Kate Smith, Children’s Pastor at St Andrew’s and St Bartholomew’s, Churchdown, shares some games to be used in children’s and youth groups.
Caterpillar Race
Age: 7+
Equipment: None
No. of children: Minimum 10
Children form two teams (or more if there are more children) and line up in their teams at one end of the room.
The first person from each team must run to the other end of the room, then run back, link arms with the second person in their team and both of them run to the end of the room, and back.
This continues so that each time the runners come back, the next person in their team links arms and runs with them.
The winning team is the first to complete running to the end of the room and back with every team player.
*Remember to make it clear in the rules that children must watch out for their team mates and pause if one of them trips, rather than trying to drag them across the floor.
Whisper Game
Age: 5+
Equipment: None
No. of children: Minimum 5
Children sit in a circle.
The leader whispers a word or short phrase into the ears of one child.
This child whispers what they hear into the ear of the child sitting next to them and so on until the phrase has been passed all the way around the circle.
The final child in the circle says out loud what they heard and this is compared to the original phrase.
Esti’s Game
Age: 7-16
Equipment: Several soft balls
No. of children: Minimum 10
Children must line up at one end of the room and when the leader shouts ‘go’ they must all try to run to the other end of the room.
As the children run across the room, leaders must try to throw balls at them, aiming to hit the children below the knee.
When children get to the other end of the room, they must line up and wait for the leader to shout for them to run again.
Any children who are hit by the ball must join the leaders in throwing balls at the remaining runners.
The final child left standing who has not been hit with a ball is a the winner.
*Make sure to make the ‘below the waist’ rule very clear.
Captains Orders
Age: 4-9
Equipment: None
No. of children: Any
Children imagine they are on board a ship and must follow the captains orders. Orders consist of:
North – Children must run to the North side of the room.
South – Children must run to the South side of the room.
East – Children must run to the East side of the room.
West – Children must run to the West side of the room.
Captain’s on Deck – Children salute.
Climb the Rigging – Children run / climb on the spot.
Captains Daughter – Children bow / curtsey.
Scrub the Deck – Children mime scrubbing the floor
Strong North wind – Children pretend to stumble /rock from side to side
After a few practice rounds you can begin to eliminate the slowest child to follow each order until one child remains, this child is the winner.
Fishes in the Sea
Age: 4-11
Equipment: None
No. of children: Minimum 9
Children must stand forming a circle and the leader must go around the circle naming every child as either a cod, whale, or shark.
In each round, the leader begins by calling out either cod, whale, or shark. All the children in that category must begin to walk around the circle. As the children walk, the leader may choose to call out one or more of the following commands:
Tide is Turning – Children change the direction they are walking in.
Tide is Rushing – Children run around the circle.
Tide is Out – Children must continue in the same direction but make it back to their space in the circle as soon as possible.
The last child back to their space is out and must sit down.
As the game goes on and fewer children remain, the leader can call out ‘All the Fishes in the Sea.’ When this command is given, all children left standing can go around the circle no matter what fish they are. The winner is the final child left standing.
Shoe game
Age: 4-11
Equipment: None
No. of children: Minimum 8
All the children must take their shoes off and put them all in a pile.
One child is chosen to be ‘It’ and has 60 seconds (or more if there are more children) to match each shoe to the right child.
Keep score of how many pairs each child gets right.
Jailors Keys
Age: 4-11
Equipment: Blindfold, Chair, Keys
No. of children: Minimum 2 but more children taking turns to play are better
The child chosen as ‘jailor’ must sit in a chair at the end of the room wearing a blindfold with a set of keys placed at their feet.
The child chosen as ‘thief’ must try to creep towards the jailor from the other end of the room and snatch the keys without being caught.
The jailor must listen for the thief and if they think they hear them, they must point to where they think the thief is standing.
If they are correct, the jailor wins and the thief must go and sit back down. If they are incorrect, the thief can keep approaching to steal the keys.
If the thief manages to pick up the keys without being pointed at, they have won!
*The jailor cannot keep pointing everywhere, they must listen and point to where they think the sound is coming from and then wait.
*Remind children who haven’t been chosen as ‘jailor’ or ‘thief’ to stay quiet once the game has started so that the jailor can hear.
SPUD
Age: 8-16
Equipment: Ball
No. of children: 5 minimum
Children gather in a circle and one player is ‘It’.
To start the game, ‘It’ throws the ball in the air and shouts out another person’s name while everyone else runs away.
The new ‘It’ grabs the ball and shouts “STOP” as soon as they have possession of the ball.
Holding the ball, the new ‘It’ picks a ‘Target’ and can take 4 big steps (Saying S-P-U-D if they like) toward the ‘Target’ – no jumping!
The new ‘It’ then tries to hit the ‘Target’ with the ball – no aiming for the head! The ‘Target’ cannot jump out of the way, but can dodge with their feet planted on the ground or catch the ball.
If the ‘Target’ dodges or catches the ball, they become ‘It’. If the new ‘It’ hits the ‘Target’ with the ball and they don’t catch it, the new ‘It’ remains ‘It’ and everyone gathers in a circle again.
If target is hit they must move to the side lines. If ‘It’ fails, they must move to the side line. Game continues until a final showdown between the remaining two players to determine the winner.
Farmer, Farmer
Age: 4-8
Equipment: None
No. of children: 6 minimum
One child is selected as the farmer and must stand in the middle of the room.
The remaining children must begin each round by asking ‘Farmer, farmer, can we cross your golden bridge?’
The farmer can then give their rule, for example ‘only if you are wearing trainers’ or ‘only if you have brown hair.’
The children who the rule applies to can cross to the other side of the room whilst the remaining children ask again: ‘Farmer, farmer, can we cross your golden bridge?’
The farmer gives their next rule and this continues until all the children have crossed at which point another farmer can be chosen.
Splat
Age: 7-11
Equipment: None
No. of children: 8 Minimum
Children must form a circle, choose one child to be the ‘splatter’ and to stand in the middle of the circle.
The ‘splatter’ turns to one child, points at them and yells ‘splat’.
The child pointed at must quickly duck down out of the way. If they do not duck within a second of being pointed at, they are out.
If they duck in time, the two children standing either side of the child must turn towards each other, point and call ‘splat’
The child who is ‘splatted’ at first is out and must sit down, and the child who was originally pointed at and ducked can stand back up.
The child in the middle can start again, choosing someone else to ‘splat’
The game continues with the same rules until only 2 children are left.
These 2 children stand back to back and the splatter gives them a code word.
The splatter begins to shout out random words and for every word that the splatter says, the two finalists must take one step away from each other.
Once the splatter shouts out the code word, the two finalists must spin around and try to ‘splat’ each other.
The first one to point and yell ‘splat’ is the winner.
Apple Pie
Age: 4-16
Equipment: None
No. of children: Minimum 5
One child is chosen to be the detective and must close their eyes and turn away from the rest of the group.
The leader then taps one of the remaining children on the shoulder, this child says ‘apple pie’ in a strange voice.
The detective can then turn around and have 3 guesses (or 2 if there are fewer children) to work out which child spoke.
If the detective guesses correctly, they win and can choose someone else to take their place as detective.
If the detective fails to guess who spoke, the child who said ‘apple pie’ wins and gets to become the next detective.
What’s the Time Mr Wolf
Age:4-8
Equipment: None
No. of children: Minimum 3 (More is better)
One child is chosen to be the ‘wolf’. They must stand at one end of the room, facing the wall.
The rest of the children must stand at the other end of the room and call out ‘What’s the time Mr Wolf?’
The wolf calls out a time and the children take that may steps forwards, for example if the wolf says ‘It’s six o clock’ the children all take six steps forwards.
The children call out again ‘What’s the time Mr Wolf?’ and the wolf replies with another time.
This continues until the wolf chooses to answer by saying ‘It’s dinner time’. At this point the wolf turns around chasing the children and tries to catch one of them whilst all the children run away. The chid who is caught gets to be the next wolf.
Heads Down, Thumbs Up
Age: 5-11
Equipment: None
No. of children: Minimum 8
2-3 children (depending on the number of players – more players = more children) are chosen to be ‘It’
The leader calls heads down thumbs up and the rest of the children all sit with their heads down on the table, eyes closed and thumbs up at the side of their heads.
The children who are ‘It’ creep around and each choose one child to put their thumbs down.
The children are then told to open their eyes and stand up if their thumbs were put down.
These children must guess who they think put their thumbs down, if they guess correctly they switch places with ‘It’ for the next round.
Wink Murder
Age: 6-15
Equipment: None
No. of children: 8 Minimum
Children sit in a circle and one child is chosen to be the ‘detective’
The detective leaves the room and the leader chooses another child to be the ‘murderer’.
The detective is called back into the room and the murderer can start killing people in the circle by winking at them.
If a child is winked at, they can pretend to die dramatically.
The detective has 3 guesses to work out who the killer is.
If the detective correctly guesses the killer, they have won. If the killer manages to kill everyone else in the circle before being caught, they have won.
Detective.
Age: 8-18
Equipment: None
No. of children: 5 Minimum
Children sit in a circle and one child is chosen to be the detective
The detective leaves the room and the leader gives the children their ‘condition’. This could be anything; for example ‘you cough before you talk’ or ‘you scratch your nose when asked a question’ or ‘you have to act like there is a bad smell is in the room’ or ‘you’re not allowed to smile’
The detective is called back into the room and can begin questioning the children in the room. They can’t ask what the rule is but can get the children talking by asking other questions such as ‘what did you have for breakfast?’ or ‘what’s your favourite subject?’
Children must remember to reply always following the rule of the ‘condition’ that they’ve been given.
This continues until either the detective guesses the condition or gives up.
Stuck in the Mud
Age: 4-11
Equipment: None
No. of children: 4 Minimum (more is better)
The leader chooses someone to be ‘It’.
The rest of the children run away and ‘It’ must try to tag them.
If the are tagged, they must stand with their arms and legs spread out.
To be freed, one of the other children must run under their arms.
To make things more interesting, give each ‘It’ 2 minutes and at the end of 2 minutes, count how many children are stuck in the mud.
The winning ‘It’ is the one who had most children stuck in the mud at the end of their game.
Dice Game
Age: 6-12
Equipment: Dice, Six pieces of paper each numbered 1-6
No. of children: 6 Minimum
Spread the numbered papers around the room and give the children 5 seconds to choose a number to stand next to.
The leader rolls the dice, and any children stood by the number the dice lands on are out.
Children are given 5 seconds to choose another number before the leader rolls the dice again, any children stood by the number the dice lands on are out.
This continues until only one child is left, this child is the winner.
*When only 2-4 of children are left it may be easier to tell each child to choose a different number and stick next to that number until the end of the game.
Cup Stack Relay
Age: 5-11
Equipment: 12 plastic cups (or 6 more for every extra team)
No. of children: 10 Minimum
Children form two teams (or more if there are more children) and line up in their teams at one end of the room.
The first person from each team must run to the other end of the room, take the 6 cups and stack them as fast as they can in a triangle (3 on the bottom row, 2 on the middle, 1 on the top) then run back, to their team, sit down and let the next person in their team go.
The second person in the team must run to the other end of the room, unstack the 6 cups so that they are in a normal stack of 6, then run back, to their team, sit down and let the next person in their team go.
This continues with each team mate either stacking or unstacking the cups until every person in that team has gone and is sat down.
The winning team is the first to have every child complete running to the end of the room and back.
Spaghetti Tower Challenge
Age: 7-14
Equipment: 1 pack of spaghetti and 1 bag of marshmallows for every team.
No. of children: 2-5 in every team
Every team of children is given a bag of spaghetti and a bag of marshmallows.
Children then have 5 minutes to create a tower using just these two items.
The winning team is the team with the tallest tower at the end of 5 minutes – the tower must be able to stand up on it’s own to qualify.
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