Below are free details, descriptions, and ideas of games for youth. They have all been played by groups of kids.
Take them as suggestions and adjust them as needed to fit your group or possibly a theme you might have for your activities.

Competitive Games

These are games where the intent is to have individuals or groups compete against each other till there is a clear winner.

Non-Competitive Games

These are games intended to keep kids active but not in a way that “winning” is the main goal. Some might have the option of declaring a winner, but it is not key to the game.

Power Point Games

These are games that rely heavily on visuals such as using Power Point on a computer.

Competitive Games

Amuse Me

Basic Description: Kids make up an invention, a skit, a joke, etc. to amuse a judge based on certain topics

Number of players: Any – one at a time or groups at a time
Duration: expect a couple minutes per player
Difficulty: Medium to High
Embarrassment Level: Low to Medium
Ages used: Jr High, High School
Supplies Cost: None

Objective: Earn the most points from the judge.

Each round a topic is given to the players or groups of players, such as “something red”. The players are then given one or two minutes to think of something, find props in the room, rehearse, etc. for what they are going to present to the judge in hopes of amusing the judge.

One at a time, the players or groups will present an invention, a skit, a joke, anything they think might amuse the judge but it must incorporate the topic, something red. The topic must be used, but the ultimate goal is amusement.

Each round, the judge decides who to give points to. Whoever gets the most total points wins.

This game is good for kids who like to be creative, make others laugh, and (most importantly) like attention. If you use groups, try to split up the creative talent and those who are good at improvisation.

Supplies Needed:
List of topics

Anything can be a topic. It’s up to you if you want to fit a theme or do random topics. Topics used before are: Something red, Something imaginary, Something about *pick a leader*, Something about a hero, Something about bacon, Something alive, Something dead, a new holiday, a new fruit

Balloon Cushion

Basic Description: Kids blow up balloons until there are enough for them to not be touching the ground.

Number of players: Any – divided into teams
Duration: Around 5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy to Medium
Embarrassment Level: None
Ages used: Jr High, High School
Supplies Cost: $3

Objective: Have a team member resting only on balloons and not touching the ground.

Divide the kids into teams and give several balloons to each team. Do not let them blow up any balloons till time starts.

On “Go” they can start blowing up balloons. The team who gets a member off the ground first wins.

As a variation of this, you can give a time limit, and the team who has a member off the ground using the fewest balloons wins.

Supplies Needed:
Balloons – getting variety packs of various sizes/shapes can make the competition a little more interesting.

Human Pinata

Basic Description: Kids attack leaders, and leaders throw out retrievable items such as balls or candy.

Number of players: Many – divided into teams
Duration: Around 3 minutes per round
Difficulty: Easy
Embarrassment Level: None
Ages used: Jr High, High School
Supplies Cost: $5-10

Objective: Collect the most items dropped by the pinatas.

Pick a couple people, probably leaders, to be the pinatas. Give them a box or bag of items.

Divide the kids into teams, and give one or two kids per team a pool noodle (but not all of the kids).

Kids with pool noodles will attack the human pinatas, who will try to run away. If a pinata is hit, the person will throw out one of the objects in the bag or box. The team members without the pool noodles will recover the objects.

If you don’t want to use candy, any small object will do, such a ping-pong balls.

Play as many rounds as desired. Count up which team collected the most objects to determine the winner.

If the pinatas are running too much or too fast, reduce the field size so they can’t evade as easily.

Supplies Needed:
Bags or boxes of objects for the pinatas
One or two pool noodles per team – DollarTree has them for $1 each

Interpretive Dance Off

Basic Description: Kids improvise an interpretive dance to a random topic and song.

Number of players: Any – one at a time or groups at a time
Duration: expect a couple minutes per player
Difficulty: Medium to High
Embarrassment Level: Medium to High
Ages used: Jr High, High School
Supplies Cost: None

Objective: The contestant who performs the best by vote of either judges or the audience wins.

This is very similar to a dance off or a singing contest but with randomness thrown in. Each round, a contestant or group of contestants will draw (or select) a topic and a song. The contestant then has a set amount of time (usually one minute) to do an interpretive dance to that topic with that song.

After all contestant have performed, judges or the audience decide who won.

This game is good for kids who like to be creative, make others laugh, and (most importantly) like attention. When this was first tried, a group of Jr High girls were rather angry about being asked to do something potentially embarrassing in front of everyone. The Jr High boys had no problem with it.

Supplies Needed:
Song options
List of topics

Song suggestions – Nothing with words. Get a variety of music styles: classical, rock, folk, marching band, techno, country, video game sound track, movie sound track, something completely foreign to your group.

Topic suggestions – Anything can be a topic. It’s up to you if you want to fit a theme or do random topics. Topics used before are: Cookies in milk, Android assassinates the iPhone, Behold the power of Cheese, The Chupacabra comes for you, Heffalumps and Woozels, Pokemon, The thief dashes across the rooftops, Breakfast, Snowflakes falling, The rainbow has lost a color, Pluto is not a planet, Kittens.

Rescue the Dolphin

Basic Description: This is a relay to creatively move an object (dolphin) from one location to another.

Number of players: Many – divided into teams
Duration: one or two minutes per round
Difficulty: Medium
Embarrassment Level: None to Low
Ages used: Jr High, High School
Supplies Cost: $1 per team

Objective: The team that moves the dolphin from start to finish the fastest wins.

Divide kids into teams. Designate a starting area and a finish area a good distance away.

The kids must transport the dolphin from the start to the finish but under certain restrictions. The restrictions can be changed up each round.

Here are examples of the restrictions:
Round 1: Kids may not move along the ground and touch the dolphin at the same time. Hands may not touch the dolphin. – As a result, the kids might try kicking the dolphin to each other in a line to get it to the finish.
Round 2: Kids may not let their feet touch the ground while touching the dolphin. Hands may not touch the dolphin. – As a result a one kid might grab the dolphin with his mouth while the other kids drag or carry him to the finish.
Round 3: Kids may not let their feet touch the ground while anyone is touching the dolphin. Hands may not touch the dolphin – As a result, the kids might lie on their backs and pass the dolphin down the line using their feet.

The team who reaches the finish first wins the round. The team who wins the most rounds wins overall.

Supplies:
1 “dolphin” per team – the 99c store has inflatable dolphins during summer or you can substitute for something else that will hold up to the kids kicking and passing it around.

Non-Competitive Games

Animal Match

Basic Description: Kids match up an animal card to a card with one of its traits, such as paw print, food, etc.

Number of players: Any
Duration: One minute per round
Difficulty: Easy
Embarrassment Level: None
Ages used: Elementary
Supplies Cost: None

Objective: Match up an animal card to a card with one of its traits, such as paw print, food, etc.

Create hand-sized printouts of various animal pictures.
Create hand-sized printouts of traits or other things associated with those animals.
Mix up the various names at a starting area, face down.
Mix up the other cards/printouts and scatter them or put them into several groups away from the starting area, face down.

Each round select a trait for the kids to find, such as “paw print”.

On “Go” the kids will grab an animal picture card and then search through the other cards to find the selected trait that matches their animal.

Supplies:
Animal picture cards
Animal trait cards

Animal name suggestions – Cat, Cow, Dog, Chicken, Frog
Animal trait suggestions – Paw/hoof print picture, Pet name (Mr. Whiskers, Bessie, etc.), Their food picture (Tuna can, Grass, etc.), Technical name/description (Feline, Bovine, etc.), Where they live or sleep picture (Cat house, Barn, etc.), A single color matching the animal’s color

Barnyard Noises

Basic Description:  Players make sounds to represent animals and try to match the animals to the sounds.

Monkeys and Gorillas

Basic Description: Kids run around and try to keep the gorillas from taking monkeys off the ground.

Number of players: Many
Duration: Several minutes per round, depends on the amount of players
Difficulty: Easy
Embarrassment Level: None
Ages used: Elementary, Jr High, High School
Supplies Cost: around $30 or lower if you have other supplies

Objective: Play till no more monkeys can be captured. OPTIONAL have the gorillas compete for who has the most monkeys.

Select one or a few people to be the gorillas. Gorillas can be leaders or kids. Everyone else is a regular kid (or give them a title). There needs to be several kids per gorilla.

Each kid is given a pool noodle to be a wall or fence. Since they are walls, they must be straight – the kids cannot bend the pool noodles. Gorillas do not get pool noodles.

Gorillas cannot touch the walls. Gorillas cannot touch kids and vice versa. Kids cannot touch the monkeys.

Have the kids at one end of a field and gorillas at the other end. Scatter stuffed animal monkeys around the field.

On “Go” everyone can move. Gorillas are trying to pick up monkeys. Kids are trying to protect monkeys with walls. Play until no more monkeys can be captured. Play several rounds, switching who are the gorillas.

Supplies Needed:
Stuffed animal monkeys – DollarTree currently has them in many colors for $1 each
Pool noodles – DollarTree has them for $1 each

When this was played, the pool noodles and monkeys were already available from other games, so there was no cost. If you don’t want to spend $2 per kid on supplies, look for other things that can be substituted. The monkeys can be anything. The pool noodles can be anything that can be held straight, but make certain it will not hurt if (when) someone runs into it.

Monkeys and Gorillas Rescue

Basic Description:  Kids run around and try to steal monkeys off the backs of the leaders.

Number of players: Many
Duration: Several minutes per round, depends on the amount of players
Difficulty: Easy to Medium
Embarrassment Level: None
Ages used: Elementary, Jr High, High School
Supplies Cost: around $20

Objective: Play till all monkeys are retrieved. Play multiple rounds till kids are tired or want to do something else. OR play for a set time and whoever has the most monkeys wins.

Select one or a few people to be the gorillas. Gorillas can be leaders or kids. Everyone else is a regular kid (or give them a title). There needs to be several kids per gorilla.

Have each gorilla put on a shirt with velcro or tape on the back. Then attach several stuffed animal monkeys to the velcro or tape. Have several monkeys per gorilla.

Give each gorilla a pool noodle.

On “Go”, the kids must try to grab a monkey from a gorilla’s back without being touched by the pool noodle. If they are touched, they must go back to a starting area before trying again.

This can be played in teams or individuals.

This is a good game for expending energy. You might want leaders instead of kids as gorillas so they will not constantly flail around with the pool noodles or so they will not go running far away.

Supplies needed:
Shirts – don’t buy any. Use any old shirts lying around. Use the largest sizes you have so they can fit anyone.
Velcro or tape – if you use single sided tape instead of double sided, make tape loops instead of taping the monkeys to the shirt. The monkeys need to hang on but come off easily.
Stuffed animal monkeys – DollarTree currently has them in many colors for $1 each
Pool noodles – DollarTree has them for $1 each

When this was played, the monkeys were already available from other games, so there was no cost for them. If you don’t want to spend the money, the monkeys can be replaced with anything.

Monkey Toss

Basic Description: Launch monkeys into the air with a water balloon launcher and catch them on velcro shirts.

Number of players: Many
Duration: As long as you want
Difficulty: Easy
Embarrassment Level: None
Ages used: Elementary, Jr High, High School
Supplies Cost: around $35 – requires a water balloon launcher

Objective: Shoot monkeys at people. OPTIONAL compete to catch monkeys.

Have leaders or kids put on shirts with velcro on the front.

Have two leaders hold a water balloon launcher.

Have kids use the water balloon launcher to shoot a stuffed animal monkey high into the air for those with shirts to catch on the velcro.

If those with shirts are competing to see who can catch the most monkeys, they can use their hands to hold the shirts out, but the monkey must stick to the velcro to count.

Supplies needed:
Water balloon launcher
Shirts – don’t buy any. Use any old shirts lying around. Use the largest sizes you have so they can fit anyone.
Velcro – put it in strips at varied places on the front of the shirts. Cut velcro strips lengthwise to get more length out of them to put in more places.
Stuffed animal monkeys – DollarTree currently has them in many colors for $1 each

Instead of monkeys, you can use any object with some weight that will stick to velco. Fuzzy balled up socks could work.

Stick Figure Poses

Basic Description: Kids walk around until told to stop and then take the pose of the stick figure next to them.

Number of players: Many
Duration: About one minute per round
Difficulty: Easy to Medium
Embarrassment Level: None to Low
Ages used: Elementary, Jr High, High School
Supplies Cost: None to Low

Objective: Play several rounds. OR eliminate the slowest person each round. OR do duels between individuals for who can do it the fastest.

Place chairs (or other objects) in a circle with pictures attached and facing outward. The pictures will be of a stick figure doing a particular pose.

Kids are outside the circle and will walk around it until they are told to stop. Use music or Red Light Green Light to indicate when to walk and when to stop. When it is time to stop, the kids must immediately get into the pose of whatever the stick figure next to them is doing.

If you decide to do elimination rounds, first play several practice rounds.

Supplies needed:
Chairs or other standing objects
Tape or another way of attaching the pictures
Pictures of stick figure poses: Here are some you can use

Power Point Games

It Came From the Internet

Basic Description: Kids try to guess what caption or headline goes with each picture

Number of players: Any
Duration: About one minute per round
Difficulty: Easy
Embarrassment Level: None
Ages used: Jr High, High School
Supplies Cost: None

Objective: Kids are shown a picture from an online article and try to guess what caption or headline goes with the picture.

Browse the internet and find funny/odd/interesting pictures or headlines. Set up your presentation slides showing the pictures with multiple headlines/captions to choose from followed by the right answer.

Example:
An online article showed a picture of a man lying on the ground while covered by bunnies. The headline was “Get buried by bunnies on Japanese island that once housed a chemical weapons plant.”
The options for kids to pick from were:
A: Man met his death in the cuddliest method ever possible, mauled by bunnies.
B: Get buried by bunnies on Japanese island that once housed a chemical weapons plant.
C: Superstitious man surrounds himself with “lucky” rabbit feet.

Living or Dead?

Basic Description: Kids try to guess if anything in the picture is alive.

Number of players: Any
Duration: About one minute per round
Difficulty: Easy
Embarrassment Level: None
Ages used: Jr High, High School
Supplies Cost: None

Objective: Kids are shown a picture. If anything in it is alive, they must say “Living” or else they must say “Dead”.

Find various images of things that maybe have something alive in them and put one per slide.

For each slide, have kids raise hands. Whoever raises a hand first gets the first chance to answer and win the point. If the kid guesses wrong, then the other players or team gets the point (since the answer will then be obvious).

For a slide to be “Living” there must be an obvious thing in the picture that is alive – claiming there is microscopic bacteria or things like that don’t count.

Image suggestions:
A cat – Living (start off easy)
A park – Living (trees, other plants, maybe animals or people)
An anvil – Dead
A teddy bear – Dead
Mars – Dead (there shouldn’t be anything alive that is visible in the picture)
Ocean floor – Living (coral, fish, plant life)
Sky with rainbow (no birds) – Dead
Cemetery (no people) – Living (there’s probably plant life showing in the picture)
Camouflage fish over rocks – Living (there are some good pictures of fish blending into rocks where it is hard to see anything but rocks)
Painting of flowers – Dead (the flowers are a painting not actual flowers)
A seed – Unknown. You can throw this in as a trick if you want to since a seed is unknown if it is viable until it is planted.

Which is Worse?

Basic Description: Kids try to guess what the leaders think is worse between two objects/choices.

Number of players: Any
Duration: About one minute per round
Difficulty: Easy
Embarrassment Level: None
Ages used: Jr High, High School
Supplies Cost: None

Objective: Out of two choices, guess what the leaders think is worse.

Create a multiple rounds of choices between two similar-ish things, neither of which are good.

Ahead of time, poll your leaders for which they think is the worst. Then set up your presentation slides to show the two choices followed by the right answer.

Choice suggestions:
Eating raw Spam or drinking spoiled milk
Death by volcano or death by being eaten by rats
Summer in Iraq or Winter in Siberia
Running out of toilet paper or running out of soap
Clowns or dentists
Attacked by a skunk or attacked by a porcupine
Watching Twilight or watching Sharknado