The Amazing Race

Party OverviewPut your running shoes on!  This party is patterned after the TV show, The Amazing Race, but girls do not have to know the show to have a blast.  They will race “around the world” and perform fun challenges, encounter roadblocks and detours in several countries, including Antarctica.  During the devotion they will learn one of the names of God; “Jehovah-raah,” our Good Shepherd.

Set UpThis event takes time to set up, but the girls will have a fabulous party! They will race in teams of two, opening envelopes to find instructions. Each instruction or clue should be in a sealed envelope. If your girls are familiar with the TV show, “The Amazing Race,” you can add a few more elements to your party, like putting all the clues in yellow envelopes, and adding a finish mat. Based on your location, supplies, and the interests of your girls, make appropriate changes to the following way we ran the race. Two or three adults will be needed for the race to go smoothly.

Welcome the girls. When everyone has arrived, tell the girls to choose a marked vehicle outside to get to the beginning of the race. (Girls were driven two blocks away to a playground with a sand pit and then handed the envelope with clue #1. Pieces of red and yellow fabric were attached to the antennas of the cars like on the TV show.)

Clue #1

Welcome to Egypt! Over many years, sand has covered up valuable treasures. You are on an archaeological dig. Each of you to must find a zip loc baggie buried just under the surface of the sand containing your bandana. Dig inside the marked area. GO.

(Have one bandana for each girl. Since the girls will be paired into teams of two, have a different color bandana for each team. When everyone has found a bandana, each girl’s partner for the race will be the one that has the matching bandana color. Once the

girls find their teammates, have the girls wear the bandana around their neck or arm. This will also give you team names; Blue team, Red team, etc. Once all the bandanas are put on, hand the girls Clue #2. Note: The ideal location to start this Amazing Race is at a park with a sandy area, or around a child’s sandbox. If a sandy “Egypt” is not available, hide the bandanas in your backyard. Or put team names in blown up balloons that the girls pop to find out which team they are on.)

Clue #2 Make your way to India located in the house at the kitchen table. Choose a marked vehicle (scooters, bikes, etc). There is one vehicle per team. Go back to the house, one team member riding, the other running. You may trade off riding and running.

Clue #3 Welcome to India! India is known for its distinct flavors of curry and spicy food. Your task is to find a cup with the word “Go” on the bottom. Everyone at the same time will select one cup, eat the entire contents and then turn the cup over to look for the word on the bottom. Continue eating until your team finds a marked cup. Bring the cup to _______________ and receive your next clue.

(Clue #3 will be handed to the girls as soon as they have all arrived at the India location. Have 100 – 150 little paper cups spread out on the kitchen table. Each cup is filled with Cheerios sprinkled lightly with curry spice. The white paper cups that fast food restaurants serve ketchup in are the perfect size. Choose the number of cups based on how many team members you have.)

Clue #4 Make your way to France located in the back yard.

Clue #5Welcome to France! Lacrosse is a sport that started in France. It is now

becoming very popular in the United States. Ten players are on each side of the field, and score points by throwing a ball into a goal. You will use a Lacrosse stick and throw a ball into the goal. Each team member must make a goal to receive your next clue.

(Clue envelope #5 will be handed to the girls as soon as they arrive in “France.” The girls used Lacrosse sticks to throw a ball into a recycling bin. Start the “goal” far enough away to make it a challenge, and then move it closer after each attempt. Other options: Shoot basketball free throws; throw a football through a hula hoop or into a “goal.”)

Clue #6Teams must now travel by hot air balloon to New Zealand. New Zealand is located across the Pacific Ocean in the front yard. Blow up a balloon, tie it closed, and position the balloon between you and your teammate’s waist. Make your way to your destination without your hands touching the balloon. If your balloon breaks, you must return to France and get another balloon.

(Have the girls go to their next location. It should be a reasonable distance from “France;” even if they walk around the house one or two times. Once all the teams arrive, give them their next clue.)

Clue #7New Zealand Roadblock! A Roadblock is a task that only one person on the team may perform. In this roadblock, decide who on your team wants to be the sheep, and who wants to be the shepherd?

(Give time for the girls to decide. After they have decided, move the sheep to one side, and the shepherds to the other. Hand them the next clue.)

Clue #8New Zealand is known for raising sheep. For every person that lives in New Zealand, there are about 10 sheep! Sheep need help taking care of themselves. In this roadblock, the sheep will be blindfolded. Using only their voice, the shepherd will tell the sheep where to go for food. The sheep will pick up one item at a time and take it back to the shepherd. Then the sheep will go back out for another item. Once all the sheep are blindfolded, the items will be put on the ground. Each sheep will collect two drinks and two snacks.

(Blindfold all the “sheep” making sure they can’t see. Use strips of heavy cloth folded over several times. If there is a higher place for the shepherds to stand, that is helpful; even on chairs. After the sheep are blindfolded, scatter the items. To make the challenge more fun, have different quality of items – water/soda, plain granola bar/chocolate bar, etc. Put the better items much further out. The shepherd then must decide if they want to win the challenge or get a better snack.) Go!

(After all the food has been collected, and eaten, hand the girls their next clue).

Clue #9Make your way to Australia in the back yard! In Australia, aboriginal

tribes abounded. They were very skilled at hunting for food using blow darts. You will use a blow dart dipped in the paint color of your bandana to shoot at the aboriginal. You will each be allowed to shoot 5 darts each. Good Luck!

(Have ready, a paper plate for each team with some paint on it in their bandana color. In a baggie by each plate, have two straws and several Q-tips. Beforehand, pull one end off each Q-tip; this makes it look more like a dart. The girls are to dip the Q-tip lightly in paint, insert it in the straw and blow. Have paper towels and water available for any cleanup. We used a younger brother as the aboriginal. He had goggles over his eyes, and he was barefoot (as painted darts will fall on the feet). He was wearing a big white T-shirt with a red bulls eye painted on it. It is more fun to shoot darts at a person, but a bull’s eye painted on poster board will also work. The target should have points on the circles – 1000, 750, 500, 250. By looking at the colored marks the paint left, you can easily determine which team won this challenge. Have extra darts available, because it may take a few to learn how to shoot, and how far away the bulls eye needs to be.)

Clue #10

Teams will now travel to Brazil. You will find Brazil located at the dining room table.

Clue #11Welcome to Brazil, South America! The country of Brazil covers nearly ½ of the whole continent of South America. The official language is Portuguese. Brazil is home to the Amazon rain forest and the Amazon River. Your task is to dress a banana as much like a traditional Brazilian person as possible. Use any of the items in your bag. Pins will hold everything in place. The marker can be used to draw in the face. When finished to _________’s satisfaction, you will be given your next clue.

(Provide a bag for each team. The bag will contain one banana, a marker, scissors, colorful pieces of fabric, yarn and ribbon pieces. Put straight pins in the middle of the table.)

Clue #12 Make your way to China located across the street at the neighbor’s house. Go to the gate in their fence.

Clue #13Welcome to the Great Wall of China. Your challenge is to correctly

count all the boards used to make the Great Wall. Good luck! When you have correctly counted all the boards, tell your number to _________ who will give you your next clue.

(The Great Wall of China was the wooden fence around a back yard. Teams had to count every board in the fence. If a fence is not available, find something else to count like tiles around a pool, bricks on the side of a house, etc.)

Clue #14China Roadblock! A roadblock is a task that only one person on your team may perform.

Pick the person who can eat anything.

(After each team has picked the person to do the food eating challenge, hand that group the next clue.)

Clue #15China Fact: China has the most people living in it of all the countries in the world. While the US has a population of around 300 million, China has a population around 1 billion, 300 million. They have a billion more people than the US! China is known for factories and it makes many of the stuffed animals and toys we buy here. It is also known for fishing, and the Chinese love to eat fish. The delicacy you will be eating today is available in the country of China. Seasoned with peppers and chilies, this crawfish has been boiled and is ready to eat. Only a certain portion of it is edible. You should twist the head off and suck the juice out of the head. This is where much of the flavor is. Then you peel the tail and eat the tail. You will be eating only the head and the tail. Bon appetite!

(Cooked crawfish are available in many large grocery stores at the fish counter. If this “delicacy” is not available, pick something else the girls might think is awful to eat and adjust the clue accordingly. Have water available for the girls to drink, because the crawfish are spicy.)

Clue #16Follow the enclosed map and make your way to the country of Kenya in Africa. Kenya is known for animal safaris. Watch out for dangerous wildlife! Kenya has

lions, leopards, rhinoceros, elephants and giraffes, just to name a few of its biggest animals. Once you arrive, the shooting expert will show you how to shoot the gun. To get your next clue, each team member must hit one of the animals on this African safari.

(The map led the girls to a wooded area behind the house, where two air soft guns were waiting. Air soft guns shoot small plastic pellets. A “shooting expert,” showed the girls how to aim and shoot. Stuffed animals were positioned in the bushes for the girls to shoot. Should guns not be available, use sling shots or throw balls to knock down the animals. Stuffed animals could also simply be hidden for the girls to find.)

Clue #17Travel to Ukraine located by the garage.

Clue #18Welcome to Ukraine! The country of Ukraine has long been known for its beautiful

hand painted eggs. Look through the pile of plastic eggs for a picture of an authentic hand painted Ukrainian egg. There is one picture per team. Every egg you open will have a paper in it. Take the paper out and put the egg back together, before proceeding to another egg. When you find a Ukrainian egg, take it to ______________ for your next clue.

(About 250 plastic Easter eggs were used for this challenge and were all piled in the middle of a blanket on the ground. Every egg had the same size paper folded up, but all the papers were blank except one egg picture per team. If you do not have access to a lot of plastic Easter eggs, try finding a green jellybean in the grass, OR, find a penny with the year _______ in a pile of several hundred,)

Clue #19

Detour! A detour is a choice of two tasks. Brain or Brawn? Do you want to use brain strength, or body strength?

(Have the teams select their detour, THEN hand out the appropriate clues, either Clue #20 or Clue #21.)

Clue #20 You will use your body strength! Pick up the weights and carry them around the house ______ times. Go!(Weights could be two bricks, workout weights, a cement block, or empty milk gallons filled with water.)

Clue #21 You will use your brain strength to do the enclosed math calculations. Go! (The math challenge is found toward the end of this party. When the teams have completed either Clue #20 or Clue #21, hand them clue #22.)

Clue #22Go to Antarctica – Located in the back porch.

Clue #23

Welcome to Antarctica! Antarctica is an entire continent of snow and ice. Using only your bare toes, find and retrieve six marbles in the frigid Indian Ocean water. Only one team member from each team may begin the search, and then team

members may trade places until each team has found enough marbles. Both team members must participate in this challenge. Take your six marbles to ________________ and receive your next clue.(Use one of the big plastic tubs that measures about three feet x two feet x six inches. Fill it half full of water, add the marbles, then several minutes before the challenge, put at least two bags of ice in. It needs to have lots of floating ice. Have one chair around “Antarctica” for each team, and team members can trade off sitting and searching. Have towels available to dry feet at the end of the challenge.)

Clue #24Congratulations! You have only one stop left in the Amazing Race. A victory stop, in Italy, where you will be rewarded with fine Italian cuisine! Proceed to the Dining Room table. When all teams have arrived, you will be served.

FoodServe an Italian meal:Spaghetti with garlic bread or pizzaGrapesGrape juiceItalian Ice for dessert(A red and white checked tablecloth makes a nice look. For a table centerpiece, use a globe and a few decorative items that look like they are from another country. Once the girls have finished eating, have the devotion. If you kept points on the race, award a prize after the devotion.)

DevotionYou just raced around the world! Usually when you travel, you need help. Even before you go on a long trip, you will look things up; maybe talk to a travel agent or someone who has traveled to where you want to go. When you are on the trip, you might need help with directions, or the language.

The name of God that we are going to look at today provides help for us. The name is “Jehovah-raah,” (je-ho-vaw' raw-AW') which means, “The Lord my

Shepherd.” This name is why we did a stop in New Zealand and did a challenge with sheep and the shepherd. What do you know about sheep? Sheep need a lot of help. They need a shepherd! Sheep need to be led to water, led to food and be protected from danger. Sheep wander away if

not watched. They will walk right into danger or over a cliff. There are true stories when shepherds weren’t looking after their flock, that one sheep walked off a cliff to its death, and hundreds of other sheep just dumbly followed that first sheep. Sheep are not always the smartest. If a sheep stumbles and falls on its back, it

can’t get up. Sheep have no way to protect themselves. They don’t have sharp teeth, claws, or wings to fly away. They are an easy target for predator animals. When they sense danger, they start running in circles in a panic, and they can’t even run very fast. Sheep must have a shepherd to protect them against other animals that would eat them.

The Bible says people are sheep. You and I are sheep. Psalm 100:3 says, “We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.” The Bible is saying that you and I as sheep should be totally dependent on the shepherd. We need Jesus, who is The Good Shepherd.

Sheep trust the shepherd and follow the shepherd. They know the shepherd’s voice and his voice calms them. You be a sheep and totally trust Jehovah-raah, your Shepherd. He will take care of you. He is trustworthy. He loves you. He will provide all that you need. Psalm 23:1, 2 says, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.” Sheep are afraid of many things; they can be dying of thirst, but they will not drink water if it is moving. In Psalm 23 the Shepherd finds the sheep “quiet” waters to drink from. Also Psalm 23 says the Shepherd “makes me lie down in green pastures.” That’s not saying the Shepherd is forcing the sheep to lie down. Sheep will only lie down to sleep if all their needs are fulfilled. Their tummies must be full and satisfied; they can’t sense any danger or have anything annoying them. This verse is really saying that since the Shepherd has totally taken care of the sheep, they feel content enough to lie down and sleep. We need to depend on Jesus, our Good Shepherd to take care of everything that we need so we can also sleep peacefully.

A shepherd will tenderly carry sheep, petting or stroking them and talking to them or singing to them. If a sheep repeatedly wanders off and will not obey the shepherd, the shepherd would break one of its legs. This might seem harsh, but the shepherd is protecting the sheep. The shepherd will splint the leg and he will carry that sheep everywhere until the leg is completely healed. When the leg is healed and the sheep is set down, that sheep will rarely leave the shepherd’s side. It would had grown so used to hearing the heartbeat and feeling the warmth of the shepherd while it was being carried and knowing his tender love that now the sheep simply wants to be with the shepherd.

That’s what you and I should want – to stay with Jehovah-raah. Admit we are sheep, and trust that our Shepherd can totally take care of our needs. We need to closely follow our Shepherd, knowing that we need Him. He is Jehovah-raah, the Good Shepherd.

Strength of Mind Math Challenge

685x319

68,241 32,193 divided by 49- 3,875

12,866 18,603+ 9,447 - 9,845

After doing all the problems, add the answers together. Give that answer to _____________for your next clue.

(Math challenge answer is 314,609)

Misc. NotesHave fun with this party! Girls will LOVE it!

Change it to meet your needs and interest levels. Keep track of who wins each part of the race; 1000 points for the winner, 750 for second place, 500 for third, and 250 for fourth. However, after each leg, have the girls wait till everyone has finished the challenge before moving to the next. Not only will they have fun competing together, but you won’t need as many adults helping to run the event. One adult directs the whole race, one adult goes ahead to set up the challenges, and one adult goes behind to clean up each challenge.

Be organized; have as much set up as possible in advance. Put what you need at each station in an individual brown paper bag, so everything is easily accessible.

Other Country/Game OptionsHair braiding - JamaicaSpeed read a chapter in the Bible - IsraelDo a quiz at the end over the facts given in each clue, and over the order of the countries they went to.

InvitationIt’s “The Amazing Race!” patterned after the TV show. You will travel around the world and perform challenges from different countries. Date:Time:Location:All racers need to wear running shoes.

Take Home Paper

Jehovah-raah, “The Lord My Shepherd”

Psalm 23:1-2 “The Lord is my shepherd,

I shall not want.He makes me lie down in green pastures;He leads me beside quiet waters.”

Jesus said in John 10:11“I am the Good Shepherd; the Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”

Do you remember Jacob back in Genesis? God changed his name to Israel. When he was a very old man, and he was on his deathbed, he said, “God…has been my shepherd all my life to this day.” (Genesis 48:15)

In Luke 15:3-7, is the parable of the 100 sheep. Ninety-nine sheep are safe, but one is lost, so the shepherd goes to look for the one lost sheep. The point of the story is that every sheep matters to Jehovah-raah. YOU matter to the Jesus.

Pray,“Jehovah-raah, I’m so glad that You are the Good Shepherd, and that You are MY shepherd. I know that no one will take better care of me than You. I want to be totally dependant on You. I will trust You with ___________. Help me to be a sheep that follows You whole heartedly today, tomorrow and every day. I love You. Amen”

Egg Picture for use in Ukraine