Superhero VBS Game Suggestions – McAvoy Family Ministries

Superhero VBS – Action Game Station Ideas

These a e suggestions fo you. Please modify o add any other you have done. There are option foreach day, some that may work better for different age and/or size o g oup . Ou suggestion wou d be to have a couple of option ready for each day

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DAY 1 --- Creative Games (Superpower: Creativity) Human Knots – Groups of 7-10 people. Have the group stand in a circle facing each other. Each person is to reach out to grab the hand of another. You can’t take a hand that is right next to you. Also you can’t take both hands of the same person. The object is to use problem solving and creativity to work your way out of the knot and back into a circle where everyone is holding hands. The problem is that you can’t let go of hands while you do this! Duck, Duck Goose – you know how! Variations: Have 2 “duckers” Have 2 circles and if you get caught you have to switch circles You’re a Duck – For this game, get everyone in a circle. One person will start in the middle. When the game starts, the person in the middle is going to point to one of the people in the circle and say, “you’re a duck”. The person who is pointed at must take his/her hand and make a duck bill in front of their nose. The person on the left of them must flap their outside arm like a wing. The person on the right must make the other wing. The object is to not be the last person to perform your action. Whoever the middle person chooses as slowest must take the place in the middle and continue the game. As the game progresses, you add more options. You can make up whatever you want. Here are a few examples:

• You’re an elephant. Middle person makes a loop with one arm while holding nose, then sticks other arm through the loop to create a trunk. The outside people make the giant ears with one arm.

• You’re a bowl of jello. Middle person wiggles like jello. The outside people use their arms to make a bowl around him/her.

Be creative. Just be sure to introduce each new possible action by demonstrating what each of the people are to do. Also, as you introduce new ones, the person in the middle of the circle has the option to use any of the animals, objects, etc…

Superhero VBS Game Suggestions – McAvoy Family Ministries

DAY 2 --- Tag Games (Superpower: Courage) Everybody’s It: New twist to the game of tag. Need play area where everyone can run!

1. Ask everyone to spread out evenly on the playing area. 2. Once you say “go”, everyone tries to tag each other. If one person tags another person,

the tagged person must sit down for the rest of the game. However, if two people tag each other at the same time, they both have to sit down.

3. The game continues until all but one person is eliminated. The last person standing wins the game.

The Blob – If the Blob touches you, you’ll be part of the Blob Note: Before playing, let eve yone know the bounda ies o the playing/running area If anyoneexceeds those boundaries, they will be pa t o the Blob

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1. Pick three volunteers. Have the volunteers line up in the front and hold each other’s

hands. These volunteers will start off as the Blob and must hold hands at all times. 2. The purpose of the game is to not be touched by the Blob. If a person is touched by

the Blob, the person becomes part of the Blob and must hold hands with a person on either end.

3. The Blob tries to tag everyone while running together and holding hands. The last person standing wins the game.

VARIATION: For a quick game, you can split the Blob into two or three separate Blobs Freeze Tag – Enough Said! Sharks and Fishes – Requires a larger square or rectangle playing space. Goal: For each of the fishes to get from one end of the boundary to the other without being tagged by the shark(s). A shark is one or two people who are picked to be in the middle. The game begins by the shark calling out, “fishies, fishies, come and swim.” At that point all of the fish (everyone in the game) must make their way from end to the other. If a fish is tagged, they must freeze their feet where they are, but can continue to move their arms and hands in order to help the shark catch the rest of the fish. The game continues until you are down to 1 or 2 fish.

Superhero VBS Game Suggestions – McAvoy Family Ministries

DAY 3 --- Team Games (Superpower: Giving) Seagulls and Crows – Try to tag as many people on the other team if their “bird” is called Prep: Determine the ending lines/end of the room for the two teams.

1. Split everyone into two teams. Assign one team to be the “crows” and the other team as “seagulls.” Have each team line up parallel with each other (facing each other) with about three feet between them.

2. Explain the rules. In the game, you will be telling a story. If you say the word “crow” in the story, the crows have to run back to their ending line/end of the room. The seagulls will try to tag the crows before they reach the end of their line/room. If the seagulls tag a crow, the crow becomes a part of the seagull’s team. Same goes vice versa – if you say the work “seagull” in your story, then the crows try to tag the seagulls before they get to the other side.

3. Start with a practice round – tell a story and somehow add the word “seagull” or “crow”. (Example: “Yesterday, I went over to my grandma’s house. She has 100 cats and 20 seagulls!” or “At the zoo, I see lots of different animals. Crabs, kangaroos, cats…and especially crows.”)

4. Start the game – whoever has the most players on one side at the end of your time limit wins the game (or, if one team tags everyone of their opposing team, they win the game)

Steal the Bacon – Mission to steal the bacon. Goal: When your number is called, be the first to grab the object in the middle and run back to your line untagged. Prep: An object that can be grabbed (ball, shoe, etc.)

1. Split everyone into two equal teams. Arrange the teams into two parallel lines about 15-20 feet from each other, facing each other. Place the object in the middle, between the teams.

2. Ask everyone to remember their numbers – go down one line and assign each person a number (in sequence, starting from one), then go down the opposing team and do the same. Each person should have the same number with a person on the opposing team.

3. The object of the game is to be the first person to grab the object if your number is called and bring it back to your team’s line untagged. As soon as you tough the object, the other person has the opportunity to tag you. If the other person tags you, then no one gets the point.

4. Begin the game by calling a random number. If the person brings the object back to their side untouched, the person gets a point for the team. If the person grabs the object and is tagged, neither team gets a point. The team that reaches 15 points wins the game.

VARIATIONS: Along with calling random numbers, you can call “all even numbers” or all odd numbers. -You can change the rule of having the “tagger” earn a point for their team if he/she tags an opponent with an object, instead of neither team winning the point.

Superhero VBS Game Suggestions – McAvoy Family Ministries

DAY 3 con’t Frisbee Swat – Knock the other team’s cone off the chair with a Frisbee Materials Needed: 2 (or more) Frisbees, 2 chairs, 2 cones (or 2 two-liter soda bottles), a pillow polo stick or rolled-up newspaper for EACH PLAYER. At the end of the playing area, place a chair with a cone on it’s seat. Points are awarded for each cone that is knocked down by the other team.

1. Break into two even teams. Have each team face each other, spread out in a formation. 2. Team members pass the Frisbees to each other as they work their way down the field.

No one is allowed to run with the Frisbee – they can only pass it. 3. Team members hold a pillow polo stick or newspaper in one hand, which is used for

knocking down the opponent’s Frisbee, and they use their other hand to catch and throw their team’s Frisbee.

4. Teams must attempt to score on offense and at the same time maneuver around on defense to swat the opponent’s Frisbee out of the air.

5. Team with most points at the end of the time period wins

Superhero VBS Game Suggestions – McAvoy Family Ministries

DAY 4 --- Relay Games (Superpower: Faith) Bump Relay – bump teammates off the chair! Need: Chair for each player Teams of ten or so are seated in a line of chairs lined up relay fashion. AT a signal, the first players in each line leave their seats and rush along the right side to the back of their lines, then – with some adept hip action – “bump” their teammates off their chairs to the right. The bumped ones move forward a chair and bump those teammates off to the left – and so on to the player’s one chair behind the front of the line. The last players bumped must sit down briefly in the front chair before running around to the rear of their lines and starting the process over again. First team’s players to return to their original chairs wins. Centipede Relay Form equal teams of six or eight kids each and line up, alternating boy-girl-boy-girl. Instruct

teams to back up to the wall at one end of the room, leaving three to four feet between the last person and the wall.

On a signal each team must take 3 short steps forward. As soon as the team has moved forward the last step, the first players in the lines break away to the right and run around their team 3 times as fast as possible, finally taking their place at the back of their team’s line. Once in place, the runner yells, “Go!” and the process repeats with 3 more steps and a new front runner.

The relay continues until the line itself arrives at the leader standing at the other end of the room, or until a team crosses a line marked on the floor.

(the room need not be large, since teams don’t need that much room to move forward. They mainly need room on the sides of the lines to run around their teams without bumping into the competition. For every 3 steps forward, the team loses one-body space backward as the runner takes his place at the end of the line).

As a true test of speed and skill, runners attempt to circle their team faster and faster. The key to winning this relay, however, is for all players to press as close as possible to the people in front of and behind them. To make each line tighter, instruct players to grasp hold of the waist of the one standing directly in front of them. (the kids may feel awkward doing this at first, but they’ll comply as soon as they see their team losing the race.)

Be sure to point out that each person on the team may have to run several times before the entire team reaches the marker at the other end of the room. Also point out that the three short steps must be short. Demonstrate how they can move forward by simply placing one foot directly in front of the other, toe to heel, and moving.

Golf Ball and Plunger Cap Relay – Get the camera ready for this one! 2 Teams – give a plunger and a golf ball to each team. Have the first players on each team to unscrew the wooden stick from the plunger, place the golf ball where the stick screwed in, and settle the plunger camp on their heads. The 2 players (one from each team) must walk a prescribed course with the plunger camp on their heads and the golf ball balanced on the plunger cap. (the course can be simple – out 10 or 20 feet, around a chair or object, and back, for example). Players who drop the ball return to their line and star over. First team all the way through – wins. For more of a challenge, place obstacles in the course, or make the kids walk backwards.

Superhero VBS Game Suggestions – McAvoy Family Ministries

DAY 5 --- Water Games (Superpower: Love) Note: If you’d rather not do water games, fill in with some of the previous days, or do favorites games of the week Run-n-Wet – Need: filled Water balloons

1. Have the kids sit in a circle and number themselves off, then put a plump water balloon in the center of the circle. When the leader calls out two numbers, those two kids must jump up and run around the circle back to their own place – but no stopping yet. They must race through the empty spot they left to the water balloon in the middle.

2. Guess the rest? Yep – first one there gets to throw the balloon at the other one, who must stand still and not dodge it.

Soaker – more water balloons! Need: filled Water balloons Keep this organized! One person at a time throws a water balloon high in the air and calls out another player’s name (or number, if the group has numbered off). The player so called must catch the balloon. If the player succeeds at catching it unbroken, she gets a free shot at the thrower who called her name and gets her turn at throwing a water balloon up and calling another’s name. If the water balloon breaks – the player gets soaked. And if a called-out player doesn’t even attempt to catch it – turn the hose on him! Sponge Dodge – Need: 4 or 5 big buckets and an equal number of sponges Mark out a circle somehow and place the buckets around the perimeter. Half fill them with water, and drop a sponge or two in each. After the entire group gets in the circle, the leader soaks the first sponge and throws. Those who get hit join the leader around the edge, and the game continues until only one is left – the winner. Sponges that drop inside the circle can be retrieved by any thrower, but they must be dipped again before they are thrown. VARIATIONS:

• Reverse the game. When someone is hit, the thrower joins those inside the circle. Last one on the perimeter loses.

• Play by teams. Time how long it takes for one team to get all members of an opposing team hit and out of the circle. Shortest time wins. Or set a time limit – winning team as the most members still in the circle when the clock runs out.