source: www.youthwork-practice.com | 2000 Games, Devotions, Themes, Ideas and more for Youth Work
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200 Program ideas for group meetings or a camp

Approx. 200 program ideas and program points for games and activities with children and teenagers. 200 program ideas for outdoors, indoors, for a normal meeting or for a particular climax. Ideas for holiday camps and at home are also included. Lots of these ideas are described in more detail in the collection of games.

A problem faced by lots of group leaders is that they run out of ideas. They would like to use a popular idea which worked in another group session again and if it worked last year why not try it again. However there is always the danger that the program “runs dry”. For this reason, variety is required. With this collection of ideas, we would like to offer a few inspirations and suggestions for new group session or holiday camp ideas. There are lots of program ideas for which the collection of games in the last 50 categories are suitable, this particularly applies to the game evenings, variety evening, relay and station games (treasure hunt) and crafts.

Over 2000 games and ideas are described in the collection of games. If you can’t find something there...!

Indoor

Bible work
Biblical listening game with microphone and cassette recording
Computer game Olympics (no ball games, but skilful games)
Horror evening: Telling horror stories by torch or candle light
Sense games: Games which develop the senses (see, hear, feel)
Board games: Connect 4, Twister, Snakes and ladders, Chess, Draughts, Intrigue, Atlantis, Scotland Yard, Monopoly, Jenga, Trivial Pursuit, Manhattan, Battle ships, Cluedo, etc.
Casino evening (Roulette, Black Jack etc.) as a game evening. The stakes are sweets or jellies.
Card game evening: Snap, Black jack, Pick up six, Twist, Patience, Taboo etc.
Presenting jobs: Invite people who tell us about their job.
Tinker/repair/tune a bike
Build a funk radio / Morse machine (possibly integrated into a terrain game with finding the separate pieces)
The art of knots: Learn to tie knots and learn their use.
Ice cream parlour / eating ice cream / ice cream cocktail party
Advents baking: Baking Christmas biscuits with the group
Enjoy breakfast together
Barbeque on the camp fire (Hotdogs and buns, baked potato with quark)
Cooking and eating an evening meal together
Pizza and salad evening (homemade)
Milkshake evening: Who will create and mix the best milkshakes?
Meditation evening
Music: Mini-Playback-Show or Hit parade
Singing and dancing: Singing or dancing games
Game night: A whole night of games
Variety evening (fun games)
Variety evening (fighting games)
Variety evening (circle games)
Variety evening (sketches)
Rowing regatta / Chaos games / Scavenger hunt
You bet...?
Formula 1 race: Build a Scaletrix race track and organise a big race (everyone brings their race track)
Model cars: A race over an obstacle course with remote control cars.
Magic evening
House rally: Different stations in the house with different tasks
Darts tournament
Billiards tournament
Penalty kick tournament
Table football tournament
Table tennis tournament
Draughts tournament

Outdoor

Frisbee golf
Street ball
Scotland Yard
Swapping game: The kids try to swap an apple and an egg against higher value items.
Adventure games (Capture the flag / station games / treasure hunt / smuggling games / strategy / attack, defend, creep etc.)
Map & compass rally
Plant hunt (find and collect plants)
Path finder games
Forest games: See category forest games, outdoor adventure games, perception games
Path finder techniques
Co-operation adventure games (Spider’s web etc.)
Night walk / torch walk / night action
Bike riding skills
Bike race / mountain bike rally
Scooter rally / scooter riding skills
Running, catching and hiding games
Lawn games: New Games, Rugby
Grappling games
Parachute games
Knight games and knight tournament
Sports tournament, ball games
Relay games
Dodge ball
Dragon/rocket shooting
Sledging
Variety evening (relay competitions on the grass)
Baseball
Frisbee (Ultimate)
Football
Obstacle course
Indiaca
Mini-golf tournament
Riding
High wire (climbing)
Squash tournament
Tennis
Volleyball, Basketball, Football sports night
Roller boot hockey
Inline skating
Picture hunt (town game)
Scotland Yard
Photo rally: Certain every day scenes are to be photographed – points are awarded per photo
Stamp game: Bring as many stamp prints as possible
Beach: Sand castle competition
Beach Olympics, beach action
Archery / making a bow
Trust games
Forest shadows game
Water fight
Panning for gold
Water slide with stable foil and soap
Sleigh ride / sleigh race
Ice skating
Snowball fight
Snow tracks treasure hunt
Winter games

Parties

Advents party (candle games)
Carnival party
Red Indian feast / Red Indian birthday
Pirate feast / Children’s birthday party with pirate theme
Knight feast
Halloween Party
Disco
LAN Party
Pyjama party
New years eve party
Christmas party

Themes

Theme: Be the bottle or always be the best! (bottle game)
Theme: Communication (communications games)
Theme: Masks (clothes and blanket games, making plaster masks, cool Man Show)
Theme: Media & making news (newspaper games)
Theme: Nature (forest games)
Theme: Trust (trust games)
Discussion (discuss and learn to discuss)
Masks / costumes / photo show Suitable theme: “wearing a mask”
Theme: Relationships
Theme: Friends
Theme: Community and community killers
Theme: Suicide
Theme: Addiction – drugs - alcohol

Visits & courses & trips

Fire brigade
Police
Printers or newspaper
Radio station
Film studio
Nuclear power station or power station
Fitness program in a fitness studio
Learn about a computer program
Lifeguard course
First aid course
Outdoor/indoor swimming pool
Visit the JUGO (youth religious service)
Bowling/skittles evening
Cinema visit
Concert visit
Go-kart driving on a course
High wire
Climbing (indoor or outdoor)
Bungee jumping
Raft trip
Amusement park visit
Cave tour
Canoeing
Bike tour
One day hike

Actions

Parents evening (planning, preparing, practising, performing)
Organise/take part in a flea market
Collections (glass, paper, old clothes)
Fundraising
Auction / tombola
Bazaar (advents bazaar, club party, …)
Planting trees
Publicity slogans, placards, advertisement for the group/ a camp
Advert: Make a internet home page for the group

Creativity

Photo story: Make a crime or love photo story
Photo reporting
Photo laboratory: Developing photos ourselves
Body painting
Joke wall
Write a recipe book
Pantomime: An evening with pantomime tasks and presentations
Nativity play
Role play / dressing up / theatre
Make a video film

Crafts

Make a bow and arrow for the knight games
Making shields for the knight games
Light bulb rattle
Make a rainmaker from nails and a cardboard roll
Owls made from pine cones
Plaster masks
Juggling balls (sewed and filled with sand)
Working with leather (armband, key ring, sets, wallet, bag...)
Build a bird house
Recycling lanterns
Rainmaker
Sun dial
Painting pots and planting plants
Make drums from old tin pots and cover with paper or felt. Soak the paper or felt in paste or gelatine.
Printing or painting t-Shirts
Make a bird seed bell
Lanterns made from lanterns or tin cans

Quiz

Town – country – river etc.
Record noises and guess the sounds
Quiz (pictionary/1-2 or 3/the big challenge/trivial pursuit/...)
1,2, or 3
The big challenge
Trivial pursuit
Internet rally
Pictionary
Picture round. What is that?
Puzzles and dice games
Mystery puzzles

Adventure, experiences

3 day bike tour
3 day hike
Abseiling or climbing
Build an igloo and igloo weekend
Bivvy bag / survival night
A night in a cave
Surfing course
Make an oven from stone or clay and bake a pizza
Tree house
Canyoning
Camp tower building
Murder mystery games
Wild water rafting