Games
Introduction The games and activities in this document are a great way to add even more fun to your Christingle celebration and can provide great ice breaker activities for schools and youth groups. You can play all of the games as part of a Christingle tournament, or if you re short on time, just choose one or two. Each of these games is themed around the different elements of a Christingle. Each time a team wins a game, they can add an item to their Christingle in the following order: orange, ribbon, candle, sweets. The first team to complete their Christingle wins. If you re part of a smaller group, you could choose one game representing each element of the Christingle and build one up together after each game. Contents Equipment List... 2 Game 1: Up and over... 3 Game 2: Balloon race... 3 Game 3: Balloon Bang... 4 Game 4: Spot the ring... 4 Game 5: Dangly doughnuts... 5 Game 6: Catch the ribbon... 5 Game 7: Torch relay... 6 Game 8: Bowled over... 6 Game 9: Guess the scent... 6 Game 10: Mallow power tower... 7 Game 11: Sweet scramble... 7 Game 12: Hunt the sweets... 7 Game 13: Lights, Christingle, Action!... 8 1
Equipment List Game Game 1: Up and over Game 2: Balloon race Game 3: Balloon Bang Game 4: Spot the ring Game 5: Dangle doughnuts Game 6: Catch the ribbon Game 7: Torch relay Game 8: Bowled over Game 9: Guess the scent Game 10: Mallow power tower Game 11: Sweet scramble Game 12: Hunt the sweets What you ll need 1 orange per team 1 balloon per team 1 newspaper or 1 piece of card per team Something to create a finish line 1 balloon per person 1 elastic band or piece of string per person Red ribbon A plastic ring Music A length of rope 1 doughnut/party ring/biscuit per person 1 ball of red wrapping ribbon per team 1 wax candle per team 10 plastic bottles Glow in the dark paint A small ball An assortment of scented candles A couple of packs of dry spaghetti A couple of packs of marshmallows 2 paper plates per team Enough straws for each team member 2 packs of jellybeans A relatively large space Rope One blindfold per team Items for creating obstacles (e.g. furniture, books, pots, pans) Enough sweets for each team member Game 13: Lights, Christingle Action Action cards (on page 9) 2
Game 1: Up and over 1. Split the group into equally sized teams of 4-6 people. 2. Have each team stand in a line facing forwards, so that each person is facing someone s back. 3. Explain to the teams that they need to pass the orange down the line, with each person alternating between passing the orange over their head and under their legs. For example, the first person will pass the orange over their head; the second passes it under their legs, the third over their head and so on. 4. When the orange reaches the end of the line, the last person should run to the front and begin the whole process again. The first team to return the orange to the person who was initially at the front of the line, wins. Game 2: Balloon race 1. First, split the group up into equally sized teams. 2. Then, inflate an orange balloon for each team 3. Lay out a start and finish line on the floor, and get teams to divide so that half their team is behind each line. 4. Start a relay race, where team members take it in turns to waft the balloon to their team mates on the other side of the room, using a newspaper or a piece of card. Note, they are not allowed to touch the balloon with their hands or feet. 5. Once everyone on a team has taken a turn, they shout, Christingle! 6. The first team to shout Christingle! is the winning team. VARIATION: You can also play this game by challenging the teams to push the balloon along with their noses. 3
Game 3: Balloon Bang 1. Split the group up into equally sized teams. 2. Inflate an orange balloon for each team member. 3. Have everyone attach the balloon to the outside of their ankle with string or an elastic band. 4. The object of the game is for each team to pop their opponents balloons, using only their feet. 5. The winning team is the first to pop their opponents balloons. Game 4: Spot the ring 1. Tie a plastic ring onto a long loop of red ribbon. 2. Split everyone up into teams and have them stand in a circle holding the ribbon in both fists (the order of the circle doesn t matter). 3. Choose one person to stand in the centre of the circle while a person on the outside, hides the ring in their fist. 4. After the ring has been hidden, have the person in the centre open their eyes. 5. Turn on the music and when the music plays, the people in the outer circle will move their fists together and apart along the ribbon in time, secretly passing the ring as they do so. 6. When the music stops, the ring stops and the person in the centre must guess who has the ring. 7. If they guess correctly, that person then goes into the centre. 8. Keep a score of how many times each person stays in the centre and allocate points to each team accordingly. The winning team is the one whose members spent the least time in the centre. 4
Game 5: Dangly doughnuts 1. Split the group up into equally sized teams. 2. Suspend a piece of rope across the room 3. Use red ribbon to hang ring doughnuts, party ring biscuits, or other ringshaped food from the rope, at roughly head height. (make sure you have one for every person) 4. Each participant must eat their whole doughnut/biscuit in the time allowed without any of it falling on the floor. No hands allowed! 5. The team with the highest success rate wins. Game 6: Catch the ribbon 1. Split the group up into equally sized teams. 2. Have each team stand in a circle. 3. Give one person in each team a ball of red wrapping ribbon, making sure the end is loose. 4. When you shout Go!, the person must throw the ball of ribbon to someone else in the circle keeping hold of the end themselves. 5. The person who catches it must then throw the ball again but keep hold of the ribbon. The aim is for everyone to hold on to the ribbon as it makes a criss-cross pattern across the circle. You can throw to anyone except the people standing right next to you. 6. The winning team is the first to return the ball to the person who started the game and everyone must still be holding the ribbon at the end. They may need to make the circle smaller as the ribbon gets shorter. 5
Game 7: Torch relay 1. Split the group up into equally sized teams. 2. Run a relay race using an unlit candle as the baton. 3. Place a lit, large candle at the finish line. 4. The first team to complete the race and light their candle is the winner. Game 8: Bowled over 1. Paint plastic bottles and a ball with glow in the dark paint. 2. Line up the bottles and organise them in a triangular shape. 3. Now let teams take turns at bowling them over in the dark. 4. Keep scores and see which team can knock the most bottles between them. VARIATION: To play this game in the light, stuff red, orange and yellow tissue paper into the necks of the bottles to look like flames, and see which team can knock the most candles over. Game 9: Guess the scent 1. Split the group into equally sized teams. 2. Give each team a small selection of scented candles and ask them to guess the scent of each one. They can confer with each other. 3. The team that gets the most right wins the point. Tip: Try to choose single scents rather than mixed ones. If the group are finding it difficult to guess, you could provide the answers on small pieces of card/paper and ask the group to work out which scent goes with which candle. 6
Game 10: Mallow power tower 1. Split the group into equally sized teams. 2. Give each team a handful of marshmallows and dry spaghetti. 3. Explain that they need to build the tallest tower they can within a given timeframe. 4. The team with the highest tower at the end of the set time, wins. Game 11: Sweet scramble 1. Split up everyone into teams. 2. Each team must take it in turns to transfer jelly beans from one plate to another at opposite sides of the room, using only a straw. 3. If a team member drops a jelly bean during transfer, they must go back to the plate and try again. 4. The first team to transfer all of their jellybeans to the plate on the opposite side of the room wins the game. Game 12: Hunt the sweets 1. Set up a search area, outlined by ropes and containing lots of mini obstacles (whatever you have on hand - furniture, pots and pans, books, buckets etc.) 2. Place one wrapped sweet for each person in and around the obstacles. 3. Split the group into teams. 4. Give each team a blindfold. One person per team must enter the search area and be verbally directed by their team mates to find and pick up a hidden sweet. They must not touch any of the obstacles. 5. Once they have a sweet, they must leave the search area and give the blindfold to someone else to have a go. 7
6. The winning team is the one who completes the task in the quickest time. They should keep their sweets to prove they ve all had a go, but can eat them once the game is over. Game 13: Lights, Christingle, Action! 1. Cut out the action cards on the next page. 2. Split the group into teams. 3. Choose one person from each team to choose an action card. Once chosen, that person will need to perform the action written on the card for the team to guess. For example, if the card said Light, the person performing might use their fingers to demonstrate flashes of light. 4. Get each team to take it in turns to guess what action their teammate is performing. Give each team 30 seconds to guess the action written on the card. If they get it right, they get a point. If they get it wrong or aren t able to guess, give the other teams the opportunity to guess what the action is, The first team to shout out the correct answer gets the point. 5. The team with the highest number of correct guesses at the end of the game wins. 8
RIBBON ORANGE CANDLE SWEETS LIGHT WORLD LOVE CREATION 9
The Children s Society has helped change children s lives for over a century. We expose injustice and address hard truths, tackling child poverty and neglect head-on. We fight for change based on experiences of every child we work with and the solid evidence we gather. Through our campaigning, commitment and care, we are determined to give every child in this country the greatest possible chance in life. Find out more Visit www.christingle.org for more ideas, tips and guidance on how you can get involved with Christingle this year. XTC026/0615