Hello, if you’re reading this in the future, it’s 2020 and we are quarantined due to the Corona Virus or Covid-19. Life is crazy. People are crazy, buying lots of toilet paper for no reason.
If you’re in the present, you’re probably meeting with your Youth Groups online most likely on a platform called Zoom. Times have changed but youth groups, and teenagers, have not. Games are still a thing, even during a pandemic.
If you have a youth group of 12-15 students, who now join you online every week, here are a few games you can play with them. Some of these games are traditional and can easily be played online. Some of these games are active and have kids leaving their seats to accomplish a tasks.
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If you’re not using Zoom, the games will work with any online conferencing platform. Here’s a video to help you understand what Zoom is and how to use it.
Take a look, try a few games and see which works for your youth group.
Balderdash (Dictionary)
Have kids have paper and pen ready. You share a word that kids do not know the meaning of and kids must come up with what they think the word means. Send a chat message to a student with the real meaning of the word (in basic terms, not exact) Give them a minute to write down the word and then ask kids to share. While they’re writing down their meaning, create a poll and kids can vote on which word is the real meaning.
Scattergories
If you have the Scattergories Game, you’ll see that this can be played just as well online as off. If you do not have the game you can grab it here. Ask students to have some copy paper and a pen ready. Choose a letter and then ask students to write down as many words in a minute that correspond with that letter. Ex: B, Write down as many animals you can that start with B.
Set a timer for one minute and then kids read off their list. If someone else has that animal on their list, they all have to cross that animal off and receive no points. Original answers get points and the winner is the person with the most points at the end.
Scavenger Hunt
This is a take on the old game of “first person with a shoe with a hole in it, bring it up.” Have about 10 items ready to share with kids. Give them one item at a time and they must run through their house to find it. Give points to the the person that makes it back first. Person with the most points wins. Make sure to have a tie breaker.
Super Hero
You have one minute to change yourself into a super hero with stuff from around your house, Go! Students come back and they have to share their superhero name and their super power.
Trivia Night
Have trivia night and create question lists like Cartoon Trivia, Sports Trivia, The Office Trivia, or Marvel Movie Trivia. You can find tons of trivia questions online. Choose a topics you know most of your kids would be into, nothing too obscure, unless they all love Harry Potter or Anime, then be obscure.
You can set them up on teams or if your small group is small enough, they can play individually. Most points win.
Show Us Your Fridge
Those who wish to participate will open their fridge and show the audience what’s in there. One assigned person get to suggest three items they must take from their fridge, mix them up and eat it or make a sandwich with them. This is yuck, but hilarious.
Pictionary
Create teams, using the Zoom break out room feature, and then share the Zoom White Board. Choose one person from the starting team and then chat them the thing you want them to draw. If their team does not get the right answer before time (usually a minute) runs out, the other team gets to guess. Team with the most points wins.
Power Point Games
You can share your desk top to every on Zoom so if you have power point games on your computer, you can share them. Make sure kids have markers and papers to reveal which they thing the answer is.
I have a great Pizza Game, you can grab it here.
Dance off or Dance Party
Yes, you can choose the music and kids can get their dance on. Better dancer wins. Or, you can just have a dance party where everyone wins.
Bonus: Wits and Wagers
This is a game based on wagering on the answers given by people around the table. The questions are varied, asking for a specific year the submarine was invented or the percentage of cheese, in pounds, Americans consume every year. The team with the closest answer wins the point.
For the Zoom version, create break out rooms with 3-4 to a team and explain that there will be no wagering but you will use the break out rooms for teams to discuss the question and come with an answer.
Hit the break out room and ask type the question to them. They will be able to see the question in the groups. Make sure each team designates someone to keep track of their answers and is the spokes person from their team when you bring them back. When you ask for answers, the spokes person can write the answer and show it to the screen or type it in the chat.
Ten questions is about the right amount of questions to use. Ask them all while students are in their break out groups
Ask each group to make up a team name and let the fun begin.
Bonus: Two Crowd Breaker Games
ID Numbers
Right and Left
Make your own game
First person to… make up a list of funny stunts kids have to do, like
The first person to stack three rolls of toilet paper on your head (got this from my friend Ethan)
These are tough time but they can also be fun times. Remember to hit record on Zoom so you can share your hilarious video clips on social but also to keep as a timestamp for your youth ministry.
If you’re needing coaching to help build or maintain a successful youth ministry or to up youth skills as a youth worker check out my coaching group.