Original Games and Youth Lessons
by Rev. Karen Fitz La Barge

Corn Maze Lesson

Needs:
A copy of the poem. Binoculars, Compass, Map of Maze. The “Roles” cut into strips per role, The Scripture below.

Begin when waiting in line for maze tickets or waiting for people to arrive by reading the poem and by reading the scripture. Then hand out the “roles” and the items. Be selective as to who gets what role. Don’t be afraid to type cast or to give the challenging roles to people who can handle them.

Life is a Maze (Author Unknown)

When going through the maze of life
many choices you will make.
Be sure to think what you’ve been taught
and be careful which turn you take.

Happiness will come when choosing right
and you’ll easily find your way
But when at a fork in the road you choose wrong
confusion and sadness will stay.

Remember who you are and where you’re from
and never give up on your goal.
The evil one wants to see you fail
and his presence will take it’s toll.

The prize at the end is worth the work
life eternal with those you love.
Heavenly Father has made it possible
to return to him above.

Follow the savior’s example
he showed us all the way
think of your time in this maze
when making your choices each day.

(Proverbs 2, The Message Translation)
2 1-5 Good friend, take to heart what I’m telling you;
collect my counsels and guard them with your life.
Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom; set your heart on a life of Understanding.
That’s right—if you make Insight your priority, and won’t take no for an answer,
Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold, like an adventurer on a treasure hunt,
Believe me, before you know it Awe-of-GOD will be yours; you’ll have come upon the Knowledge of God. 6-8 And here’s why: GOD gives out Wisdom free, is plainspoken in Knowledge and Understanding. He’s a rich mine of Common Sense for those who live well,
a personal bodyguard to the candid and sincere. He keeps his eye on all who live honestly,
and pays special attention to his loyally committed ones.
9-15 So now you can pick out what’s true and fair, find all the good trails!
Lady Wisdom will be your close friend,
and Brother Knowledge your pleasant companion.
Good Sense will scout ahead for danger,
Insight will keep an eye out for you.
They’ll keep you from making wrong turns,
or following the bad directions
Of those who are lost themselves
and can’t tell a trail from a tumbleweed,
These losers who make a game of evil
and throw parties to celebrate perversity,
Traveling paths that go nowhere,
wandering in a maze of detours and dead ends.
16-19 Wise friends will rescue you from the Temptress—
that smooth-talking Seductress
Who’s faithless to the husband she married years ago,
never gave a second thought to her promises before God.
Her whole way of life is doomed;
every step she takes brings her closer to hell.
No one who joins her company ever comes back,
ever sets foot on the path to real living.
20-22 So—join the company of good men and women,
keep your feet on the tried-and-true paths.
It’s the men who walk straight who will settle this land,
the women with integrity who will last here.
The corrupt will lose their lives;
the dishonest will be gone for good.

Here are the “Roles” that people will play while they are in the maze:

Lady Wisdom – Has a map of the maze that they can only look at when alone. Your goal is to help as many people as possible get through the maze and to be the last person to finish.

Brother Knowledge— Uses compass to determine direction. Let no one know you have a compass. Helps others by determining the direction they are facing. Your goal is to secretly give directional knowledge to as many people as possible.

Insight — Watches out for other people. Your job is to use your binoculars. Your goal is to warn others when they are going the wrong way. You may do with a group or individuals.

Common Sense — A Scout. Your job is to scouts ahead for danger and other turns, you go just out of sight and then come back to others to tell them what is ahead. Your goal is to be the first person to finish while bringing a group of other people to the finish.

Seducer –A smooth talker. Always tells people the wrong way, convincingly. Your goal is to be the only person to finish with everyone else giving up.

Awe of God— An inspiring person. Always encourage others that God would never leave them here forever and that there is an end to the maze. Your goal is to get people to sing together.

Understanding– A comforting person. Always tell people that corn mazes are designed to confuse, but to get people to the end eventually. Your goal is to get people to group and to do the maze together in pairs.

Tempter — Always lies to people. You may not tell the truth EVER while in the maze. Your goal is to get others to turn back as often as possible.

Good Sense– An aware person. Your job is to analyze the footprints that are here before and to use them to choose the best way to go. Your goal is to get people into and to complete the maze as a big group.

Fear– A overactive imagination person. Your job is to act scared and to get other people to be afraid too. Your goal is to get as many people as possible to quit.

Doubt– A questioning person. Your job is to tell others that you “doubt it” every time that that you think someone is right. Your goal is to spread confusion and doubt among as many people as possible.

Happiness- A happy person. Your job is to laugh convincingly, and to get others to laugh too. Your goal is to simply get other people to enjoy the experience.

The decider — A decisive person. Your job is to make decisions quickly and convincingly. Your goal is to convince as many people as possible to follow your decisions.

The deceiver. A deceptive person. Your job is to tell the people that you think are going the wrong way that you “agree” with them. Your goal is to separate the group to get everyone to do the maze alone.

The leader. A consensus builder. Your job is to get people to work together to solve problems to make it to the goal as a unit. Your goal is to get everyone to the end of the maze together as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The lost soul. A gullible person. Your job is to believe people and to always follow the last directions given to you. Your goal is to find a trustworthy person and to follow them out of the maze.

Once everyone is out of the maze (it will take a while if people are following their roles; have a deck of cards or two handy for a pick up game of euchre or hearts while waiting for the others.) Debrief the group over cider and donuts. Have each person talk about their experience and how they decided who to trust or what they thought about their roles. Try to lead the conversation to real life experiences of people who have been trustworthy and people who have steered them wrong. End with a discussion about God’s wisdom and trustworthiness for our life journey.

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Youth Game:  CHANGE.  1/13/2013

The Mechanic:
Pass out the following coins to the adults, randomly. Tell them that the students will be asking them for change, but that they may only give out
pennies for nickels and only give out nickels and dimes for quarters:

$10 in Dimes:  100 Dimes
$10 in Nickels: 200 Nickels
Lots of Pennies.

$10 in Quarters:    40 quarters. Divided between the two teams.   Each team starts with 20 quarters.  The youth goal is to try to get the most coins.  (Each coin represents one point / person.)

The backstory and set up:

Each of the teams are the staff of a homeless shelters on the WEST and EAST sides of your city.  You are trying to raise funds in order to stay open. Currently finances are VERY desperate.  If you don’t get some funding soon, you will need to close.  Mr. Moneybags, the biggest donor in town has decided that he is tired of funding both homeless shelters and wants to only fund one shelter.  He is giving you both until the end of the month to help as many people as possible.  The shelter that helps the most people will get a check for $10 million dollars.  The other shelter will close and the entire staff will lose their jobs. 

EACH COIN THAT YOU GET represents ONE person helped.  

A quarter represents a person that needs a lot of help:  They are addicted , mentally unstable, pregnant, homeless and sick.   It will take your organization a lot of time and resources to help just this one person.

A dime represents a person that is homeless, sick and addicted.

A nickel represents a person that is homeless and sick.

A penny represents a person that is just homeless.

You have till X time to exchange your quarters with other people for pennies. GO!

Debrief:
Point 1) Many non profit organizations are evaluated and funded on number of people served. Is this a fair way to evaluate?  Is there a better way to evaluate, when sicknesses and mental health issues vary?

Point 2) Many non profits who have people trained to help needy people have to take time away from helping people to doing fundraising. Is this a good use of their skills?

Point 3) What kind of professional people do shelters need? What kind of items?  Are homeless shelters the best places for sick and mentally unstable people?

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