Tag: Cooperation

How many people can you get on top of a milk crate (or similar sturdy object) at one time? All Aboard is a fun team building game for youth groups that encourages cooperation by challenging players to work together. The game is ideal for 6 to 12 players but don’t worry if your group is bigger than that – just use more milk crates.

The secret to this game is to think outside the box (sorry). Clearly you can’t get 10 or 20 people standing on top of the same milk crate at the same time. So where else can those people be? Perhaps hanging onto the shoulders of one of the box-standers. This is a real “feet” of engineering!

Here are a couple of other cooperative youth ministry games that can be used to build teamwork among people of all ages:

Blind Square

You need a team of more than four people, blindfolds for all team members, a level playing field and about 150 ft. of rope. The rules are simple, each player needs to keep at least one hand on the rope at all times. Working together, the team must try and form a perfect square in a given period of time. (Five to ten minutes works well.)

Ping Pong Rescue

The object of this game is to get a ping pong ball out of the bottom of a long pipe without turning the pipe upside down. The solution seems obvious, fill the pipe with water from a nearby 5 gallon bucket. There’s only one small problem – the pipe is riddled with holes.

This activity takes a 4-6 ft. long piece of PVC pipe, about 4″ diameter, capped at one end and held in an upright position. Prepare the pipe ahead of time by drilling two dozen or so random small holes (1/16″ to 1/8″). Provide a five gallon bucket of water (or other water source) at a distance, cups or pans, and some other random “tools” such as dowels, string, coat hangers. Eventually the most practical solution will be for some people to relay water while others keep the holes plugged.

Think Small

The objective is to see if you can get everyone in a medium to large group to touch a small object at the same time. For a group of 20 see if everyone can touch a soccer ball simultaneously. If they succeed at that task try a softball, ping pong ball, a marble.

Wrapping people in toilet paper is a youth group standard. Give people an incentive to be creative and “Mummy Wrap” can a fun, interesting way to get a lesson started.

Divide into groups of three or four. Give each group one roll of toilet paper. Have each group wrap one of it’s members like a mummy. Judge the mummies according to style, creativity, neatness. Award valuable cash prizes.

Bible Applications:

Joseph, Moses, Egypt; Lazarus, Jesus, first century burial preparation; Earth stewardship: save the toilet paper and reuse it to clean up after another activity; Body life: each of us has a gift to contribute.