Youth Ministry Games : Straw Towers

Materials: Tons of drinking straws (about the diameter of McDonald's (burger) straws, BUT the soft kind AND simple and straight) about 50-100 straws to each group. 2 small rolls of tape per group. One small 'corner' of the room per group. Give about 10 minutes to see which group can make the tallest self supporting structure. Say that they then have to bring their masterpieces to the front, and see whose structure remains standing the longest.

When the construction time is up, have each group move their structure to the front of the room. Then you proceed to give a short (not too short) talk about what your life is based on.

*Note - I don't have the slightest idea of what the speaker was saying at this point (when I was participating in this game) so don't put too much important points in your talk here. (everyone will be watching the structures, not the speaker). As time progresses, these straw structures will topple over/collapse/get blown down by the fan/etc one by one. Acknowledge each one as it drops, and at the end you can discuss with the group what makes the good ones stay up, and why those on the ground have fallen. Pay particular attention to the base/foundations of these structures. Conclude that one needs a strong (good/solid/big/firm/etc) foundation (=Jesus/Christian values) for ones life, or something to that effect. (The best structures seem to be those constructed like the Eiffel Tower or oil rigs.

**During the 10-15 minutes allotted to build the straw towers, you can move around and watch to see who are the leaders and who are the followers (if you wish).