Category: Camp Ministry

GaGa Ball Variations

The GaGa ball pit game is becoming more and more ubiquitous as each summer camp season passes by. It’s an incredibly fun and simple game. It is like dodgeball in a pit where you hit the ball with your hands and you get out if the ball hits you on the legs or feet. Here are some variations from the common rules that you can choose to add…

Two-ball GaGa: A little harder but still a ton of fun!

I have discovered that there are some fun variations to the game. And even the “house rules” of each group who plays can vary from group to group. Here are some of the variations I’ve come across over the years:

  1. Knees and below versus legs and below: This is a rule that dictates how you get out. Some kids like to play where the ball must hit the knees or below for the player to be out. Other groups might play where a hit anywhere on the leg (waist down) is an out. You could even do shins and below (meaning that a hit on the knee means you’re still in). Whichever route you go, make sure it is clear and everyone agrees to the same rule at the beginning of play.
  2. Getting back in the game: This is a fun variation that says that if you’re out but you catch the ball “clean” (meaning it doesn’t hit the ground outside the pit), then you’re back in the game and the person who last touched the ball in the pit goes out. A word of warning: I saw a group once play where whoever retrieves the ball outside the pit (whether it hits the ground or not) can get back in the game. It was a disaster because the kids chased after the ball and wrestled for it in hopes to get back in the game. Someone could easily get hurt in a situation like that. So I like to say it needs to be a “clean” catch outside the pit (and you cannot reach in past the pit wall to try to catch it).
  3. Double Ball GaGa: I have provided a video example of this variation. You play the game with two balls at once and all the same rules apply. It’s like when you had two balls going at once in the old pinball machine. Just make sure you always look behind you!

What variations of GaGa ball have you seen or played?

Awesome Crowd Game Ideas

I do a lot of large group events. I’m always on the lookout for games that are fun and easy for huge crowds. When people come together in large groups, there is a lot of potential energy that can be tapped in the form of socialization, laughter, competition, and shared human experiences.

So here are some of the resources I have found to be particularly helpful in leading fun experiences for crowds of people:

  1. CrowdControlGames

    This organization creates and sells (at super affordable rates) crowd games that you can run on your computer and then project on the big screen. Browse around at all they have to offer – http://crowdcontrolgames.com/

  2. Crowd Thumb Wrestling

    How about crowd thumb wrestling?! Invented by monochrom and officially called “massive Multiplayer Thumb-Wrestling.” Here is that game led by a game designer on the TED stage…. [ted id=1866]

  3. Crowd Thunderstorm

    You can also lead your crowd in making the sounds of a thunderstorm. This video shows a choir on stage doing it. But you can just as easily lead an audience of any size in the same exercise: [iframe width=”640″ height=”360″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/29qaN0M0o0s” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe]

  4. Group Games Galore!

    I have also compiled a blog post category of group games over the years on this blog. There are over twenty entries and growing, so read through all these great crowd game ideas such as “Heads or Tails” and “Bring Me This.” Click here.

 

 

His Name Endures Forever: An Object Lesson

I’d like to share a worship response object lesson we organized at summer camp last month. It was a little risky because we had about 300 campers and it could have gotten chaotic, but the kids did great and the end result was very moving.

First of all, when I say, “worship response,” I’m referring to something we do after the sermon/teaching time in a worship service. The band played soft worship music while the kids rotated around the room at various stations that helped them respond to God’s Word in a variety of ways. I go into more depth about this general idea in another post.

One of the stations this particular evening of camp invited the kids to write things down at two different tables. The theme of the camp was “I Am” and we looked at some of the “I Am” statements made by God in Scripture.

Table number one had poster boards, permanent markers, and a basket of cards wherein each card listed a name of God found in Scripture (“Counselor”, “Redeemer”, “Alpha and Omega”, “Good Shepherd”, etc.). The kids would come to this table, grab a card, and write what they saw on the card onto the poster (using a permanent marker).

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On table number two, we had a large white dry erase board and some dry erase markers. The children were invited (if they chose to do so) to come forward and anonymously write a sin or struggle on the white board using the dry eraser (see where we’re going with this?).

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When all the campers had written what they wanted at the two tables, we brought the posters and white board on stage. I instructed the band to play What Can Wash Away My Sins? Nothing But the Blood of Jesus while a child wiped away the sins and struggles from the dry erase board. It was a beautiful moment.

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Then, as you can probably guess, we brought up the posters with the names of God all over them. I told the same child to try erasing it with the dry eraser. You should have seen the look on his face! He thought I was crazy for telling him to do so. But I wanted to make the point clear: as he attempted to erase the poster with God’s names, nothing was coming off. It was all permanent! And that is exactly the point of this illustration: Jesus wipes away our sins, but His name endures forever!

Your name, LORD, endures forever, your renown, LORD, through all generations. -Psalm 135:13

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Photo Credits to Christopher Seay of Next Level Kids Camp in Texas (all except the last photo).