Hands, Knees, Shoulders, Toes, Cup
Place a sturdy plastic cup in between a pair of students. Call out a body part (hands,
knees, shoulders, toes) or say cup. Each person has to be the first one to complete the
action by placing their hands on the “item.” If it is a body part, the players hands stay
there until something else is called out. Whoever gets the cup first wins. Keep the game
moving quickly. You can either switch partners when a student wins or eliminate to a
final winner.
Sardines or Christians in the Catacombs
This is the game of sardines, but explain it with the story of how the early Christians met
in the catacombs, but they still increased in number. Super simple game. One person
hides, and then as people find them, they join in hiding, until one person remains. It’s
hide and seek but backwards.
Photo Scavenger Hunt
Assign points for odd items and locations that students can find to take a picture with
around the church property or within a designated are. Get creative and silly with your
list, include “air guitar with the worship pastor” or “do the disco with the children’s
pastor.” You get the idea! Give them a time limit and deduct points for every minute
they are late in returning.
The added bonus of this game is you automatically have some great photos of your
students that you can use in your ministry. Share them on your student ministry’s
social media tagging Harvest and using #UnchangingFireUp
Four on the Couch
The goal is to get 4 of your team onto the same couch (or 4 specific chairs in a row).
Make a circle of chairs marking the four head chairs. Have everyone sit down in the
chairs and you must be one more chair than people in the room. Divide into two teams
(every other person) and have everyone put their name in a hat. Everyone draws a
name and that becomes their new name for the game. But everyone keeps their names
a secret. The person to the left of the empty seat in the room calls out a name. The
person, who drew that name, now moves to the empty seat. Now the person to the left
of the new empty seat calls a name. You repeat the process until you get four of your
teammates onto the couch (or 4 specific chairs).
Extreme version: When the person whose name is called moves, the person who called
the name and the person who switched chairs exchange names.
Up Jenkins
Players conceal a quarter in their palm as they slap it on a table with their bare hands.
The goal of the game is for the players on the team without the coin to correctly identify
which hand the coin is under.
The captain of one team takes a coin and passes it under the table to the second
person of the team. The players on that team pass the coin under the table back and
forth from one player to another or fake it to confuse the opposing team.The object of
the game is to do it so carefully that the opposing team cannot guess which player has
the coin. The team can also fake pass in order to confuse the opposing team.
Once this selection is made, the opposing team’s captain yells “Up Jenkins” at which
point all players on the team with the coin, place their elbows on the table with their
hands closed in a fist. The opposing team’s captain then yells “Down Jenkins” or “Bang
Ems”, at which point the “coin” team slams their palms face-down on the table. The
goal of this stage of the game is to conceal the “clink” of the coin on the table to
confuse the other team as to where the coin is. In the guessing phase of the game, the
non-coin team selects palms, one by one, in an attempt to isolate the coin as the “last
palm standing.” Play for fun or for points.