In case you’ve never been introduced to Stuff You Can Use, it is run by Kenny & Elle Campbell, Middle School Pastors at The Chapel in New York. Their site provides awesome games, but they also provide loads of ministry tools to help equip leaders, parents and volunteers.
One of the great features of this site is that it is also economical. In fact, much of it is just a couple of bucks or free. In today’s economy, I don’t have to tell you how invaluable a resource like this is.
The game that caught my attention was their giant-size Angry Birds game. Our youth ministry is stoked to play this game at our New Year’s Eve event this year. I encourage you to take some time to peruse their site and utilize this amazing ministry tool.
If you want to get all the latest from Stuff You Can Use, follow them on Twitter @stuffyoucanuse and sign up on their site to get emails with free products and notifications on new materials. You can also follow Student Ministry Games @stumingames to get more great games and resources!
Thursday’s Tip of the Day is KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. In the marketplace, companies spend tens of thousands on market research because they know that understanding their customer will help drive sales. As a youth leader or worker, it is vital that we know our students. When we take the time to get to know them, we better understand how to effectively minister to them. Today, we see how this plays out when it comes to the arena of gaming.
I know that many who read this will say, “But I want everyone to get a chance…”, but the truth is, games can sink quickly because you have people who won’t generate the excitement that a game requires.
Hey, hey it’s Wednesday! Our wild game for this week is sure to put a sour expression on your students face… in a good way. I present to you, PUCKER UP:
PREP TIME – 5-10 Minutes
ITEMS NEEDED – 12- ½ Filled Dixie Cups of Lemon Juice, 12- 4 oz Cups of Water, 12 Packets of Sugar
GAME TIME – 3-5 Minutes
PARTICIPANTS – 12 (4 Teams of 3)
INSTRUCTIONS
Once you have your contestants, separate them into groups and have them line up single file behind the table where the ingredients will be placed. Each portion of the table (make it four distinct sections) should have 3- ½ filled Dixie cups of lemon juice, 3- 4oz cups of water, 3 packets of sugar.
Today is Tuesday, which means it is time for Tuesday’s Game of the Week! This week’s game is entitled, NAME THAT NERD.
Under most circumstances, I simply explain a game to you, but today is your lucky day because I’m giving you this one!
If you would like to use this game directly from PowerPoint, click: Name That Nerd PowerPoint Game, go to “save as” and then open up PPT on your computer. Once you’ve done so, go to “open” under the “file” tab and select “name-that-nerd1.pptx”. That should do the trick! (If you can’t get the file, you can email me at studentministrygames@yahoo.com and I will send you the file)
Once you have the file open, you can play one of two ways:
1. Let students guess as individuals just for fun. You won’t need to keep track for this.
2. Divide your group into groups or sections and have them work together as a team. If you decide to go this route, keep in mind that there is a tie-breaker at the end that you may need to use. This question is not only about answering correctly, but it is also about speed. The first team to answer correctly wins!
This is one of the games taken from our Nerd Night, in which we played a few fun games, had students dress up like nerds and shared a message centered on salvation with all the students. I have to say that our students got really into this. We still have some of the pictures from the night hanging in our youth room at church.
So embrace your inner (or outer) nerd and get ready to have a good laugh with this quick and easy game you can integrate into this week’s youth meeting. Good luck and let me know how it goes!!
Feel free to leave comments and follow us on Twitter @stumingames!
Welcome to the Monday Minute, where we keep it short and pithy. That’s right, the average person can read about 400 words per minute, so we each Monday, you can expect to see less than that.
Today’s Monday Minute is all about the purpose of games. When playing a game, make sure you know why you are playing. In my view, games serve one of three purposes: to have fun, to teach a point or to develop relationships through teamwork. Let’s quickly break each of them down.
1. Games To Have Fun
In my opinion, these games are essential. If you do a game every week, then it is fine to mix in a game that illustrates a point. On the other hand, don’t lose sight of the fact that many students are stressed and it is nice for them to have a place where they can just have some fun.
Happy Saturday! We hope that you had a great Thanksgiving weekend with your friends and family. Today’s game is, BEAUTY IS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER. This is one of those games that is guaranteed to get a ton of laughs!
PREP TIME – 5-10 Minutes
ITEMS NEEDED – 4 Sets of Make-Up (blush, eyeliner, lipstick, etc.), 4 Chairs
GAME TIME – 2-3 Minutes
PARTICIPANTS – 12 (4 Teams- Each Team has 2 Girls & 1 Guy)
INSTRUCTIONS
You will need to have 4 chairs set up in front of the room. Ask for 4 guy volunteers and have them sit in the chair facing the audience (put the chairs on a platform if possible so people can see).
Here at Student Ministry Games, we realize that there is a plethora of game sites out there. Every Friday we will share one of our favorites with you, highlighting its strengths.
Today, we take a look at one of the big boys, Simply Youth Ministry’s morethandodgeball.
Happy Thanksgiving! Take time to give thanks to God for all you have been blessed with. Most of us, even on our worst day, have far more than the rest of this world. After you are done giving thanks, take a moment to read the rest of this blog and check out some of our archive of games before the tryptophan kicks in!
If you are new to my blog (and you all are at this point!), I will be sharing a gaming tip every Thursday. It may be tempting to look past this, but I highly recommend taking two minutes to read the post. If you are the Student/Youth Pastor, you may find this as a helpful resource to pass on to leaders who assist or run the games for your ministry.
In 15+ years of working with students, I have come to realize a few things that will help ensure that your games become a hit. There’s nothing more disappointing than getting a bunch of people excited for a game, only to see it fizzle before your eyes. To make sure that doesn’t happen to you, I will share the first of my 7 Golden Rules of Gaming.
KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID!
We hope you are preparing to have an amazing Thanksgiving. If you are like me, you will probably overeat, watch some football and take a nap. After all of this, I hope you feel rejuvenated enough to hit the stores with those crazy people… people like me.
This article does not directly involve gaming, but it is about efficiency and productivity. In ministry, most of us have to be frugal, and at very least, we should be good stewards of the resources God has given us. The reason most of us overpay for anything is because we don’t plan ahead- in other words, we pay for convenience.
Each and every Wednesday we will be sharing with you some sort of wild (and usually messy!) game. Last week we introduced you to MELON MADNESS. This Wednesday’s game is simply entitled, DUEL.
PREP TIME – 10-20 Minutes
ITEMS NEEDED – 2 Medium-Sized Squirt Guns, 2 Alka-Seltzer Tablets, 2 Popsicle Sticks, 2 Pairs of Goggles, Velcro
GAME TIME – 2 Minutes
PARTICIPANTS – 2 People (though you could reciprocate and add more players)
INSTRUCTIONS
Before you start the game, you’ll need to get the materials listed above and be ready for a little assembly. The goal of the game is to have two participants go Old West Style against each other in a good ole’ gun fight… squirt guns that is.
stumingames 