Crazy, Funny, Stupid Cottonball Games

Cottonball Battle - Each team defends it’s half of the battlefield and gets a pile of cottonballs. At the signal, each team makes/takes and throws/blows them to the opposing teams side. When the whistle blows (after 3-4min), which team has the least cottonballs on their side? The newspaper pages must be made into balls. They can not be simply thrown to the other side. (similar to Newspaper Battle; http://www.youthwork-practice.com/games/newspaper-paper-games.html)

Cottonball Blowing - Two teams sit across from each other at a table or table tennis table. A cottonball must be blown off the other side of the table. The players are not allowed to use their bodies to touch the cottonball. When a big group is playing, use a second (or third) cottonball. Each time the cottonball is blown off one side, the other team gets a point. The game stops after 4min, the team with the most points wins.  (http://www.youthwork-practice.com/games/cotton-ball-games.html)

Cottonball Vacuum – Make two (or more teams). A cottonball is “vacuumed” with a straw and passed on to the second player who then “vacuums” the cottonball and passes it on to the next player… If the cottonball falls down pick it up and continue (or start again with the first player in the row). The team who manages to get the cottonball to the last player in their row wins. (http://www.youthwork-practice.com/games/cotton-ball-games.html)

Friendship (Bible Thought ABC for Teens)

Friendship -

Is a relationship and concern between people and provides positive emotional support. Friends care for one another and look out for each other. A deep friendship requires openness about personal things, careful listening, and being loyal to one another (emphasis mine; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendship).

Story: (You can change the name of the persons in the story)

Dipuo could always count on Lilly. If she was hurt, Lilly would be there to help. If she needed someone to talk, Lilly would listen for hours. If she was sad, Dipuo could cry on Lilly’s shoulder. If Dipuo was happy, Lilly was more then willing to celebrate with her. If she did not understand something, Lilly would explain it to her. If Dipuo needed a friend Lilly was there. Dipuo said to herself, “I am so happy that Lilly is my friend, with her life is much easier and more fun!”

So let me ask you: “Do you have a friend like that?”

Questions:

_ Why is it important to have friends like Lilly?

- What does friendship mean to you?

- What would you do if a good friend disappoints you?

Understand:

We all live in relationships, some people we know are close to us (parents, siblings, friends...) others are not (school- or work colleague, strangers...). It will change in your life over the years who is important (close) to you and who is not. Have you ever heard the saying: “Blood is thicker than water?” (Which means, family is more important then friendship). Often this is true, sometimes it can be different. (But, it does NOT mean that families are not important.)

Bible passage:

One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24

Think about:

If one person stands on a chair and the other on the floor, who can pull the other person easier to him/her? Usually the one on the ground, this means it is easier for a bad friend to influence the other badly. Therefore everyone needs good friends in life as you can talk with them about anything, you trust them with your life, they tell you the truth even when it is uncomfortable to hear and you challenge each other from time to time. Jesus can be your closest friend if you ask him. He wants to be closer to you then a brother or sister.  

Game: Control Tower (optional)
So called “Trust Games” are always helpful to display and encourage friendship. Divide your group in pairs of two, one teen gets blindfolded and their partner guides them through an obstacle course. When they have successfully reached the end of the course, roles are swapped and the course changed. This is very good for establishing communication and friendship, as well as creating a fun and competitive atmosphere. (You can time the runs to make it more competitive, or disallow them to communicate verbally.) Afterwards talk with the teens shortly what they experienced and how they felt when being led blindfolded or to lead. (emphasis mine; http://www.youthgroupgames.co.uk/friendship-building-games.html)

Endurance (Bible Thought ABC for Teens)

Is the power of enduring, bearing pain or hardship. It is the ability or strength to continue or last, especially despite fatigue, stress, other adverse conditions. (emphasis mine; http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/endurance)

Story: (You can change the name of the person in the story)

Dondo wanted to get fit so she decided to start started running. In order not to give up to easily she set herself a goal. Dondo decided to run the Soweto marathon one year later, so she worked out a strict programme. The first four weeks she would walk every day for ½ hour, for the next 3 months she started running for a whole hour per day.

Then she ran a 10km race in order to see how fit she was. After a good finish she continued for another 3 months with her training running 1 hour each day.

Another exiting test was her first half-marathon (23km), which she managed to finish. For the rest of the year Dondo started to run each day for 1 ½ hours in order to be well prepared. Some days the training was easy and some day’s she had to force herself to continue. Thoughts like: “Can I really do this?” came in to her mind. Finally the day arrived Dondo was ready to run a whole marathon (42,7) – but she had to be patient and endure a hard training schedule for a whole year. Words could not express her joy when she ran across the finish line.

Questions:

- Why do you think that Dondo managed to endure?

- Did you ever had to endure a difficult situation or hardship?

- Have you ever thought of giving up something because it seemed too hard?

- Can somebody maybe help you to endure difficult times?

Understand:

Often in life, situations or circumstances seem so overwhelming and impossible to overcome that we would like to quit. Especially if hard times hit us we are challenged to decide - either to give up or to endure. The problem is that it usually does not help us to run away from a difficult situation. We should rather face and endure the challenges we face in life.

Bible passage:

His glorious power will make you patient and strong enough to endure anything, and you will be truly happy. Colossians 1:11 

Think about:

Giving up often seems to be the easier option. We look at ourselves and see our shortcomings, weaknesses, insecurities. But if we look at God and what he has accomplished through his Son Jesus in our lives we can regain the hope we need to endure difficult times.

Game: Last Man Standing (optional)
Team up in twos. Players have to stand back to back. When you say "go", all players press their backs against their team-player at the same time. Players have to position themselves together. They have to go down with their knees (45 degree angle). Now they have to stay stable in that position (they are not allowed to hold each other) and the time is running. If a team falls on the ground they are out of the game. The team who hold out the longest is the winner.

(http://www.youthministrychunks.blogspot.com/2012/02/last-man-standing-game.html)

Afterwards talk about what went though the participants minds when they felt the pain in their legs and wanted to quit.

Intergenerational Church

As youth workers (fulltime, volunteer and parttime) we should not be alone in reaching out to the teens of our church and community. Sometimes it feels like I am working in a silo or vacuum.

Ever felt like that before?

I just finished reading a short article (from www.youthministry.com) you'll find below and I thought that it's worth sharing with you.

Be incouraged not to have a mindset that you do the work JUST with the next gereration. Understand that to a certain extend you work with your peer generation and previous generations as well.

As I reflect a bit on my life and who inspired me to do youth ministry I am currently involved in the age range is basically from 0 to deceased. It is such a wonderful, powerful, and creative diverse group which invested (and keeps on investing) in me.

All of those crazy and amazing people will continue to pe part of the work I do and the person I am.
Alex Strecker

------------------------------
So I hope you enjoy the short article below... (by Jon Batch)

Well, if you share anything in common with me, you might be thinking something along the line of... Generational Church, I have enough issues with the Junior High students getting along with the Senior High Students. But I would challenge you to take a broader look at this and maybe change your perspective some areas and provide a suggestion in others.

Currently you have some inter-generational church going on… think about it for a minute. It doesn't matter if you run a weekly worship service, mission projects, bible studies, small groups or Sunday School type classes we generally don't have students of the same age teaching/leading their peers. I would agree that they can have a role in the teaching process but they are not the point on teacher.

1. Teachers: I assume if you are like me, you have more than one teacher. We have six Sunday school teachers of various age and experience teaching in our monthly rotation

2. Prayer warriors: believe it or not… you have people in your church, maybe they are the student's parents, grandparents, or some elderly person who prays daily for your ministry and some churches have a prayer team that holds you and your ministry in prayer.

3. Drivers and chaperones: I am assuming you don't have students driving students to retreat or to camp and I pray your junior high students aren't driving themselves to events… We often find great appreciation when we have parents or adults willing to drive a van full of students to an event.

4. Host and go to parents: You know what I am talking about here. We all have a group of people or parents who we can go to for help with a scholarship or a home to do a dinner or meeting in. They play important roles in our ministry.

Grow from there… maybe the above list has triggered some thoughts in your ministry mind and you can celebrate the victory of inter-generational ministry but I doubt it is a place to settle and feel comfortable. Let's push the envelope open a bit and add to our ministry.

1. What other areas of your ministry needs some support?
a. Get a big easel or dry erase board and write every position you have a need for.

2. What other people groups in your church can you minister to?
a. Can you create cards or sign cards during your hang out time to send to shut-ins (home bound) or the elderly?

3. Who is investing in your life?
a. Paul had Barnabas and Timothy… you need someone too and it might be a more mature person in your church or community.

I hope you are encouraged by this post and can celebrate your inter-genrationalness and challenge yourself to expand the efforts. I really don't think it is an all or none mind-set as much as a partnering in life and ministry with very gifted and often missed potential volunteers or ministry partners. Sometimes we need to talking smaller steps is easier than total leaps that we have little or no control over.

Funny & refreshing Water Games

WATER GAMES

Balloon Squat Relay

What is needed:

• One water balloon per player, plus extra
• Two or more groups of friends

How to play:
Two or more teams line up. They pick up a water balloon and run to the finish line. There they sit on the water balloon and pop it, then they run back to the starting line and the next person goes. If their water balloon pops before they reach the finish line they must go back and get another. First team done wins!

Sponge Toss Relay Race

What is needed:

• 1 large sponge per relay team
• 2 buckets per relay team
• 6 or more teens

How to play:
Each player on a relay team must be at least 5 feet away from the other player. They can be in a line or a zig-zag formation. Place a bucket full of water near the first player on the team and an empty bucket near the last player in the line. When the race starts the first player soaks up water in the sponge and throws it to the 2nd player who throws it to the 3rd and so on until the sponge gets to the last player on the relay team. The last player squeezes out the water into the empty bucket and sends the sponge back the same way it came. This is repeated until the empty bucket is full or until a time limit is met. The team with the most water in their 'empty' bucket wins.

Fill a Cup Relay

What is needed:

• One plastic cup per team
• One plastic spoon per team
• One bucket of water
• Two or more groups of friends

How to play:
Place the plastic cup at the finish line. Each person fills their spoon with water in the bucket runs across the marked field and puts it in the cup. This is repeated until the empty cup is full or until a time limit is met. The team with the most water in their 'empty' cup wins.

Sponge Relay

What is needed:

• One large sponge per team
• One bucket of water per team
• One obstacle course
• Two or more groups of friends

How to play:
Each person dunks their sponge in their bucket and places it on their head (without holding the sponge). They then proceed through the obstacle course as fast as they can with out dropping the sponge. If they drop the sponge the participant have to start all over and re-dunk their sponge. After getting through the course they pass the sponge to the next person who proceeds in the same fashion. The first team done wins.

Waterballoon Volleyball Game

What is needed:

• A large amount of water balloons
• Two sheets, or large towels
• One volleyball net
• Two groups of friends

How to play:
Set up two teams with a sheet on either side of a net. While team members are holding on to the sides of the sheet, place 1 water balloons in the middle, have them toss the balloons to the other side. They must catch them with their sheet and toss them back over. If a water balloon pops (on the sheet, a team member or the surrounding field of a team), then the other team receives a point. The team with the most points wins (after all the water balloons have been destroyed).

Duck, Duck, Splash

What is needed:

• One sponge
• One bucket of water
• A group of friends

How to play:
This game is played the same way that Duck, Duck, Goose. Let the participants sit down in a circle, one person runs outside around the others counting duck, duck, splash. At any given time when she/he says ‘splash’ she/he can wring out the sponge on the persons head.

Water Balloon Toss Game

What is needed:

• Water balloons
• A group of friends paired off

How to play:
Each pair stands face to face with one holding a water balloon. They toss it to each other and then take one step back. Each time it is tossed they take one step further back. The pair that has their water balloon intact the longest wins.

Apple Game

What is needed:

• Two big bowls of water
• Two groups
• One Apple per participant

How to play:
Put the apples in the bowls, make two equal teams and line them up (like in relay-races), when you say go the first of each team runs to their bowl, dives into the water an tries to bite into an apple without using her/his hands. With the apple in her/his mouth the player runs to the back of the line. Each participant does the same until all team members managed to receive an apple. The team which finishes first wins.

Desire (Bible Thought ABC for Teens)

Desire -

Is a sense of longing for a person or object or hoping for an outcome. Desire is the fire that sets action aflame. The same sense is expressed by emotions such as "craving." Human desire is the main motivation of all human action. (emphasis mine; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desire_%28emotion%29)

Story:

Thabang was a typical 11 year old boy. He lived with his family in a small town, went to the public school, had friends in the neighbourhood and was liked in the community. There was one special thing about him everyone knew, he loved collecting stamps. While the other kids would go out and play Thabang would sit for hours to paste new stamps in his book, count how many he had or he would just admire them. Thabang loved stamps and he wanted always more. Wherever he went he would look for opportunities to get a stamp he did not have.

One day he walked again to his favourite junk dealer, in the hope to find a special stamp and he did! There it was behind the glas-counter, excited he asked for the price. “This one is expensive, it costs 250R!” said Mr. Ntluli. Thabang could not believe it, he slurped out of the little shop, bitterly disappointed. What should he do now? He did not have this kind of money, neither did his mom. But he wanted the stamp so bad. “This would be the jewel in my stamp collection” he said to himself. “Hmmm, maybe I could…”

(Discuss with the teens how this story could end.)

Questions:

- Have you ever experienced something similar like in this story?

- How does it feel if you want (desire) something really bad (very much)?

- Is it ok to desire things or relationships we do not have?

Understand:

To long for something or someone is not a bad thing. We all have wishes, dreams and desires. Some of them we can achieve and others will be very difficult to get. Sometimes we will need to risk a lot in order to receive what we truly desire. If you like it or not, there is a cost involved in what you desire.

Bible passage:

Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. Romans 13:14

Think about:

Some of the things we desire are not really going to benefit you in your life. At first what you want looks good, or it actually is good (there is nothing bad about collecting stamps), but later your desire might overwhelm you. Unfortunately what was innocent in the beginning can become hurtful for yourself, others or towards God. Think about how the things you would like to have can actually hinder then benefit you and other people. In the Bible Paul (the Apostle) challenges his listeners rather to desire what God desires.

Game: (optional)

Do you love your neighbour?

You’ll need a chair for each student in a circle, minus one. There’s a person in the middle and they approach anyone and ask, “Do you love your neighbour?” If they say no, the two people sitting on either side have to switch chairs, while the person standing tries to take one of the seats. But if the person answering says yes, they add, “but I don’t like people…” and they fill in the blank. It can be “people wearing jeans,” “people with brown hair,” “people who play basketball,” anything really. Everyone who fits that description then has to jump up and find an empty seat, while the person in the middle tries to find a vacancy. (http://www.calledtoyouthministry.com/games-for-youth)

Afterwards discuss shortly that we all desire to be part of specific groups. We want to “hang out” with certain friends and want to get rid of others. While the game is fun it gave you to a small degree the chance to follow after what you desire.

Funny Newspaper Games!

Below you find some funny games, check out what you can do with newspaper:

 

Eat Chocolate

No. of participants:        4-16 people

Age:                                 from 10 years upwards

Materials needed:         newspaper, chocolate (300g), dice, hat, scarf, gloves, fork, knife

Space needed:              inside, on the floor or around a table

Time taken:                    totally variable

Description: 
Sit in a circle (or around a table). A bar of chocolate is put in the middle with the hat, scarf, gloves, fork and knife next to it. The chocolate is wrapped up in many layers of newspaper with each layer having twine wrapped around it. The first player throws the dice and then passes it on to the next player. Whoever rolls a 6, puts on a hat, a scarf and a pair of gloves. Then that player uses a knife and fork to open the package. As this is going on, the dice continues to be passed from player to player. If another player rolls a 6, he/she takes over opening the package (knife and fork in hand) after putting on the hat, scarf and gloved too. The player who takes off the last layer of paper gets to eat the chocolate. You continue the game until the last piece of chocolate is eaten by a player. (emphasis mine, http://www.youthwork-practice.com/games/newspaper-paper-games.html)

 

Newspaper Relay Race

No. of participants:        10-60 people (make teams of 7-10 people each)

Age:                                 from 8 years upwards

Materials needed:         newspaper (2 pages for each team)

Space needed:              inside, outside (medium size area)

Time taken:                    until the first teams finish

Description:
Divide in to (at least) two teams, each group gets 2 newspaper pages. The first page is put on the ground in front of the first player. He/she stands on it and places the second page in front of him on the ground. He/she then stands on it, takes the first paper again puts it infront of him/her on the ground. This continues until the player reaches the goal where he/she then runs back to the start and the next player on his/her team takes a turn an so on. (emphasis mine, http://www.youthwork-practice.com/games/newspaper-paper-games.html)

 

Newspaper Snake

No. of participants:        5-25 people

Age:                                 from 10 years upwards

Materials needed:         newspaper (1 page for each participant), measure-tape

Space needed:              inside, outside (medium erea)

Time taken:                    5min

Description: 
Give every person one sheet of newspaper (make sure that all the pieces have the same size). When you say "go" the kids/teens have 5min to tear the paper in one long piece (snake). The longest snake is made by tearing a strip of newspaper as thin as possible. Stop the game (after 5min) and use a measure-tape to measure the strips. Make sure that the paper-snake is not torn (in one piece). The longest snake wins!(emphasis mine, http://www.youthwork-practice.com/games/newspaper-paper-games.html)

 

Newspaper Battle

No. of participants:        6-30 people

Age:                                 from 10 years upwards

Materials needed:         newspaper (1 page for each participant)

Space needed:              inside, outside (medium erea) - the size depends on the number of participants

Time taken:                    5-7min

Description:
Divide into two teams, send each team in one marked area next to the other (like a dodgeball field).  This will be the battlefield and each team gets a pile of newspapers. At the signal, each team makes small balls out of the newspapers and throws them in to the opposing teams side. Each team defends it’s half of by throwing the newspaperballs which lie in their field as quickly as possible back to the opponents side. When the whistle blows, the game is over. The team which has the least paper balls on their side wins. (The newspaper pages must be made into balls. They cannot be simply thrown to the other side.) (emphasis mine, http://www.youthwork-practice.com/games/newspaper-paper-games.html)