Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Youth Ideas: Find the Leader

Materials
Optional: Chairs for each participant arranged in a circle. (Participants may also simply sit on the ground.)

Icebreaker Description
Participants try to discover the leader who is initiating actions for the group.

Preparation
No preparation is needed.

Icebreaker Activity

  1. Have the youth sit in a circle.
  2. Chose someone to be "It" who must identify "the leader" who is initiating actions for the group.
  3. Send the person you have chosen out of the room or have the person closes his eyes.
  4. Silently point to the leader so that everyone else knows who the leader is.
  5. The leader will initiate actions and change body positions.
  6. Everyone must copy the body position and actions of the leader.
  7. The person you have chosen as "it" stands in the center of the circle and tries to discover the identity of the leader.
  8. When the leader is identified, choose a new leader and someone new to be "it" and repeat the game.

Optional Debrief

  • How do you recognise a leader in real life?
  • Name some of the leaders you know?
  • What leaders do you admire? Why?
  • What are the qualities of a good leader?

Alternative: Have you ever done anything in secret and hoped you would not get caught?

Conclusion
One of the most important qualities of an effective leader is that he sets an example for others to follow. A true leader doesn't just tell others what to do, but also leads the way. A leader is only a leader to the extent that he/she inspires others to follow him/her.

Application
What are some of the areas of your life where you need to set an example for others to follow?

Scripture
1 Corinthians 11:1



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Monday, March 12, 2012

Youth Leadership Lessons: Easter Forward and Backwards

Materials
List of actions, Chairs in a circle, one chair per person.

Game Play
1. Sit everyone in a chair and then give instructions for participants to follow. Instructions should be related to Easter.

2. If someone is in the chair you move to, just sit on his or her lap. You can stack people three or four high.

3. The first person to make it all the way around the circle wins. Have youth to take note of the chair they start in before you begin calling out situations.


Sample Phrases
"If you have on a cross, move forward 1 chair"
"If you ate an egg today move back 3 chairs"
"If you have been on an Easter Egg Hunt, move forward 2 chairs"
"If you have been to a sunrise service move forward 2 chairs."
"If you have 30 silver coins in your pocket, move back 3 chairs."
"If you have ridden a donkey move forward 1 chair."
"if you have heard a live rooster crow move backward 3 chairs."
"If you are wearing perfume move forward 1 chair."
"If you are wearing purple move forward 1 chair."
"If you have accepted Christ move forward 1 chair."
"If you are wearing a pastel color move backward 1 chair."
"If you eat the ears first from chocolate Easter Bunnies move backward 1 chair."
"If you have eaten a Hot Cross Bun move forward 1 chair."
"If you are wearing new clothes move forward 1 chair."
"If you have read the Easter Story in your Bible today move forward 2 chairs."
"If you gave someone here an Easter Card move forward 1 chair."
"If you attended a Good Friday Service move forward 1 chair."
"If you are wearing ribbons move backward 1 chair."
"If you have eaten Jelly Beans today move forward 1 chair."
"If you have thanked God today for his sacrifice on the Cross move forward 1 chair."
ADD your own...



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Youth Ideas: Connected

This icebreaker game is often called “spider web” because at the end of the icebreaker, a large web of interconnected strong or yarn will be created. You can use this icebreaker to discuss interdependence on one another, picking up the slack for another person, uplifting others, and teamwork.

Description
Sitting in a circle, youth toss a ball of string to someone else in the circle. The person receiving the string must name a quality, item, or something else related to the topic or keyword.

Resources
Ball of string or yarn

Preparation
None

What to Do
In the classic variation of this icebreaker, students introduce their name and one characteristic about themselves before tossing it to another person in the circle. Here’s how it works:

  1. Sit the group on the floor in a circle with everyone facing inward toward the center of the circle.
  2. Tell everyone your name and one characteristics about yourself. You could also have everyone answer the same a common question like “What is your favorite ice-cream?”
  3. Holding firmly to the end of the string, toss the ball of string to someone in the circle who has not yet received the string.
  4. The person receiving the string gives his/her name and one characteristic.
  5. Then, holding firmly onto the string, he or she tosses the ball on to another person.
  6. The string should be held tightly and above the ground at all times.
  7. Continue until everyone has received the string at least once and told the group their name and one characteristic.

Variations:

  • Use this icebreaker to discuss how the members all depend on each other.
    The first person who receives the string introduces him/herself and role in the organization or group. Then before tossing the ball to another person, tells how he or she is dependent upon that person.

Taking it to the Next Level

  1. Have someone in the group pull the string – What happens?
  2. Have everyone pull the string tight then cut the string in the middle – What happens?
  3. In what ways does this string represent various relationships in the group?
  • Our relationships are intertwined and connected.
  • If a single person pulls the string it affects everyone in the group to varying degrees, depending on how closely they are connected.
  • If one person’s string is cut – the relationship is broken, it affects all.
  • We need to support each other and not let others down

Action Point
What is one thing you will commit to do in order to support others in the group?



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Youth Leadership Lessons: Barnyard

Materials
A list of animals that are easily characterised by their sounds.

Crowdbreaker Description
Youth make the sounds of animals and follow the sounds to find the rest of their teammates

Preparation
Make a list of animals that are easily characterised by their sounds. Some Possibilities are:
Cows or Bulls, Tigers or Lions, Pigs, Chickens or Roosters, Donkeys, Sheep, Dogs or Wolves, Turkeys, Owls, Ducks, Snakes, Dolphins, Seals, Monkeys or Gorillas or Apes, Frogs or Toads, Elephants

Crowdbreaker Activity
Assign an animal to every person in the room making sure that the animals assigned are scattered around the room. Then shut out the lights (or have participants close their eyes) and have the participants make the animal sound assigned to them. They must then mingle around the room (in the dark) listening for the other animals of their kind and group together.

Variation
Number people off as they enter the room. Later assign animals to the numbers. Great for splitting up participants into random groups.



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Youth Ideas: A Little About Yourself

Choose one of the following questions or statements, then have kids introduce themselves by stating their names and responses to the question or statement.

* What is the loudest noise you've ever heard?
* What is your earliest memory?
* What is one thing you hope will happen in this group?
* Name all of the places you have lived.
* What is the funniest movie scene you've seen?
* Tell about a nickname you had as a child.
* Describe the most extreme weather condition you've been in.
* Name one good thing that has happened in another group you have been in.
* Where is your favorite place in nature?
* What is your middle name, or what do you think it should have been?
* Describe the best meal you've ever eaten.
* What's your favorite song? (To add some risk, ask kids to sing a few bars.)
* Describe the most unusual thing that's happened to you.
* What's the best thing a friend ever told you?
* What's the worse chore you've ever had?

Select a new question or statement each time you meet with kids.



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Youth Leadership Lessons: Types of Scavenger Hunts

Scavenger hunts have been popular with youth, adults, and children throughout the ages. With the recent popularity of "The Amazing Race" and reality TV shows, scavenger hunts are just as popular today as they have ever been. They can take a variety of forms, be modified with different rules, and be tailored to a variety of themes, locations, and age groups. They are great for building community, fostering team work, and generating lots of fun and excitement.

Here are some of the more common types of Scavenger Hunts.

Classic Scavenger Hunt
This is the traditional scavenger hunt where participants are given a list of items to retrieve and bring back within a designated time limit. Examples include both common and hard to find items like: a basketball, an 8 track tape, a spork, a coin with a specific date, or a postage stamp. The scavenger hunt consists of a list of the selected objects and some rules. Variations may allow photos of an object to replace the actual object or creative substitutions. The rules may forbid the purchase of items or restrict the participants from going to their own homes or malls to collect items. Various points are assigned to the objects based upon the difficulty necessary to obtain them. Themes can focus the items and add fun to the hunt. For example, a superhero scavenger hunt may require them to bring costumes, comics and other collectibles related to specific superheroes.

Destination Unknown
In this scavenger hunt, clues lead participants to a specific destination where they find a clue to the next location. Successive clues will ultimately lead them to a specific location where there is a party. Clues may be in the form of riddles or directions to follow and serve to guide participants to famous landmarks and other locations. Sometimes helpers are positioned at the various locations to hand out the next clue. In other places the clues may be hidden under a park bench or other inconspicuous locations where the public is not likely to remove them.

Find the Pieces Scavenger Hunt
Hide pieces of a jigsaw puzzle around the designated game area. This could be a school, a church, or even a local park. Instead of a puzzle you can use any machine or object that has multiple pieces. As an Example, for a Halloween party you could purchase plastic skeletons and disassemble them, hiding the bones before the party starts. Let the participants search for them and then reassemble the skeleton. Hide batteries, a tape recorder, and a cassette tape with a pre-recorded message describing the next clue. Hide chess pieces, ingredients for a meal, or even clothes and accessories. One of the activities may be to dress up as superman, but to do so they must collect several pieces of the costume which have been strategically hidden around the game area.

Information Scavenger Hunt
Instead of retrieving objects, or taking pictures, participants in this scavenger hunt must find information. It could be the date on a tombstone, the last item on a restaurant menu, the inscription on a cornerstone, or any other factual information that requires participants to visit a specific location. Victory goes to the first team to correctly collect the most answers or to the team with the most answers in the time limit.

Mystery Photo Hunt
In this scavenger hunt you scout out the location in advance with a digital camera. Take photos of textures, objects, landmarks, unspecified locations, and items from around the venue. Tightly crop them so that they are not easily identifiable. The images should be tightly cropped to a small square that only shows a portion of the object. Examples: The last few letters on a street sign, a small portion of a painting n the wall, a statue from a local park, the nose of a sculpture, the number 8 from an elevator, the intricately carved frame of a wooden door, the hose of a fire extinguisher, the handle on a cabinet, and others. Participants are then given a printout of all the photos and must identify each object and where it is located within the time limit. Online examples of this can be found at:
What in the World
Mystery Photos
Close-Up

People Scavenger Hunts
In various incarnations, these scavenger hunts have groups search for people rather than objects. These could be people that participants know or total strangers. Participants can be required to get autographs, business cards, or photographs with the persons in order to prove they found them. Targets may be in disguise, dressed as certain characters from famous books, or simply roaming about a large mall.

Photo Scavenger Hunt
In this scavenger hunt, participants must take photos of their group with objects or in specific situations. The scavenger hunt format is a list of situations and objects to be included in the photos. One common variation is to include an object that must be present in every photograph such as a school mascot, a flag, a teddy bear or even something as outrageous as a couch. Participants may be given an instant 35mm camera or a digital camera. Boundaries and time limits can be used to limit the scope and duration of the game. Pictures are variously awarded points based upon meeting the stipulations of the photos and the creativity of the teams.

Pre-Arranged Scavenger Hunt
This is similar to the classic scavenger hunt, but the items are placed in the designated playing area in advance. A traditional Easter Egg is a common version of this hunt. Participants may be given a general instruction to "Find all the wrapped Christmas packages" or be given a list of specific items to find. In one variation, participants are to leave the item in place and merely note the exact location of the item. Alternatively the first team to locate the item and retrieve it will get the points. There may be more than one item hidden about the play area. You can even hide an item for each team to find. Simply color code the items with a piece of colored yard or thread. Disqualify any team that interferes with another team's items.

Sound Scavenger Hunt
Instead of retrieving objects, students are given a tape recorder or other audio recording device and given a list of sounds to record. Sounds may include those made by objects, such as a ticking clock, ringing church bell, something announced on the radio or a radio commercial, a message from a person, animal sounds, and many others. The team that collects the most sounds from the list in the designated time is declared the winner.

Treasure Hunt
In a treasure hunt there is one final thing to search for rather than a list of items. Successive clues lead to a final destination where the treasure can be found. Teams compete against each other to solve the clues, and follow them to the treasure.

Video Scavenger Hunts
In this scavenger hunt, participants are given a list of actions and situations that must be filmed on video. Teams film video footage of themselves or other people in certain places and performing challenging and sometimes ridiculous tasks. Video is usually 30-45 seconds for each situation otherwise the time to view entries will be too long. This can be combined with community service so that some of the items might include the team raking leaves, helping someone take groceries to their car, etc.

Combination Scavenger Hunts
Combine various types of scavenger hunts together and tailor them to your theme. In this case the list will have situations to video or photograph as well as objects to retrieve, people to find, clues to solve, and facts to discover. Various items will appeal to various personalities so that everyone has fun.


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Youth Ideas: Thanksgiving Twister

Materials
Instead of a twister game sheet, cut Thanksgiving shapes from construction paper and use sticky-tack to adhere them to the floor. Make a twister spinner that includes right hand, left hand, right foot, left foot and another that contains the various Thanksgiving symbols.

Need a source for Thanksgiving images? Use a thanksgving font like this one:
Download file

Some optional symbols are:
Autumn Leaf, Corn, Cornucopia, Cranberries, Family, Mayflower ship, Pie, Pilgrim, Plymouth Rock, Pumpkin, Puritans, Turkey, Indian

Activity
Play a game of Twister, but instead of colored dots use pictures of Thanksgiving items taped to the floor. Change the spinner to reflect the pictures. If you don't have a spinner you can easily make one.

Variation
Instead of playing on an individual basis, divide the group into teams. The team with the last remaining members in the game wins.



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Youth Leadership Lessons: SuperBowl Charades

American Football is a national past-time and it doesn't get any better than the Superbowl. When the Superbowl comes around, why not take the opportunity to tackle a few games with your youth while you score a few goals for the kingdom of God. This is the first, of several ideas to take advantage of all the Superbowl hype to reach out the youth!

Introduction
In this classic variation of charades participants must act out phrases or words in order for team members to guess the correct phrase. The essence of Charades is pantomimes: you must act out a word or phrase without speaking or making any sound effects. For a Superbowl Party you can use the names of teams or football terms as items for the charades game.

Teams
Ravens, Bills, Bengals, Browns, Broncos, Texans, Colts, Jaguars, Chiefs, Dolphins, Patriots, Jets, Raiders, Steelers, Chargers, Titans, Cardinals, Falcons, Panthers, Bears, Cowboys, Lions, Packers, Vikings, Saints, Giants, Eagles, 49ers, Seahawks, Rams, Buccaneers, Redskins

Terms
Backfield, Bench, Block, Blitz, Catch, Center, Champion, Cheerleader, Clipping, Clock, Coach, Coin toss, Conversion, Cornerback, Defense, Defensive line, Drive, End zone, Extra point, Facemask, Fans, Field, Field Goal, First Down, Flag, Flanker, Football, Football field, Formation, Free kick, Fumble, Game, Goal line, Goal post, Grounding, Guard, H-Back, Hail Mary, Half time, Halfback, Handoff, Hash mark, Helmet, Hike, Holder, Holding, Huddle, Inbounds, Injury, Interception, Kick, Kickoff, Knee pad, Linebacker, Lineman, Locker-room, Noseguard, Offense, Offensive line, Option, Offsides, Out-of-Bounds, Overtime, Pass, Pass interference, Penalty, Pile up, Placekicker, Play, Player, Playbook, Punt, Punter, Quarter, Quarterback, Recovery, Referee, Return (kickoff), Run, Running Back, Rushing, Sack, Safety, Score, Scramble, Scrimmage line, Season, Secondary, Shoulder pads, Sideline, Slotback, Snap, Sneak, Spectators, Spike, Split end, Starter, Superbowl, Sweep, Tackle, Tailback, Team, Tight ends, Time out, Touchback, Touchdown, Trap, Turnover, Water-boy, Wide receiver, Wingback, Winning Team, Yard line, Yardage

Game Description
Participants split into teams of 6 or more members and try to guess the Superbowl / American Football items from the person acting them out.

Game Materials
The key words / teams list

Game Preparation
You will need to create a list of items relating to American Football or the superbowl. Print them on slips of paper and put them in a bag to be drawn from when you play the game. In place of the half-time show and the possibility of "Wardrobe malfunctions"... have a Charades competition! How many items can your team guess during the halftime show?

Game Play

  1. Divide players into two teams.
  2. High die roll decides which team will play first.
  3. The first team selects a person to mime the phrase; all other first team players are then the Guessers. The mime must rotate so that everyone is required to mime a clue before someone can go again.
  4. Each time a new mime begins, he must draw a new name or phrase.
  5. A timer is used... an hourglass can be used or a 2 minute timer. (The opposing team keeps track of the time limit.)
  6. As one team mimes and guesses a name or phrase, the opposing team watches.
  7. As the mime pantomimes the words his teammates start shouting out what they think is being portrayed. Players can guess as many times as they want. Guessing is NOT done in turn!
  8. First, indicate to your team through motions (no words allowed) some indication of what you want to mime - a team, a football term, etc.
  9. Indicate how many words are in the title by holding up the same number of fingers as words. You might also indicate which word you are miming first by holding up a finger for that word. Usually you put the number of fingers flat against your arm to indicate the number of syllables in a word.
  10. Use clues along the way to guide the answers:
    • "sounds like" --cup your hand around your ear
    • "little word": bring your thumb and index fingers close together.
    • "Longer version of the word": pretend to stretch an elastic.
    • "Shorter version of the word": chop with your hand.
    • "close, keep guessing!": frantically wave hands to keep the guesses coming.
    • "Knows": Point to you nose to indicate that someone "knows" the word and is correct.
  11. Continue until all the words in the phrase are correct.
  12. If the Mime's team guesses correctly before the timer is emptied, the Mime's team gets one point and marks the score on a piece of paper. It is now the opposing team’s turn to mime and guess a new name or phrase from a new slip of paper.
  13. If the Mime's team does not guess correctly before the timer is emptied, they do not win the point. The opposing team then gets ten seconds to make one guess to win the point. If the opposing team guesses correctly, they win the point and mark the score on a separate sheet of paper. It is then their turn to mime and guess a new name or phrase. If the opposing team does not guess correctly, no one wins the point. It is now the opposing team’s turn to mime and guess a new name or phrase.
  14. Play alternates between teams with each phrase to be mimed.
  15. At the end of game play or the end of your clues, the team with the most correct guesses wins!

Discussion

  • How much do you know about football? Who's the football expert?
  • Do you have to know everything about the game to enjoy the football game?
  • Are there people who don't really care about football but get caught up in the excitement of the event? Why?
  • Do you need to know everything about the team players to enjoy the game?
  • What is it about the superbowl that gets people excited?
  • Are you as excited about God as you are about the Superbowl? Why or why not?
  • In what ways is the church (or this group) similar to a football team?
    (We are united as a team, we have a goal (the great commission), we work together to achieve a goal, there is opposition, sometimes unexpected things happen, sometimes we fumble in our tasks, sometimes we gain ground, while other times we lose ground, We have a coach (God), sometimes we have to defend against the opposition, time is short, there are people watching us (spectators), not everyone plays fair, there are penalties for mistakes, we must wear protective gear (armor of God), we have different positions on the team, there are people who are playing and there are people on the sidelines, we need a game plan, etc.)

Closing Application

  • Are you part of the team (A Christian?) Why or why not?
  • If you are, what is your position(role) in the team?
  • Are you on the sidelines or playing the game?
  • Are you a team player?
  • Are you focused on the goal?
  • What can you begin doing to help the team more effectively overcome the opposition and achieve the goals ahead?

Keep watch for more SuperBowl / American Football Ideas in the next couple of days!



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Youth Ideas: Sleepy Hollow

Introduction
Can you play the wacky game without losing your head?

Game Description
How quickly can you pass the hat around the circle? While you may not lose your head playing this game, the head to head play is wild and fun!

Game Materials
1 hat for each team -- Use cowboy hats for a western theme, baseball hats for a sports theme, etc., or simply find two of the wackiest hats you can.

Game Preparation
None

Game Play

  1. Divide the group into two evenly numbered circles all holding hands.
  2. Place a hat on the head of one player in each circle.
  3. The objective is to pass the hat round the circle from head to head without releasing your hands.
  4. The team which passes the hat round the circle first wins the game.

Variations
For a more difficult variation, play it with only right hands, or do not allow the use of hands at all!
For Halloween or a fall festival, use your favourite mask or hat from a costume!


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Friday, March 9, 2012

Youth Ideas: Scattered Nativity

Materials
Nativity scene with multiple individual pieces.

Game Play
This is a scavenger hunt type game. Hide the pieces from the nativity scene around the room. Some should be easy to find and some more difficult. Place one on the snack table, one could be in with the presents, one in the tree, and so on! Give each person a piece of paper and a pencil, the goal is to be the first person to locate all the items of the nativity scene and correctly write their locations on the paper.

Variation
Help Santa find his reindeer. 8 people (or 9) to find Santa's Reindeer will win a prize.

For more ideas, look out for the upcoming "Creative Scavenger Hunts" ebook.
It will contain over 100 scavenger hunt themes, ready made lists, rules and suggestions, and over 1000 items you can choose to create your own scavenger hunt. Creative Scavenger Hunts includes ideas for video hunts, photo hunts, sound hunts and a variety of other creative formats.

Sign up for the newsletter (Top right of webpage) to receive notification when the book is released and receive it at a special price.


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Youth Leadership Lessons: Red and Black

Game Description
In this classic simulation game, youth learn that not everything has to be an "I win" "you lose" scenario. It can be win-win.

Game Materials
About 20 slips of paper, 2 pencils, sweets

Optimal Group Size
Minimum of 8 youth

Game Venue
Can be played just about anywhere.

Game Preparation
(You may want to put these on a poster or give a copy of these instructions to each team)
Divide the large groups into two smaller groups, and explain that an experiment is about to take place. Give the following instructions: Each group will have 9 chances to choose a colour: either RED or BLACK.
Choices are rewarded according to the following guidelines:

  • If both groups choose BLACK - both get 3 sweets
  • If both groups choose RED - both loose 3 sweets
  • If one group chooses RED and the other BLACK - the group that chose RED get 5 sweets; and the group that chose BLACK loses 5

Two Requirements: (these must be stated clearly at the start):
1. Get as many sweets as possible
2. Do not hurt anybody

Game Play
Send the groups to opposite sides of the room and have them decide on their first choice. To make a choice the group simply decides on a colour and writes it on the piece of paper.
Then they present their choice to the facilitator.
The facilitator rewards the groups according to the instructions.
After the 4th or 5th round, ask if the groups want to negotiate - if they do, have them choose a negotiator and give the two negotiators a minute to decide on their strategy for the future choices. Then announce that the next round of choices will be worth three times as much. Continue the game until all rounds are complete.

Game Debrief

  1. What was your group's strategy? How did you decide what colour to choose?
  2. How did you treat the "minority" voice in your group?
  3. Did your group fulfil the two requirements? How?
  4. Did you trust the other group?
  5. Why did/didn't you want to negotiate with the other group?
  6. When did you decide to try and beat the other group?
  7. To beat the other group did you have to emphasis one requirement over the other?

Conclusion
No mention was made of competition, beating or winning - this is our natural tendency! If both or one group became involved in competition even though no mention was made that the exercise was based on competition lines, suggest that this is our natural tendency to satisfy our ego through being superior to others, or for selfishness and greed. Ultimately this is the cause of poverty, war and oppression in the world. The Bible calls it sin!

Application
What are some areas of your lie where you can work together for the benefit of others so that all can win?




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Youth Ideas: Persecuted?

Supplies
You'll need chairs. Form a large circle with enough chairs so that everyone but one person has a place to sit. Pick one person to stand in the middle, and ask everyone else to take a seat.

Activity
The object of the game is for the person in the middle to pick a seated person and ask him or her a question. For example, a question might be, "Are you wearing purple socks?" the response determines what the whole group will do. If the answer to the question is "yes," everyone must get up and move two chairs in either direction. When all the kids are on the move, the middle person will have an opportunity to get into a seat.

If the person answering the question responds "no," he or she is required to add a second part to the question, such as "but I know some people here today didn't brush their teeth this morning," or "but someone here has visited Europe before." If the second part of this statement is true about some of the seated kids, they must stand up and try to find other chairs. The person left standing without a chair is the one who must remain in the middle and ask the next 'yes' or 'no' question.

Debrief
You can end the activity by asking a person if he or she is a Christian and discuss what effect being a Christian might have on others. Do we stand out in a crowd as Christians? Will others accuse us of things? Sometimes in life we are persecuted because we are Christians. But Christ said that although we may have troubles as Christians we do not need to worry because he has overcome the world.



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Youth Leadership Lessons: Murder

Game Description
In this crowdbreaker, youth will try to guess the identity of a murderer, before they are murdered.

Game Materials
Deck of playing cards, chairs arranged in a circle for 6 to 52 players. Reduce the cards to the number of players available to insure someone gets the "murder" card.

Optimal Group Size
6 or more youth

Game Venue
Open area large enough for the groups to form a circle. This game can also be played as part of a youth camp. Simply decide the boundaries of when challenges/ murders can or cannot occur. One common variation allows challenges and kills only during mealtimes.

Game Preparation
None

Game Play

  1. Sit the group in a circle and pass out one card to each person, (they can not show their card to anyone else).
  2. In the cards passed out there needs to be a joker. The joker is the murderer, and the murderer's job is to kill everyone in the game. The murderer does this by winking at the others before he/she gets caught!
  3. Group members can jointly issue a challenge to identify the identity of the murder. There must be two challengers. Without discussion or communication between them of any kind, on the count of three they must each point to the person they believe to be the murderer.
  4. They should be careful. If they point to different people both challengers are dead and out of the game. This is true, even if one of them is correct about the identity of the murderer. If they both point to the same person, but that person is not the murderer, they are also killed.
  5. When a member sees someone wink at them, they have been killed, and they need to count (silently) to 5 and say, "I'm dead" and flip their card over. Alternatively they can liven it up with a dramatic death scene.
  6. If you have already been killed or died because you guessed incorrectly you can no longer guess the killer.


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Youth Ideas: Jelly Bean Relay

Materials
Large bag of Easter Jelly Beans and a roll of paper towels. Jelly Beans should be in equal numbers for each color.

Game Preparation
1. Form two teams and assign each team one or two colors of Jelly Beans. You can have as many teams as you have colors of Jelly Beans.
2. On the floor at one end of the room, unroll a several foot long strip of paper towels. Spread the Jelly Beans randomly over the entire length of paper towels and then have the teams line up at the other end of the room.

Game Objective
The objective is to be the first team to remove all the Jelly Beans of their assigned color.

Game Play
1. One at a time, team members rush to the paper towels, and bend down and use their teeth to pick up one Jelly Bean (team colors only and no hands allowed).
2. Once they have a Jelly Bean in their teeth, they stand back up, run back to their team.
3. They must then show the candy in their mouth to the next person in line, who shouts out the color.
4. If the color's wrong, the person must eat the candy and then go back and get another peice of candy of the correct color. When the color is correct, the person eats his/her candy and the next person goes to the paper towels and repeats the process.

Variation
Combine this with Jelly Bean Salvation for a fun Easter Gospel presentation.



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Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Youth Leadership Lessons: Harvest Festival Games

These are just couple of simple ideas of activities you can play at your next harvest festival or Halloween Alternative event.

1. Guess the weight of a pumpkin
Have the party guests guess the weight of a carved pumpkin jack-o-lantern. The person closest to the correct weight wins a prize!

2. Guess the Candy
Have the party guests guess the number of pieces of candy in a jar. The person who guesses closest to the correct number gets the whole jar of candy!


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Youth Ideas: Father's Business Trip

Game Description
In this game, children must remember the business trips of father's going through the alphabet.

Game Materials
None

Optimal Group Size
Any size group.

Game Venue
Anyplace

Game Preparation
None

Game Play

  1. Choose a student to begin.
  2. This student says, “My father [Name] is leaving on a business trip, and he is going to [a city or country item beginning with the letter “a”].
  3. The next student repeats, “ “My father [name] is leaving on a business trip, and he is going to [place listed by previous student for the letter “a”],” then adds and [a city or country beginningwith the letter “b”].
  4. Students progress through the alphabet, adding a new city or country item each time.
  5. Any student who forgets a place on Father’s itinerary is out.


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