42 Hilarious Summer Minute to Win It Games
These Summer Minute to Win It Games are sure to bring big laughs and high-energy fun to your summer gathering. Packed with hilarious 60-second challenges, they’re the perfect addition to Summer BBQs, birthday parties, family reunions, summer camps, 4th of July parties or just a spontaneous family game night.
Whether you're hanging out with kids, teens, or adults, these fast-paced games are guaranteed to get everyone moving, laughing, and bonding together.
Each game is simple to set up using everyday items you likely already have at home. Players can go head-to-head or work in teams to complete silly, action-packed challenges in under a minute. From balancing acts to quick-thinking games, this collection of summer-themed one-minute challenges adds a playful twist to any summer celebration.
Get ready for a little friendly competition, a lot of laughs, and unforgettable memories with these easy minute-to-win-it games!
Thrilling Summer Minute to Win It Challenges
If you're looking for great icebreaker games to get your friends and family talking and laughing together, you'll love these funny Summer Minute to Win It Games. For each unique challenge, players will have 60 seconds to complete the task and try and beat their opponents.
You'll find 42 unique 4th of July Minute to Win It games and classic Minute to Win It games that are perfect for the summer months. These games are so much fun, they are sure to become your new summer tradition!
How to Play
Before you play, decide if you want to play on teams or compete individually. This will depend on how many players you have.
Next, pick the games you want to play and gather all the supplies for the game. There is a supply list with the game instructions below.
Lastly, decide if you want the quick games to be competitive or just for fun.
How to Win - The team member who completes the Minute to Win It challenges in 1 minute wins the game. If you are playing on teams or competitively, and two or more players complete the challenge, then the fastest player wins.
When to Play These Quick Games -
- Summer Picnic Games
- Birthday Party Games
- Family Reunion Games
- Teens, Tweeens & Kids BBQ Games
- 4th Of July Games
- Memorial Day Games
- Labor Day Games
- Summer Camp Games
- Slumber Party Games
- Summer Family Game Nights at home.
Grab my Printable Summer Minute to Win It Games with Supply List and Group Score Card to make setting up the games easy. All the games below are included with easy printable instructions.
42 Best Minute to Win It Games for Summer
1. Junk In Your Trunk
Supplies: Empty Kleenex box, ping pong balls, belt or string
How to Play: Create the game by cutting 2 slits into the back of an empty tissue box and sliding a belt or string through it. Then, fill the tissue box with ping pong balls.
Players attach the box to their back and have 1 minute to shake as many balls out as they can.
The winner shakes out the most ping pong balls after 60 seconds.
2. Firecracker Bounce
Supplies: Red Solo Cups, Ping Pong Balls
How to Play: Across from each player on a table, set 3 solo cups. Players have 1 minute to try and bounce a ping pong ball into each solo cup.
The player who is the first to get a ping pong ball in all three cups wins, or after 1 minute, the player with the most ping pong balls in a cup wins.
Tip: add a weight or some water to the bottom of the solo cups so they don't fall over.
3. Backyard Relay Race
Supplies: Wooden or plastic spoon, ping pong balls, or plastic eggs (whichever you have already at home)
How to Play: Make teams of 2 & give each player a wooden spoon and a ping pong ball to balance on their spoon. They have 1 minute to walk to a chair a short distance away & back without the ball falling, pass to partner & do it again. First back with the ball on their spoon wins.
4. Cup Stacking Race
Supplies: 21 Solo Plastic Cups Per Team, a flat surface
How to Play: For the Stack Attack game, each player will get 21 Solo cups to stack. They have 1 minute to stack all the cups like a pyramid and then unstack the cups before time is up.
The first player to do this wins.
5. Feather Float
Supplies: Feathers
How to Play: Players are each given a feather and have to keep it up in the air for 1 minute without using their hands.
6. Balloon Pop Race
Supplies - Balloons, chairs
How to Play: This is a great summer backyard game. Set up a starting line and a chair across the way.
Players have one minute to grab a blown up balloon, run to the chair and sit on the balloon and pop it, then run back to the starting line. The first to do this in under 1 minute wins.
7. Chopstick Pick Up
Supplies: Set of chopsticks, paper plates, mini marshmallows, or pom poms
How to Play: Give each player 2 plates, 1 plate with marshmallows & 1 empty plate. Players have 1 minute to use their chopsticks to move all the marshmallows to the empty plate.
The first to move all the marshmallows or the most marshmallows wins.
Tip: Use red, white, and blue pom poms for 4th of July Parties.
8. Water Gun Car Racing
Supplies: Water guns & small toy cars
How to Play: On a sidewalk or driveway, draw a start line and finish line with chalk. Each player is given a water gun or squirt gun filled with water.
They have 1 minute to use the water to propel the car forward and over the line. The first player to get across the line wins, or the closest when the timer is up.
Tip: Don't make the lines too far apart.
9. Summer Tug of War
Supplies: Milk Crates, Rope
How to Play: A summer tug of war game. Set up 2 milk crates across from each other in the yard. Pick two players, with each standing on top of a milk crate.
Give each the end of a long rope. They have 1 minute to try and pull the other player off the milk crate without falling off. The first to fall loses.
10. Water Bucket Dash
Supplies: Buckets, Water, Sponges
How to Play: Fill one bucket with water and sponges. Set out an empty bucket a short distance away. Draw a line in the bucket a little bit up from the bottom of the bucket.
Players have one minute to squeeze water from sponges into the dry bucket to try and reach the line. The first to do this wins.
Tip: Play as teams or individually.
11. Pass the Water
Supplies: Solo Cups, Buckets
How to Play: A team game with 4 players sitting in a row on the ground. Put a bucket of water at the front of the line and an empty bucket behind the last person.
Teams have 1 minute to pass water through the line without looking by pouring it over their heads and into their teammates' cup behind them. The last player pours their cup of water into the bucket at the back of the line.
The fullest bucket after 1 minute wins.
12. Stars & Stripes Flag Balance
Supplies: Small American Flags
How to Play: Set up a starting line and a chair across the way from each player. Players have 1 minute to balance the flag on their head without it dropping and going around the chair and back to the starting line.
If it drops, they have to start over. Players can not use their hands to keep the flag on their heads. The first person back wins.
13. Sponge Target
Supplies: Chalk, Sponges, Water Bucket
How to Play: Use chalk on the driveway to draw 3 to 6 bullseye targets for each player. Have each player stand back with a bucket of water and sponges.
They have one minute to try and get a wet sponge into each ring of their target.
Tip: You can also use hula hoops instead of drawing the ring
14. Watermelon Ninja
Supplies: Watermelon, playing cards
How to Play: Cut the watermelon in 1\2 & set it up on a table with the red inside facing straight ahead towards the players standing 5-10 steps away (adjust to change difficulty).
Players have 1 minute to throw the playing cards & get them to stick to the watermelon like a ninja star.
The player who gets the most cards to stick to the watermelon in 1 minute wins.
15. Cookie Face
Supplies: Oreo or Nila Wafer Cookies
How to Play: Place a Nila cookie on the player's forehead and their hands behind their backs. They have 1 minute to use their facial muscles to try and get the cookie into their mouth without using their hands.
16. Suck It Up
Supplies: You can use Jelly Beans, Skittles, Pom Poms, or cotton balls. Plus straws, and paper plates
How to Play: Give each player a plate filled with candy, an empty plate, and a straw. Players have 1 minute to use the straw to suck up the candy and drop it onto the empty plate. The player with the most candy moved to the empty paper plate wins.
Tip: For 4th of July Picnics, use Red, White, and Blue Pom Poms.
17. Penny Stack
Supplies: Pennies, flat surface
How to Play: Give each player a stack of pennies. They have 1 minute to stack as many pennies as they can without the stack falling over. The player with the most pennies stacked when the timer goes off wins.
18. Stick It To You
Supplies: Sticky Notes (Use Red, White, and Blue for 4th of July or Yellow for Summer)
How to Play: Break up the players into smaller groups of 2-3 players. Give each group a stack of sticky notes.
Teams have one minute to stick the whole stack of sticky notes on their partner and then remove the sticky notes before the 1 minute is up.
Tip: Use about 30-40 sticky notes per team
19. Mummy Wrap
Supplies: Toilet Paper Rolls or Streamers
How to Play: This is a team game. Each team picks one teammate who will be wrapped with streamers. The team has 1 minute to wrap their teammate in the whole roll of streamers. The first team to fully wrap their teammate is the winning team.
Tip: Use Red, White, and Blue streamers for the 4th of July or Yellow streamers for Summer.
20. Rubber Band Shoot
Supplies: Empty Soda cans or any aluminum cans, rubber bands
How to Play: Set up on a table 6 soda cans in a pyramid. Then give players rubber bands & have them step 10-20 ft. away.
Players then have one minute to fling their rubber band and try to knock over the pyramid of cans.
Tip: Adjust distance based on age
21. Water Balloon Target
Supplies: Water balloons & buckets
How to Play: This is a fun game for a large group. Divide the players into teams of 2. One player holds an empty bucket, and the other has a bucket filled with water balloons.
Have the players stand in a line across from each other. Teams have 1 minute to try and throw their water balloon into their teammate’s bucket. The team that gets the most balloons in the bucket after 60 seconds wins.
Tip: This is a great game for a hot summer day.
22. Movin' Up
Supplies: 39 Red Solo Cups, 1 Blue or White Solo Cup per player
How to Play: Give each player a stack of 39 red solo cups & place 1 blue cup at the top to be the first cup. Players have 1 minute to re-stack all the red cups on top of the blue cup and stack until the blue cup is back on top. The first player to finish wins.
23. Wet Sponge Toss
Supplies: Sponges, buckets
How to Play: Set out a bucket filled with water & 5 sponges. Then set three buckets at a distance in a vertical row (like Bozo Buckets).
Players have 1 minute to try and throw a wet sponge into all three buckets. First player to do this under 1 minute wins.
24. Flying Marshmallows
Supplies: Marshmallows, Plastic spoons
How to Play: Give each player 5 marshmallows & a plastic spoon. Players need to use the spoon to fling the marshmallow as far as they can. The player after 1 minute with that flings the marshmallow the furthest wins, or create a line and see who can fling it past the line.
25. You’ve Got Me Puzzled
Supplies: Cereal boxes
How to Play: To create cereal puzzles, cut cereal boxes into pieces to make puzzles. Create large pieces for younger kids & smaller pieces for tweens, teens, and adults.
Players have 1 minute to piece together the cereal puzzle pieces. The winner finishes the puzzle first or has the most pieces matched before 1 minute is up.
26. Thread the Rainbow
Supplies: Fruit Loops cereal or beads, a pipe cleaner for each player
How to Play: Give each player a pile of fruit loops or rainbow colored beads & a pipe cleaner. Players will string their Fruit Loops onto the pipe cleaner.
The player with the most Fruit Loops strung onto the pipe cleaner at the end of 1 minute wins.
27. Red, White & Dig
Supplies: Red, white & blue marbles, a blindfold & crinkle cut paper, bucket
How to Play: Fill a bucket with crinkle-cut paper and mix with marbles. Players are blindfolded and have 1 minute to feel around the bucket and find as many marbles as they can.
The winner has the most marbles after 1 minute.
28. Marble Madness USA
Supplies: Straws & painters tape, red, white, and blue marbles
How to Play: On a table, make a finish line with painter's tape. Spread marbles on each side of the table so two players can compete at the same time.
Players have 1 minute to use their straws to blow as many marbles over the tape line as they can before time is up. The winner pushes the most marbles over the line.
29. Dice Stack
Supplies: Dice and a set of chopsticks
How to Play: Give each player 4-8 dice and chopsticks. Players will stack as many dice as they can using the chopsticks without them falling.
The player with the highest stack of dice standing after 1 minute wins.
Tip: Lower the amount of dice to stack for younger children & use cheater chopsticks.
30. Balloon Push
Supplies: 1 balloon and 1 ping-pong ball per player, and painter’s tape
How to Play: At a table, create a finish line with tape. On the opposite side, place a ping pong ball for each player. Players will then blow up their balloon without tying the end.
They have 1 minute to use the air from the balloon to push the ping pong ball over the finish line.
31. Rainbow Switch
Supplies: Skittles or Pom Poms, tweezers, and two bowls per player
How to Play: Give each player a bowl full of Skittles, an empty bowl, and a tweezers.
Players have 1 minute to use the tweezers to move as many Skittles as they can to the empty bowl. The winner has the most Skittles in the previously empty bowl.
32. S’mores Race
Supplies: Marshmallows, a chocolate bar, Graham crackers, chopsticks
How to Play: Give each player chopsticks, a marshmallow, a square of a chocolate bar, and a graham cracker for a S'more. They have 1 minute to use chopsticks to build a S’more. The first to build their S’more before the one-minute timer is up wins.
Tip: If players are good at using chopsticks, have them create more than 1 S'more.
33. Defying Gravity
Supplies: Balloons
How to Play: Players are given 1-3 balloons, depending on their age. The more balloons, the harder the game will be.
Players place one hand behind their back and have to keep all the balloons up in the air for 1 minute.
34. Shake It Up
Supplies: 2 empty water bottles per player, jellybeans or small marbles, tape
How to Play: Players are given two empty water bottles and a bag full of jelly beans. Players need to fill 1 water bottle with jelly beans & then tape the other empty water bottle to the top of it. Lastly, they need to shake the jelly beans into the empty water bottle.
35. Pasta Stack
Supplies: Penne Pasta, yarn, or string
How to Play: Give each student a long piece of string and a pile of penne pasta noodles. Players have 1 minute to string as many pasta noodles as they can before the time is up. The winner is the student with the most pasta noodles strung.
Tip: You could also use large beads with summer colors to string.
36. Separate the Rainbow
Supplies: Skittles or Colorful Pom Poms & a bowl for each color or a designated spot.
How to Play: Give each player a pile of Skittles and an empty bowl for each color. The players have 1 minute to separate the skittles by color into each bowl. The first player to separate all the colors in under 1 minute or the player who separates the most Skittles wins.
37. Book Balance Walk
Supplies: Books, obstacle course items
How to Play: Set up a short obstacle course for players to walk through. They will place a book on their head and use no hands while walking through the obstacle course without the book falling. Players need to make it with the book on top of their head before the 1 minute is up. Best time wins!
38. Noodle Pick Up
Supplies: Uncooked Spaghetti & uncooked Penne Pasta noodles
How to Play: Place the penne pasta on the edge of a table. Players try to pick up the penne noodles using a spaghetti noodle they have in their mouth.
See who can pick up the most noodles before the 1-minute timer goes off.
39. Lego Block Towers
Supplies: LEGOs or Small Blocks
How to Play: Place a large pile of LEGOs or small blocks at a table with players. The players have 1 minute to stack the LEGO pieces as high as they can, only using 1 hand. They can not hold the stack to keep it from falling. The player with the highest stack after 1 minute wins.
40. Dice Balance
Supplies: Dice, wooden popsicle sticks
How to Play: Give each player a popsicle stick and 4-5 dice. They have 1 minute to place the popsicle stick in their mouth and try to stack as many dice onto the end of the stick as they can without dropping any. The player with the most stacked after 60 seconds wins.
41. Chandelier Stack
Supplies: 10 Empty soda cans & 4 paper plates per team
How to Play: Break up into small groups of 2-3. The teams must work together to stack 1-2 cans, then a plate, then cans, then a plate as high as they can without the pile falling before the 1 minute is up. The team with the tallest tower at the end of 1 minute wins.
42. Bottle Flipping
Supplies: ⅓ Filled Water Bottles
How to Play: Players are each given a water bottle that is one-third filled with water. They have one minute to try and flip the water bottle so it stands upright.
The player who does this first in the 1-minute time frame wins.
I hope you found a few summer Minute to Win It challenges to play at your upcoming Summer parties.
Make sure to grab the Printable Summer Minute to Win It Game to make it easy to print and follow the directions when playing. Bonus group scorecard included too!!
More Minute to Win It Game Ideas
Keep the fun going with more Minute to Win It Games to play all year round.
20 Easy Minute to Win It Games for Kids & Groups
Best Minute to Win It Games for Teens & Tweens
Birthday Minute to Win It Games
Family Reunion Minute to Win It Games
Classroom Minute to Win It Games
Halloween Minute to Win It Games
Thanksgiving Minute to Win It Games
Christmas Minute to Win It Games
Best Valentine’s Day Games – Includes fun Minute-to-Win-It Games
St. Patrick’s Day Minute to Win It Games
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