One of our favorite games to play is Life-Size Pac-Man! This is a fun one to play during a midweek program for a game time, or as as an activity for discussing stories like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness or Abram and Sarai leaving their home to go somewhere God would lead them. You could also tag this onto a discussion about avoiding temptation, making the loving choice, or the lost sheep!
SUPPLIES:
- Masking Tape
- Pool Noodles
- Dollar Store Ponchos in Various Colors
- Play Pit Balls
- Dollar Store Laundry Baskets
SET-UP:
Ahead of time, create a maze with no dead ends throughout your space on the floor. Place the play pit balls evenly throughout the play space. Create 2-4 entrances (based on how many teams you have) and put a laundry basket at each entrance.
HOW TO PLAY:
Pick a few leaders to be the Pac-Man “ghosts” wearing a poncho and holding a pool noodle.
Split the kids into teams evenly. Kids will enter the maze one at a time and pick up 1 play pit ball. They bring the ball back to their team’s basket and the next person goes.
Kids and ghosts cannot cross any tape lines. They cannot reach across the lines to pick up a play pit ball or kick them around the space.
After the kids have started playing, release 1 ghost into the maze who can tag kids with the pool noodle. If the leader tags a kid, they drop the play pit ball wherever they were standing and then go to the back of the line. Keep releasing ghosts gradually into the game to make it more difficult over time.
You can periodically shout out: “Ghost Freeze!” then have the ghosts freeze for 10 seconds before they keep playing.
You can also shout: “Super Artic Ghost Mode Unlocked!” where the ghosts have to move super slowly for 20 seconds.
Game continues either until a certain time is up or all the play pit balls have been picked up. Whichever team has the most play pit balls at the end wins!