Sunday School 9:15 - 10:00 am
Also from 10:30 - 11:30am

Continue growing your child's Love for God & Jesus through our wonderful Sunday School program.

PreK - 5th Grade. Located in the Childrens Church Classroom

Classes For Youth - "Breakfast Club"
9:15 am, Meet in the White House.

Middle, High School, and post High School

Classes For Adults 9:15 am

"The Book Of James"

Meet In the Commons.
"Cherish" - In the gym.

Worship Service 10:30 am - 11:30 am

Energetic and uplifting worship service full of knowledge and wisdom from the teachings of the Gospel.

1. ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS CHAMPION, AKA “BIGGEST FAN”

Prep time: 0 minutes
Messy?: No
Supplies: None

If you tell a bunch of kids you’re going to play Rock, Paper, Scissors, they’ll probably roll their eyes at you, even if you’ve come up with a cool variation like Pirate, Ninja, Knight (or whatever). What makes Rock, Paper, Scissors Champion fun is that it quickly descends into madness.

Everyone picks an opponent and plays Rock, Paper, Scissors, or whatever wacky variation you come up with. Best two out of three. Or not. It doesn’t matter. Whoever loses becomes the “biggest fan” of the person who just beat them. Then together they go and find a new opponent for the winner to play, and the fan cheers on their “champion.” Each round, the loser and their fans become fans of the winner. Eventually you’ll wind up with about half the group cheering and screaming for one person, and the other half cheering for another.

Encourage kids to cheer for the person who beats them by name—so if they don’t know the person’s name, now they have to learn it.

3. ALL HANDS ON DECK

Cost: Free
Prep time: 0 minutes
Messy?: No
Supplies: None

6. TRIVIA NIGHT

Cost: Varies
Prep time: 1–2 hours
Messy?: No
Supplies: Paper and pens

You can run a trivia night however you want, but you may want some optional supplies to make it feel more official: tables, chairs, lamps (for ambiance), a projector, a microphone, speakers, a whiteboard, and snacks.

The bulk of the prep work is coming up with trivia categories and questions. Obviously, the more categories and questions you come up with, the longer your trivia night will last. This is a good task to delegate to leaders or work on as a team. Make sure your categories and questions are relevant to the kids in your group (the broader the better), but here are some categories you might use:

Social media
Celebrities
Sports
Music
Movies
Food
Youth leaders
Resist the temptation to make every question ridiculously hard. At most, you should have one really tough question per category.

You can make trivia night into a really fun, out-of-the-ordinary event by putting additional effort into the ambiance. Use lamps instead of the regular lights to make it feel more like a café. Let kids enjoy snacks while they discuss the questions together. You could even create a snack menu and have leaders be “servers” for the night, bringing students their “orders.” As the host announces each question on the microphone, include it on the projector too. Keep track of each team’s score on the whiteboard.

You can do a minimal version of this with just paper and pens, but if you take the time to make trivia night more elaborate, it could easily become an annual tradition and one of the highlights of your youth group.

Outdoor Youth Group Games
When the weather is nice (or at least tolerable), it opens up opportunities to play some messier, more involved games. Some of these can be played inside, but they’ll be easier to clean up if you just give everyone a change of scenery and head to a field or parking lot.

9. “SNOWBALL” FIGHT

Cost: $$
Prep time: about an hour
Messy?: Yes
Supplies: Tons of jumbo marshmallows

This youth group is a total free-for-all where kids and leaders get to pelt each other with giant marshmallows. (Regular marshmallows will work in a pinch, but if you can find jumbo ones, they’re a lot more fun!)

If you want, you can form teams and turn this into marshmallow dodgeball, but it’s still plenty of fun to just spread out the marshmallows and let kids go crazy.

11. BIGGER OR BETTER

Cost: $
Prep time: less than an hour
Messy?: No
Supplies: paperclips or pennies, drivers

13. CHARADES WITH A TWIST

Cost: Free
Prep time: 0 minutes
Messy?: No
Supplies: One chair

For this youth group game, it’s extra important that you know your students and choose ones who will thrive under the attention. You can choose any number of kids, but 3–5 is probably ideal. Pull these kids aside to a place where they can’t hear the person leading the game and the audience can’t hear them. Have another leader assign each of your volunteers a scene they’ll have to act out using the chair. You’re welcome to come up with your own ideas, but here are some that work well:

Watching your favorite team score the winning touchdown (feel free to substitute another sport)
Going on a rollercoaster
Riding a bucking bronco
Sitting on a cactus
Watching a scary movie
Encourage them to really get into it so everyone can tell what they’re doing.

But here’s what you’ll tell the audience:

“We’ve asked each of our volunteers to show you how they go to the bathroom.”

After each student acts out their scene, tell them, “Wow! That was really interesting! Thanks for showing us how you use the bathroom.”

14. EGG BLOW

Cost: less than $20
Prep time: less than one hour
Messy?: Yes
Supplies: clear and flexible tubing, eggs, funnel, garbage can

Band kids and athletes tend to do well in this gross test of lung capacity and stamina, but anyone can participate. Choose four students and pair them up for 1v1 matches. Put the funnel into the clear tubing and crack an egg into it. Hold the tube so that the egg settles into the middle, and then have the first pair of kids each take a side, and put the garbage can between them.

When you give the signal to start, they’re going to try to blow the egg into the other person’s mouth. If the egg reaches someone’s mouth or they bail and dump it in the garbage, they lose. After each pair goes, have the winners face off to determine the champion.

Note: Any non-toxic clear tubing will do, but make sure the diameter is wide enough for the egg to easily fit ( ¾ inch clear vinyl tubing should be easy to find at a hardware store). If you have to buy a long tube, you’ll probably want to cut in. A few feet should be plenty.

16. VISIT A NURSING HOME

Visiting a nursing home is a wonderful way for your youth group to serve together because everyone can do it, and it shows your kids that sometimes attention and conversation are profound gifts we can use to love others.

Your students will be nervous about talking to strangers, and they may struggle to find common ground. So, before you go, talk to your group about ways they might start a conversation, or encourage them to play a boardgame with someone. You may also want to caution them about some of the things they might see or experience. Equip them to be successful. Give them tools to show the residents and staff that they are loved and that they matter.

Pro tip: Call the nursing home you plan to visit in advance. Talk to them about the ideal times for a large group of visitors. It will also help to get a heads up about their specific guidelines and any recommendations they have about what to bring (games, books, small pets, etc.).

18. NEIGHBORHOOD WORK PARTIES

Parents know it’s hard enough to get teenagers to help take care of their own yards and homes. So it really says something when they’re willing to give up their time for free to help their neighbors. And regardless of whether people are able to do their own yard and house maintenance, many people will appreciate the gift of a cleaner yard.

Depending on the season, where you live, and what equipment you or your neighbors have, students could do jobs like:

Rake leaves
Shovel snow
Mow lawns
Fill in holes
Trim hedges
Plant flowers
Clean gutters
The point is to find needs that people don’t have the time, energy, or desire to take care of themselves.

Pro tip: Make sure your teams of students and leaders tell people that you’re looking for work people would like help with for free. If you don’t make a point of saying that, most people will assume you’re doing a fundraiser or something, and some will say no simply because they don’t want to pay for help. And that’s not the point of this.

2. WHO AM I?

Cost: Free
Prep time: 0 minutes
Messy?: No
Supplies: None

Get one flashcard for every kid and leader you expect to have at your youth group (plus some extras, just in case). On each flashcard write the name of a celebrity or fictional character. The more well-known they are, the better. They could be actors, musicians, athletes, public figures, superheros, or characters from books or movies. Be sure to pick people your students will know and appreciate, not just the famous people your leaders grew up with!

Give every kid one of the cards and don’t let them see the name on it. Have them hold or tape the card on their forehead with the name facing out, find another person, and ask one yes or no question about the name on their card. Be sure to give kids plenty of example questions to use, such as:

“Am I someone who’s alive right now?”
“Am I a real person?”
“Have I been in a movie?”
“Do I make music?”
“Do I have a beard?”

Make sure kids only ask each person one question so that they have to move around and talk to multiple people. Once they feel ready, they can try to guess who they are. When kids guess correctly, they can still help give other people clues. You can end the youth group game after a certain amount of time so nobody feels singled out if they couldn’t figure out who they were, or you can give bigger hints toward the end.

4. COSTUME RELAY

Prep time: less than an hour
Messy?: No
Supplies: two or more absurd (and large) outfits, preferably with a couple of layers

The only prep for this youth group game is to find some weird costumes or outfits for kids to wear. You want this to be awkward to run in, and it should take a while to put it on and take it off. Make sure you have a big room, a gym, or outdoor space for kids to move around.

Break the students into even teams and have them line up on one side of the room. When you say “go,” start music or give some other signal to begin. The first kid in line puts the outfit on and races to the other end of the room and back. (You can mark the “end” with a leader, a cone, a coat, or literally anything.) As each kid runs down and back, they take off the outfit and the next person in line puts it on. The first team to have everyone make it down and back wins.

Pro tip: Have students sit down once they’ve finished, so it’s easy to see who’s left on each team.

If you have room for it, you can take this game to the next level by introducing an obstacle course or challenges such as hopping on one foot to the end, hula hoops they have to use for 10 seconds, objects to jump over or run around, etc.

5. HUMAN KNOT

Cost: Free
Prep time: 0 minutes
Messy?: No
Supplies: None

For this youth group game you need an even number of people on each team—so have the students form teams and then fill in with leaders. Teams can be anywhere from 4–20 people. (But it gets much harder the more people you have per team.)

Each team stands in a circle, and every person grabs a hand from two different people across from them. When you give the signal to start, each team races to untangle themselves without letting go of anyone’s hand. The goal is to end in a circle with no hands in the middle. As the groups untangle themselves, some people will wind up facing the inside of the circle and others will face the outside.

This game takes a lot of cooperation and communication as kids try to problem-solve, give each other directions, and maneuver around.

7. FRUIT BASEBALL

Cost: Varies
Prep time: About an hour
Messy?: Yes
Supplies: Lots of fruit (vegetables are OK too), baseball bat, goggles (optional)

8. ICE BLOCK RACING

Cost: Varies
Prep time: Less than an hour
Messy?: Wet
Supplies: Blocks of ice, cones (optional)

There’s probably a store near you that sells large blocks of ice. Buy at least two of them (one for each team you plan on having). This is a good old-fashioned relay, and you’ll want to do it on the grass. Have one kid from each team lay on top of the ice block and hug the sides with their arms. Someone else will hold their legs and either push or pull them to a cone (or whatever you use to designate the end of the course) and back. Then they switch: the student who was pushing or pulling hugs the ice block, and the next student in line takes their place. Have kids sit in the back of the line when they finish their leg of the relay.

10. THE AMAZING RACE

Cost: Free
Prep time: 2+ hours
Messy?: No
Supplies: Envelopes, paper

If you have the time to plan and prepare, you can turn part of your town or a local park into a course for The Amazing Race.

Choose a series of popular, easily recognizable locations to form your course. You’ll need to create easily solvable clues that lead teams from one location to the next. To begin, each team gets a clue to the first location, and as they complete challenges at each place, they’ll get clues to the next location until they finish the course.

At each station, you’ll need to come up with a challenge kids have to complete which may or may not be related to the location. (Ex: Make a three point shot on the basketball course, send your whole team across the monkey bars backwards, guess the flavors in a smoothie, take a picture with a stranger wearing green, etc.) Have a leader at each station to explain the challenge and hand out the next clue.

Set a time limit, and make sure everyone knows what time the game ends and when they need to be back at the starting location–whether they completed the course or not.

Pro tip: As much as possible, be sure your course doesn’t send students into busy intersections, and don’t forget to review basic safety guidelines before you begin—teenagers can always use a reminder.

12. WHAT’S UNDER THE BOX?

Cost: $
Prep time: a couple hours
Messy?: Yes
Supplies: long table with a hole on one side, big tablecloth, stopwatch, watermelon, wig, baseball bat, a couple random items (such as a shoe, a football, or phone), a few large boxes

This is a game that tricks both the participants and the audience. To start you’ll need to cut a hole in a table that’s big enough to comfortably fit someone’s head through from underneath, and a tablecloth (with a matching hole) that’s long enough to conceal a person under the table.

Before you set up the game, call up three contestants. Two of them can be random, but one should be a kid you can trust to ham it up and be a little crazy. Ideally this person should be a baseball or softball player, but it’s fine if they aren’t. Take these kids aside to where they can’t see the setup or hear you explain the game to the audience.

Arrange the tablecloth on the table, place the random items on top along with the baseball bat, and cover them with the boxes. (The bat should be the last item before the hole.) Have a leader put the wig on and crawl under the table with the watermelon, put their head through the hole, and cover them with a box.

Here’s what you’ll tell the audience:

“Our contestants think they’re racing to identify the items we’re going to put under the boxes on this table. I’m going to time them, and they’re going to flip over the boxes one at a time to guess what’s underneath. [Flip the boxes to show them.] But when they get to the last box, this is what will happen. [Flip the last box and have the leader yell.]”

(Make sure the leader is facing the contestants, not the audience.)

Here’s what you’ll tell the contestants:

“You’re going to go out there and when you hear, ‘Go,’ flip over the first box, shout out what’s under it, and move to the next one. The person who names all four items the fastest wins.”

As each contestant comes out, repeat these instructions and remind them that you’re timing them.

When you get to the pre-picked contestant, you’ll give them their own separate instructions, and something different will happen. Have the leader put the wig on the watermelon, and put the watermelon through the hole instead of their head. When the pre-picked kid removes the box, the leader will still yell, the kid will pretend to freak out, grab the bat, and smash the watermelon.

Pro tip: Make sure the leader keeps their hands on the very bottom of the watermelon, and that they don’t raise the watermelon too high so that the audience doesn’t see their hand. Also, pick a big crazy wig that will cover plenty of the melon.

15. SODA SOCK

Cost: $10
Prep time: less than an hour
Messy?: Yes
Supplies: enough cans or bottles of soda for each contestant to have one, garbage can

17. CLEAN UP A PARK

Public parks are for everyone in your community to enjoy. They can also be difficult to maintain and keep pristine. In just a couple hours, your youth group can bless your community and serve your neighbors in a tangible way by cleaning up this shared space.

You may even find that it creates opportunities for conversation too. People will be curious why so many kids are picking up trash and cleaning up the area, and some of them may even want to join you. Make sure you help your students understand the connection between acts of service and their faith in Christ, so, if anyone asks, they’ll be able to talk about why this park and this community matter to your church and why you see this as an act of love.

You could also talk to your city council or parks and recreation department to find out about projects where they could use volunteers. This could allow your students to do some more interesting jobs (like landscaping), and if your parks are already pretty clean, this is another good way to have a visible impact.

If you can, try to take before and after pictures to help kids feel a stronger sense of accomplishment. Pile your trash bags together so your students can see that they’ve made a difference.

Pro tip: Have your students and leaders wear matching shirts that communicate what church you’re from. This will help others visually connect your act of service to a church that cares about the community, regardless of whether or not neighbors talk to you.

1. ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS CHAMPION, AKA “BIGGEST FAN”

Prep time: 0 minutes
Messy?: No
Supplies: None

If you tell a bunch of kids you’re going to play Rock, Paper, Scissors, they’ll probably roll their eyes at you, even if you’ve come up with a cool variation like Pirate, Ninja, Knight (or whatever). What makes Rock, Paper, Scissors Champion fun is that it quickly descends into madness.

Everyone picks an opponent and plays Rock, Paper, Scissors, or whatever wacky variation you come up with. Best two out of three. Or not. It doesn’t matter. Whoever loses becomes the “biggest fan” of the person who just beat them. Then together they go and find a new opponent for the winner to play, and the fan cheers on their “champion.” Each round, the loser and their fans become fans of the winner. Eventually you’ll wind up with about half the group cheering and screaming for one person, and the other half cheering for another.

Encourage kids to cheer for the person who beats them by name—so if they don’t know the person’s name, now they have to learn it.

3. ALL HANDS ON DECK

Cost: Free
Prep time: 0 minutes
Messy?: No
Supplies: None

6. TRIVIA NIGHT

Cost: Varies
Prep time: 1–2 hours
Messy?: No
Supplies: Paper and pens

You can run a trivia night however you want, but you may want some optional supplies to make it feel more official: tables, chairs, lamps (for ambiance), a projector, a microphone, speakers, a whiteboard, and snacks.

The bulk of the prep work is coming up with trivia categories and questions. Obviously, the more categories and questions you come up with, the longer your trivia night will last. This is a good task to delegate to leaders or work on as a team. Make sure your categories and questions are relevant to the kids in your group (the broader the better), but here are some categories you might use:

Social media
Celebrities
Sports
Music
Movies
Food
Youth leaders
Resist the temptation to make every question ridiculously hard. At most, you should have one really tough question per category.

You can make trivia night into a really fun, out-of-the-ordinary event by putting additional effort into the ambiance. Use lamps instead of the regular lights to make it feel more like a café. Let kids enjoy snacks while they discuss the questions together. You could even create a snack menu and have leaders be “servers” for the night, bringing students their “orders.” As the host announces each question on the microphone, include it on the projector too. Keep track of each team’s score on the whiteboard.

You can do a minimal version of this with just paper and pens, but if you take the time to make trivia night more elaborate, it could easily become an annual tradition and one of the highlights of your youth group.

Outdoor Youth Group Games
When the weather is nice (or at least tolerable), it opens up opportunities to play some messier, more involved games. Some of these can be played inside, but they’ll be easier to clean up if you just give everyone a change of scenery and head to a field or parking lot.

9. “SNOWBALL” FIGHT

Cost: $$
Prep time: about an hour
Messy?: Yes
Supplies: Tons of jumbo marshmallows

This youth group is a total free-for-all where kids and leaders get to pelt each other with giant marshmallows. (Regular marshmallows will work in a pinch, but if you can find jumbo ones, they’re a lot more fun!)

If you want, you can form teams and turn this into marshmallow dodgeball, but it’s still plenty of fun to just spread out the marshmallows and let kids go crazy.

11. BIGGER OR BETTER

Cost: $
Prep time: less than an hour
Messy?: No
Supplies: paperclips or pennies, drivers

13. CHARADES WITH A TWIST

Cost: Free
Prep time: 0 minutes
Messy?: No
Supplies: One chair

For this youth group game, it’s extra important that you know your students and choose ones who will thrive under the attention. You can choose any number of kids, but 3–5 is probably ideal. Pull these kids aside to a place where they can’t hear the person leading the game and the audience can’t hear them. Have another leader assign each of your volunteers a scene they’ll have to act out using the chair. You’re welcome to come up with your own ideas, but here are some that work well:

Watching your favorite team score the winning touchdown (feel free to substitute another sport)
Going on a rollercoaster
Riding a bucking bronco
Sitting on a cactus
Watching a scary movie
Encourage them to really get into it so everyone can tell what they’re doing.

But here’s what you’ll tell the audience:

“We’ve asked each of our volunteers to show you how they go to the bathroom.”

After each student acts out their scene, tell them, “Wow! That was really interesting! Thanks for showing us how you use the bathroom.”

14. EGG BLOW

Cost: less than $20
Prep time: less than one hour
Messy?: Yes
Supplies: clear and flexible tubing, eggs, funnel, garbage can

Band kids and athletes tend to do well in this gross test of lung capacity and stamina, but anyone can participate. Choose four students and pair them up for 1v1 matches. Put the funnel into the clear tubing and crack an egg into it. Hold the tube so that the egg settles into the middle, and then have the first pair of kids each take a side, and put the garbage can between them.

When you give the signal to start, they’re going to try to blow the egg into the other person’s mouth. If the egg reaches someone’s mouth or they bail and dump it in the garbage, they lose. After each pair goes, have the winners face off to determine the champion.

Note: Any non-toxic clear tubing will do, but make sure the diameter is wide enough for the egg to easily fit ( ¾ inch clear vinyl tubing should be easy to find at a hardware store). If you have to buy a long tube, you’ll probably want to cut in. A few feet should be plenty.

16. VISIT A NURSING HOME

Visiting a nursing home is a wonderful way for your youth group to serve together because everyone can do it, and it shows your kids that sometimes attention and conversation are profound gifts we can use to love others.

Your students will be nervous about talking to strangers, and they may struggle to find common ground. So, before you go, talk to your group about ways they might start a conversation, or encourage them to play a boardgame with someone. You may also want to caution them about some of the things they might see or experience. Equip them to be successful. Give them tools to show the residents and staff that they are loved and that they matter.

Pro tip: Call the nursing home you plan to visit in advance. Talk to them about the ideal times for a large group of visitors. It will also help to get a heads up about their specific guidelines and any recommendations they have about what to bring (games, books, small pets, etc.).

18. NEIGHBORHOOD WORK PARTIES

Parents know it’s hard enough to get teenagers to help take care of their own yards and homes. So it really says something when they’re willing to give up their time for free to help their neighbors. And regardless of whether people are able to do their own yard and house maintenance, many people will appreciate the gift of a cleaner yard.

Depending on the season, where you live, and what equipment you or your neighbors have, students could do jobs like:

Rake leaves
Shovel snow
Mow lawns
Fill in holes
Trim hedges
Plant flowers
Clean gutters
The point is to find needs that people don’t have the time, energy, or desire to take care of themselves.

Pro tip: Make sure your teams of students and leaders tell people that you’re looking for work people would like help with for free. If you don’t make a point of saying that, most people will assume you’re doing a fundraiser or something, and some will say no simply because they don’t want to pay for help. And that’s not the point of this.

2. WHO AM I?

Cost: Free
Prep time: 0 minutes
Messy?: No
Supplies: None

Get one flashcard for every kid and leader you expect to have at your youth group (plus some extras, just in case). On each flashcard write the name of a celebrity or fictional character. The more well-known they are, the better. They could be actors, musicians, athletes, public figures, superheros, or characters from books or movies. Be sure to pick people your students will know and appreciate, not just the famous people your leaders grew up with!

Give every kid one of the cards and don’t let them see the name on it. Have them hold or tape the card on their forehead with the name facing out, find another person, and ask one yes or no question about the name on their card. Be sure to give kids plenty of example questions to use, such as:

“Am I someone who’s alive right now?”
“Am I a real person?”
“Have I been in a movie?”
“Do I make music?”
“Do I have a beard?”

Make sure kids only ask each person one question so that they have to move around and talk to multiple people. Once they feel ready, they can try to guess who they are. When kids guess correctly, they can still help give other people clues. You can end the youth group game after a certain amount of time so nobody feels singled out if they couldn’t figure out who they were, or you can give bigger hints toward the end.

4. COSTUME RELAY

Prep time: less than an hour
Messy?: No
Supplies: two or more absurd (and large) outfits, preferably with a couple of layers

The only prep for this youth group game is to find some weird costumes or outfits for kids to wear. You want this to be awkward to run in, and it should take a while to put it on and take it off. Make sure you have a big room, a gym, or outdoor space for kids to move around.

Break the students into even teams and have them line up on one side of the room. When you say “go,” start music or give some other signal to begin. The first kid in line puts the outfit on and races to the other end of the room and back. (You can mark the “end” with a leader, a cone, a coat, or literally anything.) As each kid runs down and back, they take off the outfit and the next person in line puts it on. The first team to have everyone make it down and back wins.

Pro tip: Have students sit down once they’ve finished, so it’s easy to see who’s left on each team.

If you have room for it, you can take this game to the next level by introducing an obstacle course or challenges such as hopping on one foot to the end, hula hoops they have to use for 10 seconds, objects to jump over or run around, etc.

5. HUMAN KNOT

Cost: Free
Prep time: 0 minutes
Messy?: No
Supplies: None

For this youth group game you need an even number of people on each team—so have the students form teams and then fill in with leaders. Teams can be anywhere from 4–20 people. (But it gets much harder the more people you have per team.)

Each team stands in a circle, and every person grabs a hand from two different people across from them. When you give the signal to start, each team races to untangle themselves without letting go of anyone’s hand. The goal is to end in a circle with no hands in the middle. As the groups untangle themselves, some people will wind up facing the inside of the circle and others will face the outside.

This game takes a lot of cooperation and communication as kids try to problem-solve, give each other directions, and maneuver around.

7. FRUIT BASEBALL

Cost: Varies
Prep time: About an hour
Messy?: Yes
Supplies: Lots of fruit (vegetables are OK too), baseball bat, goggles (optional)

8. ICE BLOCK RACING

Cost: Varies
Prep time: Less than an hour
Messy?: Wet
Supplies: Blocks of ice, cones (optional)

There’s probably a store near you that sells large blocks of ice. Buy at least two of them (one for each team you plan on having). This is a good old-fashioned relay, and you’ll want to do it on the grass. Have one kid from each team lay on top of the ice block and hug the sides with their arms. Someone else will hold their legs and either push or pull them to a cone (or whatever you use to designate the end of the course) and back. Then they switch: the student who was pushing or pulling hugs the ice block, and the next student in line takes their place. Have kids sit in the back of the line when they finish their leg of the relay.

10. THE AMAZING RACE

Cost: Free
Prep time: 2+ hours
Messy?: No
Supplies: Envelopes, paper

If you have the time to plan and prepare, you can turn part of your town or a local park into a course for The Amazing Race.

Choose a series of popular, easily recognizable locations to form your course. You’ll need to create easily solvable clues that lead teams from one location to the next. To begin, each team gets a clue to the first location, and as they complete challenges at each place, they’ll get clues to the next location until they finish the course.

At each station, you’ll need to come up with a challenge kids have to complete which may or may not be related to the location. (Ex: Make a three point shot on the basketball course, send your whole team across the monkey bars backwards, guess the flavors in a smoothie, take a picture with a stranger wearing green, etc.) Have a leader at each station to explain the challenge and hand out the next clue.

Set a time limit, and make sure everyone knows what time the game ends and when they need to be back at the starting location–whether they completed the course or not.

Pro tip: As much as possible, be sure your course doesn’t send students into busy intersections, and don’t forget to review basic safety guidelines before you begin—teenagers can always use a reminder.

12. WHAT’S UNDER THE BOX?

Cost: $
Prep time: a couple hours
Messy?: Yes
Supplies: long table with a hole on one side, big tablecloth, stopwatch, watermelon, wig, baseball bat, a couple random items (such as a shoe, a football, or phone), a few large boxes

This is a game that tricks both the participants and the audience. To start you’ll need to cut a hole in a table that’s big enough to comfortably fit someone’s head through from underneath, and a tablecloth (with a matching hole) that’s long enough to conceal a person under the table.

Before you set up the game, call up three contestants. Two of them can be random, but one should be a kid you can trust to ham it up and be a little crazy. Ideally this person should be a baseball or softball player, but it’s fine if they aren’t. Take these kids aside to where they can’t see the setup or hear you explain the game to the audience.

Arrange the tablecloth on the table, place the random items on top along with the baseball bat, and cover them with the boxes. (The bat should be the last item before the hole.) Have a leader put the wig on and crawl under the table with the watermelon, put their head through the hole, and cover them with a box.

Here’s what you’ll tell the audience:

“Our contestants think they’re racing to identify the items we’re going to put under the boxes on this table. I’m going to time them, and they’re going to flip over the boxes one at a time to guess what’s underneath. [Flip the boxes to show them.] But when they get to the last box, this is what will happen. [Flip the last box and have the leader yell.]”

(Make sure the leader is facing the contestants, not the audience.)

Here’s what you’ll tell the contestants:

“You’re going to go out there and when you hear, ‘Go,’ flip over the first box, shout out what’s under it, and move to the next one. The person who names all four items the fastest wins.”

As each contestant comes out, repeat these instructions and remind them that you’re timing them.

When you get to the pre-picked contestant, you’ll give them their own separate instructions, and something different will happen. Have the leader put the wig on the watermelon, and put the watermelon through the hole instead of their head. When the pre-picked kid removes the box, the leader will still yell, the kid will pretend to freak out, grab the bat, and smash the watermelon.

Pro tip: Make sure the leader keeps their hands on the very bottom of the watermelon, and that they don’t raise the watermelon too high so that the audience doesn’t see their hand. Also, pick a big crazy wig that will cover plenty of the melon.

15. SODA SOCK

Cost: $10
Prep time: less than an hour
Messy?: Yes
Supplies: enough cans or bottles of soda for each contestant to have one, garbage can

17. CLEAN UP A PARK

Public parks are for everyone in your community to enjoy. They can also be difficult to maintain and keep pristine. In just a couple hours, your youth group can bless your community and serve your neighbors in a tangible way by cleaning up this shared space.

You may even find that it creates opportunities for conversation too. People will be curious why so many kids are picking up trash and cleaning up the area, and some of them may even want to join you. Make sure you help your students understand the connection between acts of service and their faith in Christ, so, if anyone asks, they’ll be able to talk about why this park and this community matter to your church and why you see this as an act of love.

You could also talk to your city council or parks and recreation department to find out about projects where they could use volunteers. This could allow your students to do some more interesting jobs (like landscaping), and if your parks are already pretty clean, this is another good way to have a visible impact.

If you can, try to take before and after pictures to help kids feel a stronger sense of accomplishment. Pile your trash bags together so your students can see that they’ve made a difference.

Pro tip: Have your students and leaders wear matching shirts that communicate what church you’re from. This will help others visually connect your act of service to a church that cares about the community, regardless of whether or not neighbors talk to you.

1. ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS CHAMPION, AKA “BIGGEST FAN”

Prep time: 0 minutes
Messy?: No
Supplies: None

If you tell a bunch of kids you’re going to play Rock, Paper, Scissors, they’ll probably roll their eyes at you, even if you’ve come up with a cool variation like Pirate, Ninja, Knight (or whatever). What makes Rock, Paper, Scissors Champion fun is that it quickly descends into madness.

Everyone picks an opponent and plays Rock, Paper, Scissors, or whatever wacky variation you come up with. Best two out of three. Or not. It doesn’t matter. Whoever loses becomes the “biggest fan” of the person who just beat them. Then together they go and find a new opponent for the winner to play, and the fan cheers on their “champion.” Each round, the loser and their fans become fans of the winner. Eventually you’ll wind up with about half the group cheering and screaming for one person, and the other half cheering for another.

Encourage kids to cheer for the person who beats them by name—so if they don’t know the person’s name, now they have to learn it.

3. ALL HANDS ON DECK

Cost: Free
Prep time: 0 minutes
Messy?: No
Supplies: None

6. TRIVIA NIGHT

Cost: Varies
Prep time: 1–2 hours
Messy?: No
Supplies: Paper and pens

You can run a trivia night however you want, but you may want some optional supplies to make it feel more official: tables, chairs, lamps (for ambiance), a projector, a microphone, speakers, a whiteboard, and snacks.

The bulk of the prep work is coming up with trivia categories and questions. Obviously, the more categories and questions you come up with, the longer your trivia night will last. This is a good task to delegate to leaders or work on as a team. Make sure your categories and questions are relevant to the kids in your group (the broader the better), but here are some categories you might use:

Social media
Celebrities
Sports
Music
Movies
Food
Youth leaders
Resist the temptation to make every question ridiculously hard. At most, you should have one really tough question per category.

You can make trivia night into a really fun, out-of-the-ordinary event by putting additional effort into the ambiance. Use lamps instead of the regular lights to make it feel more like a café. Let kids enjoy snacks while they discuss the questions together. You could even create a snack menu and have leaders be “servers” for the night, bringing students their “orders.” As the host announces each question on the microphone, include it on the projector too. Keep track of each team’s score on the whiteboard.

You can do a minimal version of this with just paper and pens, but if you take the time to make trivia night more elaborate, it could easily become an annual tradition and one of the highlights of your youth group.

Outdoor Youth Group Games
When the weather is nice (or at least tolerable), it opens up opportunities to play some messier, more involved games. Some of these can be played inside, but they’ll be easier to clean up if you just give everyone a change of scenery and head to a field or parking lot.

9. “SNOWBALL” FIGHT

Cost: $$
Prep time: about an hour
Messy?: Yes
Supplies: Tons of jumbo marshmallows

This youth group is a total free-for-all where kids and leaders get to pelt each other with giant marshmallows. (Regular marshmallows will work in a pinch, but if you can find jumbo ones, they’re a lot more fun!)

If you want, you can form teams and turn this into marshmallow dodgeball, but it’s still plenty of fun to just spread out the marshmallows and let kids go crazy.

11. BIGGER OR BETTER

Cost: $
Prep time: less than an hour
Messy?: No
Supplies: paperclips or pennies, drivers

13. CHARADES WITH A TWIST

Cost: Free
Prep time: 0 minutes
Messy?: No
Supplies: One chair

For this youth group game, it’s extra important that you know your students and choose ones who will thrive under the attention. You can choose any number of kids, but 3–5 is probably ideal. Pull these kids aside to a place where they can’t hear the person leading the game and the audience can’t hear them. Have another leader assign each of your volunteers a scene they’ll have to act out using the chair. You’re welcome to come up with your own ideas, but here are some that work well:

Watching your favorite team score the winning touchdown (feel free to substitute another sport)
Going on a rollercoaster
Riding a bucking bronco
Sitting on a cactus
Watching a scary movie
Encourage them to really get into it so everyone can tell what they’re doing.

But here’s what you’ll tell the audience:

“We’ve asked each of our volunteers to show you how they go to the bathroom.”

After each student acts out their scene, tell them, “Wow! That was really interesting! Thanks for showing us how you use the bathroom.”

14. EGG BLOW

Cost: less than $20
Prep time: less than one hour
Messy?: Yes
Supplies: clear and flexible tubing, eggs, funnel, garbage can

Band kids and athletes tend to do well in this gross test of lung capacity and stamina, but anyone can participate. Choose four students and pair them up for 1v1 matches. Put the funnel into the clear tubing and crack an egg into it. Hold the tube so that the egg settles into the middle, and then have the first pair of kids each take a side, and put the garbage can between them.

When you give the signal to start, they’re going to try to blow the egg into the other person’s mouth. If the egg reaches someone’s mouth or they bail and dump it in the garbage, they lose. After each pair goes, have the winners face off to determine the champion.

Note: Any non-toxic clear tubing will do, but make sure the diameter is wide enough for the egg to easily fit ( ¾ inch clear vinyl tubing should be easy to find at a hardware store). If you have to buy a long tube, you’ll probably want to cut in. A few feet should be plenty.

16. VISIT A NURSING HOME

Visiting a nursing home is a wonderful way for your youth group to serve together because everyone can do it, and it shows your kids that sometimes attention and conversation are profound gifts we can use to love others.

Your students will be nervous about talking to strangers, and they may struggle to find common ground. So, before you go, talk to your group about ways they might start a conversation, or encourage them to play a boardgame with someone. You may also want to caution them about some of the things they might see or experience. Equip them to be successful. Give them tools to show the residents and staff that they are loved and that they matter.

Pro tip: Call the nursing home you plan to visit in advance. Talk to them about the ideal times for a large group of visitors. It will also help to get a heads up about their specific guidelines and any recommendations they have about what to bring (games, books, small pets, etc.).

18. NEIGHBORHOOD WORK PARTIES

Parents know it’s hard enough to get teenagers to help take care of their own yards and homes. So it really says something when they’re willing to give up their time for free to help their neighbors. And regardless of whether people are able to do their own yard and house maintenance, many people will appreciate the gift of a cleaner yard.

Depending on the season, where you live, and what equipment you or your neighbors have, students could do jobs like:

Rake leaves
Shovel snow
Mow lawns
Fill in holes
Trim hedges
Plant flowers
Clean gutters
The point is to find needs that people don’t have the time, energy, or desire to take care of themselves.

Pro tip: Make sure your teams of students and leaders tell people that you’re looking for work people would like help with for free. If you don’t make a point of saying that, most people will assume you’re doing a fundraiser or something, and some will say no simply because they don’t want to pay for help. And that’s not the point of this.

Crossroads Church

209 W South Ave

Chippewa Falls, WI 54729

Phone: 1+ 715-723-1054

Email: crossroadscf.church@gmail.com

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