Games with a Purpose (eBook)

Ice-Breakers

Parties. You either love them or you hate them. But however you feel, even the most extreme extroverts can struggle with the horror of realizing that they’ve walked into a social situation where they don’t know a single other person. And without the help of a skilled host, many hours of painful small talk and floor-staring can often ensue as a result.

Youth groups can be a little bit like this, especially when some or all of the group are unfamiliar with each other. Most youth workers will recognize the awkwardly silent atmosphere of a new youth group, where every member has become suddenly intrigued by their own shoelaces. In these instances, the trusty youth group ice-breaker becomes an essential resource.

The games in this chapter, then, are all designed for use in a context which might be described as a little icy. I’m not suggesting that they’re best employed on a mountainside or in the depths of winter, but rather where the relational situation is in need of some thawing. These are games that inject a bit of life into a quiet room, which help young people to connect with one another, and lose their inhibitions a little. They include unfamiliar takes on familiar favourites, games which intentionally require young people to ask each other questions, and even one specifically aimed at those same introverts who always decline those party invitations. Hopefully, among them you’ll find some resources which help your group members to feel a little more comfortable with one another.

Rock, Paper, Scissor mayhem!

The game

Give everyone in your group five tokens. Now invite them to walk around the room, playing rock, paper, scissors with as many people as they can. This is a very simple game involving three hand gestures; two opposing players produce one of these gestures at exactly the same moment. Remember:

• Paper (flat palm) covers rock (paper wins)
• Rock (fisted hand) blunts scissors (rock wins)
• Scissors (two fingers, split like scissors) cut paper (scissors wins)

If players produce the same gesture, they replay. Every time someone wins a game, they take one token from the loser.

Once each person is out of tokens, they sit down. After five minutes, get the remaining players to count their tokens and give a small prize to the person with the most.

What’s the purpose?

Possible learning/discussion point from this game:

• The nature of our prevailing capitalist worldview is that over time a few people have ended up with most of the resources. There are “winners and losers” in this culture, but the problem is that the “losers” have no way of getting back into the game, because the “winners” have all the assets and resources.

Blindfolded charades

The game

Ask for two volunteers, and bring them out to the front. Now give everyone else apart from these two a blindfold and ask them to put it on.

Explain that you’re going to play charades… with a difference. One of your volunteers is going to mime the phrase which you’ve written on a cue card but, of course, no one will be able to see the mime!

The other volunteer, then, is your interpreter. He or she must describe accurately what the first volunteer is miming, so that those listening can imagine the mime and begin to piece together the phrase. It’s very important that the interpreter doesn’t try to guess the answer themselves though – they just have to describe what they’re seeing.

If it’s not going very well, help things along a little. If it does work well, consider playing another round or two.

What’s the purpose?

Possible learning/discussion points from this game:

• The Bible talks about the gift of “interpretation” (1 Corinthians 12:10) which complements other gifts like prophecy and speaking in tongues. Sometimes when God speaks, he provides an interpreter to help us understand him.
• The prophets in the Bible were people who “interpreted” God. This game provides a little picture of how their role worked – they explained what they thought God was saying to a people who couldn’t otherwise hear him. But just as in this game, sometimes the prophets were still misunderstood…

Beach ball keepy-uppy

The game

Using a beach ball, play the classic playground game of keepy-uppy, where the aim is to keep the ball off the ground for as long as possible using only your head and feet/legs. (If your group is prone to excessive displays of force, ban volleys and make it headers only as the beach ball may not have the necessary strength to survive a full-blown booting!) Count the number of times you’ve kept the ball off the ground if you want to make it competitive.

This also works well as a session opener while waiting for everyone to gather, as it can be played by any number from 2 to 100 (well, maybe not quite that many).

What’s the purpose?

Possible learning/discussion points from this game:

• This can lead into a general discussion on teamwork.
• The lightness of the beach ball makes something which some people think is impossible less difficult; this is a great metaphor for some of the more apparently difficult elements of faith.

Scissor game

The game?

Get your group seated in a circle and explain that you are going to pass around a pair of scissors, and as you do so you need to state whether you pass them crossed or not. Pass the pair to the person sitting next to you and say “I pass you these scissors crossed/ uncrossed” (as appropriate), and then ask that person to pass them on and say whether they are crossed or not.

The secret twist is that whether the scissors can be described as crossed or not depends entirely on whether the legs of the person passing them on are crossed or not. Obviously, do not tell your group this! Instead, when it is your turn ostentatiously open/close the scissors, twist them round in your hands a number of times, or do whatever you like really with the scissors to bamboozle your group, before passing them on and announcing (correctly) whether you are passing them on crossed or not.

As the scissors are passed around make sure you comment on whether the passer’s statement is correct. Your group will swiftly generate their own theories and rules as to how they are crossed or not, and it can be hilarious as their theories are shattered/strengthened by your correction or affirmation of the passer’s statements. You can keep this going as long as you like, possibly returning to it later in the session, or in a future week, until the majority of the group have either worked it out or been driven mad by their failure to guess the rule!

What’s the purpose?

Possible learning/discussion points from this game:

• Have you ever discovered that things are not as you expect them to be?
• When you pass things on to...