of these files, all the same size, of different saints, volunteers, etc.  Cut them so they can be put together like a puzzle.  Mix them up and have a contest.  Each team will get a different stack of papers and must put together their puzzle first.  We plan on doing it like a relay where the kids will each get one piece of paper, they tape it to a grid in the wall.  Then they run back and the next person takes another piece of paper.  Once all of the pieces are up on the wall, they can now have each person run and switch two pieces and then run back.

We plan on doing saints, priests, etc and will give bonus points for who can tell us who their person is.

I set up a little teaser picture of one of our volunteers this past week.  It was kind of funny as one of the youth became pretty excited about taking a 5 foot picture of one of the volunteers home with them.  Actually sort of creepy.

I did a picture of the Divine Mercy for you to download and check it out.

You can create these files at www.blockposters.com.

Have fun!

This is a game we played when I was in Junior High and I loved it. Seems to work best with groups of about 20 or more. It is sort of like the Frogger, which we will put up soon. A great game for youth group.

Have everyone sit in a circle, with chairs or on the floor. Everyone will close their eyes and the leader will pick someone to be the winker. Then you say go and everyone put their head’s up and tries to figure out who the winker is. The winker attempts to knock people out of the game by winking at them. Once you are winked at, wait 5 seconds, raise your hand, and say ‘I’m out.’ Usually works best to have those who are out do something like put their finger on their nose or put their head down.

If someone thinks they know who the winker is, they can raise their hand and say ‘I think I know who it is.’ They must have a second person to back them up. So then a second person raises their hand and says ‘I second.’ The first person guesses, if they guess right, they win. If they guess wrong, both of the people are out. The people accusing should be careful because if they get winked at in the process they are out and can not guess.

The game is played until the winker is caught or everyone is out.

One more little thing we like to say is that if you can not wink to raise your hand while the leader is picking someone so that you are not picked. It is also important to stress people that they can not talk when their head’s are down and when they are knocked out of the game.

I actually made it this whole article without saying killed or death. You should try that!

This game does not really have a name, but is very simple.  It is like the Johnny Whoop game where you simply start with one or more people who know how to do it and then the others have to figure out the trick.   You play until everyone or most people figure it out.

Simple find an item that can be passed around.  Let us a roll of toilet paper for an example.  The leader will start by saying “Ok, we are going to play the toilet paper game, do you know how to play the toilet paper game?”  and they will pass the toilet paper to someone else.  That person will now try to do it correctly.  You will tell them they either did it right or wrong and then let the next person try.

The trick to the game that needs to be figured is out that everyone person starts by saying ‘OK.’

When you are first starting be sure to have it come back to someone who knows how to do it often so others can figure it out.

Know that some people may do it correctly and not know why, this is what makes the game fun.

We have used this game to dismiss for lunch.  Once you get it, than you can go eat.

Enjoy!

Printable Copy (.pdf)

Materials Needed

Music (music must be loud, game gets loud and people need to hear it stop)

Directions

This is probably one of the greatest games for retreat type atmosphere when you need to lighten things up a little bit.  To start have group of between 6-8 people form a circle.  You can just have one or two groups.  They do not compete against the other groups and there really is not a winner.

This game is played like ‘Hot Potato’ with a twist.  Have one person volunteer to use their shoe as the hot potato.  Start off by playing one round like hot potato and start the music.  When the music stops, have the person holding the show stand.  You will give this person an action that must be done every time they are given the shoe from now on.  You start the music again and when you stop have the person who ended up with the shoe do a different action.  If it was the same person as the first round, they must now do both actions before they can pass the shoe.

Here are some examples of actions.

1. Yell ‘I HAVE THE SHOE’
2. Give everyone in your group a high five.
3. Sing “It’s fun to sing at the Y.M.C.A. while doing the actions.
4. Do the chicken dance
5. Do the Macarena
6. Blow Kisses to everyone in your group
7. Skip around the group once
8. Say two words that rhyme.
9. Do the entire head, shoulders, knees, and toes
10. Flex like a professional body builder (must do different flex each time)

Usually this is enough actions.  Keep a look out for people who have several actions and those that think it is a little too funny and be sure ‘accidentally’ stop the music on them.