Games, Challenges and Competitions

Minute to Win It Challenges are Perfect for Camp

Have you seen the show Minute to Win It? If not, check it out on NBC. Check your local listings for times. Or you can find out about all the games on their website.

UPDATE 2016: The videos are no longer on the NBC website. The videos explaining the games can still be found on YouTube, however. I have updated the links below.

The games are ideal for camp challenges. Why? Because they take one minute to complete, they use objects you probably already have around camp and they are a lot of fun to play and to watch.

Of the games that are currently in their line-up, here are my top 10 favorites that I like to run at camp:

  1. Movin’ On Up
  2. Punch Your Lights Out
  3. Wheel of a Deal
  4. Card Ninja
  5. Stack Attack
  6. Defying Gravity
  7. Stick the Landing
  8. Speed Eraser
  9. Caddy Stack
  10. Elephant March

23 Comments

  • I love this idea. I can see using these games at staff meetings, competitions against other staff groups in our organization, spirit building at camp – counselor vs. counselor, or camp special events. Thanks for the idea, you got the wheels turning.

  • Is there any way to download these games online or is there somewhre that I can buy a DVD of the voice/instructions for each game for the children?

  • Great idea! I’m using these games for my summer Vacation Bible School, and my kids are loving it! Magic Carpet Ride is their favorite!

  • Hi “Moose” I’m Caole Bosch Director of Campamaento Hiawatha in Venezuela! I used some of them(and designed some other ones) this past summer and kids and counselors loved them, we call them “MITOWI” games !!! Just for the records!!

  • Did Minute 2 Win It games with my 6-12 year old every Tuesday this past summer. The biggest hit ever. The kids loved it and little to no cost for the supplies.

  • Tried doing this last year with my camp, but wasnt entirely successful. Any suggestions to how to make this fun for a camp of 100 kids? Set up stations so the kids can do this relay style? Id like some suggestions!! Please! Thanks!

    • Rachel, I actually don’t time the campers. I use the challenges in relays. When a camper begins his/her part of the relay he/she just needs to complete the challenge for their team to continue on. If after 2 or 3 minutes (whatever time you decided to make it) the camper has not completed the challenge the team continues on anyway. There is no penalty except for the time it took.
      Occasionally, we’ll set up a challenge during free time for anyone who wants to try it out. One of the staff will set the clock to 1 minute. It’s just for fun unless we decide there is a prize for anyone who can complete the challenge in under a minute. The kids really like being able to try it if they want or just watch. What usually happens is that we get a long line which forces us to set up a second station.

  • We did stations at camp last year with 10 games that could have ten participants and top two went on to the next level. Numbers went from 1oo to 20 and then we had games for 5 and top 2 went on do we went to 10 and then we had ten games to eliminate one each time down to final winner. Tried to stick to one minute but extended time if one finished so we could have the elimination. Took over two hours.

  • Great post. I have been directing the day camp at my local Salvation Army for more years than I want to mention here. 🙂 We did several minute to win it games as well this year. the kids loved “Caddy Stack” as well as one called “A Bit Dicey” It was a lot of fun…..

  • My husband used the game show format and we separated the kids into 2 teams and he called kids and counselors to compete against each other…. he made sure he had several games that he could use several from each team. example… M&M Challenge….. line up team members, suck an M&M to a straw and walk to other side of stage & drop in a bowl, the next person in line goes with their own straw of course. the team with the most M&Ms when the Water Bottle timer (he made from 3 water cooler jugs) ran out gets a point. He chooses kids of same age/size to compete against one another.

  • We have a summer camp that has about 400 kids in it, and the groups are split according to their age. We had an entire week devoted to “Minute to Win it’ and it was awesome! Our favorite obstacle/task was the oreo challenge. It was epic!

  • We run it a little different for Family Camps. We have team sign ups, up to eight per team. We tweak the events so that multiple team members work together to complete each event. Events are timed. Teams have a cut off time of 2 minutes to keep it competitive. The least cumulative time for multiple stations wins. We have created a spreadsheet to easily calculate the times. It is a very popular event and as fun to watch as play.

    • I like that, Erik. Sounds like a great way to run it, especially for Family Camp. Thanks for sharing.

  • i have been doing a version for my staff- every other morning towards the end of breakfast- i put on theme music grab the loudspeaker and call up counselors from every division- there is a master list on the wall- we have about 15 counselors line up along a table in the middle of the dining room and at the whistle compete to see who will be the first to winit! campers go crazy cheering for their counselors and favorite staff memebers-
    we have even added an immunity necklace as well
    the remaining counselor at the end of the summer gets a special tshirt that has been designed just for this-bedlam yes but loads of fun.

  • Does anyone have a list of characteristics/values/lessons that could be used as a daily focus for children? We have an annual camp for ages 6-17 and like to have a word or focus of the day and thought this would be a fun, new theme.

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