‘Minute to Win It’ was a popular television game show that gave contestants a 60 second challenge using common house hold objects.  Now the games created for the show are used at birthday parties and church events across all age groups.   When there’s extra time to fill at Kid’s Church I bring out my ‘Minute to Win It’ box and throw the countdown clock up on the screen and the kids are instantly focused and energized.  The official 60 second countdown is on You Tube, but use the timer on your phone, just make sure you count down out loud from 10 seconds because the children love to yell it out with you.

 

What’s in my Minute to Win It Box?

 

• Plastic cups, bowls and spoons
• Balloons
• Toilet paper
• Ping Pong balls
• Cotton balls
• Empty soft drink cans
• Rubber bands
• Marbles
• Straws
• Cereal Box Jigsaws (prepared and in sandwich bags)
• Masking tape or gaffe tape (strong and sticky)
• Egg carton
• Optional: blindfolds (to increase difficulty) and a balloon pump

 

10 Top Games to Play

 

Defy Gravity:  Player must keep 3 balloons (use different colours) in the air for the minute without letting them hit the ground. For younger children you can use 1 or 2 balloons.

 

Rapid Fire: Set 6 soft drink cans up in a pyramid.   The cans are placed on a stool or table 2 metres from the player who tries to knock them over by flicking rubber bands at them.  They must knock the entire pyramid over before the 60 seconds is up.

 

Dizzy Mummy:  The player will need assistance from a friend.  The friend will hold a roll of toilet paper and the player will take the end in one hand.  When the clock starts, the player will spin in circles, attempting to cover himself or herself completely with the toilet paper.  Have the friend adjust the toilet paper up and down as the player spins in an attempt to get all areas covered.  The better the quality of toilet paper the fewer breaks.

 

Ping Pong Bounce:  Bounce ping pong balls into a row of plastic cups set up on a table.  (In warmer weather fill the cups with water.)

 

Scoop It:  Kids move six ping pong balls from one bowl to another using only a spoon in their mouth. (You could use cotton balls for this game.)

 

Breakfast Scramble:  Cut the front of a cereal box into ‘jigsaw’ pieces. Each kid has a minute to piece the cereal box together. (So much harder than you think!)

 

Sticky Balls:  Use masking tape to make a sticky finish line and roll marbles across a table at just the right speed so they’ll stick to the tape and not roll off.

 

Hot Air:  Blow up a balloon and release the air to propel a ping pong ball across a table.

 

Tilt-a-Cup:  Start with 3 plastic cups stacked.  Bounce a ping pong ball into the top cup.  Now take the cup from the bottom of the stack and sit it on top of the ball in the cup. The cup is on a tilt and it’s harder to bounce the next ping pong ball into it.  Repeat.  You can increase the number of cups to 5.

 

Ping Pong Plunk:  Place an empty egg carton on a table.  Kids have to bounce 8 ping pong balls into the carton.   (Only eight ensures there’s room in the carton.)

 

Tip

 

Although ‘Minute to Win It’ games are simple they can be harder to play than they look.  I’ve even played them at home first but when the game was played in Kid’s Church a difference in table top or flooring changed the difficulty.  So trial games in your Kid’s Church space. I choose not to use any games with a food component.

‘Minute to Win It’ games are cheap and a terrific stand by for you and your teachers.  So make up your own box of games.  Your time starts now!