What Are Some Fun Games to Play at a Youth Rally?

Going to a youth rally can be an exciting experience for young teens or kids, but they may not know what to expect when they arrive. A youth rally brings together young people from different parts of the community -- or even the world -- for a unified cause. The youth rally leaders plan activities and games for the youths to participate in so that they have a chance to get to know one another.

The human knot is an icebreaker game that encourages teamwork, strategy and communication. In this game all of the youths stand in a circle and put one hand in the middle. They take the hand of the person across from them, and hold onto another person's hand with their other hand. Now, everyone is holding hands with two different people. The youth leader helps the group intertwine by moving people around. Once they are in place, the goal of the game is for the youths to work together to come up with a strategy to untangle themselves from their human knot, without letting go of anyone's hand.

Capture the flag is a physically active game that involves running around on a field, so this game is best played when you are at a grassy park or school yard. The youths are divided into two teams who will compete to capture the other team's flag. Each team is given a flag in a particular color. The team has to post the flag somewhere on their territory, and strategize who on the team will protect the flag from being stolen, and who will try to steal the other team's flag. The goal of each team is to keep their flag safe and capture the other team's flag to become victorious. If someone tries to capture the other team's flag but is caught in the process, that player is out of the game.

The peanut butter sandwich toss is a messy, but exciting game. Youths are divided into small teams of four or five people each. One person on the team volunteers to wear the peanut butter. Youth leaders pass out old t-shirts and sweatpants for each person that volunteers to wear the peanut butter. The rest of the teammates smear two jars of peanut butter onto the front of the volunteer. Then, the teammates stand behind a line and are given two loaves of sliced bread. On the youth leader's mark, each team has to throw as many slices of bread at the volunteer wearing the peanut butter, with the goal of getting the slices of bread to stick to the peanut butter. After the time is up, the team that has the most sliced bread to stick successfully wins the game.

Another messy youth rally game to host is a pie eating contest. Players are most likely familiar with the rules of a pie eating contest. Each participant sits down in front of a pie and cannot use his hands as he attempts to eat the whole thing. The player who eats most of his pie by the time the timer goes off wins the game.

The blind trust walk is a game that requires youths to be paired up in teams of two. One player has to wear a blindfold over his eyes, and the other player on the team becomes the leader. While player one wears the blindfold, player two leads him around an obstacle course by giving him verbal cues, such as "turn left," "take large steps" and "crawl on the floor." This game helps to build trust between partners and also requires good communication skills to develop. After the first round, the players switch roles so that each player has a chance to be the blindfolded one and the leader.