Dodgeball...Capernaum Style

Capernaum Friendly Dodgeball via @YoungLifeEC

Standard dodgeball rules apply. Substitute ping pong balls, rolled up newspaper, or dinner rolls for actual dodgeballs! Let chaos ensue!

100 T-Shirts

Materials:
Lots of clothing

Directions:
Call up 3-5 kids and dump a ton of clothes covering the ground in front of them. Tell them the goal of the game is to put as many pieces of clothing on as you can in 2 minutes. Clothing must be put on as a person would actually wear it. You can't just loop a belt around your neck or toss a shirt over your shoulder. After 2 minutes, have each kid take off each piece as the leader/audience counts it out. Whoever has the most wins.

Round 2: Call up 3-5 different kids. Do the exact same thing. After the 2 minutes, tell them that the winner is actually whoever can take all those pieces of clothes off the fastest. They aren't expecting it so they've put on as many clothes as possible that they now have to hurry to take off. Make sure you don't tell them the game has changed until after the 2 minutes.

Thanks to Naomi for the submission!

Glee Club

Thanks to North Shore Young Life for sharing their latest creation... GLEE CLUB!

Mixer:
Get the largest slurpees you can at 7-11. Have 4-5 kids share a slurpee. First team done wins!

Game:
Don't forget the lyrics using songs that have been on Glee! Call kids up as contestant! The kid who wins gets to slushie a leader after club! There is a $0.99 Glee Karaoke iPhone/iPad app which may or may not work well.

Music:
Sing only songs that have been featured on Glee (Don't Stop Believin', Forget You, Lean On Me...etc).

Leaders take pictures like the one attached!

Have musically talented kids or leaders do special music...live!

Watch a Glee clip to kick off your club talk!

Watch Glee clips in between games!

Pin the Mustache on Bieber

Materials:
3-5 fake mustaches
3-5 blindfolds
projector/screen/laptop

Directions:
Project an image of Justin Bieber on the wall or screen. One at a time, blindfold a kid, spin the kid around, and let the crowd guide the kid in his or her attempt to place the mustache on Justin Beiber's upper lip! Repeat for 3-5 total kids. Closest mustache wins!

Notes:

1. It goes without saying that Bieber music should be played during this game.
2. This can be part of a mustache-themed club, obviously!

Clubble!

Clubble (club in a bubble) was just posted by our good friends over at YLhelp.com. It's easily brilliant enough to get reposted here. The basic premise is to create a plastic bubble to host club inside, which will amp up the music and the opportunities for messy games!

Clubble at the 50-yard line of your high school's football field? Awesome! Make it happen!

Send us pictures of your Clubble!

Materials:
1 roll of 20' x 100' 6 mil plastic sheeting
1 roll of 10' x 100' 6 mil plastic sheeting
about 5 rolls of duct tape
1 powerful fan (this or this, borrow or rent)
extension cords to power fans & stereo

Directions:
The bubble dimensions are 40' long x 20' wide x 10' tall. The floor, ceiling, and ends all come from a single, uncut loop of 20' wide plastic sheeting. The two 10' x 40' sides are cut from the 10' wide sheeting and close off the bubble.

Here are the words of the Clubble creator:
"We used 20X100ft 6mil poly running a 40 ft floor, up 10 feet, 40 foot ceiling, and finally a 10 foot wall. No cuts needed here; just duct tape the ends (you'll need about 5 rolls) to make one giant circle. Then use a 10ftX100ft 6mil poly for the sides. Cut it at 40 feet, then 40 feet, again. Use the pieces for the sides. You will need to tape them all around to make a cube.

Add a strong fan. There is likely one in the kitchen at camp. A box fan from a home will do. Ours was strong; we had to cut extra slits in each of the sides to let out the extra wind as follows: one had the fan, another a slit for a 6 foot door, and the final two for 3 foot slits for the front which served as stage entrances. We added an amplifier and speaks.

This example yields a 800 sq foot room 10 feet tall for about 120 people. You can find all kids of different sizes of poly at Home Depot to adjust for more kids. I would keep the room 10 feet tall unless you get above 300 people, when you might go 12 feet. I created the entire bubble in 2 hours with four campaigner helpers.

We used the side of the poly to shine the words to songs from our projector, but it only worked at night. This required us to run extension cords inside the stage entrances. We always keep kids outside until the last minute, wondering what it will be about. Once inside, some are always uneasy--will it collapse? Is it too small? Where are my friends? Crank up the music. It roars and the kids love it.

At the end of Clubble, somehow it has evolved into a Gallagher-style Smash-a-thon (warning: language). A strong, tested hammer is important. And a stump or STRONG table. We usually dress up a strong guy for the deed. The beauty of doing this in the bubble is there is nowhere to run. Here are some items we have used for smashing: chocolate milk, cat food, watermelon, a chicken (anything left over from the dining hall), old peaches, cheese, cantaloupe.... See the picture from last month. If you do Smash-a-thon in a bubble, it is NOT reusable. :)

A bubble costs about the same as buying each kid a canned coke--but will be a huge hit if done correctly. Call me at my number below should you want to discuss building it--the key is to know how many kids. Clubble is a great place for leaders to get crazy, and kids to have fun, which breaks down walls and allows them to be ready to hear the Good News."

Trash Can Mixer

Materials:

Trash can

Directions:

Have everyone form a circle holding hands around a large trash can. The object is to get others to touch the trash can by pulling on their hands without touching it yourself. Anyone who makes contact with the trash can or unlocks hands is eliminated. Last one standing wins!

This can be played as a big, long elimination mixer or as a game with 5-10 kids. It can also be played outside with a kiddie pool full of something unpleasant (water, mud, jello, etc).

Energizer Bunny Run-on

Materials:
bunny costume, big bass drum, table, 2 cups, 2 chairs

Characters:
Energizer Bunny, wife, husband

Directions:
Get a bunny costume and a big bass drum. Set the scene as a commercial. Lights on, a scene of two couples drinking coffee at a table.

One lady comments, "Gee, this coffee is delicious." Her husband says "Yes it is, could I have another cup?" "Why sure" she answers. The thought of first women is done over a microphone: "That’s funny, Bill never drinks another cup at home."

Just then the Bunny enters pounding on the drum. The bunny stops beats on the table, knocks out the couple and drums off the set.

Duct Tape Man Run-on

Materials:
duct tape costume, stuff to break

Characters:
Duct Tape Man

Directions:
Wrap a jump suit, gloves, hard hat and boots in duct tape, or see Wireless One catalog for duct tape apparel. You may either have something in club "accidentally" break each week, or you can use it to sell camp.

For example, the bus ride: duct tape man can explain how tough a bus ride can be and tape an assistant to the seat, a pillow to their head to sleep, a water bottle to their mouth, headphones to their head. He could help in future weeks with other aspects of camp needing tape…car wash (hose, sponge, towel to assistant), old suitcase for packing, water skis, volleyball.

One way that it can be done is that instead of fixing anything Duct Tape Man basically comes in and destroys what ever it is he is trying to fix — but leaves a ton of duct tape all over it. You can also have a leader taunt him because he doesn’t actually fix anything.

Axel & Smash Run-on

Materials:
rock star costumes

Characters:
Axel, Smash

Directions:
Two leaders dress up as punk rock musicians with clothes and long-haired wigs using toy guitars. When the music comes on (use hard/punk music) they come dancing through the crowds with guitars in hand until they reach the front. When they reach the front the music stops and the dialogue goes like this:

Axel: "Hi! I'm Axel!"
Smash: "And I'm Kid Smash!"
Axel/Smash: "And we're rock stars! We're in a band, and we have friends who are going to rock this house!"

At this point the music comes on again and they begin to air band to the music. Another leader starts to yell:

Leader: "Stop the music! You guys are a joke! You aren't even rock stars!"
Axel/Smash: "We aren't!?"
Leader: "And you don't have a band!"
Axel/Smash: "We don't!?"
Leader: "And you guys don't have any friends who are going to rock this house, and you won't either!"
Axel/Smash: "We won't!?"
Leader: "No! Get out of here! You guys are a bunch of phonies!"

Axel and Smash start to leave and before they reach the end of the door, they turn around and yell:

Axel/Smash: "Hey ! We'll be back!"

And then they go. We used this run-on 5 or 6 times during the beginning of year, and we set up the final act for the last club of the year where we actually got a band together and had a semi- concert/dance with songs like YMCA, Twist & Shout, Johnny B. Goode, etc. This was a great way to end the last club!

Wee Man Run-on

Materials:
costume

Characters:
Wee-man

Directions:
Wee-man comes out to do announcements, or just to give a weekly update of what he's been doing. Need two people to pull this off each time. Make up fun conversations that contain many words with "we" in them. The straight guy tells the majority of the story, but saves all the "we's" for Wee Man (played a bit as a geek--funky clothes, etc.).

Example: "So yesterday -we- didn't have much to do, so -we- -we-nt out in the yard to -we-ed the flowerbeds. -We-ll, you'll never believe what -we- saw!!..." Also works well if you follow up with "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". Invite Wee Man to stay and lead the "Weee" section of the group!! Lots of fun. Takes a couple run-throughs before club so you don't mess it up.

Hack-saw and Corn-bread Run-on

Materials:
hillbilly costumes

Characters:
Hack-saw, Corn-bread

Directions:
Two hillbillies Hack-saw and Corn-bread from Itchy Butt Arkansas come in each week and perform amazing new games that they came up with which really aren’t that fun at all. In the end they think of something great which is probably something that you will do at fall or summer camp.

Spaz Boy Run-on

Materials:
costume

Characters:
Spaz-boy

Directions:
Someone dresses up in a crazy costume, possibly with a shirt that says, "Spaz-boy". He runs into club, around and over everyone, and runs out.

Mr. Glove Run-On

Materials:
glove, camera, DVDs

Characters:
Mr. Glove

Directions:
Video-tape a glove as it explores a different adventure each week. Have Mr. Glove visit kids houses that go to club. You can plant stuff in there desk (Barney video, New Kids On The Block CD, etc.) We had Mr. Glove go into a persons bathroom and accidentally drop tooth brush (look alike) into the toilet. At the end of the run-on have camera shows who Mr. Glove is (principle is the best of choice).

Reggie Vego-matic Run-on

Materials:
box, carrot, apple, onion, ice cream, milk, chocolate syrup

Characters:
salesman

Directions:
Use one box to fit over a person with a hole cut for a head to fit through with "slice, dice, mix, and blend" written on it and food materials.

A salesman comes out and demonstrates the many uses for the "blender." For example, the salesman puts in a carrot, an apple and an onion. Each time he stops and samples the puree. The salesman finally makes a milk shake with ice cream, milk and chocolate syrup. The salesman takes this concoction and then drinks it, or plant someone in the audience to drink it.