Sometimes getting teens to calm down and prepare for a lesson can be hard. Sometimes there are many teens in the group and an ice breaker helps them get to know each other and feel comfortable and prepare for whatever the leader has planned. Some games can be bland and boring in the eyes of teens, other games are a lot of fun and gets the teens thinking about different aspects of life, their life. Teens like to have different games and something to entertain them before the lesson, it can be what brings them in and keeps them coming and bringing friends along. Some games can be played at a youth lock in or another type of youth event. Teens want fun and entertainment instead of the ordinary lesson every week, so bringing in a game once in a while spices things up a bit. Here are some youth group games that are sure to be a hit.
TalkShow: Talk show is where you pick three people to be guests on a talk show, then they leave the room while the other members of the group come up with three people from the Bible. Then they designate the different chairs with the personalities they have chosen. When the guest come back in and sit in the chairs the other teens get to ask questions that pertain to the person they are supposed to be. For example if someone is supposed to be Moses, questions the other kids could ask could be “what was it like talking to a burning bush” or “how did you part the red sea.’ Things like that to help the “guests” figure out who they are. This game helps remind the teens of the important and maybe some minor characters within the Bible. A variation of this game is have the “guests” be the ones who ask the questions like “am I in the Old Testament.”
Mobsters: My youth group has played this game and the teens were very entertained by it. Everyone puts their heads down and the youth leader will pick 3 or 5 people to be the mobsters, and the rest are townspeople. Those who are the mobsters are allowed to see who each other are. Then with all heads up the teens have to pick out who they think is the mobster. The idea is for the townspeople to find the mobsters, but also for the mobsters to not be found. Youth leaders can then take this game and turn it into a lesson about false accusations based on looks and actions, and/or even a lesson on lying.
Balloon Confessions: This one is a good game in the spring or summer, and could help teens learn about confessions and turning their lives over to God. What you do is get balloons filled with helium an markers. Give the kids each a balloon and a marker, then have then write out a sin on the balloon. After they do that they can write something along the lines of “Lord Forgive me of this _____” or even “Lord I give this _____ up to you.” Then have them release the balloons to float to heaven therefore releasing their sins to God. This gives the teens something tangible to watch and let go of and see it floating to heaven as if God was truly taking their sins away from them, thus making the teens stronger.
Bible Jeopardy: This is another fun game to play with the teens and can give them a little fun competition. You could come up with different questions ranging from 1 to 100 points. Have the categories dealing with different aspects of the Bible like People, Beatitudes, Christ’s Teachings, and so much more. The teens pick their category and the point value they desire. Then the winner would get a prize of some sort. If there is a wide range of teens, you can break them up into groups to help them learn team work and team building skills they can use in the future.
Living Sculpture: Not all youth group games have to have a lesson to follow them, they could easily teach team work and team building. Living Sculpture is one of those games. What you will need is tin foil, saran wrap, and toilet paper. Break the teens up into groups and they have to choose one person to be the “sculpture.” They have to strike a pose as the others wrap the tin foil, saran wrap and toilet paper around them to make this wonderful work of art. Then the best “sculpture” made in the time allotted wins a special prize. This could get teens talking to one another and learning to harness their creativity.
Six Degrees of Separation: This game follows the idea that everyone is connected by at the six other people. So what you do is break the youth group in to different teams and then give them a pair of Biblical figures like Abraham and Moses, and then have the teens try to come up with connections between the two of at the most six other Biblical figures. Of course the youth leader will have to do some research to see the connections to know if the teams are correct. This is another game that will remind the children of the characters in the Bible and how they are all connected to each other. Obviously the teens cannot use their Bibles since there are the sections with the who begot who. You want the teens to figure it out themselves to see what they know and don’t know.
Hey, You’re Like Me: This is a fun game to play and helps the teens see who they have things in common with. Line the teens up against the wall or have them in a circle. Then name of different characteristics or likes and dislikes such as playing on a sports team or something like I like watching reality shows, or I dislike rap music. Small things like that and each kid that fits that characteristic or likes/dislikes step forward and they all can see who else has the same interest and disinterest. A game like this can show the teens that they all aren’t as different as they think they are. There are people we think we have nothing in common with, but this game will prove that we all aren’t as different as we think. This could lead to a discussion on prejudices and judging someone before getting to know them.
Circle Toss: This one has been used to help get to know one another and works great at a camp setting. Have the teens form a circle and bring out an object, it doesn’t matter what it is as long as it can be tossed. Then call out one of the teens name and then toss it to them, then that person does the same thing until it gets back to the youth leader. Then you bring out another object so you have two going around. You can time the process to see how fast the object goes around the circle. You can do something like if you call someone by the wrong name they have to do something embarrassing. You can use this game as a way of getting to know each other and remembering names. It can also help eye hand coordination with two or three different objects going at once.
Amoeba: This can be a good ice breaker to play with a group of teens, roughly the same age. Have then form a circle around a chair. Then they have to walk around the chair trying to pull and push each other to touch the chair to get them out and the last one standing wins. There is a variation for this game where you put a broom on top of the chair and if you knock it off you are out. You can use this as a lesson about how some of our actions can cause a reaction in someone else and effect their actgions as well. They can see how what they do effects things around them and that they should keep an eye on their actions and who could be watching them.
Bible Detectives: This can be a fun game for the older kids in the youth group. It will get them looking throughout the Bible. There are different ideas to this game. You can look up infamous murderers within the Bible like Judas or someone else who did wrong things like Delilah or Jezebel. You can give clues leading to who they are, leading to the Biblical verses they are discussed in. Whoever gets to the Biblical verse or passage first gets a candy bar or some other worthy prize. This game can get the teens familiar with the Bible and where different stories are within the Bible. Another version could take longer and has the kids searching throughout the church for words that correspond to certain verses. Each clue leads to the next word or words in the verse.
Playing different ice breakers in a youth group could give the teens excitement and entertainment that would keep them wanting to come back for more. These games help the teens learn different Biblical truths, team work, and other things. Some have deep lessons such as Balloon Confessions and others are light and fun like Bible Detective. These are some games that would get the teens interested in learning different aspects of the Bible and would challenge them each week to learn a little more so that they can do better the next time there is a game like Bible Jeopardy.
