Unlock Your Future Game

This game involves combination locks and will require youth to work together as a team to unlock them. They will have to practice some patience!

Materials

• Combination locks – one per team
• Round dot stickers with different colors for each team
• Index cards

Instructions

1. Put a different colored sticker on each lock.
2. Write down the correct combination for each lock on an index card with a matching colored sticker. Put this aside. You probably won’t need it unless they get really stuck on one of their locks.
3. Put the numbers in the combination for each lock on a separate index card and put a matching colored sticker on it. So if the red lock has four numbers on it, you will have four index cards with red stickers on them, each with one of the numbers in the combination.
4. Hide the locks and the index cards around your meeting space.
5. When the teens arrive, divide them into teams. Assign each team a color so they know which index cards and lock their team is looking for.
6. Explain that they will have to find the cards with the numbers and the lock. They will have to try the numbers in different combinations to unlock the lock.
7. The first team to successfully unlock the lock wins.

Notes

To make the game more like a scavenger hunt, give the teams more than one lock to decode. Put a clue to where the next lock is and the numbers for it into a container they can open after decoding the first lock. You can string several in sequence this way.

Create an Escape Room

Escape rooms are a fun way to engage teams in cooperative puzzle solving. These team-building activities can also be focused around a theme. When you are creating a youth ministry escape room, you might want to base it on a Bible story or a teaching.

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Outdoor Scavenger Hunt

Doing an outdoor scavenger hunt will help youth really explore the world around them while they are walking. This post suggests doing it while hiking, but you can also do it on your church grounds or at a park. It includes a suggested list in printable format.