Insight

Washed clean - an Easter youth group discussion starter

‘Washed clean’ involves a simple chemical reaction which provides a great object lesson for young people. It can be used as part of an Easter presentation and provide a stimulus for further group discussion.

It’s important to practice this first and build your confidence in the science, to allow you to focus on the talk. I have included a simple outline talk as a basis for creating your own presentation.

For the demonstration you will need a large clean glass bowl, 1.5 litres of water, tincture of iodine, spray starch, photographic fixer, a clean white cloth, a piece of clear plastic and a table on which to conduct your science!

Tincture of iodine is readily available from most chemists. Spray starch from a supermarket. Photographic fixer is available from good photographic stores or can be purchased on-line. In the UK, Ilford rapid fixer (ammonium thiosulphate) is a good choice.

10 more icebreakers for your youth group

Icebreakers, used wisely, can create a great atmosphere and provide momentum for further participation and learning. Icebreakers adapt and evolve through each generation of youth leaders. Most have come to me by word of mouth from friends, colleagues or just seeing them in action.

The icebreakers below include simple ‘getting-to-know-you’ activities, active and more physical games and some word games.


CROSSWORD NAMES

Give a pen and paper to each young person in your group. Ask them to write their first name in capitals, in the middle of the paper. Each person then moves around the room, inviting others (including leaders) to attach their name, where the first letter matches a letter on the paper. The names are then added like a branching crossword puzzle. The person who is able to attach the most names in the given time is the winner. This activity works well in larger groups or summer camps / holidays where people are meeting for the first time.

DRAW

Give everyone a piece of paper and a pencil. Allow 5 minutes to draw a picture that conveys who they are without writing any words or numbers. At the end of 5 minutes the leader collects the pictures. Show the pictures to the group, one at a time, and have them try to guess who drew it. Each artist can then explain how their work expresses who they are.


FREEZE FRAME

Based on the party game of musical statues. Invite the young people to quietly move around the room and await your instructions. As they are walking the leader calls out the name of a sport, for example, golf, soccer, rugby, swimming, parachuting, polo, basketball, horse racing etc. When they hear the name they must stop immediately and hold a still ‘freeze frame’ illustrating or acting out the sport.

Take a photo of the most life-like or descriptive ‘freeze frame’ in each round for future display :-) You can play variations to the game by shouting out emotions, job titles or even animals.

Servant leadership - more food for thought

'Leadership is an opportunity to serve. It is not a trumpet call to self-importance.' J. Donald Walters

'Do you wish to rise? Begin by descending. You plan a tower that will pierce the clouds? Lay first the foundation of humility.' St. Augustine

'You don't have to hold a position in order to be a leader.' Anthony J D'Angelo

'Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.' Winston Churchill

'But among you it should be quite different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must become your slave.' Jesus the Christ

Lost at sea - a team building game

Another ‘pen and paper’ group survival game and a team building activity to encourage interaction and teamwork among your young people. The chances of ‘survival’ depend on their ability to rank the salvaged items in relative order of importance.

You have chartered a yacht with three friends, for the holiday trip of a lifetime across the Atlantic Ocean. Because none of you have any previous sailing experience, you have hired an experienced skipper and two-person crew.

Unfortunately in mid Atlantic a fierce fire breaks out in the ships galley and the skipper and crew have been lost whilst trying to fight the blaze. Much of the yacht is destroyed and is slowly sinking.

Your location is unclear because vital navigational and radio equipment have been damaged in the fire. Your best estimate is that you are many hundreds of miles from the nearest landfall.

You and your friends have managed to save 15 items, undamaged and intact after the fire. In addition, you have salvaged a four man rubber life craft and a box of matches. Rank the items correctly and you will survive until rescue comes. Make too many mistakes and...

Download (pdf) the complete 'Lost at Sea' team building game.

MORE TEAM BUILDING GAMES

For more, click on team building games in the category list on the sidebar.

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Moon landing - a team building game

Team building activities can be simple games, creative problem-solving tasks, or ‘pen and paper’ group survival situations. ‘Moon Landing’ falls into the third category. Apart from the ‘fun’ challenge of trying to stay alive, it can help encourage communication, cooperation and decision making skills among your young people.

You are a member of a space crew scheduled to rendezvous with a mother ship on the lighted surface of the moon. However, due to mechanical difficulties, your own ship was forced to land at a spot 200 miles from the rendezvous point.

During re-entry and landing, much of the equipment aboard was damaged and, since survival depends on reaching the mother ship, the most critical items available must be chosen for the 200-mile trip.

15 items are listed as being intact and undamaged after landing. Your task is to rank them in terms of their importance for your crew, to allow them to reach the rendezvous point. The 'expert' answers were compiled by a team of scientists and engineers at NASA.

As the young people work together in a team, sharing thoughts and ideas, this should produce an improved score over the individual results. But will this be enough to survive?

Download (pdf) the complete Moon Landing team building game.


MORE TEAM BUILDING GAMES

For more, click on team building games in the category list on the sidebar.
 

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Each month I add more youth ministry ideas, resources and personal reflections on leadership. May I encourage you to subscribe to INSIGHT and you won't miss a thing.

Labyrinth - a team building game

Team building games help young people develop a range of skills. They can be great fun, and beyond the more general learning goals, they can also be a useful entry point to teaching themes i.e. working together (the church), making choices (guidance), and trusting others (faith).

The aim of Labyrinth is for your group to work together to all find their way through the maze. There is only one correct path through the maze (created by you on your answer grid.) The path can go left, right, forward, or diagonally.

Create a 10x10 grid on the floor using masking tape. Mark the starting square with an ‘S.’ Each square needs to be big enough for a person to stand within it. If you wish to use a smaller grid, 5x5 is good option for younger groups.

Only one young person may enter the labyrinth at a time, testing each square to discover the correct path. After each move the game leader (you) indicates if they are standing on the correct path or have made an incorrect move...

Download (pdf) the complete Labyrinth team building game.

MORE TEAM BUILDING GAMES

For more, click on team building games in the category list on the sidebar.

SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE

Each month I add more youth ministry ideas, resources and personal reflections on leadership. May I encourage you to subscribe to INSIGHT and you won't miss a thing.

Team builders - more than icebreakers

Team building games and activities are great ways to help groups develop cooperation, decision making and communication skills. Team building exercises can be adapted for many different settings and public domain examples are found freely available across the web.

In the next few days I will post some of my favourites, used over the years in youth clubs, youth weekends, camps and as team building exercises with new groups.

A key part of these exercises is facilitating a time of group discussion after the activity. Remember to ask open-ended questions, helping the young people to reflect on what they have learned. Team building games can also provide a useful entry point to teaching themes for your group i.e. working together (the church), making choices (guidance), values and leadership.

Much depends on the role of the youth leader. A well planned and prepared activity, followed up with thought-provoking questions can be a significant learning experience.

Team building activities can be simple games, or involve creative problem-solving, or ‘pen and paper’ group survival situations. These games can challenge your young people’s values, cooperation, decision making and leadership skills.There are two classic types of ‘pen and paper’ survival games – selecting equipment and selecting people.

Consequences - a youth group discussion starter

A simple group discussion starter based on the party game of consequences i.e. his name/ her name/ where they met/ he said/ she said/ where they went/ what they did/ and the consequence was?

This exercise assumes your young people have some background knowledge about the life of Christ. Invite them to sit in a circle of 9 people and give everyone a piece of paper and a pen. If you have a large group, break into two or more circles.

Explain that you are going to play the game consequences and ask a series of 9 questions. They write their first answer at the top of the paper and then fold it so that the answer cannot be seen.

The paper is then passed to the person on their right. This is repeated for each question, until all 9 questions are asked. If someone can’t answer a question they simply write a question mark, fold the paper over and pass it on.

Reflections on leadership - more food for thought

‘The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.’ Harvey S. Firestone

‘As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.’ Bill Gates

‘Leadership is the transference of vision.’ Hal Reed

‘The only real training for leadership is leadership.’ Anthony Jay

‘He who thinks he leads and has no one following him is only taking a walk.’ Anonymous

The church - a youth group discussion starter

A youth group discussion starter on the church. Exploring the New Testament images of the church and discovering the importance of each person playing their part in the life of the church. A themed night of icebreakers and activities can also be found in the earlier post The Body of Christ.

TOWER BUILD

Don’t say too much about the theme of the session at first. It is introduced through the object lesson that follows the tower build exercise.

Divide your group into teams of four. Explain the task is to work together to build the tallest free standing structure or tower they can with the materials provided. Give each team an identical selection of materials which they can use to build the tower. This can include a limited amount of,

Cardboard, newspaper, plastic straws, pipe cleaners, lollipop sticks, plastic cups, paper plates, paper clips, cardboard tubes from toilet of kitchen rolls, tape.

Encourage each team to use all of the resources they are given and to involve everyone in the planning and building process.

Give each team 15 minutes to construct their tower. Then ask each group to step away from their free-standing tower to determine the winner. Depending on the size of your group, come back together as a whole (or divide) to discuss any lessons learned from the project.