Leadership development is great to learn at a younger age. Why? It builds confidence, essential life skills, and encourages engagement in all aspects of a young person’s life. We understand this and that’s why we’re so passionate about helping your youth groups develop and make unforgettable memories at our centres across the UK and France whilst learning essential skills they can harness throughout their lives.
Ready to transform your youth group into a team of amazing leaders? In this blog, we’ll show you 10 fun leadership activities for your youth group to improve your communication, teamwork, and problem-solving skills!
So, without further ado let’s get into the 10 fun leadership activities for youth groups:
1. Human knot
First on our list is the human knot, a classic game that was developed by Ohio State University Extension in 2009. It is an amazing leadership game which has been enjoyed for years and we’re sure will be enjoyed for even more years to come. This game encourages teamwork, communication, and problem-solving which are all vital skills to develop great leadership skills.
How to play Human Knot with your youth event:
The group forms a circle, then each player connects their right hand with someone else’s right hand who is not directly next to them, then they do the same with the left hand making sure you grab a different person’s left hand than you did with the right hand.
Then the aim of the game is for the group to untangle themselves into 1 large circle or 2 small circles without letting go of each other’s hands.
2. Leadership Race
Get ready for some fast-paced fun with this game! It’ll have your youth group thinking on their feet! This game is recommended as it’s great for finding potential leaders within groups early on as it’s quick to set up and allows everyone to show and explain their leadership traits.
How to play Leadership Race with your youth event:
Everyone lines up in a line shoulder to shoulder. Then one person is picked to be “the caller”. The caller will not participate in the race but instead will act as a judge.
The caller then shouts out a leadership trait such as good listener, communicative, intuitive, reliable etc. If a player believes they have the trait they then take a step forward, once they step forward they then have to explain the reason why they have this trait or explain a time in which they used the trait.
3. Leadership Bingo
This game is great for building communication skills. Before you start you need to create a list of different leadership skills such as problem-solving, creative thinking, reliability, communication, team player etc (You will need a leadership skill for each participant).
Once you have the list you will then need to create some bingo cards containing all the different skills.
How to play Leadership Bingo at your youth event:
Now it’s time to play: Give each player a bingo card. The aim of the game is to walk around the room and match a person with a leadership skill. Once they find a player with the leadership trait they then get them to sign the card and once they have a line they shout BINGO! This can be a horizontal or vertical line.
4. Leadership crest
Leadership crest allows you to gain insight into your group and allows them to reflect on themselves and self-analyse which is a great leadership trait. Before you start you will need some paper, pens and colouring pencils. It’s always great to have a few examples of crests that the kids can stencil to create their own crest shape.
To get started with this game each person must draw an outline of a crest which could be either a shield or badge and then divide it into 4 sections.
How to play Leadership Crest with your youth event:
In each section of the crest, the kids write in words what good leadership traits are and what traits they possess or want to gain. Once the shields have been completed, each person will stand up, present their crest, and explain what they have chosen and why.
After everyone has finished presenting it’s great to start a discussion about common traits that were chosen, or traits which surprised the group for example.
5. Minefield
Minefield is a classic leadership game. To complete the game players have to demonstrate excellent communication skills, trust and problem-solving. To get started you need to create an area with either tape or cones which creates the “minefield”. Then place objects within the area, such as balls, or bean bags and these will act as the mines.
How to play Minefield with your youth event:
Once this is set up players must find a partner and then choose someone to be the caller and someone to be the walker. The walker then needs to be blindfolded at the start of the minefield and once ready needs to make their way through the minefield following the caller’s instructions.
6. Tower Building
This game is super simple and a lot of fun! The aim of the game is to build the tallest freestanding tower. How to play Tower Building at your youth event:
Split the group into teams (around 3-5 in each team works best). Once the teams are defined, present each team with the same amount of building supplies. This could be anything from spaghetti to newspaper.
To help here is a list of some example items:
- Spaghetti
- Marshmallows
- Tape
- Straws
- Cups
- Blocks
- Cards
- Newspaper
- String
- Rulers
Now, set a time limit (15 to 20 minutes works best) and away they go to build their towers.
7. Goal pyramid
This fun and engaging game combines physical activity with goal setting. Although there is no history of the origins of this game, it has been played over the past decade as a game to help budding leaders develop their skills and prioritise their tasks.
For this game, you will need a whistle and a large open space and each person will need 6 cups and 1 marker.
How to play Goal Pyramid with your youth event:
All cups are placed on 1 side of the room and the players start on the other side of the room. On the sound of the whistle, each player must run and grab 1 cup from the other side of the room. When they get this cup they then write a personal goal on the cup.
Then this is repeated 5 more times but instead of writing a goal they instead write a step to how they achieve the goal.
They then have to stack the cups with the goal at the top and the steps to achieve the goal in the order below. Once the pyramid is complete the player has won!
8. Get Off the Couch
This game is great for becoming a great speaker and being able to motivate people which is a great leadership skill. To set up the game we need to have a few objects which represent incentives. For example, we can use paper to represent money or packets of crisps to represent food.
Here is a list of suggested incentives:
- Money
- Food
- Entertainment
- Social
- Achievement
- Free Time
How to play Get Off the Couch with your youth event:
Once a leader is chosen it is their job to get players off the couch, the rules are simple. A job or task is presented to the group by the group leader and then the leader has to choose an individual and motivate them by using 1 motivator and their motivational speech.
9. Round Tables
This game focuses on building great leadership skills such as delegation, time management and communication skills.
How to play Round Tables with your youth event:
This game involves players splitting into groups and each group works around a table. Each table has a specific task. The task could be solving a puzzle or riddle, building a structure from blocks, or creating a presentation.
Now each team chooses a leader. Whoever is chosen as the leader can only communicate with their team, they’re not allowed to touch the puzzle and have to delegate tasks, assign roles and provide feedback. We recommend giving around 10-15 minutes at each table and once the time is up the teams rotate to a different table. The winners are the team which completes all the tasks in the least amount of time.
10. Storytelling Charades
This game is an adaptation of Charades which has a rich history dating back to 16th century France. Storytelling Charades is a great game for building confidence in young people. This activity works on creative thinking and nonverbal communication skills.
How to play Storytelling Charades with your youth event:
This game starts with all players being split into groups (4-6 players per group work best). Then each group is given a scenario or story and they have to act it out without any verbal clues and the other teams have to guess what the story is.
These games are all amazing and can help youth groups build a great foundation for leadership which they can use throughout their lives.
Looking for Youth Group Activity Providers?
On a PGL Group Adventure, we help young people learn essential skills to succeed and thrive in any situation.
With everything included—accommodation, meals, equipment, and a wide range of adventure activities tailored to your group’s needs—PGL has everything covered for an unforgettable experience on a group adventure trip. To book your group adventure or if you have any questions, contact our friendly and experienced team.
Don’t forget to explore our range of other group residential trips, including Girlguiding residentials, Youth Club & Trusts residentials, and Other Uniform residentials.
