Jesse Joyner, PhD

I have a toddler, so potty time is full of excitement, celebration, and incentive awards. Here is a large group game that is hilarious with any age group (especially elementary-aged kids) that plays on the theme of potty time. I use it at camps and other events. I learned it from my good friend Justin Brooks, who is a super Children’s Pastor/Speaker.

Here’s how it works:

1. Pick 4 volunteers from the audience. It helps if they are very expressive and dramatic people. If there are adults in the room, it makes it even more funny to make at least 2 of your 4 people adults. These 4 people are the competitors in the game.
2. Take your 4 competitors out of the room, far enough away so they cannot hear people talking in the main room where the audience remains. Explain to them that they will be competing to act out their first time on a roller coaster. They will sit in a chair and act out going up the hill, down the hills, around the bends, screaming, yelling, calling for mommy, etc. They can make sounds, but they cannot say anything about a roller coaster or what they’re doing. Tell them that it is like charades and the kids will be watching to see what they do.
3. Meanwhile, have someone else (or yourself if you want to do double-duty) coach the audience in the main room (make sure the competitors are still out of the room and out of ear-shot). Tell the audience that the 4 competitors are coming in one at a time and acting out their first time on “the big potty” when they were potty training. Tell the audience they can laugh and cheer and make noise if something is funny, but they CANNOT say anything about toilets or potty.
4. Call in the competitors one at a time (keep the others out of the room while each one competes). Give each of them the chair and 30 seconds. Watch and laugh away!
5. At the end, have the audience vote on their favorite competitor. Then thank the competitors “for showing us your first time on the toilet!”