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About Ryan &
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"Dutch Blitz" is a card game which uses a special deck
of colorful cards. This can be found at many games stores. This game
is for up to 4 players. Imagine a very fast-paced game of Solitaire
involving 4 people, and you have a vague idea of what Dutch Blitz
is about.
The giant outdoor version involves painting up giant Dutch Blitz cards
(2 by 4 feet, sheets of corrugated cardboard) and playing the game
in 4 teams, using the same rules as the "regular" version.
You'll find that there is a lot of running around, lots of teamwork
(flipping cards, making decisions) and overall this game works very
well.We've done it indoors during rainy evenings but be careful that
nobody crashes into walls or other people. |
I went to K-Mart and explained my game idea to the clerk, and she
gave me the flexible outer tubing from a vacuum (sp?) cleaner for
free! I took the tube and cracked 3 raw eggs into the middle. I got
2 volunteers, and put one at either end. The two kids blow as hard
as they can until one has to take a breath. Guess where the eggs go
when that happens? Fun stuff!!! |
Instruct the group to stand in a circle and hold hands. Select one
person to be "it" and stand inside the circle. The object
of the game is for "it" to catch the electricity that is
passed around the circle. The electricity is passed by squeezing the
hand of the person standing beside you. The electricity must be passed
quickly and can change directions. When "it" catches the
electricity, the person caught becomes "it" and the game
continues. |
Start with asking for a volunteer to test his/her faith.
Have 2-4 people stand around the volunteer and have the volunteer
close his/her eyes and lean in to the arms of the people around him/her.
Have the catchers push the volunteer around to each others arms. Also
have the catchers delay pushing the person for the increased scare
affect. Play until all who want to have a turn get to be caught. This
is a fun game when there is nothing else to do. Enjoy!! |
Here are a couple of "faith related activities" and cool examples
and stuff to do with a program on faith.
1) Do a "trust fall" where someone stands in front of you or
another leader with eyes closed and arms straight out to the side
and has to fall back, without stepping back, and has to have faith
that you will catch them. Practice a couple of times to get the
feel for it and to make sure you can be there to make the catch.
Be reassuring so that they can have faith in you. It's a hard thing
for the person in front to do. Follow it up with talk about having
faith in God to catch you.
2) Tell the story of the guy that was a huge fan of a acrobatic
tightrope walker at the circus. (I'll give you the quick version.
feel free to embellish and ham it up a little.) He went every Saturday
night to see him and cheer him on. Every Saturday, the acrobat would
yell down something from the tightrope like "Do you think that I
can walk backwards across the rope?" The guy below would ecstatically
yell, "Yes... Yes... You are the best!!! You can do it!!!" And the
acrobat would do just that. Every Saturday, the acrobat would yell
down a new challenge, the guy below would yell back his support
and overwhelming faith that the acrobat could do it. Then the acrobat
would do it. Finally, one night, the acrobat yelled down, "Do you
think I can push someone across this tightrope in a wheelbarrow?"
"Yes!!! Yes!!! I know that you can do it!!!! You're the best!!!"
yelled the man... The acrobat yelled back down ... "Then come on
up here and hop in..." (Follow up this little ditty with some talk
on the difference in saying that you "have faith" and really having
faith in God. Challenge them to think "Am I willing to keep that
faith when I am put to the test?")
3) Job would be a great cross reference for faith in hard times.
4) Show the last part of "Indiana Jones - The Last Crusade"
("heads up" on that copyright jazz) where Indy has to step out onto
the invisible "Bridge of Faith" and walk across it. It's not exactly
the most theological footage, but really draws the kids in. Follow
it up with talk on having faith that God provides where he says
that he will. My kids loved watching this. Just be sure to start
showing it AFTER the part where that dude's face melts off. That
can really gross some kids out and could distract a tad. I know
that I always get a little distracted when someone around me has
their face melt off. (heh, heh)
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Faith
Related Activities - Part 2
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You need a strong 2x4 or similar that will not break when a kid
stands on it. Send some of your youth out of the room and fill in
the rest of the youth on what you will be doing. Have two to four
of the strongest youth get on the ends of the 2x4 and hold the 2x4
about 6 inches off the ground. One at a time let the youth in and
lead them over to the 2x4 blind fold them and have them step onto
the 2x4 while holding onto your head for balance. Now tell him/her
to jump off of the 2x4. Now have them step back onto the 2x4 and tell
them that you are going to have the youth on the end of the 2x4's
to raise the 2x4. Now the youth on the end of the 2x4's will kind
of shake the ends like they are raising it while you bend your knees
so that the person blind folded thinks that the 2x4 is really being
raised. Now tell him/her to jump. The main principle behind this is
that our faith in God is not a blind faith. I hope this is what you
where looking for. |
1. Blind Trust Walk - Pair up, one partner blindfolded, the other
leads them around an obstacle course. After 5 or 10 minutes switch
roles. Debrief on difficulty or simplicity of trusting in the person
who can see. from Building Community in Youth Groups
2. Trust Fall - Victim... I mean 'volunteer' stands on table
and falls backwards into arms of other kids. Let everyone try it.
Even the smallest girls will be able to catch the biggest kid in
the room. Debrief on trusting/ having faith in each other. from
Building Community
3. Fleece object lesson - any chance of getting a real wool
fleece where you're at? Get it and do something creative with it.
Your kids have probably not seen one before (unless you live in
Australia or New Zealand).
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Find
the Books of the Bible
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In the following story, there are sixteen
books of the Bible hidden. Can you find them all? (Hint: see judges)
I once made a remark about the hidden books of the Bible. It was
a lulu, kept people looking so hard for facts and for others it
was a revelation. Some were in a jam, especially since the names
of the books were not capitalized, but the truth finally struck
home to numbers of readers. To others it was real job. We want it
to be a most fascinating few moments for you. Yes, there will be
some really easy ones to spot. Others may require judges
to help them. I will quickly admit it usually takes a minister to
find one of them and there will be loud lamentations when it is
found. A little lady says she brews a cup of tea, so she can concentrate
better. See how well you can compete. Relax now, for there really
are sixteen names of books in the bible in this story. (One preacher
found 15 books in 20 minutes but it took him three weeks to find
the 16th.)
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You make a cake of flour by filling a bowl then turning it upside
down on a tray. A Malted Milk ball is placed on the top. The group,
including leaders, then takes it in turns to cut a slice from the
cake with a knife - the slice must go vertically from top to bottom.
As the slices get nearer to the middle the tension mounts, because
the person whose slice causes the final column to collapse (and the
Malted Milk Ball to fall off) has to retrieve the Malted Milk Ball
with their teeth! Enthusiastic teenagers are usually quite willing
to help make sure they get close enough to the flour to pick up the
Malted Milk Ball and most of the flour too! |
For this game you will need to have a vaccumm cleaner with a blow
switch or something. Ask for a few vollenteers (4-5) and one at a
time each person has a turn with the vaccumm cleaner. What you do
is remove the end part for the vaccumm cleaner and push it into some
flour so that there is some stuck in the end. Then push the on off
switch several times so that no one knows weather it is on or off.
Make sure that you turn off the power at the wall. When you have that
have one person stand in front of the end where the flour is and turn
on the power. If the vaccumm cleaner id on they get a face full of
flower if not they survive. We like to play that you can get out of
the way and if the the flour comes out and you not there then you
win a prize, likewise if you stay and it doesn't come out you win.
And then afterwards you can use the vaccumm cleaner to suck up all
the flour. Have fun! |
Place chairs in a circle making the couch part of the circle. Place
2 gals and 2 guys on couch and the rest of the people in the chairs.
One chair must remain open. Have every one write their name on a piece
of paper. Place all the piece of papers in a basket. Go around the
room have everyone pick out one of the pieces of paper.(they cannot
hold their own name) they must not let anyone know whose name they
have. The person to the left of the empty chair begins by calling
out someones name. The person who is holding that name must move from
their seat to the empty seat. The person who called out the name and
the person who moved to the empty chairs trade the papers with names
on it. Then who ever is next to the new empty seat calls a name out..etc.
The point of the game is to for the guys to get all guys on the couch
and the girls to get all girls on the couch. |
Arrange players in a circle (sitting on floor or in chairs). 6-15
players required (more than 15 gets very difficult). Assign each player
the name of a fruit (apple, orange, banana, etc.) Have one player
stand in the middle of the circle "IT". Decide on one of
the players sitting to start the game by saying, "Apple loves...
(one of the other players assigned name)" Example: "Apple
loves orange." Then Orange has to say, "Orange loves banana.",
before "IT" hits him or her in the head with the foam bat,
pillow or paper towels. If "IT" hits that player before
he or she gets the saying out, he or she becomes "IT". If
a player says the name of fruit that "IT" is assigned, then
he or she becomes "IT".
"HINT" When assigning names, only say the names once so
to make the game more difficult and stress that players do not point
to those who are called on while playing.
The game can last as long as you can stand it. My group will play
it for hours.
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You can choose one or two people and tell them to put a coin on
their forehead and stick a funnel in to their belt/pants. You then
tell them that they have six tries to get the coin into the funnel
four times by dropping it off their forehead and if they do they get
a prize.
On around the fourth try you get the cup of water and pour it down
the funnel whil they are looking up. When they look down to see if
the coin made it in they notice the funnel filled with water. When
they leave it looks like they peed their pants. |
Start by playing some music and starting to toss a ball around.
When the music stops whoever has the ball has to come up and pick
an item out of the lunch sack. What's in the lunch sack? Well, the
grossest foods you can think of (spinach babyfood, spam, pickled pigs
feet, sardines, you get the idea). And when a food is brought out
that person has to eat (or drink) it in an allotted time limit (30
seconds is good). If they pull it off, then they get a prize (candy,
pop, etc). You can also have a good food in there for the lucky ones.
Make sure a garbage can is nearby for those that can't stomach the
food. After the person finishes the food, or barfs, start the music
up again and keep passing the ball. (If you have a camera nearby you
can get some of the coolest photographs) |
Group members sit on chairs in a circle. Remove any empty chairs.
Everyone tells his or her first name except for a leader. The leader
gives his or her name as “George.”
The object of the games is to unseat George. The play begins: George
alternately hits knees twice, claps hands twice and snaps each finger
once to set up a rhythm. To the beat of the rhythm while snapping
his or her fingers, George then says “George” and the name
of another person in the circle. The person whose name George called
must repeat his or her own name and add someone else’s without
missing a beat.
This continues until someone “messes up” by either breaking
the rhythm or calling the name of the person who just called on him
or her. When someone goofs, he or she must move to the “last”
seat in the circle - the seat at George’s left. Then other group
member move clockwise to fill in the seats.
Now, the fun: When people move to new seats, they acquire new names
because each chair keeps the name of the first person that sat in
it. So every time a group member shifts to a new seat, he or she should
ask the person leaving it, “What’s the name of this chair?”
That way he or she will know which name to respond to.
The game ends when George goofs – determined unanimously by everyone
else. If you choose to continue playing, George moves one seat to
the left, causing everyone to change seats. The new person in the
George seat becomes “George” and all other chairs acquire
the names of the group members now sitting in them.
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