If you ever need a quick game to fill some time or to break the ice with your kids, "Canny Do It" is great!  It's an older game, and I don't know where I heard it or who invented it, so I can't give credit except to say it's not originally mine.

Basically you split the room/group in to two teams (I really like guys vs. girls).  You then choose a random "champion" to come to the front (can be from either team, or it can be an adult leader).  Tell each team you are about to give them a task to do, but you won't tell them what it is.  They must "bet" on whether or not the champion can do what you're going to ask them to do.  If they are right, they get a point (or a million points!).  At the end of however many rounds you choose to do, the team with the most points wins.  

For the tasks, come up with some silly, random stuff.  Examples are:
-Do a cartwheel.
-Touch their tongue to their nose.
-Juggle three balls.
-Name all fifty states.
-Name the last four presidents.
-Name three people that you pick out of the group (first and last names).
-Eat a packet of kool-aid while keeping a straight face.
-Solve a long division problem.
-Eat 10 saltine crackers in less than 60 seconds.

Try this out - tweak the rules to fit your situation, make up some fun challenges (or better yet, have students write some down to use!), and have fun!
 
Wanted to share an amazing game our youth have been loving!  Nine-Square-in-the-Air is a super fun hybrid of the classic game 4-Square and volleyball.  We first had it at our fall lock-in earlier this year, and it was a huge hit!  Youth were literally playing it all night long.  We also did an open gym/game night event this past weekend with 9-Square, and it was a big hit again!

Click here to visit the official website.  Confession - we built our own.  It uses a little more duct-tape and prayer to hold it together than the official set, but we put it together for a little less than $200.  If you've got the budget though, I'd definitely go with the official set.

It really is a lot of fun, anyone can play (it requires very little skill), and kids actually invite their friends just to play it!

Do you have any games/activities that bring kids out like Nine-Square has for us?
 
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Here's another free game I've created for Christmas this year!  Christmas Zoom-In can be downloaded by clicking right here!  (Tip - right click then select "save as" or "save link as".)

Enjoy!

- Tim B.
 
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I'm using this Powerpoint game tonight to go along with part 2 of our "Grinches" Christmas teaching series.  The way I'll run this is to throw the question up on the screen, and the first student on their feet that answers it correctly gets candy thrown at them!  Fun stuff.

You can download it to use in your group by clicking right here.  (Right click and select "save link/target as" for best results!)

Merry Christmas!

- Tim B.
 
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I HATE coming up with games for Youth Group every week.  I like leading them, I like playing them, and I like the excitement it brings to our time together, but I despise having to come up with them every week.  It's definitely not my strong suit.

That's why I LOVE the NBC game show "Minute to Win It".  It's like God heard the cries of desperate youth ministers everywhere and gave us this show.  If you haven't checked out the official website yet, do it right now by clicking here.

On the site there's a complete listing of the games they use, plus video demonstrations.  What a life-saver! I went through the list earlier today and wrote down the ones I thought would work well for me.  Here they are - it might save you some time going through them all on your own.

Back Flip, Broomski Ball, Bite Me, Caddy Stack, Candelier, Candy Elevator, Cantagious, Don't Blow the Joker, Extreme Hanky Panky, Face the Cookie, Go the Distance, How's It Hangin, Junk in the Trunk, Penny Hose, Pink Elephant, Stick the Landing, Sticky Situation.

Hope this helps you!

- Tim B.