Virtual Fun for Your Next Church Activity
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It’s been more than three months since we last met together in person as a ward and you are running out of ideas! Try these new and fresh ideas with several variations to keep you connected with each other. Being with one another even virtually can be such a great strength. Keep going- you can do this!
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Try these games a youth group, primary activity, Relief Society, or even with your family. Keep having fun during this difficult time and let some of that stress go!
Guess in 10
Ways to Do It: In Gospel Living Circles, over a conference call, 6 feet apart
Guess in 10 is a quick and easy game you can use for an entire activity or as a filler while you wait for people to come or go. Basically, the goal is to guess the name or topic within 10 clues. The faster you guess it, the more points you get- guess it with only one clue and you get 10 points. Clues start out hard and become easier as they progress. Make your own cards or use mine!
New Testament Guess It (only 5 clues each)
Nativity Guess It (5 clues each)
Latter-day Saint Shout Out (10 clues each)
Delegate it: Ask your group to come up with at least one or two cards each based around a central theme like Book of Mormon or Things at Church.
Variation: My Latter-day Saint Shout Out is actually made to be played the opposite way. You give everyone the topic and they have to guess which 10 things are on the card. You can play it Guess in 10 style or play it the original way. For Shout Out, you get a point for each thing guessed within a time limit.
Name 5
Ways to Do It: In Gospel Living Circles, over a conference call, 6 feet apart
Name 5 is another quick game where you shout out the answer. The goal is to give five answers within 5 seconds. You can do in Gospel Living Circles by setting up a time beforehand and giving the topic then allowing people to answer for about five seconds (probably longer since they are typing but still keep it quick enough). Enjoy all the answers, challenge some that you think need challenging and award points. When you are on a conference call, take turns and award points accordingly. The great part about Name 5 is the answers can be so different but all correct. Use my Name 5 cards or make your own.
Delegate It: Ask someone else to come up with some Name 5 cards and just use mine as a backup. You can also have different people give out the topics.
Variations: Do it like Family Feud instead where you are looking for the most popular answers. There are a bunch of premade ones like this one from DIY Party Mom or this one from A Girl and a Glue Gun . Or make it more challenging by going around to each team or individual. They have to name 5 additional things in that category. If they repeat anything, the round is over. If they name 5 different things, they get 10 points instead of 5. The next group would get 15 and so on.
Guess Who
Ways to Do It: Conference call
Pick something else to represent you on-screen during the conference call. It can be a balloon with a face drawn on it, a sock puppet, a spatula, a basketball, whatever you feel represents you best. Then take turns trying to guess each other’s true identity by using yes or no questions. Remember to disguise your voice and your name when logging in. To keep things safe, be sure you keep your conference call link secure and have everyone send you their nickname beforehand so you can let them in without worry.
Delegate it: Invite someone to give some examples beforehand and to gather all the nicknames used. Invite another to send out reminders.
Variations: Pretend to be someone from the scriptures or church history. Dress up in costume to the best of your ability. Or pretend to be someone else in the ward (all in good fun).
Virtual Tour of Church History Sites
Ways to Do It: Conferencing call
Did you know that some of the Church History sites like Nauvoo are giving virtual tours right now? You can call and set up an appointment or use one of their prerecorded videos. Give your group a list of things to look for as you watch and drop off prizes the next day (if possible) to those that find all the items. You can start by heading to the Church’s website then head to each of their Facebook pages to see what they are offering and how.
Delegate It: Ask someone to set up the appointment or make the list of what to look for during the tour.
Variation: Give your own Church history tour in your home. Each person pretends their home is a historic site. They can make it up as they go. For example, and this is the bedroom of Camille Gillham where she would pray every night and write down lists of ideas for the next morning. Enjoy the laughs!
How to Draw
Ways to Do It: Conference call or 6 feet apart
Why not work on developing some more skills. Learning to draw doesn’t require dropping off supplies beforehand and can be fun for everyone. You can use a YouTube video or get someone in your ward to share their talents. Keep it simple enough to finish in one night but challenging enough to get people to come.
Delegate It: Ask someone to find out what things your group wants to draw the most- animals, nature, people, cartoons, etc. then search for easy tutorials online or find someone to teach it.
Variations: You can absolutely do this in other mediums like painting, sculpting with clay, etc. Or try it over a Conference Call that has a whiteboard option. Each person in your group takes turns adding to the drawing. The catch is they can only draw one shape. You can also invite everyone to show how they draw one thing. It can be as simple as a star or more complicated like a nature scene.
Quick Grab
Ways to Do It: Conference call
Make a list ahead of time of common to find items in a typical person’s home- it can be something basic like a book or even a shape or color. You call out the items and they run to grab it. The first person back with a correct item gets the most points, second the next highest points, and so on. Tell the point values of each item beforehand. You can easily get people back into the competition by changing up the values.
Delegate It: Ask someone to make the list of common household items. Compare it with yours and make a master list. Let someone else call out points or items.
Variation: Let each person take turns being the one that comes up with the point values and object to shout out. They will have to sit that round out obviously.
Pen Pals
Ways to Do It: Email, texting, snail mail
Invite people to join in a pen pal program. It’s a fun way to get to know others better while staying safe. You’ll want people to volunteer first though so you can ensure participation. Include some conversation starters to help out. Be pen pals with each other or find another group in the world that is willing to switch with you.
Delegate It: Ask someone else to pair up pen pals or get people to sign up (using Google Forms is a great way to gather interest).
Variation: Make it anonymous. This takes more work but makes it extra fun. Everyone picks a nickname to use instead and emails one central account. That person then copies and pastes the letter into a new email and sends it to the right person so no personally identifying info is shown. After so many letters or by a certain date, guess who your pen pal is!
Chalk Art Challenge
Ways to Do It: Gospel Living Circles, 6 feet apart.
Give everyone a challenge to create some great chalk art based on a quote, scripture, or artwork. You can give different ones to each person or have everyone work off the same one. It’s fun to see the variations and creativity. Share the final product in Gospel Living Circles or as you roam around the Church parking lot at 6 feet apart. You’ll have to make sure everyone has some chalk first.
Delegate It: Ask someone to drop off the chalk or come up with the quotes, scriptures, themes, or artwork.
Variations: Assign each person to another person’s driveway to decorate instead. It’s fun to see what shows up at your house! You can also get everyone to come to the church parking lot at different times and add on to a hopscotch path. Once it’s done, invite everyone to try it out while staying 6 feet apart. Try it also with the Plan of Salvation.
Walk the Land of the Nephites
Ways to Do It: Gospel Living Circles and 6 feet apart.
Invite everyone to go on a walk through the land of the Nephites. Assign different homes within walking distance (or different spots in the church’s parking lot) to be different cities in the Book of Mormon. At each location, share a little about the city and invite them to do an activity. Don’t worry, I already did all the hard work for you. You just have to print out my Walk the Land of the Nephites Kit. It even has ideas of what you can do at each location. Share photos along your way in the Gospel Living app.
Delegate It: Invite people to be in charge of each location and the activity there.
Variation: Walk the distance between cities together. Get a walking group together or use a Google Doc to keep track of how many miles everyone contributes each week- swimming, biking, running- it all counts.
My Friend
Ways to Do It: Gospel Living Circles, conference call
This is another guessing game. Basically, you think of people in the scriptures that you would like to be friends with and come up with clues for them. Try my examples. The goal of this game is to keep it super simple. Gospel Living Circles is a great way to play it as you can just leave the clue out there and people can guess when they have time.
Variation: Give the name and ask why they would want to be friends with that person.
Bingo!
Ways to Do It: Conference call, 6 feet apart
Bingo is easy to do online or far apart from each other. Make it more fun with prizes- tangible or something like bragging rights. Just be sure everyone has access to a Bingo board. You can grab my various Bingo boards that also include bonus ways to play:
Delegate It: Ask someone to pass out the bingo boards ahead of time and someone to be the caller.
Variations: Check out 5 more fun ways to use my Bingo cards.
Who Said It?
Ways to Do It: Conference call, 6 feet apart
Kahoot is a really fun way to play this game (you’ll have to share the Kahoot screen over a conference call). You can invite several people to make the Kahoots and play several rounds. You just have to guess who said it- a prophet or Disney/Star Wars/The Princess Bride/etc. You can do this in person too with teams taking turns guessing.
Delegate It: Invite several people to make the Kahoots.
Variations: Does your Bishop always say certain phrases or your Young Women’s president? Make it more local instead. Try our Who Said It? questionnaire sheet.
Would You Rather
Ways to Do It: Gospel Living Circles, conference call, 6 feet apart
Would You Rather questions are a great way to get your group interacting- everyone loves to explain their answers and laugh. You can use my Would You Rather questions included in my Ministering Textables or my Christmas themed ones. There is also this fun one from Or So She Says.
Delegate: Invite everyone to submit their own Would You Rather Questions ahead of time.
Variation: Set up a Kahoot with no wrong answers so everyone can see the most popular answers. Keep some questions super silly and make some more serious so you can keep learning more about each other.
Poetry Jam
Ways to Do It: Conference call, 6 feet apart
Bring out the snap clap and have some poetry fun. Everyone brings a poem to read- either one of their favorites or one they wrote themselves. Read some fun ones from “Where the Sidewalk Ends” by Shel Silverstein to get the evening off to a great start.
Delegate It: Invite people who have a great snap to be awesome snappers after each talk to encourage the fun vibe. Ask someone to bring some backup poetry books just in case too.
Variations: Do it with nursery rhymes! Try to keep a straight face as you read it super seriously.
Book Reading
Ways to Do It: Conference call, 6 feet apart
Pick a book together and take turns reading it out loud. Encourage voice and props! It can be fun to read the classics or revisit books you loved as a child such as “There’s a Monster at the End of This Book” by Jon Stone.
Delegate It: Ask someone to find out the best genre of book to read together. Invite someone that can easily be dramatic to start the evening off right.
Variations: Use cards to encourage creative storytelling such as “Speak like a pirate”, “Read while balancing on one foot”, “Read Backwards”, etc.
Mini Golfing
Ways to Do It: 6 feet apart
Set up a mini golf course in the church’s parking lot and invite people to come on down. Laminate my challenge cards and post them at the beginning of each hole so they don’t really have to touch them. Everyone brings their own equipment as well. It doesn’t have to be a putter or golf ball either. Try mops, hockey sticks, tennis balls, bouncy balls, whatever they have around the house. Remind everyone to not go to the next hole until it’s free and clear to stay 6 feet apart. Share your photos on the Gospel Living app.
Delegate it: Invite different groups to design a hole.
Variation: Do it with paper airplanes instead. Send out instructions of various plane designs and use a small laundry basket for the hole.
Brick Building Fun
Ways to Do It: Conference call
Invite everyone to bring their building bricks to the activity. Draw my free challenge cards to see how you have to build and share your creations after each step. Play some music in the background for some inspiration.
Delegate it: Encourage someone to send out a reminder before the activity and make sure everyone has building bricks to use.
Variation: Build Lehi’s Dream. Pick a part to build and give everyone a different building challenge card included in my Gospel Fun Kit. Then draw one of my time limit cards. Share your creations and versions of the dream as you go along.
Cooking Classes
Ways to Do It: Conference call, 6 feet apart
We all need new recipes. Vote on various skills your group wants to learn such as making challah bread, how to decorate cookies, and other favorites. Remember to send out an ingredients list several days ahead so people can have all the ingredients!
Delegate It: Invite different people each time to show how to cook. Ask someone to find out what people want to cook.
Variation: Do a cooking competition instead with the challenge that you can only use the ingredients already in your home.
Looking for even more ideas? Check six more brilliant ways to have fun together while staying apart.
