What do you need

• Lots of gaming soda straws.
• Depending on the games chosen, various games may require additional resources
• Apples or potatoes for the final object lesson

Games using straws

• candy pass – This game can be played with straws and any candy that has a hole that is big enough to slide over a straw. (Lifesavers or Polo mints usually work well.) Each team stands in a row and with straws in their mouths they must thread the candy onto the straw and then successfully pass it from straw to straw until they reach the end of the line. The first team to do so wins. To make the game last longer, give them a whole roll of candy to pass. (You can also use washers, clips, or rubber bands to pass through.) (Make it more interesting by blindfolding one person in the middle of each team.) If the diameter of the straws is an issue, use brown straws for this game.
• jelly sip – Give each team a bowl of jelly and, using straws, the first team to slurp the jelly wins.
• peas and straws – Give each team a glass with twenty peas and an empty glass as well. Each team selects a champion to compete on their behalf. At the signal, all players must compete to be the first to pass the peas from one glass to another using only the straw. They can’t touch the cup or the peas with anything except the straw. (Note: There is nothing in the rules that prevents players from folding the straw in half and using it as a pair of tweezers.) (Note: you can also use skittles or M&M’s)
• pick up sticks – Using straws, play a classic game of picking up sticks. Divide the youth into two teams. Hold a fist full of straws upright and then remove your hand and drop them in a big messy pile. Players on each team will take turns carefully picking a straw from the stack without moving any other straws. If successful, the player keeps the straw and can play again. However, if any of the other straws move in the process of removing one, the turn ends for that team. The team with the most straws at the end wins.
• soccer ping pong ball – Clear a table (a ping pong table works great) and place pencils on each end as goals. Give everyone a straw to drink from, and then divide the youth into two teams. Players should position themselves around the table so that no two teammates are next to each other. Place the ping pong ball in the center of the table and then the teams try to blow jets of air through the straws to move the ball so that it hits one of the pencil goals to score. If the ball goes flying off the table, simply put it back on the table where it came off. Pushing, shoving, or using your hands is not allowed. The first team to reach a designated number of points wins.
• Pipeline – Pass out all the young straws and then divide them into teams of 8 to 20 people. Each team designates a drinker at the other end. At the signal, they must join the straws to create a pipe and the drinker must drink all the coke from one cup. (It’s not as easy as it seems because air escapes from the connections between the straws)
• plastic straw javelin – Youth stand behind a line and flip or throw the straw as far as possible. The furthest throw wins. (Note: The straws cannot be torn, bent, bent or changed in any way, nothing can be placed inside the straw.)
• Enigma – Using a small puzzle for each team (you can usually find some with less than 50 pieces), the youngsters must put the puzzle together using only straws in their mouths. They cannot touch the pieces with their hands. The first to complete the puzzle wins. (Alternatively, you can cut a photo, postcard or greeting card into pieces)
• war of swabs – Divide the room in half for two teams or if you want four teams divide it into quarters. A piece of heavy-duty tape or masking tape on the floor can be a simple divider. Give everyone a straw and each team a pack of cotton swabs. The youngsters will use the straw to wildly shoot the swabs like poison darts across the room until the timer runs out. When time runs out, the team with the fewest swabs in their area wins. Q-tips cannot be thrown and players cannot leave their area.
• straw and paper – Divide the youth into teams, with team members lined up in a single file, one behind the other, and give everyone in the team a plastic straw. The first player must place the straw in their mouth and use the straw to carry a tissue to the finish line and then back to their team. Hands are not allowed. If the handkerchief falls out, they should put it back into the straw, sucking through the straw, before continuing. The first team to have everyone on the team complete the relay wins.
• straw chomp – Each team chooses a champion to represent them who will be given a straw. The first person to put the entire straw in their mouth without using their hands wins. It’s harder than you think.
• Straw Mixer and Rubber Bands – All the youth are given straws to hold in their mouths and half of them are given rubber bands to hang from the straws. The young people go around the room challenging each other to pass the garter using the straws. But if the rubber band falls off, the straw has 1/2 inch cut off from the end of the person who was supposed to pass the rubber band. The last person with the longest straw wins.
• exchanging extremes – Each young person puts one end of a straw in their mouth and then using only their tongue and lips (no hands) they must turn it over so that the opposite end of the straw is in their mouth. The first person to do it wins. (Have a camera ready for this as there will be a lot of funny faces)
• tallest tower – Teams must create the tallest tower in a given amount of time using only the materials provided. You will want to have many straws. For the connectors use marshmallows.
• Two straws, one cup – Each team chooses a champion to drink from a glass through a straw. The first to finish the drink wins, but there is a catch. They each get two straws, one that is in the cup and one that is not. Both straws must be in the mouth when drinking.
• William Tell – Each team chooses a player to be the ‘King’ who will wear a paper cup on his head as a crown. Using the q-tips like poison darts, on your signal, other teams must shoot the crown off the opposing king’s head to win. (The king must stand still or he may lose the crown himself.) Players cannot cross the dividing lines, nor can they use their hands to protect the crown.

Final challenge and object lesson

You will need a ripe potato or (ripe apple) for each team. You’ll want to test this yourself on a sample to make sure it’s ok with the straws you have. If they are too flimsy, they may not work. Also, you don’t want one of the straws that bends. You want a straight plastic straw. Note: When you place your thumb over the end, the trapped air inside makes the straw stiffer.

Each group chooses a champion to represent them. Give each one a straw and a potato. At your signal they must pass the straw through the potato.

Let them try for a minute or two and then ask the teams if they think this is an impossible challenge.

Then tell the teams how it can be done.

1. Hold the potato with one hand at waist level so your hands are on the sides of the potato and not on the top or bottom.
2. Hold the straw with your other hand so that your thumb rests on the top of the straw so air doesn’t escape.
3. Looking directly at the potato (not at your hand), stick the straw into it and it will go all the way through.

“We just made the ‘impossible’ possible.” A weak straw suddenly became strong enough to do something powerful.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

MAKE IT SPIRITUAL

The same thing happens when we put our life in the hands of God. Like straw we may be weak, but when we are in God’s hands, he can use us to do impossible things.

Quote Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

This really means all things. I can’t swim across the Atlantic Ocean or swallow a car. Those are absurd. What it means is that God can use me to do whatever he wants me to do. I can do all the things that God wants me to do. If God wants me to do it, he will give me the strength to do it.

MAKE IT PRACTICAL

• What are some of the things God wants us to do?
• What are some of the things that keep us from doing what God wants?
• How can we overcome our doubts and fears when God wants us to do something that is difficult or even seems impossible?

MAKE IT PERSONAL

You may want to have each young person put the straw in the potato as a demonstration and reminder that God can do impossible things through everyone.

• What is something God wants you to do? Something he has put on his heart?

Whenever you’re having a hard time with something God has asked you to do, I want you to remember to put a straw in a potato and I want you to think of Philippians 4:13. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

VERSE WRITING

• Matthew 19:26 But Jesus looked [them], and said to them: For men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
• Mark 9:23 – Jesus said to him: If you can believe, all things [are] possible to the one who believes.
• Mark 10:27 – And Jesus, looking at them, says: With the men [it is] impossible, but not for God, because for God everything is possible.
• Luke 1:37 – For with God nothing is impossible.
• Luke 18:27 – And he said: What is impossible with men, is possible with God.
• Matthew 17:20 – And Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief; for truly I tell you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain: Move from here to there; and it will be removed; and nothing will be impossible for you.
• Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
• Romans 8:31 – What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
• Job 42:2 – I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be frustrated.
• Jeremiah 32:17 – Oh, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth with your great power and with your outstretched arm! Nothing is too complicated for you.