Do you find yourself in a sea of Zoom meetings and Facetime? Or maybe your kids are missing their friends and craving interaction? I am blessed to work in youth ministry. We have been working hard to plan times for connection for the group. We have Bible studies and weekly check ins. This week we added in a weekly game meet up. I’m compiling a list of games to use with the students and wanted to share them with you… the interwebs.
Scavenger Hunt
I’ve seen a few different ways to do this one. You can share an image like one of the ones below (found on Google) and have everyone send in a picture or screen share a picture when you meet up virtually.
We put together a virtual scavenger hunt for our youth using Google Slides. I hosted the meeting on Zoom and used the screen sharing feature to present the objects.
You are welcome to use the hunt we put together. The rules are simple… the camera has to stay stationary. Everyone has to be seated in front of their device until the object is presented… then they race to find it and bring it back. We did that the first five people to return get a point. It has ten objects as well as three bonus/ tie breakers. Click on the image below:
Two Truths and a Lie
Instruct each player to think of three statements about themselves. Two must be true statements, and one must be false. For each person, he or she shares the three statements (in any order) to the group. The goal of the icebreaker game is to determine which statement is false. The group votes on which one they feel is a lie, and at the end of each round, the person reveals which one was the lie.
Never Have I Ever
Players hold up all ten fingers. You take turns making declarative statements of things you have never done. If a play HAS done the thing, they have to put down a finger. Once their ten fingers are all down, they are out of the game.
Example:
Speaker: Never have I ever been to Disney World
Players who HAVE been to Disney World have to put down a finger.
Story Train
Create a continuous story. One person gives the opening sentence (or word), then the next person adds on the next sentence (or word). Continue until everyone has had a chance to contribute to the story.
Twenty Questions
There are no preparations or special materials required to play. This game works best with a small groups of about 2 to 5 players.
Select one person to begin Twenty Questions. This person is designated as “it.” For each round, this person must choose any person, place, or thing. The person can be living (e.g. a current athlete or classmate), deceased (e.g. a famous person in history), or fictitious (e.g. cartoon or movie character). The place can be anywhere in the world, including creative places. The thing can be an inanimate object, an animal, a food, etc. Basically anything can be chosen, but try to make the selected item something that can be reasonably guessed. It’s no fun to play a guessing game that is impossible to solve!
After the person has chosen a person, place, or thing, the guessing begins! The other players take turns and ask “yes” or “no” questions in an attempt to figure out what the chosen answer is. That is, the questions must be answered with simply “Yes” or “No.” After each guess, keep track of the number of guesses that are used until it reaches the limit of 20.
Once 20 questions are used up, players may not ask any more questions. If a player correctly guesses the object before then, they become “it” for the next game and choose the next person, place, or thing. Otherwise, the answer is revealed.
Yahtzee
This one is easy to play in the traditional manner. Each player will require 5 dice and their own score card. If your friends don’t own Yahtzee, they can print a scoresheet online.
Players should show their dice rolls using video chat so everyone can see what they are doing. Otherwise, play in the traditional manner.
CLICK HERE for the directions for Yahtzee.
Chess
Similar to Yahtzee, each person needs to have their own board. Communication is key with this one.
Both players will have to record every move on their own gameboard so each person has to communicate their move very clearly. This is easier on boards that have the grid labeled with numbers and letters. But even without a labeled grid, you can show your board to communicate your move.
Hangman
One player thinks of a word or phrase; the others try to guess what it is one letter at a time. The player draws a number of dashes equivalent to the number of letters in the word. If a guessing player suggests a letter that occurs in the word, the other player fills in the blanks with that letter in the right places. If the word does not contain the suggested letter, the other player draws one element of a hangman’s gallows. As the game progresses, a segment of the gallows and of a victim is added for every suggested letter not in the word. The number of incorrect guesses before the game ends is up to the players, but completing a character in a noose provides a minimum of six wrong answers until the game ends. The first player to guess the correct answer thinks of the word for the next game.
One Word Game
This game kind of has to work on the honor system. The person who is “it” has to promise to close their eyes while the others collaborate.
“It” will close their eyes while the host of the game holds up an object. They will put the object down. “It” can open their eyes. The other participants have to try to get “it” to guess the object… but they can only give clues one word at a time. The clues cannot include any parts of the name of the object.
Example:
Host holds up a pencil sharpener
Person 1: shavings
Person 2: pointy
Person 3: draw
Person 4: wood
…
Would You Rather
Ask random “Would You Rather” Questions and hear the different answers/ opinions.
HERE and HERE and HERE are some great lists of questions.
The Toilet Paper Game
I KNOW y’all have toilet paper at your house!!! Tell everyone in the group to go get “how much toilet paper you need” … if they ask, “Need for what?” Just smile and say, “Go get however much toilet paper you usually use.”
When everyone is gathered, each person has to tell a fact about themselves for each square they are holding.
Who is It?
Have everyone in the group privately message an interesting fact about themselves to the host. The host will read out a fact and everyone has to try to guess who it is about.
Camera Roll
Host will shout out a number. Everyone has to find a picture on their camera roll matching the number and share it.
Example:
The host says 7
Everyone finds the 7th picture on their camera roll and shares it with the group.
How are you guys passing the time these days? How are you mainting community and connection? What about your kids? How are they doing?
Comment below and share your social distancing interaction ideas!
