Four Corners

Required: 1 Tape/CD player, empty room (or 4 cones if playing outside), a bucket with tags numbered 1-4 Players: Small to large groups

Mark each corner of the room, or cones if outside, corner #1, corner #2, corner #3 and corner #4.Note: if playing outside with cones, space cones out to equal a room size. Designate one person to hold the bucket with the four numbers in it. When the music starts, the group walks around the room or within the cone area if outside. When the music stops, everyone runs to a corner or cone. Then the person with the bucket of numbers has a spectator in the crowd pull a number out. Everyone in the corner whose number is called is now out of the game. This continues until it gets down to the last person who is then the winner. This is great for skating rinks, classrooms or picnics. Submitted by Steve Durant, Olympia, WA

Gobstopper Bowling

Required: Gobstoppers (small jawbreakers or puree marbles), pushpins, and flat surface Players: Small to medium groups

Game of the Month 11/11

We made up this game at the last second. We had a box of Gobstoppers and pushpins (not thumb tacks) so we invented Gobstopper bowling. We had three lanes open which were set up short length wise on a ping-pong table. We set up 6 pushpins in a triangle formation on the opposite side of where the three teams were lined up. Then they bowled. The team with the highest score won. Have however many frames you’d like. Submitted by Rebekah Shive

Hayfind

Required: Hay, plastic, toy surprises Players: Small to large groups

Put plastic down in a room and place the hay on it. We then take the hay and hide toy surprises in it. The kids love trying to find the surprises. We’ve also decorated a cattle trailer and did this and if you do not have a lot of room we put the hay in a small swimming pool. Do not put a lot of surprises in the hay at one time or the children will find them to fast. The smaller children 3-5 years old really enjoy playing in the hay. Submitted by Eutana Maxwell

Heads Up Thumbs Up

Required: Classroom desks Players: Small to large groups

Here’s another game for the classroom. Choose 4-7 players in the classroom to be the thumbs down players. The rest of the classroom must put their heads down on their desks, close their eyes and have one arm resting on the desk with their thumb up. The thumbs down players will go throughout the room and each one will select one player to push a thumb down. The selection is very important, so the thumbs down players must make sure that no one is peeking. Once all players have selected one person those players that had their thumb pushed down will try to guess who pushed their thumb down. If they are correct that player will take their place. Try to encourage the thumbs down players to select thumbs that haven’t been pushed down so that all players feel like they are part of the game. Submitted by Mariah Scheel, Fun-Attic, Inc.

Hide The Thimble

Required: Play area and thimble Players: Small to medium groups

A fun quick game that requires very little time, all you need is a thimble. And if you don’t have a thimble, a small object such as a coin would work. All participants must hide their eyes or leave the room while you hide the thimble in a secret place. Once hidden, the players will try to figure out where the thimble is. You can make this hard or easy by giving them hints. If anyone is close to the hiding place you can say that they’re getting warm. If they move even closer, then you can say that they’re getting warmer, then hotter, then hot, depending on how close they are. If they move away you can say that there getting cold, and further away would be colder yet. The first one to find the thimble is the winner and the new hider.

Gobstopper Bowling

Required: Gobstoppers (small jawbreakers or puree marbles), pushpins, and flat surface Players: Small to medium groups

Game of the Month 2/00

We made up this game at the last second. We had a box of Gobstoppers and pushpins (not thumb tacks) so we invented Gobstopper bowling. We had three lanes open which were set up short length wise on a ping-pong table. We set up 6 pushpins in a triangle formation on the opposite side of where the three teams were lined up. Then they bowled. The team with the highest score won. Have however many frames you’d like. Submitted by Rebekah Shive

Kidnapping Pastor Green

Required: Building with many accessible rooms, adult volunteers, and various items on list Players: 20-100 players

Game of the Month 10/01

Set up helpers or leaders for this game. You’ll need ten suspects to dress and play the parts of Professor Prune, Mrs. Pheasant, Bubba, Colonel Musket, Miss Snow, Ben the Cook, Shawn the Chauffeur, Miss Spears, Mr. Brown, and Grace the Gardner. You’ll need 10 rooms or locations within the building for each suspect to be. And 10 items that could be the possible weapon used for the kidnapping. You can play this game with 20-100 players. In order for a larger group to play consider adding an addition suspect, weapon and room for each additional 10-20 players. Each suspect will know of two suspects that didn’t do the crime, know of two weapons not used and two rooms that the crime did not take place. Predetermine who did the crime, with what weapon and where the kidnapping took place and do not give those clues to any of the suspects to divulge. Allowing each suspect to know only a few clues will require all teams to visit each room. Set up teams of 4 or less and all team members must stay together including standing in line for room entry, no line holding. Teams can ask two questions per visit to a room and the same room can be visited as often as they wish but the team must exit and wait in line before entering again. The team cannot ask a suspect if they did the crime. We have provided forms to print out for detail descriptions of the suspects and a form for team players to gather clue information. You may print these forms and copy them as necessary for each team. The team that discovers who did the kidnapping, in what room, using what weapon is the winner. Great game for youth groups, lock-ins and adults. Submitted by - Northland Baptist Church

License Plate Cribbage

Required: Paper, pencil and license plates Players: Small groups

This game is for the car to help entertain the troops on your next car trip. Each player will receive one to two car license plate numbers to play this game. Play with one plate for a simplified version for the younger player or two plates for the more advanced player. The players will take turns as to what vehicle plates they will receive as playing numbers. With the numbers that are received they will figure out all the possibilities for the combinations of adding up numbers to equal the total of 15. They can have more than one combination of 15 within their numbers so check carefully. For each total of 15 they will receive 2 points. For any number run of 3 or more they will receive one point for each number. A number run is three numbers in order like 234, 789 and so on. The number run doesn’t have to be in order on the plate but they put it in order after they write their numbers down. For number pairs they will receive 2 points per pair and three of a kind is worth 6 points. Any letter J’s on a license plate are worth 2 points, all other letters are worth nothing. The first player to reach 131 points is the winner. Submitted by Jack Scheel – Thanks Dad!!

Licorice Race

Required: Shoe string licorice and marshmallows Players: Small to large groups	Game of the Month 5/05
The marshmallow is placed at the center of the piece of licorice. Each player puts an end of the licorice in his/her mouth. At the same time, without using their hands, the players eat the licorice until one player gets to the marshmallow. Whoever eats the marshmallow wins the game. Submitted by Naomi Blumberg

Lost My Stuffed Animal

Required: One stuffed animal from each home, stop watch and blindfold Players: Small to medium groups

If you're having sleepover party have everyone bring their favorite stuffed animal. In the middle of the floor have everyone place their favorite stuffed animals. If there are just a few players, add extra animals to the pile to make it a little bit more challenging. Each person will take a turn having the blindfold over their eyes and searching the pile for their own stuffed animal. The person that found their animal the fastest is the winner.

Name That Tune

Required: Two wooden spoons or objects to make noise Players: Small groups

Start out with simple songs at first to get your participants use to hearing the tunes. Songs like Row Your Boat, Jesus Loves Me, Baa Baa Black Sheep, or any simple song. One person taps out the song using wooden spoons. The other participants make guesses as to what song they are playing. Tapping out just the choruses of a song can be helpful. You can give hints as to what it’s about until they guess the song. The one that guesses the song first is the new tune player. This is a fun game to play at family holiday gatherings, all ages participate.

Nature Hunt

Required: Hunt list and good weather Players: Small to large groups

Make out of a list of known nature finds in search area. Here are some examples that could go on the list. Pinecones Oak leaf Maple leaf Stick Moss Bark Bugs Rock Types Acorns One hard to find item You can make your list as long and specific as needed depending on age group and time available. You can divide up as individuals or small teams. Searchers go out and retrieve items. The first team to collect all items and return to starting point wins.

Numbers In The Sand

Required: Beach or sandy area, numbered tags and prizes Players: Small to medium groups

Play this game at the beach, sandy area like a volleyball court or large sandbox. The object of the game is to hide small tags or slips of paper that have been labeled, in the sand. There are two options for labeling the slips of paper. One would be using a point system by labeling the tags 2 points, 5 points, and/or 10 points. Bury the tags with the higher points deeper within the sand, so that it takes a little bit more effort to find them. A point system would work better for a small group. For each player you should make and bury about 5-8 tags. The other option rather than the point system for labeling tags is winning a prize. Purchase various prizes for the group to win from small items like candy pieces, bags of chips and cracker snacks, to large items that might have even been donated. Have each number on the tags represent a different prize. Submitted by Bob Brickner

Oatmeal Fight

Required: Large tubs of cooked oatmeal, swimsuits, and hose or lake Players: Small to large groups

Cook several large pans of oatmeal and let it cool. Have the participants circle around tub of oatmeal and on go, dig in and start throwing....... You should set up a boundary area that they have to stay in. Make sure no one is allergic to oatmeal and do not allow anyone put their whole head into tub. Don’t hit anyone in the eyes. You can try it with teams using two tubs. Add different colered food coloring to each tub. When finished, hose them down or have them jump in the lake.

Thumb Ball - given Best Toy Award on NBC Today Show

Pog

Required: A pile of Pogs for each player Players: Two or more people

Here is my POG game: Each player starts out with a pile of Pogs face down. The first player takes the top Pog from their own pile, turns it over and looks to see what colors are on it. They name one of the colors from the pog and then if the other person has that color on their top Pog, they get to keep their own Pog - putting it in another pile next to theirs, face down. If they don’t - the person calling the colors gets the other players’ Pog and puts it in another pile next to theirs, face down. The next person gets to call a color of their Pog. If the other person has that color on theirs, then they get to keep their own pog, but if not, they have to give it up. You do this through all the pogs until they are gone. This could be played with more than two people. It would probably go faster this way. Created by Barbi Stutts

Raiders of the Lost Parents

Required: Shopping mall area and adults Players: Medium to large groups

Game of the Month 6/00

You must plan this game out ahead of time and it is for older and responsible kids. Receive prior permission to use a shopping mall or designated shopping area during shopping hours. Find willing parents to be participants in this game. Inform the parents and the shopping area what will be taking place during this time period. Parents are to find a place to hide within the play area, but it must be out in plain sight for everyone to find them. How they hide out in the open is by disguising themselves. Give parents 2-4 weeks ahead of time to figure out or set up their idea with a storekeeper. They could possibly go into a hairdressers shop under a dryer, or acquire a uniform to act as if they’re an employee of a particular store. Set up teams to go searching for the Lost Parents with a list of who they are looking for. If they don’t know the hiding participants, take pictures of them and show them ahead of time. You can have a station where they can check back if they have problems looking for someone. The kids must have set rules of do’s and don’ts while in the shopping mall area. They must stay within their group, no splitting up. They must not leave the designated area, including no going outside if within an indoor mall. They must follow rules that the shopping area has given you. You should give them a time limit of about 11/2 hours to find the Lost Parents. The participants should know the time that the game ends so everyone can meet back at a rendezvous point. When they find the participants, they should record where they found them and possibly what they looked like. The team with the most found parents is the winner. Submitted by Gregg Davies, Northland Baptist Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Miscellaneous Games     1     2     3     Back to Index

Remember-The object is for everyone to have fun. The moderator is the all-powerful dictator. You may at any time change the rules or boundaries or handicap players to help balance out the wide spectrum of abilities. We want the tentative athlete and the superjock to play together at the best of their abilities. Have Fun! Now here are some colorful ideas to liven up play time. If you have a fun game that is entertaining and healthy for kids of ANY age, you can send it to us for consideration and addition to our Games and Activities Guide. Join our mailing list to receive our periodic newsletter and be kept up to date on new games, ideas and activities. Back to Index