Minutes began very early in Young Life. The "minutes" name evolved from the fact that Young Life was a club and a club always had the minutes of the last meeting. Early clubs (1940’s and 50’s) had officers, a president, a vice-president, secretaries and bouncers. The secretaries did the minutes, and they almost always involved the kids with the use of their names and a review of the events of that week. Therefore, we have the name, "minutes", and it is still used today (even though we don’t actually keep the minutes anymore) because it is a good distinction from "skits" which are usually all leaders, and minutes involves kids up front.
The purpose of having minutes in club is three-fold. First, is to have fun in club. To get kids laughing is as important as getting them there. Second, we have minutes as a promotion for club. The conversation around school the next day is often, "You should have seen what they did at Young Life last night." Third, minutes involve the students.
Meanwhile, have another leader tell the three guys what is going on. This is a set-up on the crowd rather than the 3 kids. Have them go out one at a time and have the first two take off a few items like a watch, socks, or shoes. "Is this it?" "No!" Then have them "realize" what is going on and take off the blanket. Then have the 3rd person come out. (Have him put a pair of shorts under all of his clothes in the back room). The 3rd person proceeds to take off all of his clothes (also a pair of boxer shorts), throwing them out from under the blanket. Then he runs off with just his shorts and the blanket around his waist. You are "accidentally" standing on the blanket.
2. Clothes Relay Minutes
Props: (1) football pants, jersey, shoulder pads, cleats, and socks (2) big woman’s bra, dress, leotards, high heels, and wig. Have three guys race three girls. The girls have to completely put on the football uniform over their clothes and the guys have to put on the women’s clothes. After they are completely dressed, they have to take it off and the next person starts putting it on. The first team (guys or girls) to finish wins. Mechanics: Teams start at the same time. One person completely dresses and undresses before the next starts, etc. When 3rd person is undresses the race is over.
Two teams inflate and pass balloons to
kid who stuffs them into oversized sweat shirt and pants. Girl leader counts
for girl; guy for guy by popping balloons with pins. Have a three-minute
time limit. Pop all extra balloons so kids aren’t throwing them during
talk. You may have different sized and different shaped balloons. Fat Albert
music in background (off TV tunes CD). For a sell you may have a little
person in huge sweats already stuffed with balloons come in to Fat Albert.
Maybe you could even do a spin off of one of these ridiculous Gas X, and
Tums commercials.
Have several people come up and sit cross
legged; the weight guesser lifts each one of them, holds them for a few
seconds, then puts them down and guesses. On about the 3rd person,
slip a pan of water under him before he gets down.
Put a large rubber band around the heads
of several people. Place it so that is squashes their nose and folds their
ears over. They can use anything to get it down around their necks except
their hands (can use wall, other people, etc.). First one through wins.
Have several people up front and take
their shoes and socks off. Have two or three teams of students. Then have
the teams as quickly as possible "fish out" candy hearts from buckets of
ice water (or snow) with their feet. When the team gets done have them
try and read the candy hearts that were removed from the water. If the
hearts are still readable if they go quickly.
Pull up three guys and have a large fish
tank (wider is better then deeper). Explain that it is time to play that
age-old game "Bobbing for Apples Young Life Style". Instead of just apples
put in ping-pong balls, small apples, and golf balls. Explain that the
ping pong balls are worth 1,000 points, the apples 2,000 points, and the
golf balls 3,000 points (when it comes to points, Cindy says "Go big or
stay home."). They will be blindfolded and have 30 seconds to 60 seconds
each to get as many points a possible. (They may go for it more if you
put a $25 camp scholarship on the line). The visual on this one is hysterical.
If your tank is big enough you may even try two at a time. Maybe an old
"Momma" character could sell this skit as a great "kiddies" game.The old
traditional with a twist. Think of unusual thing to "bob" for: oranges,
hot dogs, pickles, eggs, etc.
Have three students up front. Fill a baby
diaper (preferably Huggies) with chocolate pudding . When you say go, the
students lick/eat the chocolate pudding our of the diaper with their hands
behind their back. The first one done wins. A twist on this one is to have
gummy worms hidden in the pudding, then have the contestants pull out all
the gummy worms from the pudding. Be ready for a messy clean up.
Have 3 teams of 2 up front, give each
team a two liter of pop. The rules are that they can pass the 2 liter back
and forth as they drink it. The first team done wins.
Those little Vienna weinies are great
for minutes — Give the kids up front toothpicks and a can of little weinies
and see who can make the best wiener creation.
See who can spit one of the little weinies
out of their mouth the farthest.
Cindy says that this one is painful —
so choose the right people to be up front. Bring several students up front
and give each 20-30 wooden clothes pins with the little metal springs.
See who can stick the most clothes-pins to their face. (They cannot stick
the pins to hair, jewelry, glasses, etc) When the allotted time is over
count to see which student has the most pins on their face and declare
them the winner. You might want to have teams of 2 and have one person
putting the clothes-pins on the person.
Have a huge bowl of Jello up front, three
students, and three smaller jars. Each student gets a straw. The object
is to see which student can get the most Jello into her personal jar by
slurping it out of the mother bowl and spitting it into her jar. Give them
a certain amount of time and then compare jars to see who has sucked the
most.
Have 3 students up front, hand them a
glass of water. Then show just that person who is going to be doing the
gargling the name of a familiar song. It might be a nursery rhyme, or any
other songs everyone will know. Have the person take a drink of water and
attempt to gargle the tune you have showed them. The rest of the students
in the room should be listening close so they can guess the song. Be ready
for water through the nose.
Get 6 students up front — 3 teams of two.
One person is the eater and the other is the feeder. When you say "go"
the feeder dips a marshmallow into chocolate syrup and then feeds it to
the eater. See how many can be eaten in a minute.
Get three students up front and give each
one a pair of panty hose which they are to put over their head and face.
Then — when you say "go" they peel a banana and begin to smash it through
the panty hose in to their mouth. The first person to eat the entire banana
wins. This one also works with Jello.
Get a couple of "volunteers" up front
and put a huge blob of shaving or whipped cream on their nose. Place them
strategically around the room. They must try to shoot the shaving cream
off of the nose of the other person on their right. Clearly explain that
if they start shooting the crowd on purpose, they will be executed. Use
wild west, country songs for this one. Have towels and remember that things
will get wet. The first person to shoot off all the whipped cream wins.
Have 3 "volunteers" up front. Give them
each a Blow Pop sucker. The first one to unwrap it, and bite into it, to
the gum, and blow a bubble wins.
3 or 4 kids race to shave a balloon. First
put shaving cream all over the balloons. The trick is that when the balloon
breaks, the shaving cream goes all over — so be prepared. A little nick
put on the razor’s edge before hand will assure that the balloons will
break.
Now bring in the second person from that team. Without saying a word, Person #1 must act out he assigned plot for Person #2. Person #2 may or may not understand the charade, but he or she must subsequently act out the same situation for a third member of the team. Person#3 performs the charade for Person#4, and so on. The last person must guess the original story line.
Remember, all this is done in complete silence. Even the simplest charade can undergo a thorough metamorphosis after being passed down several times. If the lost person cannot guess the charade, person #1 should perform it again and let the last person guess once more.
Here are some classic French charade situations to spur your creativity.
Charade 1:
The original pantomime that you do could include the following: pull the elephant into the room on a rope; tie the rope at a stake; dip a rag in a pail and wash the side of the elephant jumping high to get all the way to the top; crawl underneath, wash his belly and legs; go to the front and wash the trunk inside and out and wash the elephant’s ears as well; and then, wash under his tail (hold your nose).
Charade 2:
You are a high school beauty pageant contestant, anxiously awaiting the announcement of the winner. Suddenly you hear your name! You now step forward to receive your crown and roses. Then comes you victory walk down the aisle, waving to the crowd, you encounter many misfortunes. First, you are allergic to the roses, so you begin to sneeze, but you keep on going waving and sneezing to the crowd. Then, on the way back up the aisle, your high heel breaks and you finish the walk with one heel missing!
Charade 3:
Your are a pregnant mama bird about to give birth. You must fly around the room gathering materials for your nest. Once you make your nest, you lay your egg. Then finish the charade by hatching the egg and finding a worm to feed your new baby.
21. Blow Up Toilet Paper 1 and 2 Minutes
Pick a four-person team from each class. See how long they can keep one square of toilet paper in the air by blowing it. Or you may have one person stand on a chair and drop the paper to a person standing on the floor who blows the paper up while the top person tries to catch it with a party blow out horn.
22. Pop Balloons By Biting Them Minutes
Two couples race to see how many balloons they can pop by biting them as the balloons are placed between them. Have some balloons with shaving cream in them. Go fast and have each half of room count out loud for their couple.
23. Feed The Babies Minutes
Use three couples. Have the girls dress like moms and the guys wear a diaper (use Depends or sheets), bib and bonnet. Have the girls put a guy on their lap and feed them a jar of gross baby food and a full baby bottle. When all the food is gone, the girls must burp the guy. The first one to burp wins. Cut a bigger hole in the bottle or it takes forever.
24. Space Alien Dogs Minutes
Bring three guys in front and put a 32 oz. cups around their necks. Put three blindfolded girls in the back of the room and give each of them a dozen hot dogs. The girls throw the dogs to the guys who catch them in their cups without using their hands.
25. Shoe Shucking Minutes
Choose two teams of four. Have the team lie on their backs in a circle with their feet raised to meet in the middle, balancing a bucket of water on their feet. Each team member must remove his/her shoes without spilling the water. This can be a class competition.
26. Candle Blowing Contest Minutes
Two guys face each other at a table. Give each one a candle, a big cup of water or a can of pop and some matches. The object is to drink the entire cup of water, but they can only drink when their candle is lit. They can’t use their hands for anything other than drinking water or lighting the candle. So, their options are to drink, blow out their opponent’s candle or light their own candle. Explain this clearly to kids and have a referee.
27. Plunger and Tennis Ball Minutes
Pick three guy/girl teams. Put the business ends on both ends of a plunger. Hang a tennis ball from the middle on a rope. Have the couples put their heads on the cups and, using only their heads, flip the ball around the plunger. The first couple to wrap their ball around three times wins. Kind of like tetherball! This one is more sanitary with new plungers.
28. Cotton-ball Vaseline Relay Minutes
Give each team a pile of cotton balls. Team members must move the pile to another location by putting Vaseline on their noses and picking up the cotton balls with their noses. They may not use their hands.
29. Donut Dip Minutes
Have two or three guys lie on the floor face up. Cover them with garbage bags. A girl stands by each guy holding a plain donut on a string. The girl dips the donut into a bowl of chocolate syrup and swings the donut over for the guy to take a bite. They must dip donut for every bite. The first one done wins!
30. Toilet Paper Mummy Minutes
Have kids stand back to back. Give them one roll of toilet paper (or more), and see which pair can do the best job wrapping themselves into a mummy. Music possibilities of Walk Like An Egyptian or Wrap it Up.
31. Bobbing For Apples In Baked Beans Minutes
Just as disgusting as it sounds. Thank Brooks Kimmel for reaching an all new psychotic state for this one, but he said it worked. Make sure you have great clean-up towels. You may be able to get the beans donated and you may want to have swim goggles and ear plugs. For this minutes you have to have kids already prepared and psyched to go.
32. Jousting Over A Baby Pool of Stuff Minutes
Here is one that goes the extra mile. You need a baby pool filled with the stuff of your choice (oatmeal, instant potatoes, whatever you can get your hands on) and a 4x4 plank of wood long enough to reach across your pool (prop up the ends so the pool is not crushed). This must be sturdy enough to hold two people. Two contestants with Nerf joust sticks (possibly pool noodles) and helmets battle on the plank to knock each other off into the pool. A ton of preparation is needed for this one. Should only be done outside. This could be a fun minutes but you must think through the safety on this one. Make sure the board doesn’t get so slippery that the kids will fall and get hurt. You might even want gymnastic mats around the pool.
33. Hobby Pantomime Minutes
Take three people out of the room. Bring in the first person and act out detailed, exaggerated actions of your hobby. Bring in the next person and have the first act out the hobby for the second. Have the second person act out he hobby for the third. At the end ask each person what they thought they were acting out. You can also act out changing a diaper or washing an elephant.
34. Blind Shoe Grab (Cinderfellas) Minutes
Arrange chairs in a circle. All of the Cinderellas (girls) in the group select a chair. The Prince Charmings (boys) each pick a girl and kneel in front of her. He removes her shoes and holds them in his hand. The leader calls for the shoes and they are thrown into the middle of the circle. Then the girls blindfold the guys. On the signal, the guys crawl to the center and attempt to find their Cinderella’s shoes. The girls can only shout out instructions to her prince. After finding the shoes they crawl back to the girls and put shoes on right feet.
35. Ski Lesson Minutes
Have kids with ski poles jump back and forth over a pillow in front of them. When the crowd yells "bump" on cue from leader, they must sit down on a chair and burst a balloon. Say it’s a five-bump course to be done for time. Choose two or three kids. For the last balloon for the last kid use a water balloon. You may want fast music in the background to build suspense. An enthusiastic ski instructor may serve as a great sell.
36. Feel The Force Luke Minutes
You will need: tubes, newspaper balls, or squirt guns. Sell this minutes with some classic music from Star Wars and two people (preferably Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker characters) coming in the room with a classic light saber (golf tubes) battle. (Yoda also is funny if you can find a mask at a costume store.) Bill it as a battle of the sexes and pull up two girls and two guys to have sword battles with a golf tube each (make sure the tube is not sharp on the end, if so, pad it with foam). Put the guys back to back with about three to four feet in between them and explain that each guy is fighting their girl. Also explain that there is no hitting above the shoulders. As they are about to begin stop the match and blindfold them. Blindfold the girls first, explaining that they are blindfolded so that they can "feel the force" and then blindfold the guys. After the guys are blindfolded, take the blindfolds off the girls and give them a football helmet for protection. The girls end up hitting the guys without taking hits and the guys usually even end up hitting each other. Be careful with this minutes, it can be great, but dangerous so think through it. Play Star Wars music in the background while they are swinging. This same principle has also been used throwing newspaper balls at guys as they furiously try to hit girls that can see them although they are blindfolded. You might try a squirt gun duel with girls un-blindfolded after it starts.
37. Guys Best Pick-up Line Minutes
To sell this one you may tell a quick disaster date story about asking someone out, telling the crowd that you will need their help. To do this, reenact your scene by building a couch out of three folding chairs covered by a LARGE sheet or blanket (it must cover all the chairs well). After building the couch in front of them, pick a girl and sit her on the end chair. Then pull up three guy studs to come give you their best line and move. Demonstrate for them that it all counts here — talk, walk, distance from the girl — that when told to do so they will enter the room one at a time, walk over to the girl, deliver their best line, and sit right next to her with their arm around her. After explaining and demonstrating, briefly send them out of the room. While they are out of the room, you pull out and put away the middle chair, stand on one end of the sheet and keep the girl sitting on the other. When the guys deliver their line and begin to sit down, both you and the girl release pressure on the sheet and they will fall right through. Note: the person who takes them out should have three lines ready for the guys in case they can’t think of one. Make sure you build them up afterward, and may want a pillow on the ground under the sheet to break their fall.
38. Egg Obstacle Course Minutes
Pick two barefoot kids, lay eggs on plastic and have them walk through the course (simple). Have them walk through it backwards (still easy). The last time blindfold them and while they are blindfolded, remove the eggs. The audience can coach them. Use Corn Chips, Doritos, peanut shells, to throw them off. You may sell it with a turban and a robe uniform like the stereotype fire-walkers. Possibly use Eastern Music and sound effects. Also, you can make a circle path through your club. They race around, then backwards, then with the eggs, pulled up after the blindfold is on.
39. Headphone Karaoke — Low Budget Karaoke Minutes
You will need a sound system or some way to play a song in headphones and over speakers at the same time, and then fade the outside music while keeping music in the phones. Tell the kids that it’s Karaoke Night, and three lucky people will have a chance to show off their musical skills. Unfortunately, there were budget cuts from the home office in "your area" and we could not afford any type of karaoke machine. Soooooo, instead each will have to sing their song using a stereo instead. Pick three kids and take them out of the room. Coach the crowd that you will: bring in each person, play the song for everyone who will be singing, then put headphones on the contestant (with the song playing over them). Then, you will draw the sound out of the room and the crowd will just pretend to continue singing, allowing a hilarious solo from your person with headphones. Do the same to the next two kids. You must use a very popular song kids will know and three kids who are really outgoing. (You may even cheat and clue in your last kid before club as a secret between you two forever, just in case the first two lock up when in front). Props could be a mic and mic stand. The other kids in the club can’t hear the music, only the hopeless wailing of each singer.
40. Magic Carpet Minutes
Use a folding chair and a board and get a blindfolded girl to stand up on it while it’s on the floor. Get four guys to hold the corners and slowly lift it a foot or so off the floor. Tell her she can balance herself by putting her hands on the heads of a couple of boys; as the board is lifted, they sink way down so that the girl thinks she is being gradually lifted pretty high. Then they take her for a "ride" and move around the room as the kids scream and tell her to duck her head, etc. This usually works well, especially if the kids cooperate.
41. Paint The Picture Minutes
Paint a picture of spring or something similar. Call kids from the club to come up and stand and be things like a babbling brook, lovers in a canoe, rocks, trees, etc. Also have a kid come up and run around the group to be a frame. Depict beautiful nature scene. Then narrator gradually has the brook freeze and stop babbling, trees die, etc. (winter scene). Punch-line; "and all that was left was the running sap."
42. Stocking Race Minutes
Sit two or three guys in chairs blind folded. Give them a paper sack with heavy men’s gloves and a pair of stockings in each. They race to be the first to put on the gloves and then the stockings. Becomes hysterical when they can’t even feel if they have the stockings in their hand or not. You can use hockey gloves, big winter gloves, or lacrosse gloves.
43. Name The FlowerFlour Power
A great Valentines Day minutes, or a minutes to play up for the dateless! Pull a great looking girl up front with a flower in her hand and tell guys that 2 lucky contestants may win the chance to get flower and a kiss. Send 2 guys out of the room; upon returning they have to guess the name of a flower that is the girl’s favorite; if they guess right they get flower and a kiss. The first 2 guesses have the crowd respond as if they guy didn’t guess right; the third guess (no matter what it is) is correct. As he goes to kiss the girl she blows flour in his face and hands him a big Hershey’s kiss from behind her back! (The girl gets flour in her mouth, and kiss behind back when they are out of room, and you are explaining to crowd their response - girl should practice before club, the flour will have enough to spray guy, but she may also choke on the Play-Doh like flour in her mouth). Your Antonio Amore, Dr. Love, character could sell this one.
44. Ping-Pong Ball Fight Minutes
Use teams of one boy and one girl and place a cookie sheet with a ping-pong ball on it between the two teams. The object is to blow the ball to the other side. After they are blindfolded, place the ball on a mound of flour.
45. Moo Minutes
Send four people out of the room and bring them in one at a time. The first person comes in and is told that one person has been told to "moo" louder than everyone else; everybody moos at the count of three; person has to guess who it is; have everybody moo again(second chance), then tell them who it is (anybody) and ask them to be the one to moo loudest for the next person. When the next person comes in and listens, on the second moo, nobody else moos except the first person. Explain this to everyone before the first person comes in.
46. Blindfolded Banana Feed Minutes
Get several couples to take turns feeding each other bananas while all are blind folded. First let boys feed girls. Then get girls to feed boys, but first take off the girls blindfolds. Boys get it in the ear!
47. Banana Monkey Race Minutes
Call up three guys and blindfold them. Give them each a banana and tell them it’s a race to see who can eat the banana first. Tell two to sit down so there is only one guy shoving bananas in his mouth.
48. Fill In The Blanks — or — Mad Lib Minutes
Draft a small piece of writing, either a letter, a recipe, a narrative, a solo, and instruction sheet, etc. leaving out descriptive words. Then at club ask for an appropriate word be they adverbs, adjectives, nouns etc. Fill in the blanks without telling the club what you are filling out. Read the finished product.
Here’s a "Mad Lib" that would be great for your next Halloween Party. It’s simply a story with key words left out. Without letting the kids in on the story, have them (orally) supply the missing words as you tell them the type of word needed (noun, part of body, adjective, etc.) Tell them to be as creative and wild as possible while thinking up words. Then read back the story after all the missing words are filled in.
"Once upon a time, __number__ years ago, in that fiendish place Translyvania (which is now known as __local high school__), the __adjective_ Count Dracula __verb(ed.)__. Our story finds him just after he has finished his dinner, which tonight included __person in group._ Since he was still a little hungry and a full moon was out, he decided to catch the next __means of transportation__ to __girl in room__’s house and peek into her __room__ to see if she was __verb — ing._ By chance she was, which brought a __adjective__ smile to his __adjective__ face. Without wasting a second, he __verb-ed__ into her __noun__, startling her so much that she broke her __toy__. "__greeting__" spake Count Dracula. "I have come to drink your blood!" "__exclamation__" she replied, whereupon she kicked Dracula in the __part of body__ and fled. Not to be deterred, Dracula chased her as far as __place__ where he finally tackled her. It looked like the end for __same girl__ but just before Dracula could sink his __adjective__ fangs into her __adjective__ neck, __boy in group__ arrived on the scene. Quickly sizing up the situation, he grabbed the nearest __noun__ and smote Dracula so hard it was heard in __place__. "__mushy line__," sighed the girl. "Aw, it was nothing," replied the boy as he flexed his __part of body__ for her. "By the way," he asked. "What’s a nice girl like you doing in the __your church__ high school group?"
49. Pedro The Sugar Salesman Minutes
Props: two identical bowls with spoons, one filled with salt the other with sugar. Send kids A and B (both are forewarned and C (unsuspecting sucker) out of the room). A, dressed as in Mexican clothes comes in with a bowl of sugar expounding on how great it is. He/she tries to sell C on buying some of the delicious sugar by having him/her taste it, while taking a huge spoonful himself. C will not be to impressed with A’s selling ability, so have C try to sell some to B. while C is putting on the outfit, switch the sugar bowl for the salt bowl.
50. Ugliest Thing In The World Minutes
Props: one large blanket and 3 informed fellas.
Announce that you have discovered the ugliest thing in the world, and he is so ugly that it is hard to look at him, in fact its downright unbearable. Only another real ugly person can stand the sight of him. At this point, bring in a guy underneath a huge blanket rigged in such a way that there is an opening around his face, but not exposed to the room. Ask a couple of guys who are real ugly to take a look at him and let us know what he looks like (of course these two guys have been clued in). Each takes a hesitant look at the ugly thing and each reacts very violently, screaming running out of the room clutching at his eyes. Finally pick a cute girl and ask her to take a look. She will probably be a little reluctant about taking a look at him. When she does, the guy underneath runs away screaming. Pick the girl very carefully. This might a good one to pull on an unsuspecting leader.
51. Musical Hat Minutes
You need six weird hats. Have seven kids stand in a circle facing the back of the person in front of them. Each should have a hat except one of them. Then to music the grab the hat of the person in front of them and place it on there heads. Once it is on their head, they should let go of it. This continues at a frantic pace until the music stops. The person without a hat is eliminated, just like musical chairs.
52. Balloon Popping Minutes
Each contestant has a balloon tied to each of his limbs. The main idea is to pop all the opponent’s balloons while still having one of your own. Blindfold for more fun.
53. Eating Contest Minutes
There are many possibilities with eating contests. You can have contestants eat pies, cabbages, celery sticks, watermelons, and so on. You can either judge on speed or least amount of bites. It has been recommended that you visit the foreign foods section of your local grocery store also.
54. Song Naming Minutes
Play all or part of familiar and obscure songs. Have a couple of teams composed of guys and girls trying to guess the names of the songs. The first one to guess the name of the song gets a large piece of gum that he must chew. The naming gets more difficult the more one gets right because of the gum in their mouth.
55. String Weaving Minutes
Props: a long strong string with a spoon attached to the end of it.
Skit: Have two teams of five boys compete. The first boy starts the race by taking the spoon up his pants leg under his shirt and out of the neck and then passes it to the next guy who does the same backwards and so on. This alternating procedure continues until the string starts down the one in the opposite direction. The race is both a speed race and competition to see which team can do the weaving with the lease amount of string. The best way to insure both speed and shortness is to have the first team through weaving shout that they are through, then the other team must stop. Then add an appropriate amount of string per undone person to the slower team and measure.
56. String Mania Minutes
Props: two 2-foot long strings. Tie a girls wrists together with string leaving about one and a half foot slack. Then do the same with a boys wrists, except that the string of the girl is placed between the boy’s string and his body, i.e., they are hooked together. The object is for both of them to separate by funny combinations of stepping through the rope, putting their heads through, etc. However, there is no way they can do it by trying to thread limbs. When they are thoroughly entangled, show them how simple it can be done. Have the guy take the loop of his string that is on the girls side and pass it through the one that ties her left wrist; then loop it over the girls hand and they will be free. Practice with leaders first.
57. Magic Paper Minutes
Send four girls out of the room and bring them in individually. Have them stand on a newspaper - the first thing they say is supposed to be what they said when they were first kissed. Do some crazy antics if necessary to get her to say something like, "What are you doing?"" or "What do I do now?"
58. Banana Split Minutes
Build a banana split in the mouth of the person who will eat it! This can be sort of a one-shot deal or could be done by three or four girl/guy teams. Girls build; guys eat, or vice versa. Very messy! Club leaders of course have to provide all the ingredients. Lay guys on the ground and have girls stand over them and drop ingredients into the guys mouths. Banana, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, nuts, cherry. You can blindfold the girls. Put garbage bag on guys and use drop clothes, also have towels to clean them up with. "Bananaman" (superhero) could sell this skit. Also, music in background involving food-Ice Cold, Bananaman theme (Green Hornet).
59. Ice Cube Race Minutes
Pass an ice cube down several people’s back. The ice cube is passed out at the bottom of one guy’s shirt into the top of the next shirt. If it falls, start over. Make it a two or three team relay.
60. Newspaper Smash Minutes
Get 2 or 3 couples. (If possible get tall guys and short girls). Tie the boy’s right wrists to the girls left wrists. Blindfold the girls first, then boys. After the boys are blindfolded, remove the girls’ blindfolds. Give each a rolled newspaper and tell them on the signal to "smash" each other. The boys can’t understand why they are getting smashed but have a hard time trying to find the target.
61. Eat That Food Minutes
Just like "Name That Tune". Two students add one ingredient one at a time to a cracker trying to outbid each other to eat the cracker. They can pick up to 10 gross ingredients. "I can eat that cracker with sardines." "I can eat that cracker with sardines and jalapenos…."
A great game show host can really spice this one up along with some fun sound effects from a CD. You may even do two pairs and then a championship round with different foods. Have a bucket or a bag just in case there is a surprise ending.
62. Egg Blow 1 and 2 Minutes
Get some half-inch clear plastic tubing. Use a funnel to pour an egg into it. Two kids standing five feet apart try to blow egg into opponent’s mouth. A leader must hold the tube so kids don’t blow it into the crowd. Also have towels to clean off. Or, do the same set-up as above only set it up ahead of time so the tube gets pointed at a leader’s face at the last second.
63. Licorice Race Minutes
Choose three guy/girl couples (this is a safe minutes for a couple if one of the two is shy and would never want to be up front alone). Tie a Lifesaver in the middle of a long (or two pieces) piece of licorice. Guy and girl at each end race to eat the licorice and Lifesaver first without using their hands. If it drops on the floor they must get it without using their hands.
This sell could be done by a Dr. Love, Antonio Amore character and is good near dances and homecoming. Any weird love song or song about kissing will do, or just your love character’s theme music. Also could be done with kids up front and the Lifesaver at the end of on piece of licorice per person and race to eat it first.
64. Dueling Candle Minutes
For this minutes you will need to figure out a way to connect a candleholder (preferably with three candles in each) onto some type of helmet. Choose four kids and have them stand 10 feet away from each other. Give them squirt guns to try to put out the others’ fire. You may want to hand them bigger and bigger guns (up to a Super-Soaker) until someone wins. Have two semi-final rounds and a final round. Sitting on their knees is best. Music Billy Joel "we didn’t start the fire", "Come on baby light my fire", etc. or maybe even theme song from the movie The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Obviously a challenge to a duel will be a good sell. Have towels, know your water supply, and you will need two very good lighters.
65. Cowboy King Minutes
Get five or more guys to be blindfolded horses, and five girls to be riders. The rider has a cup of ice (ammo), which she puts in the horse’s mouth. The rider guides the horse by pulling on its ears. The only command they can yell is "FIRE." When this command is yelled, the horse spits the ice from its mouth and tries to hit an opponent. The rider reloads her horse with ice. If a rider gets hit twice, she is out. If it is a hard floor have kneepads for guys. Use western music.
66. Face-to-Face Balloon Relay Minutes
Buy about 5-6 rolls of thick (foam mounted) double sided sticky tape. Make 2 teams of 4, can be battle of classes, sexes, whatever. Cover each person’s face with the double sided tape (1 strip down nose, across forehead, on cheeks, down chin, etc., and place a large, yet not completely filled balloon on the first person in each line. The object of the game is to jam your face into the persons next to you and pass the balloon down without using your hands. If it falls to the floor, have that next person go on the floor and jam their face in the balloon to pick it back up. Try this once on your own, you may want the relay to go down and back. An Antonio Amore, Dr. Love, relationship doctor could sell it, any music with a romantic flair could work in background. Keep the crowd cheering!
67. Lifesavers On The Face Minutes
Choose three couples. Each girl gets three roles of Lifesavers and two minutes to lick, stick, and arrange them on the guy’s face. Have the audience vote for the winning team. You may make a lifesaver hat out of a foam circle, spray-painted to add to the decor. You may also consider having 2 girls per guy decorate.
68. Banana Stab Minutes
Get two kids; tie their left hands together and give each one a banana. They must peel the banana with one hand and stab the other guy in the face. Possibly try it blindfolded for round two.
69. Couples Eat Carmel Apples On A String Minutes
Choose one couple from each class. Tie carmel apples to a string tied to a broom handle and get someone to hold it for each couple. They race to see which couple can eat the apple the fastest. Fake starting and stop once to add chocolate syrup, then again to add whipped cream and last to blindfold the contestants.
70. Girls Put On Guys’ Football Uniforms Minutes
Two small girls race to put on the biggest guys’ uniforms. Take all pads out of pockets and include chewed mouth guard. To add more action, have whoever is in the uniform the fastest grab a football and run it to the finish line. They may end up tackling one another to get to the finish. Marching band fight song music will add to atmosphere with kids cheering.
71. Balloon Pop Relay Minutes
Pick two teams of three guys and three girls. Race to see which team can run up as a couple and pop a balloon by hugging. A leader places between them. Go through the line a couple of times fast. End with a water balloon. Perhaps you could sell this one as a slam dancing idea.
72. Guys Make Wine Minutes
Put three pounds of grapes in each of two coolers. Let two guys crush the grapes with their bare feet for two minutes. See who makes the most juice. For a tie-breaker, have the guys drink the juice. Have a measuring cup and big glasses.
73. Girls Sign Guys’ Feet Minutes
Five guys have three minutes to see how many girls they can get to sign their bare feet. Maybe use permanent markers.
74. Feed Through Pantyhose Minutes
Guys put pantyhose over their head. Girls feed guys through pantyhose. Use: applesauce, cottage cheese, pudding, orange-juice with pulp. The guys spit the food into a cup to measure. Maybe this could be a relay or a cooking show deal.
75. Neck Passing Relay Minutes
Pass objects chin-to-neck down and back guy/girl lines. Use an orange, frozen vegetable package, water balloon. Obviously this one could be a Dr. Love sell on how to teach people to "neck".
76. Jelly Beans In Ice Water Minutes
Students fish jelly beans out of ice water with their toes. Have them eat them?!
Or have the girls fish out jelly beans with toes out of ice water and feed to guys. Three couples race.
77. Ice Stuffing Contest Minutes
Choose three guys and have them weigh in (have a good scale). Two girls stuff each guy’s clothes with ice cubes for one minute. The guy with the most weight gain wins. You will need 20 pounds of ice per guy and big coolers to dump ice into afterward. Best done outside.
78. Ice Cream Feed Minutes
Have pairs lie down head to head and feed ice cream to the person behind them. The first team to empty their bowls wins.
79. Thread Frozen Freeze Pop or Spoon Minutes
Punch a hole in the end of frozen freeze pop. Tie it to 20 feet of string. Each team member passes the freeze pop down his/her sleeve and out his/her pant leg. Also can be done with an extension cord and the goal is to plug in a lamp or strobe light at the end of the line.
80. Funnel In Pants Minutes
This is the cruelest skit ever. Have a kid lean his/her head back and balance a penny on his/her nose, then drop the penny into a funnel in his/her pants. Then do it again with arms out at sides, then on one leg, possibly blindfolded. Pick three kids. Let them watch each other, but with the third kid, pour water into a funnel the last time. Only do this to a mature kid. You may want suspense music in the background such as 2001 Space Odyssey theme.
81. Speed Identification Minutes
You will need two card tables, three large sheets, five buckets and four note cards with words on them (eat pickles, moist towelette, anti-fungal ointment). Put the tables in a row with a space in the middle for a head to fit through. Cover the tables with sheets all the way to the ground. Cut a hole in the middle sheet for a head to fit through. Put cards on the table with a bucket over each and cover the leader’s (or senior’s) head with a bucket
Choose two or three kids and send them out of the room. One at a time, the kids lift a bucket and read the cards as fast as possible. The leader or senior screams when their bucket is lifted. The last kid double crosses the leader or senior and pies their head. This could be done with different balls underneath that kids need to identify. You may want to play music as you reset for each kid. You may consider having the contestant facing the audience and the head under the bucket with the back of the head to the audience for the first one’s so that the audience can see the face of the person who gets startled. Then, for the last kid, tell the kid under the bucket to spin and face the audience because you want them to see how great he/she is doing (that way the crowd gets the best of both.) Also, coach your last kid to pie him/her from behind or the side so the crowd can see it best. A psychologist character could sell this as a test. You may want music in-between as you have to reset for each kid.
82. Speed Identification 2 Minutes
This one is on the crowd. Use the same set-up and concept as the speed identification above only use the following objects in order; a baseball bat, a basketball, a soccer ball or a football, the person’s head with a LARGE WIG on, NOT facing the audience. The first contestants are the same as the original; however, your last person is a plant along WITH the person under the bucket or bag. The last person, quickly and excitedly (they must act really pumped up) picks up the first bag and grabs the bat, screams "baseball bat," picks up the next bag, screams "basketball" and hits it hard off the table with the bat (you the panicked leader must play it up and yell to stop them but they are not listening and pick up the bucket with the head under it), the person under the bucket has held up a mannequin head or a ball with a wig on it instead, and the kid screams the person’s name and then whacks the fake "head" with the bat. If done right, the crowd will freak.
83. Ninja Head Spin Minutes
Use four contestants. This is great for a battle of the classes. Two contestants face off by putting knee high pantyhose with a tennis ball inside over their head, but not their nose. Both bow to each other and then move their head in a circular motion to get the ball flying in a circle and try to wrap the hose of the opponent and their ball. When they think they have them wrapped together, they yank back their head and pull the hose off their opponent’s head, winning the round. To sell this skit, you may have 2 ninja characters come in and demonstrate it (Demonstrating this will go much further than explaining it - you must try it once to understand - it really works and is pretty funny watching them hitting each other with the ball as they try to wrap the opponents ball).
84. Oreos or Peanut Butter Crackers on Plexiglass Minutes
Put Oreos open faced on sheets of plexiglass. Choose two to four kids and blindfold them. They must race to smash their face up against the glass and lick off the Oreos. Have extra open-faced Oreos ready for when they knock them off. It helps to have the plexiglass framed so that it does not wobble too much. Peanut butter on crackers may be a little more sticky.
85. Milk The Latex Glove Minutes
Two to four kids race to see who is the best at milking rubber gloves. Set up the gloves on saw-horses or around chests of guys on all fours for the cow. Make very small pin holes in the tips of the fingers of the gloves. Have a measuring cup to see who wins and a container for each to milk into. Play cow sound effects and country music in the background. A dairy man could sell this one.
86. Sponge On The Back of The Head Relay Minutes
Pick four teams. Seat the pie tins on chairs. Tie a sponge to back of the kid’s heads with a bandanna (it’s even better if you can really attach the sponge to the bandannaotherwise it slides too easily). Race to see who can get the most water from a five gallon bucket into the tin in two minutes by pressing their sponge into the tin. Students can only use hands to hold tin on lap. Any goofy love song will work for background music. Sponge man or toilet paper man could sell this minutes as an absorbent picker upper.
87. Mock Spelling Bee Minutes
This is designed to get you, the leader. It begins by having someone challenge you to a spelling bee. Four kids come up front to challenge you one a time to a power Young Life spelling bee. The game goes as follows: one kid at a time steps up and is given an object (for example an egg) and your leader asks them to spell egg. If they do it correctly, they get to put the object on you. If incorrectly, they do not (Obviously by now you will have an egg on your head). Then it is your chance to spell and put something on them, only you are set up each time. For example, your leader may hold up a can of coke to which you excitedly blurt out "coke…c-o-k-e…coke" only to have your leader tell you that is not the word, instead, they read the toughest ingredient on the can (phenylcarbonhydronate acid or whatever) you miss. The next kid steps up and spells another object (oatmeal, syrup, bananas all work). Each time you get drilled and each time you spell back you lose.
Whoever is running the game may trick you in other ways, for example, silent "p’s" whatever. A good ender is for them to give you one that you can get right, you in disbelief stare and take aminute to try to guess the catch…then you slowly spell the easy word…on the second to last letter your leader looks at their watch, interrupts saying "whoop, you time has expired, but thanks for playing" and takes off. Your reactions, facial expressions, and acting ability will make or break this one!
88. Family Feud Minutes
Pass out questionnaires the week before asking for things like favorite teacher, etc. Plan Family Feud based on the answers. You can also make questions up. Develop a final bonus round with prizes. Your host will mean a lot and you will want to have cheesy music and an announcer to "tell them what they can win."
Announce these ahead of time. Include all the weird things kids can do (roll tongue three times, dislocate body parts, burp the National Anthem). Screen the volunteers before they go on stage and help them be great at what they do.
90. Wheel Of Misfortune Minutes
Run this like a game show with a wheel that has things like "pie in the face" and some possible good things like "$25 off camp." Contestants get whatever the wheel land on. Play music from TV game shows. Have the prizes planned out.
91. The Almost Wed Game Minutes
Pick four dating couples. Send the guys out of the room, ask the girls embarrassing questions like, "Where did you go on your first date?" or "How would you rate your first kiss 1-10?" Write down the girls’ answers. Bring in the guys and ask them to answer the way that they think their girlfriend would have answered. Your game show host and cheesy game show music may make or break this one. Take time to prepare and do it right.
92. Christmas Carols with Helium Minutes
The leaders or five big kids dress in choir robes and sing Christmas carols taking hits of helium balloons. You may also do Little Nemo set-up and dress them as elves with Santa. It is funny if they sing both individually at times and together as a punch line. Keep the biggest kid with the funniest voice for last so the anticipation builds for him/her to sing. Costumes mean a lot for this one and a good way to suck the helium out of the balloons. Have two balloons per person in case one breaks or something. Also, be careful, if kids suck a lot too fast they may faint. You may want them sitting down.
93. Dance Or Dare Minutes
Sell this as a cheesy game show. Contestants are brought up front with a game show host and his assistant. They are given the choice to Dance or Dare. They then draw a card from the appropriate pile. If they choose to dance, they are given a dance and a costume (disco outfit, hand jive, chicken dance). The dares are similar (sing an Elvis song — Elvis style). Obviously this takes thoughtful preparation and some outgoing kids.
94. Pavlov’s M&M Training Minutes
Choose two to three couples. Send the guys out of the room and then tell the girls that they will "train" their guys to do a certain action using only M&M’s as reward and nothing else. Bring the guys down and explain that they will be rewarded as they move towards the correct action. Give each a different action like getting a guy to sit down and take his shoes off or stand on a chair and bark.
95. Alka-Seltzer Poem Minutes
Guy reads a mushy poem to a freshman girl. Place two Alka-Seltzers and a couple of breath mints in his mouth ahead of time. Foams like a rabid dog.
96. Kazzo Band Minutes
Pick three teams of four kids. Send them out to choreograph and practice a Christmas carol on kazoo. Give each group a different song and make sure there is a leader in each group.
97. Surgical Gloves on Head Minutes
Several kids pull surgical gloves over their head down over their nose, but not mouth. Inflate the gloves by inhaling through mouth and exhaling through nose. Hold onto sides with hands. Pull on by getting on forehead first, then pulling: back, over, and down. A doctor may be involved in this sell. Music in the background with kids cheering them on is a must.
98. Name that Tune with Marshmallows (or Squirt Guns) Minutes
Four guys versus four girls. Use music. One person from each team steps up with a big pot on their head and a big spoon in their hand. When they think they know the answer they beat on their heads for a bell. If the answer is correct each member of the other team puts a marshmallow in their mouth. If the answer is wrong, that person’s team puts one marshmallow in their mouth, and if the other team gets the answer right, they put an additional marshmallow in their mouth. If it is going too slow, you can have bonus rounds with double penalties in which anyone on the team can take a spoon and guess. This can also be done with a kazoo or any other music. Obviously a great sell is a good game show host. Also, you can do this game with squirt guns where you do one girl vs. one guy at a time. Each person has a squirt gun and squirts the other person until they get the answer right.
99. Pie Roulette Minutes
Six kids in a circle pass a pie around. When the music stops, the kid with the pie has the choice of pieing the person on their right or himself. If the kid pies another kid he’s out. If he pies himself, he stays in. If they all pie themselves add honey to the pie, or Spam, or whatever it takes. Use marshmallow fluff for the pies.
100. World’s Most Dehumanizing Minutes
Fill nylons with applesauce or honey. Pull them over guys’ heads. The first one to eat all the stuff wins. Wow we are reaching on this one!
101. Donut Olympics, Gargle Olympics Minutes
This could include munchkin toss into the mouth, pass the donut on a toothpick, and roll a donut with the nose. You could also do Olympic gargling. Have kids come up for events such as: gargle as long as possible without stopping to breathe, or have them gargle a familiar song.
102. Face Decorating Minutes
Have guys lie on their backs and let girls decorate their faces with icing, candy sprinkles and candles. Let the crowd choose the best face.
103. Find Your Man Minutes
Blindfold three girls and have them feel the legs of four guys (or maybe even sneak in a girl to see their reaction) to see if they can identify their guy.
104. Marshmallow Necklace Minutes
Tie marshmallow necklaces around three couples of people tightly. Then have them eat the marshmallows off each other’s necks except for the last one. That one they must eat off their own neck. The first group to finish wins.
105. Spaghetti Hairdoo Minutes
Have three guys give three girls (or vice versa) a "haircut" by dumping spaghetti on their heads. Give them scissors and a comb and let them create a hairdo. You may use chefs uniforms or and Italian hair expert to combine the ideas for a sell. Have background music (Italian, Respect, etc).
106. Women’s Arm Wrestling with Pillow Battle Finale Minutes
Just like it sounds, have a semifinal and a final round or women’s arm wrestling. Then, you may want to have your female champion take on the biggest guy you have, not in arm wrestling, but in a pillow battle. Give them each a pillow and explain that they will each get three chances to hit each other. Blindfold them both and tell them they must keep one foot still, although they may dodge the hit however else they want. First they must ask the question "Are you there?" and the other answers "I am here." When it is all explained, un-blindfold the girl, but leave the guy blindfolded, therefore the girl will be able to dodge the hits, but the guy won’t. After the guy misses once, put the blindfold back on the girl, and show the guy that she is still right there. Then re-blindfold him and do the same thing again.
107. Balloon Tri-Athlon Minutes
Three kids compete in three events. Have them blow up a balloon until it breaks. Have them blow up a balloon not using their hands, only their mouths. Have them blow up a balloon only using their nostrils.
108. Spamanimals Minutes
Creativity at a whole new level. Bring up teams of two to three people and give each team a platform and three cans of Spam. Have a sculpting contest and see what you get.
109. Skateboard and Plunger Relay Minutes
Choose teams of four. This is good for class competition. Racers sit on skateboards and use plungers as oars in a relay race. Use music in the background. Obviously works best outside.
110. Pillow Jousting Minutes
Four guys and four girls (possibly pair up classes). Senior versus sophomore, then junior versus freshman, then championship round. Each girl will be on the back of her guy who is on all fours. The key rule: the girl’s feet cannot touch the ground at any time; she must keep them wrapped around the guy. Give each girl a pillow and let them try to knock each other off! Call the feet rule close and the championship round will be better. The guys cannot knock each other over, only the girls. You may want to put helmets on the girls. A medieval jousting uniform would be great for a sell and music in the background will do a lot for this one.
111. Shaving Cream Hairdoo Minutes
Hand out one can of shaving cream per couple. The guys spray into girl’s hair and sculpt a hairdo (or vice versa). The crowd votes on winners. You may want to give a hint to a few kids ahead of time in secret-create an Abe Lincoln look, punk rocker spiked do, Mickey Mouse ears, Roman headgear. A hairdresser or fashion consultant character could sell this event. Background music You Are so Beautiful or something heart wrenching about beauty.
112. Egg Roulette Minutes
Get one dozen eggs (four raw, eight hard-boiled). Two people alternate picking an egg and smashing it on the other person’s head. You may want to choose four people and have two rounds and a final round.
In the final round, have six eggs (five hard-boiled and one raw) and hold them in a bowl above their heads to pick. Put your finger on the raw egg and before club explain the skit to all four contestants (because you don’t know who will be in the finals).
Play the first round for real (possibly girls versus girl, guy versus guy, and battle of sexes for the final round) and in final round they pick the hard-boiled eggs five in a row (because you told them not to pick the one with your finger on it till last). Each time you are really in their faces to nail one another, when the final egg is up in the final round you are going crazy only to have the finalist smash it on your head! Make a kid a hero!
113. Girls Make Up Guys Blindfolded Minutes(or vice versa)
Blindfolded girl applies make-up to guy. Use three or four groups. Have it go in stages: first, you can really save this skit with good wigs for the guys (they will look much funnier with them on), eye shadow, cheek powder, lipstick. Have good music in background…Theme from Wonder Woman works or Aretha Franklin’s Respect. Have kids vote for winner, and have towels for guys to wash off. This is a great skit to sell before homecoming or prom…play up the fact that guys get ready in five minutes for dances and do not appreciate all the work the girls do. You may even have the guys hold goofy corsages.
114. Egg Drop, Toothpaste Drop or M&M Drop Mnutes
Guys lie on floor with a Dixie cup in their mouth. Girls sit on another guy’s shoulders and crack eggs on his forehead, then drop the eggs into the cup. Each team gets three eggs. The team with most in their cup wins. You may want a glass measuring cup to pour contents of the cups in to determine who wins. You will need a drop cloth under the guys, towels to protect their clothing and more towels for them to clean up with. Buy the huge jumbo eggs for a better effect. You will need a container to collect the shells quickly. Obviously a sell involving basketball will be a natural. You may want the Globe Trotter’s theme in the background and a funny kid calling play-by-play; or possibly a sell with an Oriental chef making Egg Drop Soup who encourages aerating the eggs.
Similar minutes can be done with toothpaste and coke bottles on the chest, or a bottle to be filled with water using a sponge. Another version uses M&M’s. The girls pick them up by sucking through a straw and them try to the drop them into their partner’s mouth.
115. Tape Head Minutes
Place ski masks (or nylons over their heads) on two to three kids and wrap their head with duct tape, sticky side out (this will take some time-think through what else can be going on as they do this-comp sell, club cards, whatever). Put a bunch of objects on the floor or a table (we want kids to see them going for it). Use different sizes of objects such as yearn, paper clips, ping pong balls, Whiffle balls and bats, fuzzy dice. The kids roll around or head bang for one minute to collect items. The one with most items on his/her head wins. You may consider selling this minutes as a Young Life version of "head banging" dancing. Have heavy metal music in the background and for the sell, folks can come in slam dancing.
116. Tape Head 2 Minutes
Use the same set-up as in previous Tape Head minutes. Only use glow in the dark objects (glow necklaces, glow sticks-often bought through the Oriental Trading Company or at camping and outdoor stores) and have them do the skit in a blackout. It can be a wild visual minutes with a completely dark room and kids who are going after it. See previous minutes for details. You may for a sell have your "sell" person come in the dark lit up like a Christmas tree.
117. Cheese-ball Spitting
This is a great minutes for a battle of the sexes or classes. Have tow contestants sit in chairs two feet apart with their hands behind their backs. Cover their faces with shaving cream, making sure that it is thick so that the cheese-balls will stick in the cream. You may consider using goggles on each, also make sure that you have plenty of towels to clean up with and something to cover their clothes. Once positioned and covered in shaving cream, each contestant is "fed" by a partner with a can of cheese-balls…the contestants then spit the cheese-balls at each other trying to stick as many as possible to their opponent. Obviously make sure their partners are feeding them from behind so not to block the audience; they may feed on cheese-ball at a time. Background music is must. Play for two minutes. Strobe lights might work too.
118. Alka-Seltzer On The Head Dueling Minutes
You may run this minutes as a four-person tournament. Two contestants, each armed with a squirt gun, will take five paces and turn to duel. On each of their foreheads, you will have attached an Alka-seltzer tablet with double stick tape (possibly use big rubber bands if tape doesn’t work). They draw and shoot the water at each other, the first on to dissolve the tablet on the other wins. You may need to use goggles for each to protect their eyes. The tablet will fizz and foam all over the place. Make sure you have towels for them to clean up with afterward. Obviously, a western song and some cowboys or cowgirls could sell this one.
119. Marker Fencing 1 and 2 Minutes
Dress two contestants in white tee shirts and white sweats. It will add a lot if you could get your hands on some fencing headgear as well. Take tow big black markers duct-taped to the end of two strong dowel rods (bought at any hardware store) and they duel. The person to make the most marks of at least on half inch long wins. You can order glow in the dark pens, follow the same directions, and then turn out the lights to determine your winner. Background music will be a must, and white gloves and socks can help highlight the uniforms! Fence away!
120. Gladiator Sumo Wrestling Minutes
You may have done this one at camp. Get six large inner-tubes, and tape three together in a stack so a person can fit inside. Take a piece of rope about 32 inches long and cut it into four pieces…tie them into circles, and then tape two at the bottom of each stack of inner-tubes so they can be used as handles. Borrow two football helmets. Then create a ring on the floor with string, tape, chalk, whatever.
Have both contestants wear a helmet, step into their three tube protective uniform (holding the handles on the bottom tube) and they try to push each other out of the ring. The first person to go outside the ring with both feet or to fall down loses.
This is obviously a very aggressive minutes, but it does blow away kids’ stereotypes. You may use sumo type music, salt over the shoulder, the whole bit for the sell. Of course outside is best.
121. Human Christmas Tree Minutes
Each class decorates someone with ornaments, garland, tinsel, popcorn, lights. Plug them in for the finale and vote for winners. You must have a lot of lights and great ornaments to make this one worth it. Think through how to hang the ornaments (for example, putting old sweats on each kid so they can hook them in the sweats and not ruin their clothes). Music while decorating is a must.
122. Kix or Trix Blow Out the Nose Minutes
You may use a bunch of kids in this one. The sell will mean a lot as well. I suggest maybe a take-off of a track event such as the long jump. You could sell it with the Chariots of Fire song and slow motion runners dressed in ridiculous track uniforms with numbers or Roman uniforms.
Each kid steps up to a starting line, places a Kix in one nostril. Then they will run a few feet, stop in front of another line (or long jump board), and blow the Kix as far as possible into the "pit."
The folks you used to sell the minutes can mark the Kix and use a tape measure to give you an immediate reading. The longest blow wins! Any good Rocky music or sporting music would help.
123. Pie Eating Contest Minutes
Two to four students race. Sit at a table with a pie and a fork. Say, "On your marks, get set…" then stop and take away their forks. Repeat and add whipped cream. The last time, have them put their hands behind their back. These must be kids that will go for it. Have a drop cloth and towels to clean up. Play music in background.
124. Talk or Get Squirted Minutes
Give an outgoing kid a topic like belly button lint. He/she must talk about it for two minutes. If he/she stops or repeats him/herself, he/she gets squirted. These must be funny kids who can really talk. For a sell on this one you may use a "valley girl" character who just talks and talks non-stop interrupting club. You may consider giving the kid a bullhorn or microphone so kids can hear him/her.
125. Marble in Clear Tubing Minutes
Wrap 15 feet of clear tubing around a small girl. Have three different pairs of guys get three marbles from one end and out the other by lifting and spinning the girl. The fastest time wins. If you have the bucks to buy two lengths of tube, it may be better to do two groups at once racing. Background song I’m All Shook Up, Twist and Shout. For a sell you may consider a girl coming in with 20 hula hops talking about how she just loves to hula hoop and has a three dimensional version of hula hooping.
126. Wheelbarrow Eating Race Minutes
Get three couples. Set out line of food items beginning with small stuff (M&M pile) and get larger (Jello or a plate with Spam). The girls wheelbarrow the guys down the row as the guys eat the items. Play music in the background and have towels to clean up with. For a sell you may have a girl wheelbarrow in a guy in total crash uniform gear and have him crash and burn into crowd. You, being the helpful leader, decide to teach them how to do it Young Life style.
127. Sell What’s in the Bag Minutes
Take three people out of the room. Tell the crowd to ask questions to figure out what’s in the bag. Bring one kid in and tell him/her to really sell what’s in the bag without giving away what it is. Crowd knows it’s toilet paper (or underwear). While the kid is out of the room, tell him/her that there is gum in the bag. Fire him/her up for the hard sell, you may even consider him a salesman uniform (sport coat, hat). Announce him like he is a 60-second infomercial. This deal could be a spin-off of those famous TV infomercials. Use your imagination!
128. Dancing Musical Chairs Minutes
Get six volunteers and have five chairs up front. Tell them that they are gong to play musical chairs, but this being Young Life, we do dancing musical chairs. Tell them that they will have to dance, dance, dance when the music starts. Blindfold them and starts the music. Encourage other kids to cheer them on. After a couple of rounds, pull blindfolds off all kids but one. Cheer like mad and let them dance and scramble for seat. Keep it up till they figure it out.
129. Psychological Sit-Up Minutes
"Hypnotize" three people so they can’t do a blindfolded sit up. The first two are in on it. They strain but don’t do a sit-up. The third sits up into a pie. Or, you can challenge them to do 10 sit-ups in 10 seconds, five of them with their eyes closed.
130. Caramel Onion Minutes
This is great around Halloween. Get an onion and cover it with caramel coating. Pick three students to race to finish a caramel apple-one is the onion.
131. Pin The Tail Minutes
Say you are playing pin the tail on the donkey but you forgot the tails, so have kids use their finger. Play normally but hold a jar of peanut butter in front of wherever the kids are going to put their finger.
132. Sit On Lap Talk Minutes
Have a guy sit on a girl’s lap and try to talk her out of putting pie in his face. Clue girl in to let him go for a while. This works well with dating couples.
133. Charcoal Marshmallows Minutes
Give two kids a bowl of small marshmallows. They have to feed the other person their marshmallows, blindfolded. As you are blindfolding them, switch the marshmallows with charcoal covered ones (you can get charcoal capsules), have them begin feeding each other the marshmallows. They will cover each other’s face.
134. Thar’s a Bar Minutes
The leaders’ exaggerated expression is the key to this one. Have a row of five to six kids pass the phrase, "Thar’s a bar!" "Whar!" "Over thar!" and a hand motion down the row. Start with one arm point then add second arm, then point with two arms and a leg. End down on one knee with tow arms pointing. The leader pushes the kids over domino style at the end.
If you know you are doing this ahead of time, goofy hats and costumes like you are going on a hike will help the atmosphere. Also, heavy backpacks will get students off balance easier. The sell is a Bar Drill instead of a Fire Drill-make them sound the same.
135. I Went to Paris Minutes
This skit works much like "Thar’s A Bar". The leader must practice and do a great job of having fun with his/her volunteers. Line up four other people with your leader and explain that one at a time they will pass down the line what you will do. It begins, "Hey Karina, I wet to Paris and brought back a yo-yo" (you move your left arm up and down as if yo-yoing). They will pass to the next person in the same way…have fun with them…make them do it exactly as you do, even moving their arms up and down at your pace.
Then the second round goes: "Hey Karina, I went to Paris and brought back some scissors." (Working your right hand like a pair of scissors, opening and closing your index and middle fingers at a different pace than the yo-yo motion you keep going…very difficult and funny to watch them try to do).
Third round, "Hey Karina, I went to Paris and brought back an arm exerciser" (keeping the yo-yo going and the scissors going, you take your scissors arm and move it back and forth across your body).
You can keep going with others, even use same type of ending as in "Thar’s A Bar" if you want.
136. Hobby Hoax Minutes
Send three kids out of the room and tell them to think of their favorite hobby. While they are out of the room, explain tot he crowd that we all know that everyone’s favorite hobby is kissing, so let’s find out about their kissing. When the kid enters the room ask him questions about his favorite hobby, (Where do you like to do it? With whom? Why do you like it so much or what’s your favorite part?).
137. Girls Wrestle For Guys Minutes
Like musical chairs. Four guys sitting on chairs in a line facing out with five girls standing. Girl must be in guy’s lap with arms around his neck when music stops. Possibly have 4 freshman or sophomore guys sitting on chairs in a line facing out with 5 upper class girls. Play musical chairs. Play up "fighting to the death for your man". Make a world champion belt for them to wear the rest of the night, possibly put the names of past winners on it so that it can become a yearly tradition that kids look forward to for club. You may even include the last guy’s name as well. Use a big time wrestler uniform and music for the sell.
138. Chubby Bunnies Minutes
Several kids in line stuff one marshmallow in mouth at a time and say "Chubby Bunnies" then they stuff in another marshmallow. It can also work good around Easter to use the actual bunny-shaped marshmallow’s that are out around then. The last one who can say "chubby bunnies" with marshmallows in mouth wins. A possible trophy would be a giant bunny made of marshmallows, keep girl and guy records of how many they held along with past winners on trophy. Use a giant rabbit costume or marshmallow man for the sell.
139. Human Bowling Minutes
Go to local bowling alleys and ask for 12 old pins, they should be able to give you some as they get beat up fairly often. Get a "creeper"(sled on wheels used to slide under a car to due maintenance), or some other sled on wheels. Get a motorcycle helmet. Put girls on the sled with the helmet on and have them put their hands behind their back and let a guy (or vice versa the guy and girl thing) "bowl" them down into the set of 10 pins (they must be spread out well, you will need to practice to see how far). Usually bowl 3 competitors and let them do a frame a piece. You will need 2 folks to set the pins up again quickly and one to catch them so they don’t go through the pins and head first into the wall. Most good sleds can really move up to 20-30 feet or so, so have a good runway. There are great sound effect CD’s with bowling sounds for the background. Also, you have the two extra pins - paint them gold and do them up right into trophies, give one to keep and put the names of the winners on the other as your running trophy. For a sell, have a "human cannonball" fly in on the sled and smack the pins (helmet, chest protector, goggles, shin guards, elbow pads, etc.).
140. Turkey Bowling Minutes
This can be great thanksgiving tradition. See pin directions above. Also get a 14-16 pound frozen turkey and drill 3 holes in it where they would be placed in a ball. Same game as above skit. Have 3 contestants bowl a frame. You may want to put down cheap black plastic (at any hardware store) for an alley. Also please have someone at the end of the pins to catch the turkey or you may put a nice hole in a wall. There are chicken dance songs to be played in background or even a kid who hunts may be able to make turkey calls for your background. For a trophy, you may be able to make a turkey out of an old bowling ball (body) and pin (as the head). Use feathers and a red sock as a goblet and paint the ball with winners names. This sell is obviously the job for any turkey!
141. Jello Or Food Twister Minutes
Best done when it’s warm outside so that when it’s over kids can hose down. This one is very messy. Get a square of cheap plastic and attach pin tins in a 4 x 4 grid by pushing a pull clip through the bottom of the pans and plastic, and then spreading out the clips under the plastic to hold them down. You then may fill them with Jello (already made) right before club. Have a good spinner and kids who will go for it. Play in bare feet. This trophy may be a plaque that looks like a twister board with a past winner in each circle. "The Twist" by Chubby Checker may be background music and the sell possibly with a kid who can come in with their legs behind their head (those sick twisted individuals!).
142. Belly Flop Into Jello Contest Minutes
This makes a histerical winter time minutes and a huge mess as well. Sell for a belly flop contest. Bring out a couple of bed mattresses, cover as much as possible with plastic, and then on top of the mattresses have a baby pool with Jello. Then off a table or high stool, do the best belly flop for points. Be careful with where you do this one.
143. Shaving Cream And Cheese Ball Minutes
Pull two guys up front and cover their face except eyes and mouth with shaving cream (or possibly chests also). Divide the room in half and toss out bags of cheese balls into the crowd (be aware, this is not good on carpet). On the count of three start music and let both sides of the room throw cheese balls at their guy, count the number sticking on them to see which side of the room wins. Possible sell, have a couple of seniors convince leaders to sit in the chairs (or maybe run on characters), this may be a good one for kids to get you! Kids may have a blast as you relinquish your "adult" rights and let them throw at you, or they may just feel sorry for you in which case this is a stupid idea! Another sell may be cheese heads (like Green Bay Packer fans) coming in throwing cheese balls into one another’s mouths.
144. Musical Food Minutes
Put an apple, and onion, and tomato, etc. in separate lunch bags in front of everyone. Mix them up, throw them out into crowd, start music. When music stops whoever has a bag takes a bite. You may need referees to declare who had it when the music stopped. The number of objects will obviously depend on size of club. Try to think of great objects!
145. Speed Kissing Minutes
Seven kids, guy then girl then guy, etc. line up with sharp girl (your hero) at the end. Kids face sideways and turn to next kid passing a kiss on the cheek to the next person after they have received their kiss on the cheek. The third time the leader behind the last girl gives her a pie behind her back. She pies the guy in front of her when he wheels around to plant one on her cheek. For a sell, you may want to invent a character of a "love" counselor (i.e. Dr. Love, Antonio Amore, Sal the love god, whatever) with theme music. Then when you have skits involving guys and gals, your character may be a natural "teacher" to sell this minutes.
146. Follow The Moon Minutes
Three people step up one at a time. Put a flashlight behind a sheet held up by 4 people. Kid follows light with nose to the beat of music, light moves faster till they can’t keep up. Play for time followed. Third kid has light bring them down and then up to the upper edge of sheet, when he/she gets there, drop the sheet and pie kid. Can be done in pairs and make them cross, etc. ALSO, if you think you have done this one and some seniors, etc. may remember it, you may consider taking the kids out of the room, letting a senior pie the first two kids one at a time. And then when the third kid steps up and is going, have both the two kids pied and the third ALL have pies and double cross the senior behind the sheet!
147. Flying On The Ground Minutes
Two guys (that you have filled in on this skit before club) holding a 2x6x4 board. Send 2 girls out of the room and keep the 3rd to go first. Blind folded girl gets on board and guys lift it two inches off ground. Person in front of girl holding both of her hands continues kneeling lower, giving illusion to girl that she’s really lifted high. Guys shake board as if straining. Have suspense music in background and kids cheering to add to confusion. Get the crowd to count to three and pull her hands as she jumps off. Then do the next two girls. Have the 3rd girl be the one you worry about being embarrassed the least, since the first two will at least get to see someone else fall for it. This is a great skit for camp sell - for example, have a kid in a frogman scuba costume with a helmet come in screaming about the blob and how they need to blob now. Since he/she is so enthusiastic, you think of this blob simulation game.
148. Sponge On The Chair Minutes
Leader dressed as cheerleader (wig, uniform, and two sets of pom poms make it) sitting on chair facing kid in another chair. Do follow the leader including several stand up-sit down things. You must get them going very fast and be 10 times more enthusiastic than you want them to be. Do three kids one at a time with the others watching and for the last kid, the last time he/she stands, someone else slips a wet sponge in pie tin on the chair for them to sit on. Note: if you send 3 kids out of the room and try to get all three, you will need 3 chairs (because they will notice they are wet, and a way to dry everything fast - kids will notice water). An over enthusiastic cheerleader sell or a sell involving a tribal initiation or something will also work.
149. Identify Your Friends Minutes
Pull two kids up front and tell them that they will be brought in to identify people in the room, then send them out of the room. While they are out of the room, hand out grocery bags to everyone, MAKING SURE they don’t open the bags until you tell them to. Explain to the crowd that you will bring in the contestants, give them one last look at the crowd, and then will spin them around so that cant’ see the crowd. Then on your instructions the crowd quickly puts on the bags at once…with _ inch of flour in each one! Think through the mess.
150. You’ve Got Something On Your Forehead Minutes
Take 3 kids out of the room and bring them in one at a time. The leader demonstrates that there is a special skill of facial movements allowing someone to shake a dime off their forehead without jumping or shaking. Place a dime on your forehead so it sticks and get the dime to fall off. Then as you go to press this same dime on their forehead, press hard for 10 seconds and gently take off the coin so it feels to them like its still there. Have them open their eyes and try to get off the coin that isn’t there. Practice.
151. What Did You Say? Minutes
Send three kids out of the room (choose kids carefully) explain to the crowd that it was recently learned that when someone is placed in front of a crowd in complete silence, that they will revert back to the experience of their first kiss. As a matter of fact the first things they will say are the things they said after their first kiss! Therefore, the crowd must be Completely silent and stare at the person. Don’t leave the poor kid up there for too long.
152. Do As I Do, Not As I Say Minutes
Pick three kids and send them out of the room. Explain to the crowd that you will be acting something out for the first person. Bring in the first person. Act something out for them and don’t tell them what it is. They do it for the second person and the second person does it for the third. Go back and ask what each person thought they were doing.
153. Dating Game Minutes
Have kids put names in a hat the week before and pick four girls and four guys. Line up one guy and girl from another school to be the contestant. Go over the questions ahead of time to eliminate marginal ones. Video tape the date to show in club. Campaigners and student leaders plan and execute the date like a progressive dinner in public places. Have a creative way to chauffeur them around. Interrupt with funny things and don’t leave them alone much since it can be very awkward for the kids. You may also incorporate commercials through your show.