A fun youth group lesson that I did with my group a few weeks ago was a Fear Factor, based on the show but with a Bible element. First we stated by guessing the top 10 fears. I got this list of lifescience.com (although I modified it a bit) it seemed like a good one because the youth could relate to a lot of the fears.
- Snakes
- Spiders
- Small spaces
- Public Speaking
- Heights
- The dark
- Thunder and lightening
- Flying
- Dogs
- The Dentist
We talked about which of these we could relate to, and ones that we might add to the list. A couple that were added were; ax murderers, vampires (not the Edward Cullen type), and drowning.
We then discussed our deeper fears. The kind of fears that you think about when you're alone and night, and might not admit to anyone, maybe not even to yourself. I had all the youth write down their fears and then invited people to share them if they wanted to. A lot of the youth were surprised that they had written some very similar things, and it was comforting to know that they weren't alone in their fears.
We then talked about how it is okay to be scared, but that we also must remember that God is with us to help us through our fears.
I then got the kids to guess how many times the Bible it says "fear not". Guesses flew, but the real answer is 365 times, one for everyday of the year. It's probably just a coincidence, but it is a comforting one to know that God is helping us with our fears everyday.
We then, quite ceremoniously, crumpled up our fears and threw them in the garbage can. Leaving them to God to worry about, and relaxing just a little.
After snack (kids probably won't want to eat after the food challenges) we hosted our own fear factor. We split into teams and teams scored a point for completed challenges. Below is a list of the challenges we did, and the supplies needed for each.
- Bob for onions - Much like bobbing for apples, contestants had to transfer 10 onions from one bin of water to another. Water could also be dyed red to give the impression of blood. Supplies: Peeled onions, 2 large tubs or sinks, red food colouring (optional)
- Frozen Toes- In this challenge contestants had to use their toes to pick up marble from the bottom or a bin of ice water. Supplies: Bag of marbles, 2 bags of ice, tub of cold water
- Hunt for bugs in beans- For this challenge I prepared large bowls of beans (one for each team) with 10 gummy worms mixed into each. Without using their hand contestants had to search through the beans and remove all of the gummy worms. Supplies: large can of beans for each bowl, gummy worms, bowls
- Lego walk- If you have even stepped on a piece of Lego then you can imagine how much walking across a floor covered in it would feel. For this one contestants simply had to walk across it all to win the point. Supplies: LOTS of Lego
- Condiment roll- For this challenge I picked 6 condiments and assigned each one a number. I had mustard, jam, frosting, relish, cheese wiz, and mayo, but you could use whatever you had. The contestants would roll 2 dice and whatever condiments they rolled would be put on the same cracker and had to be consumed in 30 seconds or less. Supplies: 6 different condiments, soda crackers
- Guess the baby food- For the last challenge I put out 3 different kinds of baby food each containing a meat and a veggie. Contestants had 5 minutes to test all of the foods and make their guess. Roast beef and sweet potatoes was the favorite. Supplies: Baby food (take labels off the jars), spoons
There are lots of other challenges you can find online as well, these were just a few that were easy for us to set up, and were challenging for this age group.
This made for a challenging night, both emotionally and we shared our fears, and physically as we did the challenges. If you try it let me know how it goes!! Good luck!