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Games to Play With Youth Groups

Youth groups are great at building communities because they provide opportunities for young people to connect and learn skills such as discipline, resourcefulness and teamwork. Kids need to learn these "adult" traits, but that doesn&'t mean they have to learn them in a stuffy, strict way. Youth group games let kids obtain these qualities while still acting like kids. The limits for these games are only set by a leader&'s imagination, but a few games can get groups started.

Scarecrow
- Scarecrow is a youth group game suggested by funattic.com. This game is suitable for all ages. It requires that the youth leader divide the children into small groups of three to six people.
  
  Each team has to build its own scarecrow out of hay (or straw) and old clothes the kids bring from home. (Alternatively, the youth leader could grab some clothes at a thrift store for everybody.) The leader should provide each team with supplies that will keep the scarecrow together, such as safety pins and string. Each team can use whatever clothes they like, but every team has to use a white T-shirt to create a head for their scarecrow. The team members work together to draw a face on the scarecrow heads and get the scarecrow assembled on supports. When everyone is finished, the youth leader can assign prizes and titles such as Best Dressed or Most Creative. As a variation, the youth leader can turn the scarecrow building into a race, with the first team to complete and secure its scarecrow being the winner.
Air Raid
- Air Raid comes from youthpastor.com. For this game, the youth leaders mark out a field about 50 feet long and put about half a dozen obstacles on the field in any arrangement. The kids try to get from one side of the field to the other while two youth leaders--or kids chosen by the leaders--try to "bomb" them with wet sponges or water balloons from the middle of the field and 10 feet behind the finish line. The kids can hide behind the obstacles to protect themselves. Once the kids make it past the bombers, the bombers can&'t try to hit them anymore.
Extreme Rock Paper Scissors
- Extreme Rock Paper Scissors is a physical game from youthgroupgames.com. This game uses two teams of any size.
  
  On a large playing field with a clear halfway point, each team decides whether it wants to call rock, paper or scissors. Then the teams come together at the center of the field and call their choice. When they call, the team members have to perform an action that shows their choice (e.g., laying on the ground for paper). The winning team tries to tag members of the opposite team, who immediately try to run back to their end of the field. Tagged kids go to the opposite team until there isn&'t anyone left on their team, or until everybody gets tired--it&'s difficult to reduce the numbers on a team to zero.

Kids Games