Fun Games That Teach Life Skills

Children pick up a lot through play. A well chosen game can teach them how to share, how to listen, how to lose without sulking, and how to work with people they would not normally pick as friends. Youth groups are a good setting for this, because the children are away from home, mixing with others their own age, and free to try things out without a parent hovering nearby.

Games can also be used to introduce or reinforce practical life skills. Cooking a simple meal, planting seeds, hammering nails into wood, sewing on a button: these are the sorts of jobs children may not get much chance to try at home, and a youth group session can be the first time they have a proper go.

Blogger Sheri Kruger argues that teaching life skills matters at every age. "Teaching practical life skills and philosophies are important parts of developing our children into well rounded and happy adults," she writes. Her list of things she thinks every child should know before leaving home covers meal planning and food shopping, touch typing, the consequences of drink driving, changing a car wheel, reading food labels, and building things from scratch such as a kite or a basic go-kart.

That is a long list, and no youth group is going to cover all of it. Games are a low pressure way to start.

Games for younger children

Younger children are still working out how to get on with others without an adult stepping in to settle every disagreement. Games at this age work best when the rules are simple and the focus is on cooperation rather than winning.

• The Shopping Game. Set up a pretend shop with empty packets and tins. Give each child a small list and some play money. They have to find the items, add up the prices, and pay at the till. It teaches reading, basic maths, and how to ask for help politely.
• Tidy Up Relay. Split the group into teams and scatter objects around the room. Each team has to sort their pile into the right boxes: clothes, toys, books, recycling. It is silly, fast, and it gets across the idea that tidying up is a shared job.
• Listening Circle. One child whispers a short message to the next, and so on round the circle. The last person says it out loud. It usually comes out garbled, which is half the fun, and it is a gentle way to talk about why listening properly matters.
• Plant a Bean. Each child plants a bean in a paper cup and takes it home to look after. Over a few weeks they see what happens when a plant is watered, and what happens when it is forgotten. Simple, but the lesson sticks.

Youth Group Game Finder

Match games to your specific group needs by filtering across age, group size, space, and activity type.

Try our Youth Group Game Finder free, here on this site →

Games for older children

By the time children are eight or nine they can handle more involved tasks, and they are ready for games that ask them to plan, negotiate and take a bit of responsibility. This is also the age where they start noticing differences between themselves and others, so games that mix the group up are useful.

• Cook a Meal. Pair the children up and give each pair a simple recipe, a few ingredients and a time limit. Beans on toast, scrambled eggs, a basic pasta sauce. They have to read the recipe, share the work, and clear up after. An adult should be on hand near hot pans, sharp knives and anything electrical, and it is worth running through basic kitchen safety before you start: tied back hair, no loose sleeves, and a clear path between the cooker and the sink.
• Build a Den. Outside if possible, with sticks, sheets, rope and pegs. Groups of four or five have to design and build something they can all fit inside. There is no winner. The interesting part is watching how they decide who does what. Check the area for sharp objects, animal mess and anything that might fall over before they start.
• Map the Neighbourhood. Give the group a printed map of the local area and a list of things to find: the nearest postbox, a bus stop, a defibrillator, the library. They mark each one on the map. It teaches them to look around properly when they are out and about.
• Mend It. Bring in a pile of clothes that need a button sewn on, a small hole patched, or a hem fixed. Show them how, then let them try. Most will be hopeless at first. A few will surprise you.

Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.

Games for teenagers

Teenagers tend to groan at anything that looks like an organised game, so the trick is to keep it loose and to give them a real problem to solve. At this age the skills they need are closer to adult ones: budgeting, dealing with strangers, knowing what to do in an emergency.

• The Budget Challenge. Give each small group a pretend monthly income and a list of bills, food costs and other expenses. They have to make it balance. Throw in surprises partway through, such as a broken boiler or a friend's birthday. For older teenagers it is worth adding income tax, National Insurance, and the cost of paying back a small loan or credit card balance, since those are the things that catch people out once they start working. It opens up useful conversations about priorities and what things actually cost.
• First Aid Scenarios. St John Ambulance and the British Red Cross both publish teaching resources on their websites, and it is worth checking what is currently available before you plan the session. Set up a few staged situations: someone has fainted, someone has burnt their hand, someone is choking. The group has to decide what to do and in what order. Even a basic grasp of first aid is worth having.
• Job Interview Role Play. One person is the interviewer, one is the candidate, the rest watch and give feedback afterwards. Use real questions of the kind they might face for a Saturday job. It is awkward at first, which is the point. Better to be awkward in front of friends than in front of an actual employer.
• Plan a Trip. Give the group a budget and a destination, and ask them to plan a day out using public transport. They have to work out train or bus times, costs, where to eat, and how long it will all take. National Rail and Traveline are good starting points for timetables, and most train operators have their own apps that handle tickets and live updates. Citymapper and Google Maps are useful for working out connections in larger towns.

Keeping it relaxed

Not every session needs a clear lesson at the end. Children learn plenty just from being around other children and from having to take turns, share kit and put up with someone else's idea of how to do things. If a game falls flat, that is fine. Try a different one next week.

The point of using games rather than lessons is that children do not feel they are being taught. They are just playing, and the skills come with the playing.

The Next Step

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our Youth Group Game Finder lets you match games to your specific group needs by filtering across age, group size, space, and activity type. Try it now →