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Time for some fun!

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Last week we made some suggestions on how to get to know your community members.  This week we add some other games to liven up your community nights!

Our current community Domestic Volunteer community is settling in, sharing meals and laundry facilities.  It can take a lot of work to keep a community well and functioning.  With chores to do and groceries to organize, on top of working together in the FMS offices, our community needs a break for some fun every now and then.

We have some favorite games that keep our community communicating and laughing.  Try these out with your group!

Write, Pass, Draw
Materials:
paper
writing utensils

This game is a writing/drawing version of the game Telephone. Everyone sits in a circle and gets a sheet of paper. At the top of the paper write a sentence.
Good examples: “The cow jumped over the moon.”, “I scream for ice cream!”, “Only got $20 dollars in my pocket.”, etc…

When everyone has written a sentence, pass the paper to the right. Everyone reads the sentence on their new paper (to themselves) and folds the sentence over so it’s out of sight. They draw what they read and pass the paper to the next person.

Everyone then writes a sentence describing what they see in the drawing, folds over the drawing, and passes to the next person.

Next person draws out the sentence, folds the sentence over, passes it on, and so forth until each paper goes all the way around the circle.

When the papers have come back around to their original writers, unfold the papers to see the progression from the original sentence/drawing to the final sentence/drawing. Are they the same? Even close? The results can be quite amusing.

Words³
Materials:
paper
writing utensils
bowl/hat

First, have everyone in the group sit in a circle.  Then, selecting every other person, divide the group into two teams.

Have everyone in the group write a word or short phrase on a piece of small paper, fold the papers, then collect them in a bowl.
Good examples: “Milking the cow.”, “Robot.”, “When pigs fly.”, etc…

Round 1: Start a timer of 30 seconds or so.  Pass the bowl to the first person who selects a piece of paper and tries to describe what’s written on it without saying the actual word or phrase.  Their team has to guess what the word/phrase is.  When they guess correctly, the person can select another piece of paper.  The goal is to try to get as many papers (which are points) guessed before the timer runs out.

When the timer goes off pass the bowl to the next person (who should be on the other team) and start the timer again.  They must also try to describe the words/phrases written on as many papers as they can before the timer runs out.

Go around the circle doing this process until all the papers in the bowl are used up.  When that happens have each team count their points, write down the score, and put all the papers back in the bowl.

Round 2: The next person in the circle selects a piece of paper from the bowl and this time tries to act out, not using any words or sounds, what is written on the paper.  Each person has 30 seconds to act out and win as many points from the bowl as they can before it’s the next team’s turn.  When you’ve gone around until the bowl is empty, score the points again, and collect the papers.

Round 3: The next person selects a piece of paper from the bowl and says one single word (not written on the paper) as a clue for the team to guess what it is.  By now the describing in round one and the acting in round two should give you some background as to what the word could be, because you’re using the same pieces of paper for the whole game.  Clue/guess as many as you can to get points.  Each team tries to rack up as many points as they can in 30 seconds before the next person’s turn.  When the bowl is empty, count up the scores.

Add the scores from each round to see which team wins.

Think of this game as a round of Catchphrase, a round of Charades, and a round of single-word clues – all guessing the same words and phrases.  How good is your communication by the end of this game?

Do you have any community game favorites? Comment below with some suggestions!

If you are interested in joining our volunteer community visit our website!

We prepare and support lay Catholics for two-year international, one-year domestic and 1-2 week short-term mission service opportunities in solidarity with impoverished and marginalized communities across the globe.

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